How to fix high ping and packet loss when playing on a server

High ping and packet loss make a game feel awful: rubber-banding, delayed hits, sudden disconnects. The tricky part is that the cause can sit in several places: your device, your home network, your internet provider, the route to the server or the server itself. Working through them in order, and testing as you go, finds the culprit much faster than random fixes.

First read Bandwidth, latency and ping explained if the terms are new.

Step 1: decide whether it is you or the server

Ask other players whether they are having trouble right now, and check how the issue behaves:

What you see	Likely area
Only you have problems, other games and sites also feel slow	Your connection
Only you have problems, other games fine	The route to this server
Everyone has problems at the same time	The server or its network
Everyone lags together while ping looks fine	Server performance, not network

If it is server performance, go to How to fix server lag instead.

Step 2: test your own connection

Use a cable. Wi-Fi is the most common source of jitter and loss. Plug in by ethernet and compare.
Stop other traffic. Downloads, cloud backups, video calls and other people streaming can fill the connection and add delay. This is called bufferbloat.
Restart your router and modem. Power them off for 30 seconds. It clears odd states more often than you would think.
Check other devices. If a phone on the same network is fine, the problem is your computer.
Test a different site. If everything is slow, the issue is local or with your provider.

Step 3: measure ping and loss properly

Run a ping to the server for a minute:

ping -n 60 server-address       (Windows)
ping -c 60 server-address       (macOS and Linux)

At the end, read the summary: minimum, average and maximum times, and the percentage lost. Interpret it:

Average high but steady: distance. Consider a nearer location. See How to choose a server location.
Large swings between min and max: jitter, often Wi-Fi or congestion.
Any steady loss: a physical or routing fault.

Do the same test to a well-known site, such as a public DNS service. If that also shows loss, the problem is on your side or your provider's.

Step 4: trace the route

tracert server-address       (Windows)
traceroute server-address    (macOS and Linux)

Read down the list of hops. Time rising gradually is normal. Look for the hop where delay jumps and stays high, or where loss begins and continues to the end. A hop that shows loss but later hops are fine is usually just a router ignoring probes, and not a fault.

Trouble in the first one or two hops: your home network.
Trouble within your provider's network: contact your provider with the trace.
Trouble far away or near the destination: a routing or server-side issue, which support may be able to investigate.

Step 5: common fixes on your computer

Close background apps using the network, such as updaters and sync tools.
Turn off VPNs while testing. A VPN adds a hop, though sometimes a good one can improve a bad route, so try both.
Update network drivers and your router firmware.
Disable power saving on the Wi-Fi adapter.
Flush the DNS cache if connections fail to resolve: ipconfig /flushdns on Windows.
Check the firewall, which can block or delay game traffic.

Step 6: Wi-Fi tips if you must use it

Move closer to the router, avoid walls and appliances, use the 5 GHz band for shorter range and higher speed, and pick a less crowded channel. In busy buildings, interference from neighbours can cause large jitter. Powerline or mesh systems can help, but a cable is best.

Step 7: when it is the route

Sometimes your provider's path to a particular data centre is simply poor, especially at peak hours. Signs are good ping at off-peak times and bad ping in the evening. Options:

Try a VPN or a different DNS as an experiment.
Ask your provider to look at the route.
Choose a server location with a better path for most players.

Step 8: when it is the server

If everyone suffers at once:

Check whether the server is under heavy load in the panel. See Understanding CPU, RAM and disk usage.
Look for an unusual traffic spike or attack. See DDoS attacks explained.
Read the console for repeating warnings. See Use the server console.
Open a ticket with test results, and times. How to write a support request lists what helps most.

What to include when asking for help

Your approximate location and internet provider.
The ping summary and a traceroute result.
When it happens: always, or only in the evening.
Whether a cable fixes it.
Whether other players are affected.

With those facts, support can quickly tell whether the issue is yours, the route's or the server's.

Quick checklist

Check	Result
Tried a cable
Paused other downloads
Restarted the router
Pinged the server for a minute
Pinged another site
Traced the route
Asked other players

Still stuck? Open a ticket on Discord - run /ticket in any channel, pick a department, and include your Server ID or Invoice ID so we can jump straight in.