7 min read

Several variables influence the speed of an online resource. Network delay is one of them. It’s all about speed. Customers used to be okay with waiting days or weeks for Netflix to ship their film. Most of them will abandon a website if it takes even three seconds to load, and they now anticipate almost immediate load speeds. Therefore, understanding what is internet latency is necessary in 2025.

User pleasure suffers greatly from how responsive an activity is, whether you’re streaming a movie, playing an online game, purchasing online, or using a cloud-based program. And network latency is at the core of this responsiveness. The frequently annoying lag that occurs between a user’s activity and the network’s or internet service’s response is known as network latency.

Keep reading and exploring to learn what is good latency, and you can reduce it effectively in 2025.

What is Internet Latency?

So, what is latency internet? Latency is the total time it takes for data to go from your device to a server and back again. Milliseconds (ms) are the unit of measurement. A more rapid and responsive internet connection is indicated by a shorter latency (which is also known as ping). Activities like live streaming, video calls, and gaming cause high latency.

The terms speed, bandwidth, and throughput are commonly used interchangeably. However, latency is different. Despite being all expressed in bits per second, such as gigabits per second (Gbps) or megabits per second (Mbps), there are several significant distinctions between the three:

• The theoretical maximum quantity of data that may be sent over a certain period of time in a perfect networking environment is known as bandwidth.
• Especially by ISPs, speed and bandwidth are frequently used interchangeably. However, because it’s not a precise phrase, speed might relate to a variety of real or hypothetical metrics.
• The actual observed rate of data transfer over time, including latency, bandwidth, and other influencing variables, is referred to as throughput.

What is Good Latency?

The simplest method of figuring out the what is internet latency of your resource is to measure other speed indicators, such as the RTT. The closest parameter to latency is this one. It will frequently be equivalent to double the latency value (where the trip time there and back are equal).

The ping function makes measuring it extremely simple. Launch a command prompt, type “ping,” and then enter the IP address or website address of the resource.

As an example, let’s attempt to ping www.google.com.

The RTT is the time parameter. It is 24 ms in our example. Here is an illustration of what is good latency in 2025:

The specifics of your final project will determine the ideal RTT value. Experts generally regard less than 100 ms as a reliable sign.

Bandwidth Versus Latency

Bandwidth is the extreme quantity of data that can be sent over a given channel in a given length of time (network capacity). On the other hand, latency may be used to quantify the pace at which data is sent between servers.

Although they are sometimes misconstrued, internet bandwidth and latency are two independent but essential aspects of a network connection. While latency is the amount of time it takes for data to move from one location to another, bandwidth is the quantity of data that can be sent via a connection at any one moment. Consider the latency internet as the maximum speed at which automobiles may drive on a road, and bandwidth as the breadth of that road.

Why is My Latency So High?

Content, hardware, congestion, and distance are the main causes of excessive latency. Here are the causes of your high latency internet in figuring out what is internet latency in 2025:

Distance

Sending a message to someone anywhere in the globe requires it to pass via actual wires and cables that are deep below or beneath the earth. Since digital connections are still subject to the laws of physics, this kind of delay is among the most difficult to overcome. The time it takes for data to reach its destination increases with the physical distance it must travel.

Whether or not peering agreements have been formed between the networks carrying your data is another issue that exacerbates this kind of delay. Your traffic will be rerouted along more picturesque routes, which will further prolong its wait if the networks along the route don’t perform properly together.

Also Read: What is a Host: How It Works in Networking Explained

Congestion

We discovered that bandwidth affects both delay and throughput from the highway scenario above. Congestion sends more data at once on a network with a high bandwidth. This holds true for both your target server’s network and your own.

For example, the server from which you are getting traffic will have to slow down to keep up with your crowded network if your capacity is lower than that of the server, and vice versa. Remember that congestion from congested communications might also result from having too many locally linked devices.

Hardware

If your automobile can’t accelerate past 10 mph, you won’t be getting anywhere anytime soon, regardless of how open the roads are or how high the speed limit is. Your hardware is no different.

