how to reduce ping / latency with 5g home internet

There are three reasons for High Ping and Network Latency – 

1. The device’s connectivity,
2. The internet speed and
3. The server you use

Try these method -

Close Other Network Hogging Applications
Check Your Internet Connection
Try Switching to a Better Server
Change Your Game Settings
Try Using a Premium VPN

Get detailed solution howto use these methods

I am new to this service and still on my first day of use. When I do a speed test, the ping appear to be in the teens if I am using only one device. While one is doing a speed test and I start the same speed test on a second device, the ping time goes into the 300's and 400's. Speed is also variable going from a high of 250 up and about 90 down now, but I have seen 100 to 150 down and about 30 up during the daytime. Seem like this service is great for a single user. Might not be so great if a few people are connected and doing demanding stuff. Ok for watching videos.

I'm currently getting 300-400+ms pings with my black rectangle TMobile router.  The speeds are super variable as well, ranging from 3-30 down and 3-30 up.  I get better connectivity using my cellphone on TMobile than the router does.  I've talked with TMO support a couple of times, and they updated the address on the device (it was set to my old address for some reason).  It helped with up/download speeds I'm not getting what I should and the ping response time hasn't changed.  We have quite a few devices on the network - cell phones, laptops, smart home devices but I've never had a problem with the same kind of usage with other ISPs.  I can't simply use software to correct the issue since it applies to several devices, and my work machine which I'm not an admin.  I also have problems using my VPN with this service - I've talked with TechSupport at work and they installed Global Protect instead of using the built in Win11 VPN, but its super flaky at best given the inconsistencies with the network. Any thoughts / ideas would be a great help!

I have the brand new rectangle box with USB-C power. And I get good speeds. 100/30 most of the time. But the ping on xbox is always close to 100 and higher. I think it's because I have no ability to open ports/enable UPnP on the gateway. T-Mobile support wasn't very helpful. Seems this is more built to get cheap high speed internet but not for gaming/video conferencing. I have the verizon home 5g internet as well and I get close to 700 down and great ping but the downside is their gateway has to attach to my window and blocks my nice view which drives me crazy.

petrov2008 wrote:

@richardoswald My results def look a bit less all over the place? I shared the results below.  But

To answer your question, it made a huge difference in gaming, significant.  Games were literally unplayable.  Before, I used to see notifications in certain games that my internet ping was a huge issue, lag, etc.  Red/Yellow notice, now I get none of those notices playing the same games.  There was an article for gaming settings and TCPOptimizer and I used what it recommended.  Let me look for it. Edit: Found it -  https://www.speedguide.net/articles/gaming-tweaks-5812

Here are my results btw. https://testmy.net/latency?gID=n8zrox75yk

Cheers.

Is there any way you can post a screenshot of your settings? That's page sent me on a world of confusion lol

jthrill wrote:

hey! I just got the service and the download and upload speed are working great.

unfortunately, I'm not about to game anymore because of the latency / ping. the ping on my speed test usually reads about 50-60ms but once I'm in game it’s around 120 and has a lot of lag. 

I was wondering if there’s any way to reduce lag / latency? maybe connecting a high-speed gaming router? is that possible? does a 5ghz network help? 

thank you so much for any help!!!!

Well customer service is a joke it worked amazing for 1 month for me now 1yr later been on waiting list for new modem since January a year almost. Spoke to Joe an executive an as always more excuses.  Now I live in a bad signal area is the newest one . It's all bull . If you are new don't keep it  Elon musk is where to go for internet.

@richardoswald My results def look a bit less all over the place? I shared the results below.  But

To answer your question, it made a huge difference in gaming, significant.  Games were literally unplayable.  Before, I used to see notifications in certain games that my internet ping was a huge issue, lag, etc.  Red/Yellow notice, now I get none of those notices playing the same games.  There was an article for gaming settings and TCPOptimizer and I used what it recommended.  Let me look for it. Edit: Found it -  https://www.speedguide.net/articles/gaming-tweaks-5812

Here are my results btw. https://testmy.net/latency?gID=n8zrox75yk

Cheers.

petrov2008 wrote:

@Jeremy e OMG thank you!!  TCPOptimizer is the solution I needed!

Did this really solve your issue? I tried using optimal settings in TCPOptimizer and it didn't seem to make a difference for me. My issue is not so much high latency, it's inconsistent latency.

Two questions I have:

1. Is your latency pretty consistent compared to mine? (see my testmy.net results here: https://testmy.net/latency?gID=v4pfle33ap
2. What settings did you use w/ TCPOptimizer if you don’t mind sharing?

@Jeremy e OMG thank you!!  TCPOptimizer is the solution I needed!

jthrill wrote:

hey! I just got the service and the download and upload speed are working great.

unfortunately, I'm not about to game anymore because of the latency / ping. the ping on my speed test usually reads about 50-60ms but once I'm in game it’s around 120 and has a lot of lag. 

I was wondering if there’s any way to reduce lag / latency? maybe connecting a high-speed gaming router? is that possible? does a 5ghz network help? 

thank you so much for any help!!!!

There's a few options, if your gaming on a pc utilizing windows operating system. You'll have to download TCPOptimizer which will change some windows settings that will improve download/upload and ping. Some reason 5G doesn't work well with windows. I noticed this when my apple/android devices were around 20 Ping but my computer was around 60. So do a speed test on your phone and check. The optimizer doubled my download and upload speeds while lowering my ping substantially. T-Mobile claims it's possible to get as low as  5-10 Ping depending on time of day and location to your tower. So another option you can consider but might only be necessary if your distant to your tower is an external antenna that will boost your signal. Also make sure your PCs network card can handle high speeds, some cap out at around 100download.