Does a Better Router Help With Latency? How to Choose the Best Router for Gaming

You’re a gamer, and you need to know if a better router will help with latency. You also want to know how to choose the best router for gaming so that you can make the most informed decision possible. You’re sick of losing online games because of poor connection quality.

Your internet is fine, but you suspect that your router might be the problem. You don’t know much about routers, but you want to find one that will improve your gaming experience by reducing latency.

This article will provide you with everything you need to know about choosing the best router for gaming. By the end, you’ll be able to make an informed decision that will help improve your gaming experience.

What is router latency?

Router latency is the amount of time it takes for a router to deliver a wireless signal to a connected device. Router latency is affected by many factors, such as poor Internet connections, too many devices using up bandwidth on the network, or distance between wireless devices and the router.

Latency can increase when there are delays in sending and receiving information over the network, causing a delay in when users receive their data.

Does a better router help with latency?

Yes, a better router can help reduce latency. A slower or outdated router will cause higher packet delays due to dropping packets or buffering them when the traffic load is high. Additionally, Wi-Fi routers will add more latency than wired routers due to higher interference and packet losses when many users share a connection. By upgrading your router you can decrease your ping and improve overall network performance for better online gaming experiences.

How does a wireless router affect latency?

A wireless router can affect the ping of an internet connection due to its lower bandwidth, which causes packets or buffers them when the traffic load is high. The retransmissions caused by these dropped packets will increase the latency of your connection. Additionally, Wi-Fi routers will have a higher added ping than wired routers when many users share a connection.

How to Reduce Latency for Gaming

Check your router

Checking your router can reduce latency for gaming by ensuring that it is up to date with current updates. This ensures that the router is capable of handling the demands of your Internet connection and any connected wireless devices.

By having your router set up to handle its updates as needed, you can reduce network lag and ensure optimal performance for gaming or other uses. Additionally, knowing if your provider requires you to use a specific router can help identify why speeds may be slow.

Check your Internet speed

Running a free speed test can help you to determine what the baseline is for your internet performance. It will help you to identify if your base internet speeds are fast enough to support your gaming plans, as well as identify any lagging or other performance issues that may be caused by slower-than-desired speeds.

By knowing what kind of internet speed you have access to and monitoring it over time, you can better plan activities that require a fast connection such as gaming sessions without having to worry about lag or other performance issues ruining the experience. This knowledge also helps reduce frustration when trying to enjoy an activity that relies on a good connection but keeps getting interrupted due to slow speeds during peak times.

Make sure your WiFi connection is reliable

Making sure your WiFi connection is reliable can reduce latency for gaming. This is because a wired connection will always perform better than Wi-Fi and have minimal interference compared to Wi-Fi signals.

By using an ethernet cable to directly connect your PC or console to the router or modem, you can reduce packet losses and lower your average ping. Additionally, enabling traffic prioritization and MU-MIMO in your router settings can also help improve connectivity. Finally, rebooting the router or scheduling it to do so automatically can solve many routing issues that may be causing high pings.

Do Newer Routers Have Minimal Latency?

Yes, newer routers can offer lower latencies than older models. They have powerful CPUs and larger RAMs, which allow them to handle higher traffic with minimal latency. They are also more energy-efficient and will have fewer overheating issues compared to older models.

Top 3 Best Gaming Routers for Latency

1. Asus RT-AX86U Dual Band and WiFi 6 Gaming Router – best overall whole house gaming router for latency

The Asus RT-AX86U Dual Band and Wi-Fi 6 Gaming Router is an excellent overall whole-house gaming router for latency due to its fast, steady speeds, its impressive lineup of gamer-centric features, and its strong finish in our latency tests.

It offers support for Wi-Fi 6 which is relatively inexpensive compared to other gaming routers that can cost upwards of $400. Additionally, it has a low average ping time never spiking any higher than 25ms which is an outstanding result.

Additionally, the Asus RT-AX86U Dual Band and Wi-Fi 6 Gaming Router comes equipped with a USB port, four LAN ports (2.5Gbps & 1Gbps WAN), WPS capability along with helpful features like a quality-of-service engine that optimizes your connection as well as many other ways to optimize your connection experience while gaming online.

Plus it also has a gamer-friendly design without being too over the top making it ideal for those looking for an upgrade without spending too much money on unnecessary features they may not need or use often enough to justify the extra expense.

2. NETGEAR Orbi Whole Home Tri-Band Mesh WiFi – Fastest router for gaming

The NETGEAR Orbi Whole Home Tri-Band Mesh WiFi is one of the best mesh WiFi systems available and is an ideal choice for gamers due to its fast speeds and reliable connection. It can reach up to 900 Mbps at close range and remains at 666 Mbps at a distance of 75 feet, making it one of the fastest routers on the market.

