Like most people, I believed that subscribing to a high-speed plan would allow me to play games without interruption. But boy, was I wrong because even the fastest plan can suffer if your home network isn’t configured properly.
Multiplayer games consume more bandwidth than most online activities. From joining a high-traffic server to streaming your gameplay, an optimized internet connection is a must-have to enjoy lag-free games.
As a gamer myself, I know how frustrating it is to deal with a poor connection, especially when the games lag at the worst possible times. However, if you want to get rid of your spotty connection, read on, because the following tips will help improve your internet for gaming.
So, let’s start:
Tips to Optimize Your Internet for Gaming
Fast download and upload speeds might not be the only factor in improving your gaming experience. For lag-free gaming, sufficient bandwidth, low latency, an ideal connection type, and other factors play an equally important role.
Let’s understand some major factors that contribute to improving your gaming experience.
Choose the Best Internet Connection Type
Internet connections are divided into different types, such as:
- Fiber Internet
- Cable Internet
- 5G Home Internet
- Satellite Internet
- Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) Internet
- Fiber Internet: It is the gold standard when it comes to speeds. It’s the only internet connection type that exclusively delivers symmetrical speeds, i.e., similar upload and download speeds.
It uses fiber-optic cable, a thin strand of glass that delivers the internet signals in the form of light. Since it is the fastest connection type, it’s ideal for gaming, and I too have subscribed to it.
I currently play bandwidth-heavy multiplayer games on WOW! Internet. It offers ample symmetrical speeds to support online games and other household activities simultaneously.
- Cable Internet: It is another reliable option for gamers. It uses coaxial cables, the same technology used to deliver cable TV, to transmit internet signals.
However, cable internet does not provide symmetrical speeds, and during peak times, your bandwidth may be throttled to adjust to the high traffic on a single network.
- 5G Home Internet: It delivers wireless connectivity and sufficient speeds for online gaming. However, wireless signals emitted from the nearest towers can lose strength and ultimately impact your internet speeds.
- DSL and Satellite Internet: Both connections might run light online games, but they’re not recommended at all. Both connections might fail to keep the latency low or provide the bandwidth required for online gaming.
On a side note, I would recommend you reach out to WOW! customer service and subscribe to one of its high-speed and affordable plans. Simply because symmetrical speeds from a fiber connection can significantly elevate your gaming experience.
Use an Ethernet Cable over WiFi
There’s no doubt wireless fidelity (WiFi) is more convenient than an Ethernet cable. However, such convenience comes at a cost.
In a WiFi setup, internet signals travel in the form of radio waves, which are susceptible to their surroundings. WiFi signals emitted from the router can collide with surrounding objects like thick walls or heavy furniture.
Even radio waves emitted from nearby WiFi connections or other electronic devices, such as baby monitors, can influence your internet signals.
In such cases, internet signals may deviate from their path after colliding with objects or lose strength, and as a result, impact your internet speeds.
Now, using an Ethernet cable eliminates such interference and improves the signals’ strength. As internet signals move through the cable, no thick walls, heavy furniture, or surrounding radio waves impact their performance.
That being said, check if your Ethernet cable is broken or twisted in any way, as it might impact its effectiveness.
Fix Your Router Position
I understand not every gamer prefers an Ethernet cable over WiFi. So, here, I will explain how you can ideally place your router to ensure that WiFi signals reach your gaming setup without losing any strength.
- Never place your router near thick walls, as they can be an obstruction in the internet signal’s way.
- Placing your router near heavy furniture can also cause the same effect as thick walls.
- Internet signals from routers placed near windows can interfere with nearby radio waves.
- Placing your router over refrigerators or other electronics might not be a good idea because radio waves can interfere with internet signals.
- Routers should be placed in a central and elevated point in your house for better coverage.
- Make sure your router’s antennas are working properly and placed in an ideal position.
Optimize Your Router
Routers are likely the most important piece of equipment in your internet setup, and that’s why it’s extremely important to optimize them from time to time.
Optimizing your router includes updating it regularly. Just like our smart devices, routers receive software and firmware updates from their manufacturers. The goal is to improve routers’ security, install new features, or address existing safety loopholes.
It’s best to install these updates as soon as your router receives them. However, your router might be outdated if it doesn’t receive updates anymore. And in such a situation, it’s best to replace it and bring a new one with Quality of Service (QoS) features.
With QoS, you can prioritize network traffic and allocate specific bandwidth to certain online activities, i.e., gaming.
Additionally, changing WiFi bands can also improve your network’s performance. Routers use specific frequencies to send and receive data. Most routers use one of the following three frequencies:
- 2.4 GHz – These frequency bands are powerful enough to penetrate thick walls but deliver slower speeds.
- 5 GHz – These frequency bands offer greater speeds than 2.4 GHz but have less penetrating power and are effective for a short range.
- 6 GHz – These frequency bands are the fastest but have the shortest range to send and receive data.
Use a Virtual Private Network
Most people essentially use a virtual private network (VPN) to secure their devices and data stored on them. However, it can be a handy tool for gamers as well.
By connecting to a VPN, gamers can change their devices’ internet protocol (IP) address. And by doing so, they can change their device’s location and join global servers with less traffic.
It’s because when you connect to a VPN, it establishes an encrypted tunnel between its server and your device. The incoming and outgoing data moves through this server. During that process, it also replaces your device’s IP address with a fake one.
That said, free VPNs might not be useful for this purpose. Free VPNs offer limited, high-traffic servers, and connecting to one can slow down your internet connection.
So, subscribing to a fast internet plan alone might not help improve your gaming experience. Switch to the fastest internet connection type and optimize your router, and if possible, always play games by connecting an Ethernet cable.
Also, before winding up, here’s a little suggestion. Take help from a WiFi mesh or extenders if internet signals are weak around your house. Such equipment can amplify the signal strength and help improve internet speeds.