Ask about game lags from any gamer and he will tell you that it is even worse than losing a final game. Apart from internet connection cuts, it is one of the most frustrating things that a gamer experiences. It is really annoying and irritating because no matter how good you are at the game or you pressed the button first, the server won’t react instantly to your request and if your opponents do not have lag then they have better chances of winning the game.
Luckily, there are several things that you can do to reduce lag and improve your online gaming experience that we have mentioned below:
Internet Speed & Bandwidth
For online gaming, you don’t need to have an ultra-high-speed internet of 100-150 Mbps but for seamless and lag-free gaming, you will need an internet connection of at least 15-20 Mbps. A high-speed internet connection is a must when you want to enjoy lag-free online gaming.
But internet speed is not everything. Along with internet speed, you will also need to take other devices in your household that will be using the internet. Since you won’t be living alone, there will be other people in your household using the internet, which would put a strain on the bandwidth and ultimately, slow down your game.
Therefore, you will need to consider your internet connection according to the number of devices in your household and contact your ISP such as BT in the UK.
Latency
If your network has high latency then you will experience lag and stutters during your online gaming. Network latency is basically the time it takes for data to travel between your computer and destination. Latency is measured in milliseconds and the lower the latency, the better your network will be.
You should ask your network provider to provide as good latency as possible. You can also configure your router settings to improve latency since it also depends on network hardware too. Anything below 150 ms is considered good. A latency of 20 ms is considered near-ideal for online gaming.
Location Of Router
The distance between your PC/Console and router also matters when it comes to lag in online gaming. If the router is placed far away from the PC then obviously there would be physical objects in the way such as walls, furniture, floor, and other objects that can obstruct the wireless signals.
If you are experiencing lag then perhaps your WiFi router is placed far away from your PC/Console and you will need to move the router close to the PC/Console in order to enhance the WiFi signal and reduce lag. You can also reduce the signal interferences by other wireless devices such as wireless speakers by turning them off or taking them to any other room.
Background Apps
If you have any application or website running in the background such as Netflix, YouTube or you are downloading something then it will slow down your internet speed which will ultimately affect your ping and latency. If you have any internet extensive website or application running the background then it is better to close them to improve your gaming experience
You can also try to reduce the number of devices connected to the network simultaneously. Every device uses a portion of bandwidth when it connects to the network. You can either disconnect them or put them on Airplane mode.
Router
Sometimes the problem lies with the router, either it is old or it is not properly configured. If the router is too old then the best choice that you have is to replace your router by buying a new one but if you have a new router then you might need to configure it.
You can visit the default gateway address like 192.168.1.254 and then search for gaming settings according to your router model and configure it. If you don’t have much technical knowledge then you can take help from a technical person in this regard.
Direct Connection
A direct connection between the router and PC is the fastest and this is another move that you can make to improve your gaming experience. You can connect your PC to the router directly using an Ethernet cable. This will remove all the problems related to the WiFi network and as long as your router isn’t the problem, it will lower your ping and you will see the difference for yourself how using an ethernet cable can help reduce lag.
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