What is “Latency” and what should it be at?

V1PERone · Aug 20, 2019

What is “Latency” and what should it be at?
A simple search found this article...

What is latency in online video games? Latency, measured as ping, refers to the average total time that it takes your gaming device to send data to the game server, and back to your device. Latency
is measured in milliseconds (ms) so if your ping is100ms then it takes 100 milliseconds for your computer to respond to a request from the game server.

Why is Latency Relevant to Gameplay?
Low latency or ping is desirable to achieve smoother gameplay and a user experience without lagging. If the ping is around 1000ms or higher, it’s definitely going to result in players suddenly
appearing or disappearing and overall gameplay running incredibly slow. Additionally, games where timing is crucial, like FPS and racing
games, suffer a greatly diminished experience with high latency. In short, time lags from high latency make gaming far less enjoyable.

How to Achieve Low Latency
Contrary to popular belief, a fast and responsive Internet connection with fast upload and download speeds isn’t all there is to keeping latency low. You can have a pretty fast connection and even an incredibly
fast custom PC designed especially for online gaming but still face horrendous ping values.

So first, you need to run a speed test. Some games will show your ping speed alongside other players but for those that don’t, you definitely
need to run a speed test first. A ping value of 20ms or less means you have an excellent latency rate. A rate from 20 to 100ms will still equal enjoyable gameplay, but not give you maximum performance for games where timing is everything.
A slower but still workable ping is 100-150ms but anything over 150ms is definitely going to result in a noticeable lag causing a lot of frustration.

Then you need to rule out ISP issues. You need a stable Internet connection above 2Mbps for the best performance in online gaming and a wired connection is imperative. Wireless routers and devices may be fine
for routine Internet use but they don’t provide the stability that a perpetually-connected online game requires. If you’re connecting via wire and operating at 2Mbps or greater, first try resetting your modem or router and see if that fixes the lags. Failing
that, contact your ISP to find out if you’re having signal troubles or if this is a widespread issue in your area at the moment.

:)

XBF Crystal P

Hey there V1PERone,

Thank you for letting us know about the issue. We'll be locking the thread. Thanks for marking the answers.
If you ever require any help with any other Xbox issues please feel free to come back to the Xbox Forums for further assistance.

Thank you and have a great day.

Ima Pseudonym

Things which can affect your latency...

Wired networking versus wireless (wired is faster)

Type of connection to your ISP

Wireless interference from other devices

Misconfigued networking equipment.

Cerebral Paul

"the delay before a transfer of data begins following an instruction for its transfer.

"poor performance due to network latency" · "subscribers can expect some latency time when issuing a request" · "there are several ways to minimize rotational latencies""

The lower the better, if I get above .40 consistently I start to look for why.. anything near or above 100 is right out.

tejo chase

A simple search found this article...

What is latency in online video games? Latency, measured as ping, refers to the average total time that it takes your gaming device to send data to the game server, and back to your device. Latency
is measured in milliseconds (ms) so if your ping is100ms then it takes 100 milliseconds for your computer to respond to a request from the game server.

Why is Latency Relevant to Gameplay?
Low latency or ping is desirable to achieve smoother gameplay and a user experience without lagging. If the ping is around 1000ms or higher, it’s definitely going to result in players suddenly
appearing or disappearing and overall gameplay running incredibly slow. Additionally, games where timing is crucial, like FPS and racing
games, suffer a greatly diminished experience with high latency. In short, time lags from high latency make gaming far less enjoyable.

How to Achieve Low Latency
Contrary to popular belief, a fast and responsive Internet connection with fast upload and download speeds isn’t all there is to keeping latency low. You can have a pretty fast connection and even an incredibly
fast custom PC designed especially for online gaming but still face horrendous ping values.

So first, you need to run a speed test. Some games will show your ping speed alongside other players but for those that don’t, you definitely
need to run a speed test first. A ping value of 20ms or less means you have an excellent latency rate. A rate from 20 to 100ms will still equal enjoyable gameplay, but not give you maximum performance for games where timing is everything.
A slower but still workable ping is 100-150ms but anything over 150ms is definitely going to result in a noticeable lag causing a lot of frustration.

Then you need to rule out ISP issues. You need a stable Internet connection above 2Mbps for the best performance in online gaming and a wired connection is imperative. Wireless routers and devices may be fine
for routine Internet use but they don’t provide the stability that a perpetually-connected online game requires. If you’re connecting via wire and operating at 2Mbps or greater, first try resetting your modem or router and see if that fixes the lags. Failing
that, contact your ISP to find out if you’re having signal troubles or if this is a widespread issue in your area at the moment.

ThisGameIsSucky

Here's a good article explaining it further as well.
http://www.thedronesmag.com/latency-explained/

What is “Latency” and what should it be at?