Console ping: what you can and cannot change

The link to the router

A cable takes the radio out of the connection. It steadies the times and stops lost packets that weak Wi-Fi causes; it leaves the distance to the server as it was. The Ethernet or Wi-Fi guide shows how both cases look in the test.

• PlayStation 5: plug in a LAN cable, then go to Settings, Network, Settings, Set Up Internet Connection, and choose Set Up Wired LAN. On PlayStation 4 the path is Settings, Network, Set Up Internet Connection, Use a LAN Cable. PlayStation's setup page has both.
• Nintendo Switch: Nintendo's latency page suggests a wired LAN adapter in the dock, and notes that a Switch 2 has to sit in its dock to use the wired connection.
• On Wi-Fi, Nintendo suggests keeping the console within 10 to 15 feet (about 3 to 4.5 meters) of the router.

The router and the rest of the house

Every device in the house shares the router's line. Nintendo notes that devices streaming video or downloading files can slow the others down. The background downloads guide lists the usual culprits, and router QoS can send the console's packets first while the line is busy.

Nintendo's connection test rates the NAT type from A, the best for connections between players, to F, which cannot complete them. NAT decides whether your console can connect straight to other consoles. That matters for games where players connect to each other, such as ELDEN RING. It does not shorten the route to a publisher's server.

The server choice inside each game

Some games let you pick a server or a region; others pick one for you. The publishers' pages give these steps without naming a platform, unless a row says so:

The game pages have the full steps and the sources. For Rainbow Six Siege, Ubisoft's page describes the manual choice through a settings file on PC; on a console the game connects you to the data center for your region.

Test the route your console uses

1. Connect a computer or a phone to the same router as the console. A computer on a cable gives the steadiest comparison.
2. Run the test and pick the region the console plays on. The median shows the route and the distance your console shares.
3. Compare it with the ping the game shows on the console. A game figure far above the test's median, with a steady test, points at the console's own link: the Wi-Fi or a busy line.

A route optimizer reaches a console through the router. GearUP sells a router of its own, HYPEREV, that it says lowers latency on consoles and includes a NAT type optimizer for new games (GearUP's product page). Like any route optimizer it can act on the route; it cannot remove distance. The guide on what a game booster does covers when that helps.