How to Optimize Your Internet Connection for Gaming

[Grzegorz Kubera]

You can have a super fast gaming PC with an RTX 3080 onboard and other speedy components. And yet, if you have a slow connection, your online gaming capabilities will be severely limited. Here are a few things you can try that can improve your existing connection.

Read the full article here.

https://www.techspot.com/article/2157-optimize-gaming-internet-connection/

 

[Buhaj]

I guess step 1 is to move from the US to Europe.

Really though, it also depends on where the game server is I suppose - I get 10 ms ping on speed test, but in-game it's usually 30-40 ms.

 

[loki1944]

Forget it on satellite internet.

 

[Lionvibez]

Forget it on satellite internet.

complete waste of time with 500+ ms pings on GEO Sats.

You would have better luck on a LEO Sat like Starlink.

The most important rule on that list is to not game on wifi.

 

[Buhaj]

The most important rule on that list is to not game on wifi.

Can't agree, I've been doing that for a couple of years and ping/drop rates were the same as via Ethernet.

 

[Lionvibez]

Can't agree, I've been doing that for a couple of years and ping/drop rates were the same as via Ethernet.

anecdotal example doesn't mean anything

Ethernet > Wifi for gaming all day everyday and that is a fact not opinion.

 

[gerjy5w]

What if you could only choose comcast because they serve the entire region?

 

[Puiu]

anecdotal example doesn't mean anything

Ethernet > Wifi for gaming all day everyday and that is a fact not opinion.

It depends, as long as you have a good router and you know what you are doing the difference is very small (1-3ms difference). The ping to a private cs:go server I play on is sub 20ms, maybe sub 10ms on a good day. In MM I usually maintain sub 40ms ping, but it depends on the Valve server I connect to.

 

[tomkaten]

A hundred ways to fix crappy wi-fi or connect ethernet. Sounds about right

 

[Lionvibez]

It depends, as long as you have a good router and you know what you are doing the difference is very small (1-3ms difference). The ping to a private cs:go server I play on is sub 20ms, maybe sub 10ms on a good day. In MM I usually maintain sub 40ms ping, but it depends on the Valve server I connect to.

That is only one measurement what about the jitter on wired vs wireless?

 

[rrwards]

Seems ridiculous to say "make sure you're on wifi instead of ethernet for better latency" when the previous table showed an at most maximum difference of 5ms. No one will notice that.

 

[wiyosaya]

Can't agree, I've been doing that for a couple of years and ping/drop rates were the same as via Ethernet.

Ultimately, Ping is going to be limited by the speed of the connection from the ISP. For example, if you have a 100 Mbps internet connection and 1000 base-T ethernet, the bottleneck will be the internet connection. Ping, like the speed of the connection to the internet, no matter how you are connected to your home network, I.e., ethernet or WiFi, will be limited by the 100 Mbps internet connection.

 

[Paultimate]

Most of this is snakeoil. Why did you spend time on this article?

If youre too dumb to understand regions in Aus are going to be slower than your own NA backyard, youre not going to be subscribed to techspot or any tech site in the first place! Who is this article for? And if you are on an Aus server while in NA while subbed to a tech site, you probably have a very good reason. Whats the point of this? Youre trying to sell sand to the ocean.

Aint no one going to do any of that other crap either. Change DNS? Really??? Run ethernet to my laptop while trying to game comfortably on the couch or in bed for 5% (max!, this isnt 2005 anymore) ping gain? Oh hell no.

if you want faster ping (not the same as 'faster internet' where people associate download speed), then either get optical, move to eu, or hope to be chosen by StarLink.

 

[brucek]

Aint no one going to do any of that other crap either. Change DNS? Really??? Run ethernet to my laptop while trying to game comfortably on the couch or in bed for 5% (max!, this isnt 2005 anymore) ping gain? Oh hell no.

My favorite combination of loud, confident, and wrong.

If your local ISP is mis-managing their DNS servers, or intentionally managing them to send you to video servers that are overloaded so that you'll keep buying their video package, then changing DNS is a procedure that will take less than five minutes and produce results you can easily feel the difference. You might also do it because you prefer services that automatically null-route known ad servers and trackers, and/or because you have a preference in who you want to have the log of every domain you're accessing.

And running a cable has certainly made a difference many times for me, although usually in the context of downloads vs. game pings. Still it all depends on what is going on with the home wifi connection, and there are plenty of sub-optimal ones out there.

 

[Lionvibez]

Most of this is snakeoil. Why did you spend time on this article?

If youre too dumb to understand regions in Aus are going to be slower than your own NA backyard, youre not going to be subscribed to techspot or any tech site in the first place! Who is this article for? And if you are on an Aus server while in NA while subbed to a tech site, you probably have a very good reason. Whats the point of this? Youre trying to sell sand to the ocean.

Aint no one going to do any of that other crap either. Change DNS? Really??? Run ethernet to my laptop while trying to game comfortably on the couch or in bed for 5% (max!, this isnt 2005 anymore) ping gain? Oh hell no.

if you want faster ping (not the same as 'faster internet' where people associate download speed), then either get optical, move to eu, or hope to be chosen by StarLink.

