Why does fast internet keep freezing? Ping, jitter and packet loss
Diagnose calls and games that stutter despite a good speed test. Compare latency at idle, under load and over Ethernet.
Mbps and latency answer different questions
Bandwidth influences how quickly a large file downloads. Latency and stability affect how soon a voice or game action arrives. A 300 Mbps download connection can still stutter while a cloud backup saturates its upload capacity. Ping commonly refers to a round-trip measurement. Jitter is variation between measurements, while packet loss means some packets do not arrive.
Run three controlled comparisons
- Pause downloads, backups and streams. Take several readings and record the spread.
- Repeat while uploading a file. A jump from roughly 25 ms to over 200 ms can point to queuing under load.
- Use Ethernet on the same device if possible. If Ethernet is steady and Wi-Fi fluctuates, check signal, distance and channel congestion.
Decide which connection to investigate
A problem in one room points first to the wireless link. A problem across services and over Ethernet warrants looking at the router, line or provider. If only one game is affected, use its own region and packet-loss statistics. Astrotor measures short HTTP requests to its own endpoint, or the local server in preview. It does not measure throughput or packet loss to the game server.
Record results for support
Include the time, connection type, affected services and idle versus loaded readings. For example, “At 9:30 p.m. on Ethernet, a cloud upload raised latency from 25 to 210 ms, and it recovered when the upload stopped.” If the problem appears at certain hours, repeat at another time for comparison.
Connection information
Run the latency check on the same device and browser when your connection is idle and when it is busy.
Open the tool