Keep getting occasional lag on Steam games (PUBG, Rocket League...)

[muchacio]

Hello,

I've recently bought gaming laptop (MSI GT72VR 6RE) and I'm having struggles gaming. The struggle is that I keep getting occasional lag on multiplayer online games on Steam. I quadruple tested my internet speed and it's anywhere between 40-60 MBPS (I reckon that's enough for gaming). My laptop is connected to my house Wi-Fi and I think that's where the problem lays because on the other pc, which has wired connection, everything works fine. I've read that Wi-Fi is awful for gaming because there's packet losses, but I have a friend who plays the same game on Wi-Fi with the same exact MBPS and has no lag at all. I reckon it may have something to do with Steam itself but not the games, since when I went to data usage it showed that the game I was playing used only 700MB this month, unlike steam which used 61GB. Also, my Wi-Fi doesn't interfere with other Wi-Fi's in my house so that's not the problem either (I've checked the frequencies). I tried updating my network wireless adapter's drivers but with little success as the lag persists. The lags themselves are occasional, as I can get about 3-4 minutes of playing time without any lag, but afterwards it strikes again. My laptop sometimes may even lose the Wi-Fi connection completely, but when I check other devices when my laptop is disconnected, such as my mobile phone, the Wi-Fi works without any flaws. Does anyone know what may be the problem and how to solve it? If there's any additional information you'd like me to provide - let me know, I'll provide it straight away. OS: Windows 10

Thank you for your time !

 

[anotherdrew]

Your bandwidth (speed) is more than adequate for gaming. Most games use .1 - .5 Mbps. Your problem is latency (lag), which means it's a taking a long time to get data from you to the game server and vica versa. Since everything works fine on the wired computer, the issue is most likely your wifi network (which I think you have realized). WiFi is not recommended for gaming because any interference can cause the connection to slowed or data to be lost. It's also possible that other people on your wifi network are using up bandwidth (like your sister or girlfriend uploading a video to snapchat). Unless you have a dedicated access point that only you connect to, other people's wifi will interfere with yours. Your friend that is also using wifi, but not having issues probably has less interference (walls the signal has to go through, other users, other devices like cordless phone or microwave, etc).

Data usage by game and steam ... Steam will normally use lots more data because you download the games from them. Games themselves don't use much data. As long as you avoid downloading while playing this should be a non issue ... of course that does not stop other people on your network downloading something which can cause issues.

What can you do to improve your connection? Most newer routers support communication at 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz. Each has benefits and drawbacks and you may have to experiment with both to find what works best. Each frequency can also operate on a number of channels. Some channels will have more interference than others and you should test a number of them to find the best. The last setting is channel width. To increase bandwidth your wifi can operate over a number of channels at the same time. Narrowing your channel will decrease bandwidth, but may increase stability.

Why might your phone connection be better than your computer's? Where is the phone antenna vs the computer's antenna. Is one pressed against a wall while the other is in the open? Do they operate at the same power level (higher power often will give a more stable connection)? In the end it's all about signal to noise ratios ... stronger signals and less noise give a better connection than weak signals in a noisy environment.

In the end, if you can't get a stable connection, you might need to find an alternative.

Hope this gets you started.

 

[muchacio]

Your bandwidth (speed) is more than adequate for gaming. Most games use .1 - .5 Mbps. Your problem is latency (lag), which means it's a taking a long time to get data from you to the game server and vica versa. Since everything works fine on the wired computer, the issue is most likely your wifi network (which I think you have realized). WiFi is not recommended for gaming because any interference can cause the connection to slowed or data to be lost. It's also possible that other people on your wifi network are using up bandwidth (like your sister or girlfriend uploading a video to snapchat). Unless you have a dedicated access point that only you connect to, other people's wifi will interfere with yours. Your friend that is also using wifi, but not having issues probably has less interference (walls the signal has to go through, other users, other devices like cordless phone or microwave, etc).

Data usage by game and steam ... Steam will normally use lots more data because you download the games from them. Games themselves don't use much data. As long as you avoid downloading while playing this should be a non issue ... of course that does not stop other people on your network downloading something which can cause issues.

What can you do to improve your connection? Most newer routers support communication at 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz. Each has benefits and drawbacks and you may have to experiment with both to find what works best. Each frequency can also operate on a number of channels. Some channels will have more interference than others and you should test a number of them to find the best. The last setting is channel width. To increase bandwidth your wifi can operate over a number of channels at the same time. Narrowing your channel will decrease bandwidth, but may increase stability.

Why might your phone connection be better than your computer's? Where is the phone antenna vs the computer's antenna. Is one pressed against a wall while the other is in the open? Do they operate at the same power level (higher power often will give a more stable connection)? In the end it's all about signal to noise ratios ... stronger signals and less noise give a better connection than weak signals in a noisy environment.

In the end, if you can't get a stable connection, you might need to find an alternative.

Hope this gets you started.

Thank you for your time, I really appreciate it.

I'll try messing around with frequencies and channels. If it won't solve the problem then I can only assume, as you stated, it's because my laptop is in the other room than the WiFi is, and all the walls and doors interfere with the signal. Also, when you were talking about using up bandwith - indeed, all of my four family members use WiFi throughout the whole day and that definitely causes some interference. Anyway, I'll try to see whether anything helps, if not I guess I'll just buy an ethernet cable and connect it to my laptop haha.

Thank you for the response !