I don't know any serious gamers that game on a laptop on wifi on a couch.

Sounds more like casual gamers.

 

[Gezzer]

No mention of Bufferbloat?!?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bufferbloat

My community based ISP gave me a free bump up from 20mbs to 30 and my connection went to crap. Used DSLreports speed test which shows bufferbloat and it was extremely bad. Dialed my speed back by a hair on both up and download and problem was solved. So I'm pretty much capped at 30mbs unless I go to a custom firmware with my router.

http://www.dslreports.com/speedtest

 

[Puiu]

That is only one measurement what about the jitter on wired vs wireless?

if there was jitter I would have noticed it since I play CS since almost 2000. I'm very sensitive to bad FPS, jitter, lag, bad mouse etc. I did have jitter and issues on an older router that the ISP gave me a few years ago which I changed.

If you are wondering, I'm running now a TP-LINK Archer AX1500 AX10 and I also bought an Intel AX200 wi-fi 6 card for the laptop so both are wi-fi 6. The router is about 7-8 meters away in the hallway (laptop in bedroom) and I'm getting over 660Mbps up/down and 3-5 ping in speedtest (I should be able to get 1Gbps or close to that on cable)

 

[Lionvibez]

if there was jitter I would have noticed it since I play CS since almost 2000. I'm very sensitive to bad FPS, jitter, lag, bad mouse etc. I did have jitter and issues on an older router that the ISP gave me a few years ago which I changed.

If you are wondering, I'm running now a TP-LINK Archer AX1500 AX10 and I also bought an Intel AX200 wi-fi 6 card for the laptop so both are wi-fi 6. The router is about 7-8 meters away in the hallway (laptop in bedroom) and I'm getting over 660Mbps up/down and 3-5 ping in speedtest (I should be able to get 1Gbps or close to that on cable)

My point is not if there was jitter or not.

The jitter is less on a wired connection and generally more stable pings since you don't have to deal with interference. And all the other things that affect wifi.

You're experience while great doesn't change the fact Wired > Wifi.

Facts are facts!

 

[KernTUG]

Ubiquiti wifi and a 500/500 mbit fiber connection in Denmark for 30 dollars, I'm all set.
Whoever says no gaming on wifi; lol. Probably american,

 

[DonquixoteIII]

There are certain laws of physics, y'know, like the one that postulates that nothing goes faster than light. Ethernet does move at near-light speed over fiber, but for every 'hop' there is a latency cost. And the tool 'ping', while useful. is just a measure of the total latencies of a given route for that attempt. Nothing says that the next time you will get the same route.

Reuters deploys equipment that guarantees the endpoints to its service will all get the same information at the (exact) same time. by delaying nearer endpoints to the same latencies as the farthest endpoint.

Stock companies that run algorithmic trading move their servers to be as close to the target servers as possible. Co-lo prices for the NYSE are rather high...

Moar bandwidth does not make latency improve.

Wired and wireless both operate at near-light speed. There might or might not be a latency difference between a given router and another given router, whether wireless OR wired. Suck it and see, or look at the specs very closely.

Best method to assure low ping times is to move closer to your server. Next best is to choose a gaming environment that takes the Reuters approach, and equalizes the latency times of the endpoints.

 

[Athlonite]

What if you could only choose comcast because they serve the entire region?

Then you're screwed like every other ConCrap customer

 

[Athlonite]

Don't forget to mention that it doesn't matter how fast your connection is to your ISP as soon as anything goes outside your country you have absolutely no control over the routing of your packets you can complain to your ISP but they may or may not do anything about it (specially when you live in a tiny country at the bottom of the world aka New Zealand)

 

[Lionvibez]

Ubiquiti wifi and a 500/500 mbit fiber connection in Denmark for 30 dollars, I'm all set.
Whoever says no gaming on wifi; lol. Probably american,

Not saying gaming isn't doable on wifi just that its better wired.

When given the choice between the two I would always choose a wired connection. My usage is on a desktop computer so its my personal preference if you are gaming on a laptop which is something I don't do then you live with it.

I'm in Canada on a 1Gbps Fiber connection.

 

[Austinturner]

So your limited test data (multiple tests averaged or just spot tests?) showed at most 5ms difference to ping on wifi vs ethernet and speeds capping out at about 200Mbps (perhaps two orders of magnitude more bandwidth than a game uses!) and your conclusion is that you shouldn’t use wifi, then when making recommendations you didn’t test any of your proposed improvements to see if they made a measurable difference.

If techspot actually want to build a reputable publication, Steve and Tim can’t be the only ones that take the time to gather data to back up their statements and recommendations.

 

[Puiu]

Not saying gaming isn't doable on wifi just that its better wired.

When given the choice between the two I would always choose a wired connection. My usage is on a desktop computer so its my personal preference if you are gaming on a laptop which is something I don't do then you live with it.

I'm in Canada on a 1Gbps Fiber connection.

There is a point where you will just get diminishing returns and you won't see a difference between wi-fi and wired. I think we are there today.