What Is Jitter and Why Does It Ruin Video Calls?
You can have blazing download speed and still have terrible video calls. The hidden culprit is usually jitter.
What jitter actually is
Jitter is how much your ping varies from moment to moment. If packets arrive at steady intervals, jitter is low (good). If they arrive bunched up and then delayed, jitter is high — and real-time apps can't keep up.
Why it ruins calls and games
Video calls and games need data to arrive in a smooth, predictable stream. High jitter causes frozen video, robotic audio, and rubber-banding in games — even when your speed test shows fast download.
What's good?
Under 10ms jitter is good; under 5ms is excellent. Above 30ms you'll notice problems in calls and games.
How to reduce jitter
Use a wired Ethernet connection (the single biggest fix), reduce devices competing for bandwidth, enable QoS on your router, and tackle bufferbloat. Run our test to see your jitter alongside ping and bufferbloat.
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