What is Latency in Gaming

Lag in gaming: learn what’s going on and how you can fix it.

Latency, ping and lag in gaming are words that are often used to mean the same thing – but do they?

Let’s find out what latency is and how you can improve your gaming experience. 

Read on for everything you need to know.

What is latency in internet speed?

Latency refers to the amount of time it takes for data to go from its starting point to its destination and return to its origin. 

Latency is measured in milliseconds (ms) and for smooth gaming, you want to aim for low latency. 

Below 100 ms is considered good latency, while below 50 ms is great, especially for games that require a quick response. 

What is ping?

Ping, on the other hand, is the test that is used to find out the latency in internet speed. The word “ping” comes from submarine lexicon, describing the sound pulse a submarine transmits in its sonar system. 

The time it takes for that pulse to be sent and reflected back to the submarine is used to calculate the distance between the submarine and vessels around it. Ping in the context of internet speed works essentially the same way.

Lag in gaming

Lag is the delay between you performing an action being performed (such as pressing a button on your controller) and the action taking place in your game (such as the gun firing). This delay is caused by the latency of your internet speed as explained above. 

There are steps you can take to keep your latency low and reduce the impact of lag on your gaming, but let’s start with understanding the potential causes of high latency.

What causes high latency?

There are some simple factors that could be causing high latency.

Your location

If you’re playing on a UK-based server from your home in Australia, your data is having to travel quite a long way so naturally it takes a bit longer. 

Connection type 

The technology used for your internet connection will affect your latency. This is partly determined by the technology that’s available to your building – start by checking your address here. If your address is eligible for fibre to the premises (FTTP), you’ll be able to connect to one of NodeOne’s high-speed plans.

Find out more about what a good internet speed for gaming is here. 

Equipment

An older router will slow your network connection and increase your latency, even if you have the fastest internet connection available. The same principle applies when you’re connecting to your router – if you rely on WiFi or a bad-quality Ethernet cable you’ll get higher latency and experience annoying lag. 

How to improve latency

With all that in mind, here’s how to keep latency low and your gameplay smooth. Follow the below steps to quickly reduce lag in gaming.  

Close other programs

The quickest and easiest way  to improve latency is to simply close other bandwidth-intensive applications, such as streaming music or video, or downloading large files. 

Connect better

Connecting to your router with a high-quality Ethernet cable will make the most of your nbn® internet connection. This simple upgrade should make an immediate difference as it’s more reliable than WiFi. 

Update your equipment

Your modem and router affect your internet speeds more than you think. You could be on an nbn® Home Ultrafast plan but if you’re using an old router, it might only be able to connect you at Fast or Everyday plan speeds. 

Upgrade your plan

If you need a high-speed, low-latency connection to improve your gameplay experience, you might want to upgrade to a higher speed internet plan. We offer 100, 250 and 1000 Mbps plans that will support even the most intensive gaming needs. Find out what plans are available at your address and upgrade today to wave goodbye to lag in gaming.

Why Choose NodeOne?

• NodeOne is proud to be the first WA company to offer 1,000/1,000 Mbps on the NBN network.
• We understand that no NBN experience is the same, and that’s why we service WA with the best available.
• The entire NodeOne team is based in WA. This means that you can speak directly to our team of experts who can help. So, you can finally say no to overseas call centres!
• If you’re coming from a different provider, we will guide you through the process and get you connected fast.

So, now that we’ve answered the question “what is latency in gaming”, it’s time you made the switch to WA’s most reliable provider — NodeOne