In simpler terms, jitter is the fluctuation in the time it takes for data packets to travel from the sender to the receiver. A low jitter value indicates that the packets are arriving at a consistent rate, while a high jitter value indicates that the packets are arriving at varying rates.

“Great!” you think. “My internet is lightning fast.”

Video streams may freeze or pixelate as the device struggles to reassemble data packets that arrived out of order.

Run three tests in a row. If your jitter jumps from 3ms to 45ms to 12ms, that instability is the problem.

Keep in mind that jitter is just one aspect of network performance, and a speed test typically reports other metrics, such as download and upload speeds, ping (latency), and packet loss.