If you’re a gamer, a wired vs. wireless connection doesn’t matter as much as your latency

Most modern games contain an online element in one form or another. Sometimes it’s nothing more than the ability to patch bugs and rebalance mechanics, but more often than not, it’s online multiplayer. Competitive titles such as Fortnite and Counter-Strike 2 require constant (and solid) internet connections, while games like Elden Ring let players aid friends or stab them in the back… but only if you can connect to them online.

Traditional logic states that internet speed is crucial for these kinds of titles, especially when you have to install updates or download the current state of battle maps. To keep upload and download speeds as fast as possible, you can go for a speedy Wi-Fi router or an Ethernet connection, but online gaming truly lives and dies on latency.

What is latency?

Speed measures how quickly you download data, while latency measures how quickly your computer requests data

Download speeds and bandwidth are the selling points of many modems and routers. Generally speaking, wired connections tend to be faster and more reliable than Wi-Fi signals. However, Wi-Fi allows for greater flexibility and mobility, connecting multiple devices without the need for cables. Faster download speeds result in quicker buffering of YouTube videos, while higher bandwidth means more devices can stream videos simultaneously without significant slowdowns. For gaming, the stability and low latency of the connection are more important than whether it is wired or wireless, with wired connections typically offering the best performance.

Latency, sometimes referred to as “lag” or “ping,” is the amount of time it takes for a device to communicate with another device or server. For example, latency is the time it takes for your computer to tell YouTube that you want to watch a video and for YouTube’s server to start sending the video data. Generally, latency is fast and measured in milliseconds (ms). Like golf scores, lower is better. In gaming, you want your latency to be as close to zero milliseconds as possible. However, achieving zero latency is impossible because it includes general server-side data processing time. As long as your latency is 100ms or less, you’re good to game. For an experience with minimal input delay, aim for 20 to 40ms or less.

What does latency affect?

You can’t move in an online game unless you tell a server you want to move

As previously stated, most people who purchase routers and modems are concerned about download/upload speeds, as they determine how much data you can send in a set amount of time. The higher the speed, the faster you can download games and patches. These speeds are also crucial for streaming, since you are constantly beaming gameplay onto a server that other people can watch, and they can likewise provide a constant stream of comments. If you want audiences to see smooth, beautiful gameplay, you need high upload speeds. However, latency is king in online gaming, since you have to constantly communicate with the server in order to do anything within the game, even move through levels.

Servers typically run on “ticks,” which are how quickly the game state is updated. Servers sync player actions to ticks and also send out info with every tick as well. The data packets players upload to servers let them move or interact with the game world, and the packets they receive let them know what is happening to their characters. The amount of data sent and received with each tick is so small that most wireless and Ethernet connections can transfer it near-instantly regardless of internet speeds. However, whether the packet reaches the server in time to be registered for a tick or for the player to see what is happening in semi-real time depends on latency.

Say you are playing Fortnite. If your download speed is high, you will quickly enter the battle island. However, if your ping is egregiously high (going into the 500s or more), every action you take will be delayed. Your character might start walking half a second after you move the analog stick, and your weapons don’t fire for half a second after you press the right trigger button. In some cases, you might feel able to fire weapons with little to no delay, but bullets inexplicably miss enemies even if your aim is flawless. These issues are caused by lag, as what your computer sees isn’t the same as what the server sees.

However, even if your latency is high, plenty of games throw players a bone in the form of lag compensation, also known as rollback. If you see an enemy walking into your view, you will probably fire a shot. From your perspective, you should hit them, but do you? That’s where lag compensation comes into play. The server examines packets that say where and when you fired, and where your enemy was, then examines the latency of each packet to determine which tick the shots were fired on and where your opponent was on said tick, and uses this to interpolate whether the bullet’s trajectory should nail your intended target. Think of it like how a football referee rewinds footage to see if a player caught the ball within bounds, but they are making an educated guess because one camera perspective shows them inside the sideline and another shows them outside it. Games will sometimes do things a little bit differently, like Counter-Strike 2, but only because its servers run on a “sub-tick” system, but there still are rollbacks and lag compensation.

How can you improve your latency?

Improving your reflexes is pointless if the server doesn’t register your reflexes quickly

Since latency is the product of multiple systems waiting until they are all on the same page, fixing lag isn’t always straightforward, especially where online gaming is concerned. Every little bit helps, but sometimes the situation is out of your hands. Your first step to troubleshooting online game lag should always start with mapping out the internet, or at least the servers you want to contact. You can do this via a traceroute. This feature is essentially a network probe that sends out an Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) packet to a set destination. This probe marks all the routers your request goes through, and you can use this to diagnose where the additional latency may be coming from. You can perform a traceroute without any additional software, but the method differs depending on your OS. Here’s how to run a traceroute on Windows:

1. Type CMD into the search bar and highlight Command Prompt from your list of choices.
2. Right-click on Command Prompt and pick Run as administrator.
3. Click Yes on the window that pops up.
4. Type tracert [hostname] into the Command Prompt, where “hostname” is the IP Address of a server.
5. Press the Enter key.

If you are using macOS or Linux, you can use these steps to run a traceroute:

1. Open your computer’s Terminal.
2. Type tracert [hostname] into the Terminal, where “hostname” is the IP Address of a server.
3. Press the Enter key.

You should also try to find the physical locations of servers, if possible. The further away you are from a game server, the more latency you will experience, so when playing a game, you should log into the server nearest you, if possible. Some titles, such as Valorant, let you pick the servers that are available in your region. Counter-Strike 2, meanwhile, just tells you the server location in the Steam overlay, but it will try to put you in a region close to you.

If you have found that the servers are a reasonable distance away and aren’t causing too much lag, you should next diagnose your modem, router, and internet provider. An aging router or modem could potentially bottleneck your ability to connect with servers. If this is the case, replacing one or both could solve your ping problems and even increase download speeds as a bonus. If you are using Wi-Fi, the distance between the router and modem could also cause communication problems, resulting in higher latency than normal. Moving them closer to one another (or purchasing a Wi-Fi extender) could likewise reduce lag. Turning off other wireless devices on your network might reduce the amount of Wi-Fi interference, thus giving your router a clearer signal. You can also try improving latency by switching from Wi-Fi to wired connections, since Ethernet is generally faster than wireless and isn’t subject to lag caused by spacing or interference. But if the problem lies with the server or the route your data packets take, it doesn’t matter if you use a Wi-Fi or wired router, since troubleshooting on your end won’t fix a thing.

Many online titles have countless servers across the world, and the further away you are from one, the longer it takes your data to travel to it, and vice versa. Simply swapping servers should reduce latency, and many games provide a number of servers around the world. However, depending on the game (e.g., if you are playing an MMO), changing servers might delete your progress. Moreover, even if you select the closest server to you, if an opponent is physically closer to that server, they will experience less lag than you because of their sheer proximity.

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Download speed is important, but not as important as latency

Even if you have a Wi-Fi router fast enough to download all 300GB of Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 in 30 minutes, latency will determine whether online matches feel smooth or are unplayable. In online gaming, one’s ability to communicate quickly with a server determines who has the fastest trigger finger.