Now almost every computer is connected to the Internet. Millions of users go online every day: some for work and some for fun. It would seem: the most important features of the functioning of the Network are known to all. However, the question "what is ping", often asked in forums, allows one to doubt the adequacy of knowledge.
If the average owner of an Internet-connected computer is asked to select the best provider from the list, then the one who provides the highest speed will be indicated in 90%. In part, this answer is correct, but in addition to speed, there are a number of characteristics that affect the usability of the Network. One of them is ping. Without understanding what ping is, much of the work of the Web cannot be explained. Here is a life example: there are two computers connected to different providers (one to a wired one, the other via a radio channel). The declared speed corresponds to the actual. It would seem: the time taken to download the same file should be equal. Even taking into account a small error. In practice, this equality is not respected. Who knows what ping is, it will easily explain what is happening.
Experience shows that it is much easier to convey something to a reader unfamiliar with the topic, if you use analogies. Therefore, we will do this by telling what ping is.
Imagine that there are two runner athletes. Their theoretical capabilities are equal: in test runs, both run a hundred meters in 1 minute. Suppose that they are tasked with running from one end of the city to the other. Obviously, the shortest path is a straight line, which is why they immediately run along a straight road. But after the first intersection, everything changes: one always gets the green light of the traffic light, cars do not block the road, but if an obstacle nevertheless comes across, it is easily overcome, and the further path is laid along a clean asphalt road. Alas, the second athlete is not lucky: either the shoelaces will untie at the most inopportune moment, then the sand is randomly scattered, and the road is often blocked, and you have to go to the goal with lanes.
Athletes are bits of information transmitted by a computer to the Internet. Crossroads are servers, nodes that form a single network of communication lines. Roads are highways (twisted pair, fiber, radio frequency). Sand, shoelaces, traffic lights and other obstacles symbolize the influence of hardware and software elements of the Network on the speed of information bits.
So, ping is the delay that the transmitted signal undergoes. The smaller they are, the faster data is processed on the Web. Moreover, the connection speed, as can be seen from the example, is the same. The conclusion is simple - the quality of the Internet channel is determined by both speed and ping.
For fans of online battles, ping plays a more important role than other characteristics. After all, you need to respond on time to the action on the screen, and this is impossible if everyone receives a server response, for example, in 1 second, and an unlucky user in 5 seconds.
How to recognize ping? This can be done directly from the Windows environment. There is a built-in ping command for this . Usually ping a site in this way. This allows you to not only select the site (server) with the lowest ping, but also check its availability (determine if the site is working).
For example, to check the ping to this site, press Win + R, type ping fb.ru (Enter). The delay is displayed in milliseconds. By the way, in order not to catch the moment when you press the Pause button, you can create a bat file of this content:
ping fb.ru
pause
To reduce ping, you need to: change the provider, modem, tariff plan, install the CFosSpeed program and enable ping optimization (it is debatable, but the function is stated). Also, the firewall used may have an effect on the delay.