Jitter is the variation in ping (latency) over time. Low jitter means consistent packet delivery; high jitter means packets arrive at uneven intervals, causing choppy audio, stuttering video, and robotic voices. For smooth video calls, aim for jitter under 30ms. To fix high jitter: use Ethernet instead of Wi-Fi (this alone often cuts jitter by 80%). On Wi-Fi, move closer to the router and use 5GHz. Stop competing traffic — pause cloud backups, downloads, and streaming during calls. Enable QoS or Smart Queue Management (SQM) on your router to prevent bufferbloat (where router buffers fill up and cause jitter spikes). Restart your router if jitter is suddenly high. Avoid VPNs during calls unless required — VPN routing adds jitter. If jitter is consistently high on Ethernet, the issue is your ISP.
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