3 Ways to Test Your Connection Latency on Windows

2024 Author: Samantha Chapman | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 09:13

There is hardly anything more frustrating than having to wait for a webpage to update or load while browsing the internet. The delay in processing such a request is called "latency". In telecommunications, latency measures the time it takes for a data packet to reach its destination (the user's computer) from the source (a web server). The steps described in this article allow you to quantify the latency of your internet connection using online tools and integrated into the Windows and OS X operating systems.

Steps

Method 1 of 3: Use an Online Service

Test Network and Internet Latency (Lag) in Microsoft Windows Step 1

Step 1. Choose the website to run the latency test

On the web there is a large number of sites that offer tools to test the goodness of the internet connection; you will most likely also find a similar service on your ISP's website. In any case, two of the most used sites to carry out this type of activity are Speakeasy and DSLReports. The steps described by this method refer to the DSLreports site service, as it offers a complete set of diagnostic tools.

Go to the URL www.dslreports.com.
Choose the link "Tools" from the menu at the top of the page.

Test Network and Internet Latency (Lag) in Microsoft Windows Step 2

Step 2. Ask other users connected to your network if they can kindly disconnect for the time it takes to check

Otherwise, the test could be falsified since the network bandwidth would be shared among all connected devices.

Talk to all other people connected to the network asking them if they can kindly disconnect until the test is finished.
If you are having connectivity problems on the network, it may be useful to connect the computer directly to the ADSL modem using an ethernet cable rather than using the Wi-Fi connection. This way you will be able to isolate the problem and then adopt the necessary solution.

Test Network and Internet Latency (Lag) in Microsoft Windows Step 3

Step 3. Run the "Speed Test"

This tool indicates the maximum "download" and "upload" speed detected between your computer and the website. At the end of the check, you will be able to compare the results obtained with the data declared by your ISP regarding your internet connection.

To start the test, press the button "Start" located on the right of the box "Speed Test".
Choose the connection type. On the next page you will have the possibility to choose the type of internet connection in use among those proposed: "Gigabit / Fiber", "Cable", "DSL", "Satellite", "WISP" or "More".
Run the test. The control procedure will check the maximum speed of "download", that of "upload" and the latency of the connection.

Test Network and Internet Latency (Lag) in Microsoft Windows Step 4

Step 4. Run the "Ping Test"

This tool measures the time required by a standard data packet to cover the round trip between the computer and a remote reference server. This verification procedure checks using multiple servers at the same time in order to calculate a reliable average latency. Typically latency varies depending on the type of connection you are using: 5-40ms for a cable connection, 10-70ms for an ADSL connection, 100-220ms for an analog modem connection, and 200-600ms for a connection via cellular telephone network.. The distance between your computer and the remote server affects the latency time a lot. You can estimate with ascertainable accuracy that for every 100 Km you will have 1 ms more latency.

Run the "Ping Test". From the "tools" page press the button "Start" located on the right of the box "Ping Test (Real Time)". You will be redirected to a new web page containing the list of all servers that will be contacted (via "ping") by the test twice per second. At intervals of 30 seconds a summary scheme will be shown in which your connection will be evaluated using the American evaluation system with marks included in the range A-F (where A corresponds to excellence and F to severe insufficiency).
Push the button "Start". A radar-shaped graph will display the set of all servers contacted in the world, along with the geographic location, their IP address and the real latency time of your connection.
View the test summary. While the test is running, your connection rating will be displayed in the left column. Every 30 seconds the new evaluation will be shown, performed on the basis of the data collected. At the end of the test, you will be given the option to repeat it or to share the data obtained.

Test Network and Internet Latency (Lag) in Microsoft Windows Step 5

Step 5. Find your public IP address

While this is not a real test of the quality of your internet connection, the "What is my IP address" tool shows the public IP address your computer responds to. This is not your computer's real public IP address as it is dynamically assigned by your ISP's proxy services. You will also be shown the list of IP addresses commonly used by the devices managing your network (modem, router, etc.). This information can be very useful if you need to use the tools provided by Windows to locate resources on your network or measure the latency of your internet connection.

Run the test. Push the button "Start" located on the right of the box "What is my IP address". You will be redirected to a web page where your current public IP address will be displayed, along with other useful information regarding your network.
Make a note of your IP address. If you plan to run other diagnostic tests of your LAN or internet connection, take note of the public IP address that appears and all those listed below.

Method 2 of 3: Use the Windows Command Prompt

Test Network and Internet Latency (Lag) in Microsoft Windows Step 6

Step 1. Access the command line of the Windows Command Prompt

To test your home network infrastructure and internet connection latency, you can use the Windows command prompt directly.

Access the menu "Start", then choose the item "Run".
Inside the "Open" field, type the command cmd, then press the button "OK". This will bring up the Windows Command Prompt window, through which you can run the tests using simple DOS commands. Alternatively, you can search for the "cmd.exe" file using the Windows "Search" function.

Test Network and Internet Latency (Lag) in Microsoft Windows Step 7

Step 2. Run the "Ping" test on the loopback interface (commonly called "localhost")

This command checks the connection status of your computer to verify that there are no hardware-related problems that can cause an abnormal increase in latency on the LAN or while browsing the internet.