It supports WiFi 6 technology which offers better connectivity compared to previous versions. Furthermore, this system has four ethernet ports which allow users to switch between wired and wireless internet connections as needed. This router comes with DumaOS software for managing your network which PCMag praises as being better than most other options out there.

3. NETGEAR Nighthawk Pro XR1000 WiFi 6 Router – Best for serious gamers concerned about latency

The NETGEAR Nighthawk Pro XR1000 WiFi 6 Router is a good choice for serious gamers concerned about latency because it is designed to reduce lag, or interaction delays, for console and PC gamers. The router features the capacity to improve Wi-Fi performance by up to 40% and reduce ping rates by up to 93%, resulting in a less frustrating gaming experience.

It comes with new DumaOS 3.0 software that is designed for better gameplay and smoother video streaming, as well as customizable features such as bandwidth allocation, geo-filtering, and bandwidth allocation per device or application. Overall, the NETGEAR Nighthawk Pro XR1000 WiFi 6 Router provides reliable connectivity that serious gamers need in order to stay competitive online while minimizing lag issues during gameplay.

What factors influence router latency?

1. Bandwidth and signal strength

Router latency is a measure of how much time it takes for a computer to send signals to a server and receive a response back. It is affected by bandwidth and signal strength, which determine how much data can be downloaded or uploaded at once.

Low bandwidth and weak signals reduce the amount of data that can be transmitted, resulting in higher latency. Conversely, high bandwidths and strong signals allow for faster transmissions with lower latencies.

2. Wi-Fi Standards

When using Wi-Fi standards, router latency can be influenced by a variety of factors. These include:

• Using the latest Wi-Fi standards, which can provide lower latencies than older standards.
• Enabling the MU-MIMO (Multi-User, Multiple Input, Multiple Output) feature for better performance when sharing a network with multiple users.
• Setting your router’s channel to a less crowded one in order to reduce interference from other devices on that channel.
• Configuring QOS (Quality of Service) settings to prioritize gaming traffic and ensure lower latency during gameplay sessions.

3. Router Connection and Performance

Router connection and performance are affected by a variety of factors, including:

Router hardware: High-end gaming routers are designed with powerful hardware that can handle more data faster than standard routers. They also have features such as higher bandwidth and more antennas for improved signal strength.

Connection speeds: The speed of your internet connection impacts how quickly data can be transferred between your computer or gaming console and the router. A faster connection means less lag time when playing online games or watching videos online.

Traffic management features: Quality of Service (QoS) technology is used in gaming routers to ensure reliable connections even when there’s lots of traffic on the network. This feature helps minimize disruptions caused by other users accessing the internet at the same time as you are.

4. Multi-Purpose Routers

Factors that affect the latency of multi-purpose routers include:

• Bandwidth: The more bandwidth a router has, the faster it will be able to transmit data.
• Number of Users: The more users connected to a router, the slower it will be due to increased network traffic.
• QoS (Quality of Service) Features: Quality of Service features can help prioritize certain types of data over others, improving overall speed and performance for specific tasks like gaming or streaming video.
• Network Configuration Options: Gaming routers offer advanced network configuration options that allow users to optimize their internet traffic for maximum speed and efficiency.

5. Mesh Networking

Mesh networking allows multiple nodes to be connected together, creating a larger network that spans across a larger area. This increases the speed of connection and improves overall connectivity, which leads to lower latency levels and faster download speeds.

6. Gaming-Grade VPN

Gaming-grade VPNs provide stronger protection against malware and intrusion than standard routers, including multi-year coverage, the ability to renew or modify the plan, and complete protection for the life of the device.

The key benefit of these features is superior fidelity – cleaner streaming connections mean less audio/visual distortion of all kinds. You’ll see fewer missed lines of dialogue and less lost content when traffic piles up, plus there’s a lower risk of game stutter or visual artifacts due to optimized traffic management.

7. Internet Provider

Factors that can influence Internet provider latency include:

• Geographic location and distance between the user and the server.
• The number of users accessing a particular website or service at any given time.
• The type of connection being used (e.g., DSL, cable, fiber optic).
• The quality and speed of the internet package being subscribed to.
• Traffic on the network at any given time (e.g., peak hours).

8. Wi-Fi Router Performance

Factors that affect the performance of a Wi-Fi router include:

• ISP speed: The speed at which data can be pulled from the cloud.
• Signal strength: The strength of the signal received by your router will vary based on your home layout and any obstructions in the way.
• The number of simultaneous users: The more devices connected to your Wi-Fi network, the slower speeds will be for each device due to increased congestion on the network.
• Features included with the router (e.g., beamforming technology): Certain features designed to improve signal quality can have an impact on performance as well.

9. Router Settings

The settings that affect router latency include:

Router firmware version: Make sure your router is up to date with the latest firmware version. Outdated firmware can cause issues with performance and security.

