Understanding latency

Latency measures how long a request takes to travel to the server and back. A smaller value means a quicker response, but one measurement cannot describe your whole connection.

Read the trend

Watch several samples before drawing a conclusion. An occasional spike can come from Wi-Fi interference, a busy router, browser scheduling or activity on the server. Repeated spikes deserve a closer look.

Compare like with like

Use the same device, server and browser when comparing results. Test once near your router and again over a wired connection if one is available. A different destination may take a different route.

What this page measures

The monitor times browser HTTP requests. Its results include browser and server work and are not the same as a low-level ICMP ping. Use it to notice changes, rather than as a promise of performance in every application.