unfortunately ping isn't a very reliable check
if I ping riot's current server, I would get a response of about 40 ms, as I would with any site on the internet, yes, even google
yet, if I join a game, the waiting ping is 116 at the least and often jumps to 200 as a stable ping, then while unstable (which happens randomly based upon the distance between players and the variables of my own connetion), it will spike to up to 7k ms ping...that's worse than satellite internet
with a centralized location, even with competitors all over the country, there should no longer be random disconnects based upon ping discrepencies...at least I hope so because the more centered the location, the more equidistant the travel of information
for instance, imagine if the speed from west coast to center and east coast to center is 100 ms, then, there is only a 200 ms difference maximum between both pings
compare that to a server that has to send information from the farthest possible location to each individual location based upon their own connection
the 15 MS lucky residents(not a targeted negativity for the poster/residents in this case) will receive instant feedback from the server and almost never drop out a connection because their connection is basically only sending instead of receiving
every other location then has to receive information from the server and send it back with an equal delay and varying reroutes based upon the network structure and rerouting occuring based upon internet traffic in the areas
a decent example is this: the new fiora(not complaining) can parry a lot of effects. if a person with 15 ms pings the server, they have a 15 ms response time, or in other words, their reaction is received from the server at minimal 30 ms + human reaction time and prediction, however, someone that would be on the east coast (with a 120 ping) would have a 240 ms delay from the initial response the server receives, effectively making them 210 ms behind the server and much more subject to reroutes and the complicated issues thereof
but it's all a subject of location location location
).