What is jitter and why it ruins calls
Jitter is ping variation. See why it matters as much as speed for video calls and gaming.
If ping is the round-trip time, jitter is how much that time changes from one measurement to the next. Ping always at 30 ms has almost zero jitter; ping jumping between 20 and 120 ms has high jitter.
Why it's annoying
Voice and video need to arrive at a steady pace. When pieces arrive out of rhythm, the app has to wait or discard them — and you hear the voice break up.
Reference values
Up to 5 ms: excellent. Up to 15 ms: good for calls. Above 30 ms: frequent real-time problems.
How to reduce it
Use a cable or the 5 GHz network, move closer to the router, avoid heavy uploads during calls and, if your router allows it, enable QoS (traffic priority).
Put it into practice
Measure ping and jitter →