In 2018, there were around 2.3 billion online gamers; by 2021, this figure will exceed 2.7 billion. More than 400 million users in 2 years. But what do we look for when we want to play online? Not all games require high-speed internet connections, but they do require low latency and, above all, minimum STABILITY without interruptions if we want the overall experience to be good.
What can we do to reduce latency in video games?
First, we must know that each type of internet connection has certain latency levels. For example, satellite connections typically have a latency of 800 ms, while 3G networks have around 120 ms. For 4G, it is 60 ms shorter and generally around 10 ms for a wired connection. In general, the latency levels we can consider acceptable vary depending on what we want to do. The same website will load almost immediately if we have a delay of 10 ms or less, but it can take up to 2 seconds if we have a delay of 70 ms. If we move to extreme cases of latency over 500 ms, this number could reach up to 16 seconds. When talking about video games, ideally, latency should not exceed 40 ms. Up to 70 ms, the experience can be acceptable depending on the speed of the action, but once we exceed 90 ms, problems begin. For example, League of Legends at 350 ms can be catastrophic.
However, we must consider that latency can be affected by many things: the health of the destination servers, the saturation of the game itself, the health of our computer, and especially our internet connection and its saturation. In principle, we know that online game providers have adequate servers to ensure good service even when the number of players is "abnormally high."
There is no magic formula, and the truth is that in many cases, high latency is due to problems with destination servers or some technical failure by our internet provider, so little can be done in those cases. But there is one undeniable thing: without a good wired connection at home, we will never be sure what is causing the problem. This is why Plastic Optical Fiber can be a checkmate to this doubt, ensuring that latency errors will never come from our side. Above all, the great advantage of POF over Ethernet will always be the total stability of the system.
Tips for low latency in video games:
- In many cases, restarting the router and computer can solve the problem.
- Close or limit background downloads, as they generate network traffic and consume resources.
- Using a good gaming router is very useful for an optimal experience.
- Make sure you are not paying a provider for a service that you are not fully utilizing (and not losing megabytes along the way).
- Keep your computer and ONT updated.
- Perform regular scans for viruses or malware, as some security threats consume network resources.
- Preventing internet theft; ensuring our network is free of intruders is another important issue.
