Why is my ping flickering between numbers in online games (some, not all)?

[aafusc2988]

When I play Rising Storm/Red Orchestra 2, I can see my ping flicker rapidly between two numbers, such as 72-76 and back to 72. I don't notice much performance issues from this, but am curious why it is doing this and what it means.

It does this in Killing Floor 2 also, from like 52-56-52 etc. I can see it flicker several times in an instance between whatever the numbers are.

 

[c4s2k3]

Perfectly normal unless you are seeing huge increases that last for some time. Some applications do a better job of smoothing out the measurement so the value displayed to you does not change as often but it is still, in fact, changing. Nothing to worry about.