A stable internet connection is essential for gaming or you could experience lagging. In most cases, a lag is due to high latency. This is the amount of time a signal takes to get from your device to a remote server and back again. If latency is too high, there will be a delay between your action and the server’s reaction. It can be very frustrating when you’re ready to serve a final strike, the game gets jerky, you lose control of your character, and your opponent wins. You can achieve a stable WiFi connection and reduce lagging in a number of ways.
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Many factors play a role in latency. This includes your bandwidth, router, location of the server, etc. Data packets often have a long route from the source to the destination. The longer the journey and the more stops, the more delay you experience. The problem may lie in the way your home WiFi is set up. For example, your router must be in the optimal location for the best connection. Every home has spots where the signal is better or worse than others. If you want low latency, all you may need to do is move your device closer to the router.
A caveat if you want to know how to share WiFi from your Mac, is that it must be connected via ethernet and not WiFi. You can find out how to share WiFi from Mac to iPhone or vice versa. If an ethernet connection isn’t handy, you can learn how to turn Mac into WIFI hotspot without ethernet by using Bluetooth. If you want to know how to fix high latency, you can visit Setapp’s article to find out more. With it, you can also discover various third-party apps you can use to verify that your internet is working at top speed, and more.
If you wonder how to lower latency, you can plug your computer into your router with an ethernet cable. You will experience a stable WiFi connection and reduce lagging.
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You may ask “Why am I lagging with good internet? This could be because your computer hardware isn’t powerful enough to handle the games you’re trying to play. Check the game’s system requirements and compare them to the specifications of your computer. If you want to know how to fix high latency, you may have to upgrade certain computer components such as the CPU.
To enjoy playing games, you must have enough bandwidth. Too many devices on a network demanding limited resources can quickly use up bandwidth. If several other devices in your home are streaming videos while you’re trying to play games, the router may have to interrupt the connection to your device to send incoming data to the other devices.
Most modern routers can handle many connected devices at the same time. However, it is still probably best to reduce other resource-intensive activities such as downloading updates on other devices while you’re playing games.
A ping is the signal you send when you press a button to get a character to act. This signal has to travel to the server. An average and acceptable ping rate is 50 to 100 milliseconds. If the ping rate is more than 150 milliseconds, you are likely to have lagging. Playing on a server that’s in your local area or country helps to keep your ping rate and internet lag low.
Certain types of internet connections have high latency. You may need to invest in fiber which offers a low latency connection. Even slower fiber plans offer low latency so you don’t have to sign up for the most expensive plan.