Lag is a gaming nightmare. If you are an online gamer, you know what we mean.
If latency is high, you will experience lag.
There are various ways that lag manifests itself on your computer when you’re gaming. Your online gaming experience will suffer if your home network internet connection and internet speed are suffering.
How to Identify Lag
Here are some ways you might be experiencing lag on your PC:
- Programs open slowly
- The operating system takes a long time to load or shut down
- Games, applications and graphics flicker, stutter and frame rates drop
- Browser windows open slowly, taking forever to load or sending error messages
- Saving files and download/upload speed of internet connection decreases
Not all of the above gaming lag instances are direct issues with your gaming console. Instead, you probably have a poor internet connection.
Poor internet connection is the result of a weak Wi-Fi signal and slow Wi-Fi speed.
So, to get your ideal gaming experience, you need a stronger Wi-Fi signal and faster Wi-Fi speed to delays when gaming.
Here’s how to fix lag issues:
5 Ways to Reduce & Fix Lag
Here are 5 tasks to make sure that you reduce lag from your gaming life. These are things that you should regularly check and do:
1. Check your Wi-Fi connection
Try moving your router to a more central location in your home. Reboot your router. If this doesn’t help your connection, then maybe your Wi-Fi signal is struggling to reach your gaming console or wherever you are with your PC.
If your Wi-Fi signal isn’t reaching far enough to your gaming devices, you will experience lag.
Use Wi-Fi extenders to extend your wireless signal and therefore internet connection to every corner in your home.
2. Boost your Wi-Fi signal & speed
There’s a difference between a Wi-Fi signal that doesn’t reach far enough and a weak Wi-Fi signal. So, if your signal is weak, you need to boost it. Always keep in mind that if your signal suffers, your speed suffers.
Here is a list of things to try for boosting your Wi-Fi signal (which will help boost your internet speed):
- Switch from the common 2.4GHz band to the 5GHz band (hello Wi-Fi 6!)
- Re-position your router’s antennas if it has them
- Upgrade your router to a modern model (with one with antennas)
- Look to your Wi-Fi network management platform (more on managed Wi-Fi later on)
3. Improve your gaming connectivity with powerline or MoCA adapters
Improve your gaming by improving how you connect to the internet. Wi-Fi is great, but wireless internet risks lag. That’s why a wired connection is perfect for gaming. Because you get a consistent, reliable internet connection.
You can achieve a “wired” connection with powerline network adapters and MoCA network adapters to make your Wi-Fi better for gaming.
You can create a powerline network using powerline adapters to get fast, stable internet every time you game online.
You can create a coaxial network using MoCA adapters to get the same results.
The difference is in the wiring that each adapter uses.
For either, all you have to do is a three-step setup:
Step 1: Plug one of the powerline adapters into an outlet near your router.
Step 2: Plug the other powerline adapter into an outlet near to your PC or gaming console.
Step 3: Connect your PC or gaming console to the powerline adapter nearby.
You will still need an Ethernet cable to complete this connection, but when you are gaming, you are stationary anyways. It’s the trade-off for solid internet connection.
4. Reduce bandwidth for other programs and applications
You can reduce lag by reducing the amount of bandwidth other things take up. Try these two things:
- Switch from a common band like 2.4GHz band to the 5GHz band
- Close out of other applications and programs that you don’t need while gaming
A Wi-Fi manager can help reduce congestion and lag while keeping your network secure. This will help optimize your gaming experience.
5. Manage your home network
The last (but the most important) thing that you should do to reduce gaming lag is secure and manage your Wi-Fi network.