Delay due to high ping can be a serious disadvantage avid online gamer. If you shoot and the target is no longer where it should be, or if your swing registers long after the ball has passed the third strike, you are out.
I wouldn’t call low ping an advantage. It’s more of an expectation, a requirement for online play, for example quality internet connection. with connection types and different routers when available, you shouldn’t put up with lag that makes your game less of an enjoyable experience.
If your ping is high, there are a few ways to slow down your connection considerably online game support without frequent or continuous interruptions. It’s important to start by understanding ping and where yours is. Then, you can adapt or improve your setup to reduce your ping.
what is ping
Simply put, ping is a test of latency, or how long it takes your computer or console to send data from a particular server on the internet.
Think of it as a courier. When you use the Internet for anything, you’re sending a courier to get the data you need to stream a show, use an app, or play an online game.
In this sense, your internet speed usually represents how much data it can carry at once in megabits per second (Mbps). At the same time, ping tells you how long the trip took — the latency — in milliseconds.
For online gaming, you’ll want to aim for a ping of around 50 milliseconds or lower. Over 50ms isn’t terrible, but you definitely want to get below 100ms. Latency can then become a problem. Good speed test it will show where your ping is.
There are a number of free speed tests that can give you a closer look at how your home network is performing.
First, take a speed test
Better yet, do several of them — and at different times of the day if you can. Your goal is simply to get a rough idea of what your average speed and ping looks like before you start making changes.
Often, the right set of tests can point you in the right direction when you’re trying to speed things up. For example, running speed tests on a computer connected to a modem and then comparing those results to what you see when connected to a router can help you figure out if it’s time to get a new one.
Just want to measure the ping to a specific site or server? Windows users can do this by opening a Command Prompt and typing “ping” followed by a space and then the URL or IP address.
There are many free speed test tools available on the internet these days. With over 25 billion speed test claims since 2006, probably the most popular Ookla Speedtest — it’s fast, simple, and easy to use, and I like that it monitors the server nearby that you’re using. (Ookla is owned by the same parent company as CNET, Ziff Davis.) The SpeedOf.me speed test Another good option is to include delay measurement, and if you want SpeedSmart’s speed test allows you to measure ping to servers all over the world.
For example, I was able to measure 30ms latency to a server about 750 miles away from me. New Yorkthen 290ms to a server in Sydney, Australia, about 10,000 miles away. Distance makes a big difference.
Whichever speed test you use, start fresh by restarting all your hardware first — then Ethernet cable and connect your laptop or console directly to your router. From there, a speed test will tell you what your ping looks like before your router starts transmitting a signal in your home. After that, you can run several Wi-Fi speed tests in different parts of the house to see how much the numbers change.
If you switch from wireless to wired, you’ll see higher speeds in speed tests and a slight drop in ping. How big the difference is depends on your router and your connection speed.
Play connected whenever possible
After unplugging it at my house and doing a wireless speed test at close range, the ping increased by about 20%. If I tried the wireless connection at a longer distance, it would probably go higher.
Good powerline adapters can provide speeds and latency close to what you’d expect from a direct, wired connection to your router.
This is why most online gamers will tell you to use a wired connection whenever possible. If your computer or game console is in the same room as your router, that’s fine, but if you’re using a bedroom or back room for gaming, then the wired approach sounds less feasible.
One potential solution mesh router systems. A mesh router isn’t as good as connecting directly to a router, but a wired Ethernet connection from a mesh hub to your gaming system will be better than a completely wireless connection.
Check these cables
A quick note while we’re talking about the importance of a wired connection — it’s also helpful to make sure you’re using the most up-to-date cables that support it. the highest internet speed of the day. Just don’t expect them to do much in terms of ping.
In fact, during recent speed tests, I tested both a 300Mbps fiber connection and a 50Mbps cable connection using multiple speed test services at different times of the day.
I ran each round of tests four times — once with the laptop connected to the modem via Wi-Fi, then again using a wired connection to the modem with each of the three most common Ethernet cables: Cat 5, Cat 5e, and Cat 6. Cat 6 cable on both networks connection returned the highest average download speed, but cable type had no noticeable effect on ping, with all three averaging out. 2 ms apart.
Again, Cat 5e or Cat 6 rated Ethernet cables are your best bet, as they are designed to handle speeds as high as 1000 or even 10,000 Mbps. Older Cat 5 cables aren’t designed for speeds higher than 100Mbps and don’t do much to prevent interference because the signals travel through the copper wires inside. If you use such cables, then it is worth getting new ones.
Optimize your wireless connection
Proper cabling is nice, but maybe you’re playing games on your phone, tablet, or other device that doesn’t easily benefit from a wired connection. In that case, upgrading to a better router might be the right choice — but you’ll want to make sure you’re getting the most out of your current setup first.
To return our metaphorical data courier, stronger signal strength in your home makes the first and last part of its journey easier and faster, which can help lower your ping.
Follow to do this basic best practices for optimizing your network’s signal strength. Make sure the router is in a good, open area away from immediate obstacles. Wi-Fi signals bend downward, so the higher you can get it off the ground, the better.
The angle of the antennas can also make a difference. If possible, try to rock them at 45-degree intervals: one straight up, the next diagonal, the next straight back. This may take some experimentation, but with a few quick tweaks you can find a more stable connection.
After you’ve done everything you can to optimize your router’s performance, you may want to run a few recent speed tests to see how much of a difference your efforts make. If you can’t get your ping below 50ms for a regular speed test to a server several hundred miles away, it’s probably time to upgrade your hardware or ISP.
Consider upgrading your equipment
It is being updated good game manager can definitely help. Along with fast speed and powerful processors, it can make top-end options prioritize game traffic above all to prevent your roommate’s Netflix from slowing you down.
Others promise to route your signal to the server where your game is hosted in the fastest possible way. However, before you spend hundreds on new networking hardware, you’ll want to make sure you understand the other factors that can affect things in your home.
Focusing on a new router
As I said, a fancy gaming router can help ensure your home connection is optimized for gaming. If you’re thinking of upgrading, start looking for a feature called Quality of Service. This will allow you to tell the router to prioritize gaming traffic, which is handy when you’re sharing bandwidth with roommates or family members.
For many, spending hundreds on a high-end gaming router like this is probably overkill. That said, there are features worth shopping for.
Most gaming routers are aimed at hardcore gamers willing to spend big on their setup, so they’re not casual investments. The prices of the current generation models usually vary between about $169 for Up to $500 and above. That’s a lot for a little less ping.
So if I’m struggling with something that’s at least five years old, I’d rather try to improve the network conditions in my home with a power line adapter or a more modest router upgrade.
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