For the past eight days, my internet connection has been extremely unreliable. Web pages often load indefinitely, and the problem affects multiple devices over WiFi. I have reset the equipment, tried another router, replaced the Ethernet cable, and had an engineer install a new optical network terminal (ONT).
The engineer claimed the router's supplied cable was not capable of handling my connection and recommended buying a Cat 6e cable rated for 10 Gbps, saying the existing cable was limited to around 500 Mbps. That explanation seems questionable because speed tests have sometimes reached about 1.2 Gbps.
A continuous ping test shows latency starting around 17 ms but occasionally rising above 20,000 ms, with an average over 1,000 ms. I have seen similar results at different times and on different devices, both before and after changing the router and cable.
What should a healthy connection look like during a continuous ping test? How much variation is normal, and what tests would help determine whether this is a faulty cable, unstable WiFi, local congestion, or an issue with the internet provider?
5 Answers
The claim that a normal router cable is limited to 500 Mbps sounds misleading. Common Cat 5e cables can support 1 Gbps and often higher over short, good-quality runs, while the cable’s rating is mainly about negotiated link speed and throughput. It would still be reasonable to try another known-good cable, but the severe latency problem needs separate diagnosis.
WiFi itself may be the problem. Nearby networks, interference, weak signal, or a crowded channel can cause retransmissions and huge delays. Test over Ethernet first. If wired latency stays around the normal baseline while WiFi spikes, change the WiFi channel or band, move closer to the router, and test 5 GHz or 6 GHz if available.
The useful comparison is to ping several points at once: the router’s local address, the provider’s first hop, and a reliable internet address. If the router responds consistently but the outside addresses spike, the issue is beyond your WiFi. If the router itself shows spikes, focus on the wireless network, router, or local cabling. A healthy idle connection should generally stay close to its normal baseline, with only occasional small increases—not averages in the hundreds or thousands of milliseconds.
If the problem appears on multiple devices and remains present on a wired connection after changing the router and ONT, the provider should investigate congestion, signal levels, packet loss, and routing on their side. Area congestion can create long queues and latency over 1,000 ms even when a speed test sometimes reaches the advertised speed. Ask them to check latency and packet loss over time rather than only running a short download test.
A cable can be damaged or poorly terminated even if it is technically rated for enough bandwidth, so replacing it is a cheap test. However, cable speed ratings do not normally explain latency jumping from milliseconds to tens of seconds. If the cable negotiated a lower link speed, you would usually see reduced throughput or a link error, not extreme ping spikes. Run the same ping test from another device, and compare WiFi with a wired connection directly to the router.
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