For instance, your router won’t be able to process incoming or outgoing data rapidly if it isn’t set up to manage traffic effectively. Data is queued in a buffer to await processing when traffic exceeds your router’s capacity, which results in delays. Therefore, understanding what is internet latency and how you can reduce high latency in 2025.

Similarly, your server’s performance may suffer when it attempts to run overloaded tasks if its CPU is subjected to more demand than it can handle, such as an unexpected traffic spike.

Content

It may surprise you to learn that your website’s content might increase users’ latency. Users will encounter poor load times if your website is powered by complicated code or if your pages are crammed with plugins, videos, or other information that is too large in size. Given that Google has discovered that 53% of mobile users would leave a page that takes longer than three seconds to load, that’s very terrible news.

Are you curious about how many individuals use mobile devices these days? More than 96.3% of people are on the internet using a mobile phone worldwide.

How To Fix High Latency?

Use the many strategies outlined below to get low latency network, decrease delays, and provide a steady surfing experience.

Let’s examine each method for low latency network:

Employ a CDN

By employing a closer point of presence (PoP) to minimize the distance between a user and the origin servers, a CDN lowers network latency. As we saw in the previous section, significant latency had a frequent impact due to the “distance” between a user and a server. By bringing the servers closer to the real user, CDNs shorten that distance.

Also Read: Traffic Spikes: How To Prepare Your Website For Sudden Surges

Browser Caching

Caching is a useful method for lowering latency and enhancing website functionality. The entire packet is getting closer (and faster) to end users by caching, which temporarily stores the data on the PoPs’ servers. Browser caching is important if you want to know what is internet latency and why it matters.

We recommend giving WP Rocket a try if you’re searching for a user-friendly and effective solution. One of the greatest WordPress cache plugins, it lowers latency and applies 80% of the web speed improvement when activated.

Reduce TTFB

Time To First Byte (TTFB) is the overall amount of time it takes the server to send the first piece of data following a user request. It calculates the response time of the server. A website’s responsiveness and performance may be greatly impacted by sluggish server response times, which raise latency.

Choosing a dependable web hosting provider that can manage heavy traffic loads, servers with adequate memory, caching, and database optimization to lower TTFB. No matter where a user is in the world, a CDN can also assist in guaranteeing high uptime and quick server response.

Use Lazy Loading and Optimize Images

Using the lazy-loading script and serving better pictures on your website are two more ways to lower latency.

Optimization is delivering photos in the shortest feasible file size without sacrificing quality. You may use the following checklist to ensure that your photographs contain web optimization:

• Instead of JPEG, convert them to WebP or AVIF formats.
• Effectively resize and compress them.
• Make them mobile-friendly

If you want to automate the entire process and save time, you may utilize an image optimization plugin.

Lastly, to lower latency and improve the performance of your web page, apply the lazy-loading script to your pictures. It is necessary to know what is internet latency in 2025.

Conclusion

Latency largely impacts your internet connection’s responsiveness. A high ping can cause lag in even fast internet, disrupt games, and slow down video conversations. You may enhance your whole internet experience by comprehending how latency functions and implementing strategies to lower it, such as updating equipment, optimizing your network, and employing wired connections. Therefore, understanding what is internet latency is important in 2025.

While enabling browser caching might help returning users with latency, you should think about optimizing your code and getting rid of resource-heavy plugins if you want to make a real difference for all users. By removing comments, whitespace, and other unnecessary bits of code from your code, cleaning tools like a code minifier may help you further optimize your site and speed up page loads.

FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions)

What Is A Good Internet Latency?

Good internet latency network measures the quality of your connection inside your network. It calculates it in milliseconds. For gaming, anything that is 100 ms or fewer is appropriate. Nevertheless, 20–40 ms is ideal.

How Do I Fix My Internet Latency?

Try utilizing a connected (Ethernet) connection, shutting off background apps, and restarting your modem and router to lower excessive internet latency.

Is 10 Ms Latency Good?

Indeed, 10 ms latency is usually good, particularly for real-time applications like gaming. It shows a very responsive connection with very little data transfer latency.

Is 200ms Latency Bad?

Indeed, a latency of 200 ms is undesirable, particularly for real-time applications like online gaming.