What determines "Ping"?

[Jedicake]

Is it just how well the connection is on both ends? (My router and ISP)?

 

Also, would going from 50mbps to 1gb fiber make my Ping better?

[Izaya Orihara]

It's as long it takes for you pc to send a signal to the server and then get a response from the server. Also no. If it's only improving your spped then no. What does improve your ping tho is running a wired connection. 

[CaptainJolly]

Ping is considered the latency in ms for a packet to go from one end to the other and back(don't know how long it took if the information doesn't come back to us).

 

Will going upgrading your bandwidth and the backbone of your network help with your latency?

Most definitely, especially when you're measurement is via a light wave(fiber optics).

HOWEVER, it should also be accounted for that depending on the server location, time of day, number of users on that network trying to access that same packet, etc etc your ping may go up or it may go down. Of course, if you can get through past certain network destinations faster than another node on that same network your ping will almost always be lower than theirs.

 

Note sure if I'm making sense there but let me know.

[Jedicake]

Makes perfect sense! Thank you very much!

 

I live in a relatively small town, so that might be a plus in terms of location, also they're a relatively new company around, and they're competing with a big cable company. So I think I'm definitely going to try it out.

[CaptainJolly]

Yeah seems like you're in a predicament of your own there. If I were in your shoes I'd do exactly that and attempt the switch just to test the flow of the water.

Usually big companies vs little companies the big ones usually win. But I remember back in the day when Surewest was just starting out and had an Internet Bundle for a T1 line for about $60 bucks or so? Maybe even less don't remember. But it was just as you described as well, fiber optic backbone T1 bandwidth. Oh it was back when we moved into a new house in an area that was still being developed. And boy was that internet FAST!!

 

Anyhow, good luck out there on the web.

[BrightCandle]

Ping is usually determined by the number of hops you go through and how much each introduces as latency. Usually most of the latency is actually in your own connection from you to the ISP but every server hop adds more. Congested links can add a lot of latency as can other problems upstream. But ping is really measuring the entire subset of the internet you are using and not just connectivity on both ends. If it was really speed of light based then someone in New york could play with someone in London with a timing of 19ms (5586Km travelled at a speed of 3x10^8). However its not, its the processing time of the servers themselves to route the packets that takes all the time, which is why international ping is more like 10x that number.

[Darren]

Your latency may improve but that's only because you're transitioning from one technology to another, superior technology. If you already have fiber, then no, it will not.