Inside the command prompt window type the command " Ping 127.0.0.1 -n 20". This IP address is common to all network cards installed on computers and is used to test the proper functioning of this hardware device; the" -n 20 "parameter instructs the ping command to send 20 data packets before concluding the test execution. If you forgot to add the parameter "-n 20", you can interrupt the execution of the current command by pressing the key combination " Ctrl + C".
View the test results. The time it takes for data packets to reach the loopback interface and back should be less than 1-5 ms and the number of lost data packets should always be 0.

Test Network and Internet Latency (Lag) in Microsoft Windows Step 8

Step 3. Run the "Ping" test of a remote server

After verifying the proper functioning of the network card installed on your machine, you can run the test to measure the latency of the internet connection. Also in this case the latency varies according to the type of connection used: 5-40 ms for a cable connection, 10-70 ms for an ADSL connection, 100-220 ms for an analog modem connection and 200-600 ms for a connection via a cellular telephone network. Remember, too, that the distance between your computer and the remote server affects the latency time a lot. You can estimate with ascertainable accuracy that for every 100 Km of distance you will have 1 ms more of latency.

Type the command " Ping"followed by the IP address or URL of the server / website you want to use to run the checks, then press the" Enter "key. It is best to start testing using your ISP's website URL, to then move on to other commonly used addresses.
View the results obtained. At the end of the test, the summary of the results generated will be displayed. The time, expressed in milliseconds, that each data packet took to reach the indicated destination and go back will be reported at the wording "duration". Note: Also in this case you can add the parameter "-n 20" to test 20 data packets and you can use the key combination " Ctrl + C"to stop the execution of any command.

Test Network and Internet Latency (Lag) in Microsoft Windows Step 9

Step 4. Run the data path test

The "tracert" command shows the path followed by the data packets to reach the indicated remote server from your computer, together with any delays due to congested network sections or malfunctioning servers. This command is very useful for identifying the source of any latency problems on both the LAN and the global network.

Inside the command prompt window type the command " tracert"followed by the IP address or URL of the server / website you want to use for the test, then press the" Enter "key.
View the results obtained. Since this test checks the path used by the information packets to reach the indicated destination, the IP addresses of all the network nodes (called "hops" in jargon) crossed by the data will be shown on the screen, together with the time required. The more "hops" or other network devices that data packets have to traverse along the path, the higher the overall latency of the connection.

Method 3 of 3: Use OS X Systems Tools

Test Network and Internet Latency (Lag) in Microsoft Windows Step 10

Step 1. Launch the "Network Utility" tool

All the software tools needed to test the operation of the local network and measure the latency of the internet connection are contained in the "Utility Network" application of the OS X operating system.

Open the " Finder", then go to the folder Applications.
Access directory " Utility".
Locate and select the " Utility Network"to start the relevant application.

Test Network and Internet Latency (Lag) in Microsoft Windows Step 11

Step 2. Select your network connection

The application allows you to test the connectivity of Ethernet (wired), Airport (wireless), Firewire or Bluetooth network connections.

Inside the tab " Information"you can select the network connection to test, using the drop-down menu for network interfaces.
Make sure you have selected the active network connection. When the selected network interface is active, information on the hardware address, IP address and connection speed is visible; furthermore, in the "Connection status" field, the wording "Active" will be present (on the contrary, an inactive network interface only reports the hardware address, while the wording of the "Connection status" field is "Inactive").

Test Network and Internet Latency (Lag) in Microsoft Windows Step 12

Step 3. Run the "Ping" test

The "Ping" tab of the "Utility Network" application allows you to enter the address of the website to be used for testing, along with the number of pings to perform. Normally, latency varies according to the type of connection used: 5-40 ms for a cable connection, 10-70 ms for an ADSL connection, 100-220 ms for an analog modem connection, and 200-600 ms for a connection via cellular telephone network.. Also remember that the distance between the computer and the remote server greatly affects the latency time. You can estimate with ascertainable accuracy that for every 100 Km of distance you will have 1 ms more latency.

Select the tab " Ping"of the" Utility Network "window.
In the appropriate field, type the IP address or URL of the server / website you wish to use to perform the checks. The advice is to start testing using your ISP's website URL and then move on to other commonly used addresses.
Enter the number of pings that will need to be performed (by default this value is 10).
When finished, press the " Ping".
View the results obtained. At the end of the test, the summary of the results generated will be displayed. The time, expressed in milliseconds, that each data packet took to reach the indicated destination and go back will be reported at the wording "duration".

Test Network and Internet Latency (Lag) in Microsoft Windows Step 13

Step 4. Test the network path ("Traceroute")

This test shows the path followed by the data packets to reach the indicated remote server starting from your computer, together with any delays due to congested network sections or malfunctioning servers. This command is very useful for identifying the source of any latency problems on both the LAN and the global network.

Select the tab " Traceroute"of the" Utility Network "window.
In the appropriate field, type the IP address or URL of the server / website you wish to use to perform the test.
When finished, press the " Traceroute".
View the results obtained. Since this test checks the path used by the information packets to reach the indicated destination, the IP addresses of all the network nodes (called "hops" in jargon) crossed by the data will be shown on the screen, together with the time required. The more "hops" or other network devices that data packets have to traverse along the path, the higher the overall latency of the connection.