Does online gaming slow down the internet?

Gaming online is exciting when you know you have the ability to have quick reactions. Losing to an opponent fairly is bearable but losing because of a stuttering internet connection is almost unacceptable.

Online gaming requires data to be sent upstream to effectively send data to a game server every time you input any action in order to have an interesting and successful gaming session. A few things could come in between this making your internet connection slow down but solving some or all of these could improve your gaming. This means thatit will only be your skills that can hold you back from winning a game!

Having Wi-Fi to connect to the internet

As already stated, since Wi-Fi came around, online gaming has been made more interesting but it might bring up some issues while gaming as when you are using Wi-Fi it is more prone to having interferences.

So, online gaming can slow down the internet because of some interferencesthat can interrupt your Wi-Fi.

 First, if you place your router far from your gaming system you may bump into some issues since your internet has more distance to cover and possible barriers like walls to go through. So as to not experience slower speeds when online gaming, you could bring the router close to your gaming system, place it on a higher surface or install a Wi-Fi booster to improve the speeds. Also, the best way of connecting your gaming system to the internet is through an Ethernet cable, as it is the best way to offer a stable and reliable connection with close to no interference. Having an outdated router too can be another reason why the internet may be slow when gaming. The router might have issues process the packets being transmitted thus causing a queuing delay and thereby increases the latency which is how fast data moves between your system and the internet. Low latency causes less delay which is ideal for online gaming.

Another way online gaming can slow down the internet is streaming video while gaming. Since online gaming requires data to be sent upstream (uploading), streaming videos can put a strain on this. Most clients when choosing an internet service provider pay attention to the download speeds as that is what will be used for the regular tasks like surfing the internet but for gamers and streamers the upload speed is what matters most. Most games run on an up link of between 1 to 3mbps and adding on video streaming will mean sending more data out which needs higher speeds.

Having a slow uplink in this case can be very frustrating when you are gaming online. To solve this, you could consider upgrading the package you have with your ISP putting into consideration how you can maximize upstream bandwidth. However, the quality of your connection should always be the top priority. It is advisable to invest in a connection that is reliable, fast enough and has low latency upstream connection.

Downloading games or patches

Downloading the games or even patches can eat up a lot of your data where by you have to be careful if your internet service provider has data caps, here you would rather pick ISP’s that do not have data caps or have a large data cap to help maintain the internet speed. However you can change your download settings so that patches or any other updates do not download automatically taking up data.

Faster connections help with gaming in general as well making it easy to do other things. For instance, bandwidth is the total amount of data that flows at a given time between your gaming system and the internet. The larger the bandwidth the faster the data flow. So you should aim for bandwidth appropriate for a given game. Also it depends on the amount of devices connected on a single line and what they are doing. You can block some to increase your speeds while gaming.

Also, online gaming can slow down the internet when your internet service provider does not prioritize your connection. If your internet service provider does not use the appropriate and most effective route then you are prone to experience high latency disrupting your internet speed while gaming. It all starts with your connection between your system and your router then the data sent must find its way to the appropriate game server and then come back with the same exact path. If you do not experience this smoothly, you can choose to prioritize your game traffic.

However, remember that it does not only all come down to the speed, the most important factor is to ensure you have a stable connection. With this, you will be able to handle and deal with most of the problems you would have with speed.

Conclusion

In general, gaming can affect the internet speed in different ways like causing a lag while you are gaming.  All these problems can be fixed very easily though as I have illustrated in this article.  Also, as soon as you prioritize the stability of your connection reducing gaming traffic you are in for a good ride.

FAQs

1. What is latency and how does it affect the internet speed during gaming?

Latency generally means delay. It is how fast data flows from the computer or system to the internet. When you are gaming you would rather have low latency as this in turn has less delay thus making the connection fast and you can send a reaction in high speeds without facing any trouble with lagging.

2. Is online gaming using Wi-Fi recommended?

I would recommend going for an Ethernet cable as opposed to Wi-Fi connection as they are prone to having a number of interferences. Also, if there are many devices connected to the Wi-Fi you will definitely have slower speeds which could be frustrating when you are gaming. If you can get Ethernet cable, you would rather go for that.