NBN Help

High ping / latency on NBN — affecting gaming and video calls.

Your speeds look fine on a speed test but games lag, video calls are choppy, and everything feels sluggish. High latency (ping) is the cause, not download speed.

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Why this happens

Congestion at your ISP's network causes queuing delay
Your router has bufferbloat — a common issue in consumer-grade routers
You're connecting to game servers overseas
Background activity is eating bandwidth and causing latency spikes
Fixed Wireless and satellite have inherently higher latency than fixed line

How to fix it — step by step

1. Measure your ping properly
Open a terminal and run ping 8.8.8.8, or check the ping result in speedtest.net. Under 20 ms to Sydney/Melbourne is excellent. 20-50 ms is normal. Over 80 ms is a problem for gaming.
2. Test for bufferbloat
Go to waveform.com/tools/bufferbloat and run the test. A grade of A or B is fine; C or below means your router is adding latency under load.
3. Close background apps
Windows Update, Dropbox sync, streaming on another device — all cause latency spikes when they saturate your connection. Pause them during gaming or calls.
4. Use a wired connection
Wi-Fi adds 5-20 ms of latency and can spike during interference. Ethernet gives the lowest and most stable ping.
5. Check your ISP network latency
If ping is high even with nothing else running on ethernet, your ISP has a network issue. Ask them what their typical latency is to Sydney/Melbourne.

Still having trouble?

If none of these steps resolve the problem, it may be an issue with your current provider. HIT Pacific offers transparent pricing, faster fault response, and local support.

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