How to check your ping

Option 1: an online test

Open the SpeedUp test on any phone or computer. It shows your ping when idle and under load, plus jitter, so you can see whether delay gets worse when the connection is busy.

Option 2: the ping command on Windows

1. Press the Windows key, type cmd, and press Enter.
2. Type ping 1.1.1.1 and press Enter. This sends four messages to a Cloudflare server.
3. For a longer test, type ping -n 20 1.1.1.1.

Each line shows time= in milliseconds. At the end, Windows lists the minimum, maximum and average.

Option 3: the ping command on a Mac

1. Open Terminal from Applications, then Utilities.
2. Type ping -c 20 1.1.1.1 and press Enter. The -c 20 stops it after 20 messages.

The summary shows minimum, average, maximum and a standard deviation. The standard deviation gives a rough idea of how much the ping varies.

Reading the result

• Average is your typical ping. Compare it with the ranges in what is a good ping.
• A big gap between minimum and maximum means an uneven connection. See jitter.
• Lost or packet loss above 0 percent means some messages never arrived. See packet loss.

In games and on a phone

Most games show ping in the settings or on the scoreboard, and many have an option to show network statistics on screen. That number is to the game server. On a phone, the easiest check is the SpeedUp test in the browser.

Good to know

Some servers do not answer ping messages, so a test to them can show a timeout even when your connection is fine. The address 1.1.1.1 normally replies. A ping to one address does not tell you the ping to your game server.