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How do I stop lagging in games?

Tags:
  • Routers
  • mbps
  • Lag
  • Games
  • Internet
Last response: in Networking
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September 23, 2014 6:44:12 PM

Whenever I go online to watch a movie it doesn't load fast enough, and whenever I play league of legends, I lag. I feel like this is due to my brother upstairs playing his games and Skyping simultaneously. I'm pretty sure its him; I only have internet issues when he's on doing his thing. But what can I do besides kick him off? I have 2 ideas...

1. Upgrade 10 year old router (Airport extreme base station A1034) or network card
2. Get a higher download speed. I currently have 10 mbps.

Any ideas?

More about : stop lagging games

September 23, 2014 6:49:11 PM

3. Call Tony Soprano and have em throw a lil scare into him .... bada bing ... bada boom, problem solved :) 

We talking Ethernet or WiFi ? If the latter, install a cable.



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September 23, 2014 6:51:13 PM

HD Video will max out a 10Mbps connection. If you have two gamers on a network - I would suggest a 30Mbps connection to resolve issues. Also - both computers being hardwired to the router would be optimum.
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Best solution

September 23, 2014 6:52:24 PM

Your options:

1. Kill your brother's electronics.
OR
2. Set up QoS on your router.
OR
3. Upgrade internet

You can also combine options.
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September 23, 2014 7:03:18 PM

I'm of the opinion that 10Mbps is actually fine, as long as you have QoS enabled.

10Mbps is actually more than enough for a 1080P youtube video, the problem is that on first load your browser will buffer a few minutes in advance which will smash whatever Internet connection you have and will potentially, without QoS, ruin latency sensitive traffic like gaming and Skype. That could happen whether you're on a 10 or a 50Mbps connection.

I don't think your problem will be your local Wifi, though connecting with a cable is always preferable if you can.

I'm with Kohwali's second option... you need QoS. I'd get a new router with QoS features and spend some time setting them up. That should solve your problems.
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September 23, 2014 7:10:03 PM

I do a lot of streaming of video - 1080P video, depending upon compression will run anywhere from 5Mbps to 15Mbps of network bandwidth.

I had 50Mbps connection - I was streaming Netflix in HD, MLB.TV in HD, plus gaming on 3-4 computers without issues (occasional buffer - but you will never escape that).

TWC recently updated in my area - now speeds are unbelievable fast....



Even with these speeds....you still get the occasional buffering, but it is rare....

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September 23, 2014 7:15:34 PM

ronintexas said:
I do a lot of streaming of video - 1080P video, depending upon compression will run anywhere from 5Mbps to 15Mbps of network bandwidth.

I had 50Mbps connection - I was streaming Netflix in HD, MLB.TV in HD, plus gaming on 3-4 computers without issues (occasional buffer - but you will never escape that).

TWC recently updated in my area - now speeds are unbelievable fast....



Even with these speeds....you still get the occasional buffering, but it is rare....



320Mbps.... I hate you! :-)

That's exactly why OP needs QoS and not extra bandwidth IMHO. The extra bandwidth can sometimes avoid issues because your local connection is often faster than the source, so your link doesn't get saturated. But that'll only sometimes be the case, the actual problem is traffic prioritisation, i.e. not allowing a single video stream/file download (or whatever) to saturate the entire link. The solution to that problem is QoS.
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September 23, 2014 8:02:29 PM

rhysiam said:
ronintexas said:
I do a lot of streaming of video - 1080P video, depending upon compression will run anywhere from 5Mbps to 15Mbps of network bandwidth.

I had 50Mbps connection - I was streaming Netflix in HD, MLB.TV in HD, plus gaming on 3-4 computers without issues (occasional buffer - but you will never escape that).

TWC recently updated in my area - now speeds are unbelievable fast....



Even with these speeds....you still get the occasional buffering, but it is rare....



320Mbps.... I hate you! :-)

That's exactly why OP needs QoS and not extra bandwidth IMHO. The extra bandwidth can sometimes avoid issues because your local connection is often faster than the source, so your link doesn't get saturated. But that'll only sometimes be the case, the actual problem is traffic prioritisation, i.e. not allowing a single video stream/file download (or whatever) to saturate the entire link. The solution to that problem is QoS.

