The condition of suffering from high latency on a network connection. When a system is lagging, packets are taking too long to travel between the client and the server, resulting in stuttering video, delayed audio, or delayed keystrokes. It is typically caused by network congestion, poor signal strength, or an overloaded server.
I can't SSH into the router right now, the connection is lagging so hard my keystrokes take three seconds to show up.
Related terms
Latency
The time it takes for a packet of data to travel from its source to its destination.
Jitter
The variation in the delay of received packets or the deviation of a digital signal from its precise timing.
Round-trip time
The total time required for a data packet to travel from a source to a destination and for the acknowledgment to return.