Automatic updates: Set up automatic updates for your router so it can detect new updates as they become available and apply them automatically.

Network settings: Check that all of your network settings are correct, including the channel setting, security protocols (e.g., WPA2), wireless encryption (e.g., WEP), and other settings related to connecting devices to the internet via Wi-Fi or Ethernet cables.

Device compatibility: Make sure all of your devices are compatible with each other and have updated drivers if needed (e.g., modem driver). This will ensure they’re able to communicate properly with each other without any hiccups in performance or connectivity issues between them or with the router itself.

10. Interference and Congestion

Factors that can affect interference and congestion when connecting to a router include:

• The number of devices on your network, including which kind.
• Wireless signals are susceptible to environmental factors such as thick walls and furniture.
• High congestion on the link between two intermediate routers on the internet.
• Slow or delayed packets due to the high latency caused by the physical distance between the source computer and server destinations.

What’s the difference between latency and bandwidth?

Latency and bandwidth are both measures of time delay. Latency is the amount of time it takes for your computer to send signals to a server and receive a response back, whereas bandwidth is the maximum amount of data that can be transferred at once.

Bandwidth is measured in Mbps (megabytes per second) or MBps (megabytes per second), while latency is typically measured in milliseconds (ms). Low latency is desirable as it leads to fewer lag issues, whereas high bandwidth allows for faster downloads and uploads.

FAQs

Does router increase latency?

Yes, routers can increase latency. This is due to the fact that routers have to route incoming traffic according to a routing table, which requires CPU processing and can result in dropped packets or delayed transmission of packets. Additionally, when the amount of traffic reaches the maximum bandwidth of the router, it will have to drop or buffer packets causing further delays in transmission.

Routers do not automatically increase latency by default; it only happens when there is a high traffic load and/or a slow router. Furthermore, Wi-Fi routers can also cause higher latencies when shared among many users due to higher Wi-Fi interference and packet losses.

How do I reduce the latency on my router?

1. Improve WiFi signal strength: Check to make sure your router is connected to the best WiFi frequency band, and ensure it is in an optimal location. Disconnect any devices that are not in use, as this can free up bandwidth and reduce signal pollution throughout your home or office.

2. Find the best WiFi frequency band for your router: Many routers come with multiple built-in WiFi frequencies; choose the one that works best for you based on where you live or where you use it most often.

3. Hardwire with an ethernet connection: Connecting a cable running directly from your router to your computer or other devices will provide a noticeable improvement in ping and speed; however, it’s not as reliable as Wi-Fi connections can be interrupted by physical barriers like walls or furniture between devices..

4. Update/upgrade network hardware: Make sure that any hardware updates are installed before making changes to optimize the performance of existing hardware configurations.

Will a better router improve gaming?

A better router can improve gaming by providing better performance and streamlining user management. Gaming routers are more sophisticated versions of traditional routers and are designed to optimize internet traffic for faster speeds.

By using a high-quality gaming router, individuals can expect improved performance when playing online games, as well as easier management of local internet traffic settings. Additionally, multi-user households will experience even greater benefits from the advanced technology offered by these devices.

Can Your Router Cause High Latency?

Yes, your router can cause high latency. The amount of latency your router will introduce depends on many factors, such as the type of router you use, its bandwidth and CPU speed, the number of people using Wi-Fi at the same time, and possible sources of interference such as microwave ovens or Bluetooth devices.

Even wired routes can also cause high latency in some situations if they have a lower bandwidth than your ISP modem or if there are other sources of interference. Furthermore, older routers with slower CPUs or lower router memory can also result in higher added latency when used.

Can Old Routers Cause High Latency?

Old routers can cause high latency due to several reasons, such as not having sufficient bandwidth, insufficient CPU performance, low RAM causing packet losses, and thermal throttling reducing the maximum bandwidth.

This results in higher ping when there is a high traffic load and higher latencies due to dropping or buffering packets. Additionally, older wireless routers may not support newer and faster Wi-Fi technologies which can also lead to higher latencies compared to newer routers. Finally, when many users share a Wi-Fi connection with an old router it increases interference which causes higher packet losses resulting in increased latency overall.

Can the Traffic Load on a Router Affect Latency?

Yes, the traffic load on a router can affect latency. When the amount of traffic reaching the maximum bandwidth of the router exceeds its capacity, it will have to drop packets or delay them in a buffer. This can cause higher added latency due to buffering operations and packet drops. Additionally, slower routers may also increase ping when there is a high traffic load due to their inability to route packets quickly enough. Finally, Wi-Fi routers can also cause higher latencies when many users share a connection due to higher Wi-Fi interference and packet losses.

Does more bandwidth reduce latency?

Yes, more bandwidth can reduce latency since it creates a wider pipeline for more data to travel through. This reduces the chance of data packets getting delayed and ensures maximum performance when transferring data.