I will admit I am going to be jerk here but since I have explained QoS many many times on this forum I will let you explain how to solve this.

So lets say you have a 10m link from your ISP and you have one person trying to play one of the new 4k hi def movies which can eat the complete 10m link. And you have your game program that wants just some of this bandwidth.

So the traffic comes from the severs on the internet to the ISP and the ISP can't fit the traffic down the 10m connection to your house and drops traffic randomly.

Now what QoS configuration are you going to use to get the ISP to not drop traffic...its not like by the time your router figures this out you can recreate the traffic.

And remember Skype generally uses UDP so how are you ever going to limit this if skype is not the preferred traffic.
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September 23, 2014 8:17:32 PM

Google Fiber has started the revolution in America - by 2017, everyone should have access to Gigabit Internet - and the cable company's ridiculous pricing schemes have gone out the window....prices are falling - Last year in Austin I paid $209 for TV, Internet (50MB) and Phone. This year, I pay $159 for TV, Internet (300MB) and Phone (only thing that changed was the internet speed).

BTW - anyone remember those awesome 56k modems? My first was a 2400 baud modem :-)
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September 23, 2014 9:19:31 PM

ronintexas said:
by 2017, everyone should have access to Gigabit Internet


NO WAY! What's your source?

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September 24, 2014 5:30:07 AM

I have read hundreds of articles....it seems like 2-3 companies a week are announcing 1Gbps service to be installed in 2014/2015/2016....If you live in or near a major metro area - chances are you are sitting good for these speeds by 2016. Those who "live in the country" may not be so lucky....
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September 24, 2014 2:13:48 PM

rhysiam said:
I'm of the opinion that 10Mbps is actually fine, as long as you have QoS enabled.

10Mbps is actually more than enough for a 1080P youtube video, the problem is that on first load your browser will buffer a few minutes in advance which will smash whatever Internet connection you have and will potentially, without QoS, ruin latency sensitive traffic like gaming and Skype. That could happen whether you're on a 10 or a 50Mbps connection.

I don't think your problem will be your local Wifi, though connecting with a cable is always preferable if you can.

I'm with Kohwali's second option... you need QoS. I'd get a new router with QoS features and spend some time setting them up. That should solve your problems.


Okay... so everyones saying to get QoS (aside from the whole fiber optic solution, which im not even in an area to get it nor can i afford it). what is it... and how do i get it? I currently also have a spare router lying around; its a Cisco Linksys E1000 v.1
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September 24, 2014 3:50:54 PM

TitusRaven said:
rhysiam said:
I'm of the opinion that 10Mbps is actually fine, as long as you have QoS enabled.

10Mbps is actually more than enough for a 1080P youtube video, the problem is that on first load your browser will buffer a few minutes in advance which will smash whatever Internet connection you have and will potentially, without QoS, ruin latency sensitive traffic like gaming and Skype. That could happen whether you're on a 10 or a 50Mbps connection.

I don't think your problem will be your local Wifi, though connecting with a cable is always preferable if you can.

I'm with Kohwali's second option... you need QoS. I'd get a new router with QoS features and spend some time setting them up. That should solve your problems.


Okay... so everyones saying to get QoS (aside from the whole fiber optic solution, which im not even in an area to get it nor can i afford it). what is it... and how do i get it? I currently also have a spare router lying around; its a Cisco Linksys E1000 v.1


I have been waiting for rhysiam to explain how he think QoS magically solves this problem.

The short answer is you likely can't unless you happen to be one of those few people that is exceeding their UPLOAD bandwidth. Mostly it would be torrent seeding or maybe feeding video via twitch or something.

The problem with trying to limit download traffic is when the connection to your house is full the ISP will decide what to drop or delay. They could care less what you think is important or not. So by the time your router can even see any data the ISP has already discarded what it wanted. There is nothing you can do about it.

Now there is some very advanced QoS configurations that you can sometime trick a tcp session into slowing down but this requires extensive knowledge of the concept of tcp windows and burst rates. It still only partially works even then and very few routers have the support for this form of QoS.

On top of this the traffic you are trying to limit...game and skype traffic is UDP. The only way to limit this is to drop so much of the traffic the person using it gets mad and turns off their computer.

So you are back to you main option to kick him off.
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