Understanding Ping and Latency: A Gamer's Guide
Why low latency is crucial for online gaming and how full fibre helps.
The Lag Killer
If you ask a competitive gamer what matters most in their internet connection, they won’t say “download speed.” They will say “Ping.” While marketing billboards scream about 900Mbps speeds, the metric that determines whether you win or lose a match in Call of Duty, League of Legends, or Counter-Strike is Latency.
What is Latency (Ping)?
Latency is the time it takes for a single packet of data to travel from your machine (PC, Xbox, PlayStation) to the game server and back again. It is measured in milliseconds (ms).
Low Ping (0-20ms): Instant response. You shoot, the gun fires. You turn a corner, you see the enemy immediately.
High Ping (50ms+): Noticeable delay. You press jump, and your character jumps a fraction of a second later.
Packet Loss: The worst case. Data never arrives. Your character teleports, runs into walls, or you get disconnected.
Why Fibre Wins on Physics
The medium matters. Old copper telephone wires transmit data as electricity. Electrical signals encounter resistance and interference. Cable internet (Virgin Media) uses coaxial cable, which is better but often suffers from “jitter” (unstable ping) due to the way the DOCSIS network is architected.
CityFibre’s Full Fibre network transmits data as Light. Light travels through the glass core of the fibre cable at approximately 200,000 kilometers per second (about 70% the speed of light in a vacuum). It encounters virtually no resistance.
More importantly, fibre is immune to interference. Your neighbour’s washing machine or a thunderstorm won’t cause packet loss on a fibre line. This stability leads to a “flat” ping graph—consistent, low latency with zero jitter. This consistency is arguably more important than the absolute number.
Routing Geopolitics
Ping isn’t just about the wire; it’s about the route. When your data leaves your house, it enters your ISP’s network. A “Good” ISP will have optimised routing paths to major gaming servers (like AWS, Azure, Riot Direct, Valve). They peer directly at internet exchanges like LINX in London or Manchester.
Budget ISPs might route your traffic via cheaper, congested paths, adding unnecessary milliseconds. Providers like Zen Internet, IDNet, and others on the CityFibre network pride themselves on their routing tables. When you combine CityFibre’s glass infrastructure with a premium ISP’s routing, you get the closest thing to a LAN experience possible over the internet.