How to Calculate Latency Time
When you type the name of your favorite website in your browser's address bar, your computer sends out a request. This request, in the form of a data packet, may visit multiple Web servers before reaching its destination. Each journey between a server is called a "hop." The amount of time it takes to make a hop between two servers is "latency." Low latency values are important, especially during online gaming. You can calculate your average latency using a built-in Windows utility.
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Instructions
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Click the Windows "Start" menu button and type "cmd." An icon named "cmd.exe" will appear in the Start menu.
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Click that icon to open the Command window. Here you can type Windows commands.
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Type the following in the window:
tracert microsoft.com
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Press "Enter." Windows will issue a Trace Route command. This command sends out data packets and traces the routes of those packets between all servers between your computer and a destination server. In this example, Microsoft.com is the destination. When the Trace Route finishes, results return in the Command window.
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Review the results. You will see a table containing rows and columns. Each row represents a hop between two servers. The first column in a row shows a numeric value, such as 10 milliseconds. This is the time that it took for a packet of data to travel between two servers. You may see quite a few rows in the table. Sometimes your data packets travel between many servers.
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Add the values in the first column, and divide the sum by the number of values. For example, if you have three rows containing 10 milliseconds, 20 milliseconds and 30 milliseconds, the sum is 60. Divide 60 by 3 to get 20. That will be your average latency.
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Tips & Warnings
The Trace Route command may take time to complete. The amount of time depends on the number of hops your data packet takes. Repeat the test using any destination to calculate the latency between you and that destination.
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