How much ping or latency do I need for a video call

When we surf the Internet we use services and platforms, a very important factor for everything to work properly is speed. All users are concerned that our connection is going well, that we receive what we have contracted for downloading and downloading. However, there is another very important factor, especially for certain uses that we can give it: the latency. In this article we are going to talk about what the ping should be correct to spend a video call .

Why a good connection is important for making video calls

The apples video have gained a lot of weight in recent years. We have at our disposal a wide range of possibilities for this. Many online programs and services that allow us to be in touch with our friends and family through a cell phone or computer.

This type of service will require that the Internet connection works correctly. If we have slow internet, if we are using a device which is not working well, it will also affect the video call itself. We might experience clippings, have poor image quality, or even it might not even work.

This is why it is very important to have a good connection, as well as to have appropriate, up-to-date and secure software. Speed ​​is going to be essential, as we all know. But beyond that, we also have to keep latency or ping in mind. It is a term that sometimes goes unnoticed but which is essential for certain uses that we give to the network, such as passing a video call .

What is the appropriate ping or latency for a video call

If we have a very high ping, the video call will not go well. We can have cuts, delays and, ultimately, a bad user experience. Ultimately, latency is the time measured in milliseconds it takes for a request to come back from a server. Something similar is happening with online games. If the ping is very high, the actions we take while playing are delayed.

Unlike speed, the lower the ping, the better for our interests. We can therefore say that basically what matters is that this latency is as close as possible to 1 ms.

If we connect by fiber optic , and especially if we are connected by cable, the latency will be very low, unless we have a problem with the line. In this case, we are not going to have big problems. Yes, we might find some outages when we connect from the mobile through mobile data or Wi-Fi network with poor coverage.

We have surely been involved in a video call on one occasion and experienced some delays. Either the sound or the picture comes to us later than it should, making communication very difficult. This could be due to a latency issue.

So what should the ping be for a good connection during a video call? We can say that any latency less than 40 ms is more than sufficient to avoid problems. We will not perceive this annoying delay when sending audio or video.

We can even say only between 40 and 100 ms this delay, this increase in ping, would not be blocking. This would not mean that the video call had to be terminated. Of course, we might notice some issues in some apps.

This is at from 100 ms that we would really have problems. The higher this latency, the worse it is. Even some connections can exceed 200ms if you connect wirelessly and are far from the connection source.

In short, to be able to make a video call correctly, the ping will be very important. We need to get this latency as close to 1ms as possible. The fastest and most stable fiber optic connections give us a figure of around 5ms, so that's more than enough. After 100ms, we might already start to have some problems.

Why can we have bad latency

There are factors that can influence whether this latency is higher or lower. It doesn't just depend on the internet tariff we have contracted, the operator or the equipment itself. Some aspects also influence, as we will see.

Server we connect to

A key point for this ping to be better or worse is also due to the server which we connect and where it is located. The further away you are from this server, the worse it is. It is not the same thing to connect from Spain to a video call server which is in our own country, to another which is on another continent.

Therefore, the distance from the server we connect to will also influence to have better latency. This is a factor that we have to take into account and whenever we have the option of choosing where to connect it, we have to keep it in mind.

Have the system clean and updated

Of course, the system must be correctly secured free from threats and jour . Any malware can damage the functioning of the Internet, affect the speed that reaches us and the latency. It is essential to always have programs that protect us.

We also need to keep it up to date. In this way, we will fix some vulnerabilities that may be present. Sometimes bugs arise which we fix with patches and updates and thereby improve the performance of that application or system.

Connect by cable or Wi-Fi

Another issue that can greatly influence the ping we need to do to make a video call is whether we are connecting through cable or Wi-Fi . In the first case, the stability is higher, as well as the improvement in speed and latency. On the other hand, wireless networks tend to be more unstable and have some issues when connecting and getting better performance.

The program we use

Finally, we must also include the program that we are going to use. Ce software can influence whether you have a higher or lower ping. It should be optimized and not have any bugs. Otherwise, it could affect the quality of this connection.

In short, these are some aspects that we must take into account and which are related to ping or latency during a video call.