Improve network latency
HOW TO IMPROVE ONLINE GAMING AND VOICE CHAT.
WHEN MOST PEOPLE talk about internet performance, they talk in terms of bandwidth – that is, how many kilobits or megabits per second the link can handle. But as any hardcore online gamer knows, there’s a second measure of internet performance: latency, a.k.a. ping times, a.k.a lag.
Latency is a measure of the responsiveness of the internet connection. Where bandwidth is “how many bits of data can I send per second?”, latency is “once I send data, how long does it take to get to its destination?”
Latency doesn’t really matter that much for web browsing or video streaming. Those things don’t need rapid fire response to user inputs. But it does matter for ‘real time’ services. That includes things like voice and video chat, where high (meaning bad) latency will cause a delay between when the words are said and heard; and online gaming, where poor latency will cause a lag between when a player does something (like move or take a shot) and when the other players receive that information.
So, if you’re someone to whom latency is important, what can you do to improve it? That’s what we’re here to talk about.
THE LIMITS OF WHAT YOU CAN DO
We should preface this guide by saying that there is only so much you as a user can do. You can only control what happens on your home network. Once the data leaves your home network, it’s up to the internet gods to decide how long it takes to get to its destination.
That will be determined by several factors. First, even travelling at the speed of light, data takes time to cross to the other side of the world – at light speed data takes about 4.9 milliseconds (ms) for every 1000km travelled along the cables. And second, to get there it has to go through a series of routers along the way, and each router will add a few milliseconds to the travel time as it has to process the data and figure out how to send it on to get to its destination. The further away you are from the destination server, the more travel time and likely the more routers you have to go through, so the higher the latency will be.
TESTING LATENCY
The most common way to test latency is with a
ping test. Many games have an in built tool that will tell you the ping time, in milliseconds (ms), to the server, but if you want to do it yourself you can use the Windows command line.
To bring up the command line, go to the Windows search bar and type cmd or command to bring up the command line window. Then, in the window, type: ping ipaddress/URL Where ipaddress/URL is the IP address of the web address of the server you want to test the latency to.
You can also get a more comprehensive report, detailing the ping times to each router on the way, using the trace route command:
tracert ipaddress/URL
REDUCING LATENCY
So now we get to it: how do you reduce latency at home? Let’s look at a few of the most useful ways.
PLUG IN
Wireless communications add latency to all your digital communications. This is true both in your home on the WiFi network and through the type of internet connection you use.
So start by plugging in if you can. Connect your consoles or PCs to your router using Ethernet cables rather than WiFi. If you have the option, use landline internet services like FTTH, FTTN, cable or ADSL in preference to 4G internet for gaming. They will make a big difference.
VPN OFF
Many people use VPNs for security, which is laudable, but they can have a negative impact on performance, especially if you choose the wrong server. If you’re trying to play on online game with someone in Australia, but you’re connected to a US VPN server, then your data will have to travel all the way across the Pacific and back again to get to its destination, which would be horrendous. In theory, a VPN could improve ping times by forcing a more efficient route across the internet, but in reality VPNs are generally only going to add to your lag, so turn them off before any gaming session.
APPLY QOS
This one is more technical, and you’ll have to log into your router’s control panel to access it. Most routers have the ability to prioritise certain types of traffic over others. You can tell your router, for example, to send World of Warcraft data before any other traffic that might be queued. This is called quality of service (QoS), and it’s most useful where lots of users are competing for limited internet bandwidth, causing congestion.
Unfortunately, there’s no universal guide to setting up QoS, since every router manufacturer implements it differently. We’d recommend consulting the help guides from your router manufacturer to learn how to log into your router and configure QoS for that router.
CHOOSE THE RIGHT SERVER
It’s less common now, but some online games still allow you to select which server you’d like to connect to. Ideally, you want to choose one that’s in the same country as you, then ones that are physically closer to where you are.
There is a common exception for Australians: in general you probably want to choose a West Coast US server over an Asian server. Although the Asian server may be physically closer, we have much better internet connections to the US than Asia, making performance generally better (and also there’s the added benefit of a common language).
CLOSE OTHER APPS
Sometimes latency is a local issue. If you have too many apps running on your PC, or if you have a thousand browser tabs open, then it might be giving your PC a digital hernia and slowing down its ability to send and receive data. Shut some stuff down and see if that makes things better.
REBOOT (OR REPLACE) YOUR ROUTER
Much like PCs, routers occasionally need a reboot to clear out the crud. Give the router a quick on-off cycle before a gaming session to flush the pipes, so to speak.
We should also note here that not all routers are created equal. A router with more processing power is able to pump through more data without delay. If you’re having real issues – especially if your router is an old one – it might be worth replacing it.
USE A GAMING SERVICE?
Yes, there is a semi-sarcastic question mark in that subhead, because this solution can be a mixed bag. In recent years, a number of ‘gaming accelerator’ services have cropped up, such as WTFast ( www.wtfast.com) and Psychz Global Game Accelerator ( www.
psychz.net). These are essentially specialised VPN services that claim to provide more efficient routing and data protection for gaming traffic.
Our experience with them is at best mixed. In some cases we’ve seen a very small amount of improvement, and in some cases they’ve actually made the latency notably worse. We’ve never seen any dramatic improvement when using one. In short, use any free trial available and test the service before signing up.