Fix guides for high ping
Run the test first. The verdict says which group of fixes applies, and most of them cost nothing.
Updated
Your home network
Result: Close but unstable
The servers are near, but the times jump or requests go missing. Look inside your home first: the Wi-Fi, other traffic on the line and the router. Most of these fixes cost nothing.
Ethernet or Wi-Fi for gaming: what a cable changes
The spread is high or requests go missing on every region.
5 GHz or 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi for games
You play on Wi-Fi and the result reads unstable.
Router QoS for games, and when it does nothing
The result turns unstable while others in the house use the internet.
Background downloads and your ping
The spread jumps while updates, streams or backups run.
The route and the distance
Result: Far from the servers or Cross region
The line is steady, but the region you play on is far away or the route to it is long. Region choice and routing matter here; settings at home change little.
DNS does not change your game ping
Someone tells you a new DNS server will lower your ping.
When your ISP's route is the problem
The result reads Far or Cross region on a steady line, or a near region tests slower than a farther one.
VPN or game booster: what each does to ping
You are thinking about a VPN or a booster, or one is running while you test.
What a game booster does and does not do
Before you pay for a booster, or when a result shows one.
Your device
Result: Any result on a phone or a console
What you can change on a phone or a console, and how to test both connections a phone has.
Console ping: what you can and cannot change
You play on a PlayStation, an Xbox or a Nintendo Switch.
Mobile data or Wi-Fi for mobile games
You play on a phone, or the result notes that you are on mobile data.