When it comes to reducing ping on Viasat, or other satellite internet provider, there isn't much you can do. Here are a few things you can try though:

• Don't use Wi-Fi, plug your device into the router
• Shutdown any connections you don't have to have open
• Try restarting your router, make sure to wait a couple of minutes before turning it back on.
• If possible, try to connect to services that are closer to your location

These options aim to reduce latency (or ping), by affecting the things which you can have control over. There is one part of the process though, that is already going as fast as it can.

What is latency (ping)?

Latency is a term used to describe the amount of time something is delayed. Many people confuse this with their connection speed, but it's actually quite different. Think of it this way:

Imagine you have a connection speed of 20Mbps. That means you should be able to download 20Mb every second, or 1,200Mb every minute. To make the comparison easy, now imagine this connection has no latency at all (this is technically impossible, but that doesn't matter). After 10 minutes, you should have been able to download 12,000Mb. Now imagine you have a friend that also has a connection speed of 20Mbps, but the connection has a latency of 1,000ms - or 1 second. Your friend can also download 12,000Mb in 10 minutes, but if you start at the same time, their download will finish one second later. However, if your friend had a connection speed of 10Mbps with no latency, they would only have been able to download 6,000Mb in 10 minutes.

Ping and latency refer to the same thing. Ping is a console command used in networking diagnostics to send one packet of data somewhere and back measuring how long it took to return. Over time, it became just as common, if not more common, to use the word to describe the latency it measures.

Does having a high ping (latency) matter?

For most people, probably not. It only really gets noticed when you're trying to do something over the internet that requires precision timing, like some kinds of online gaming. When loading a webpage, or watching a movie though, most people won't notice the difference at all.

Why can't I get Viasat's latency any lower?

Satellites are far away. Really far away. Over 22,000 miles away. When you think about it, it's incredible that we can use them at all. The reason we can, is that the signals traveling between satellites and satellite dishes on the ground travel at the speed of light. Even though that is a mind bogglingly fast speed, it would be impossible for there to be no delay at all. As it is, the latency on satellite internet connections, including Viasat, is usually somewhere around 640ms - a little over half a second. Considering the distance the signal travels, that's already amazingly low.

The bottom line is, if you need a highspeed, reliable internet connection, Viasat satellite internet has you covered. If you need super precise timing, there are some things you can try, but you can only go so far.