If you use a VPN to play online games, you may have encountered an irritating lag issue. This can happen for a variety of reasons.
There are numerous methods for avoiding gaming lag with a good VPN, but your VPN should be tuned for gaming.
It is also beneficial to have the proper settings configuration. While you can’t control every aspect that causes slowness, you can often speed things up online by using a VPN.
How Do You Fix NordVPN That Making Online Games Unplayable?
- Reduce lag by using a low-latency gaming VPN.
- Select the Best Location
- Optimize Your Gaming VPN Settings for Minimum Lag
Reduce lag by using a low-latency gaming VPN.
High latency in the connection is a primary source of gaming lag. Latency is a catch-all word for a variety of issues that can slow down your connection.
During peak hours, if your VPN has limited server space, you may encounter VPN lag. This is because there are too many other users on the network.
The surge in demand generates a WAN error, which is similar to a traffic jam for data packets.
To avoid lag, choose a VPN for gaming that has either low demand or a large enough number of servers.
Old encryption is another source of significant latency. Gaming VPNs, like all VPN services, employ sophisticated encryption techniques.
These safeguard your data as it flows in and out of your connection. VPN lag can be substantial with older encryption systems and out-of-date protocols.
This is because all data is encrypted at your end and then slowly decoded in the VPN server.
To reduce lag in this region, make sure the VPN you use supports the latest AES-256 encryption methods standard.
You can also experience latency-related gaming lag if you use the incorrect antivirus software.
Many VPNs include antivirus software to protect your hard drive from incoming threats. Unfortunately, some applications do this without regard for context.
That instance, instead of sampling and whitelisting trusted sources, you may have a VPN that inspects every single bit of incoming code for potential infections.
The resulting latency is a huge source of frustration, and it produces gameplay slowness that can be difficult to attribute to the VPN.
A simple solution is to either mark your gaming servers as trusted sources or use a VPN tailored for gaming.
Select the Best Location
Only so rapidly can information travel. Your speed limit is the speed of light, regardless of how fast your connection is or how much bandwidth your servers have available. Signals travel a little slower across copper lines.
Even at top speed, it takes at least 29 milliseconds to send a signal from San Francisco to London.
It takes roughly 40 milliseconds across a fiber optic connection. It’s even slower on regular phone lines. This isn’t much, but it adds up as you transfer a signal from one server to another and back via the network.
The only way around this is to reduce the distance that your signal travels. You can accomplish this by placing a router near your gaming machine at home.
You can also select a VPN server that is close to your location. Most VPNs have many servers located throughout the world to aid in location concealment.
If you wish to access services that are prohibited in your own country, it makes sense to connect through a server in another nation.
If you’re looking to reduce gaming lag, you might have to connect to the nearest VPN server.
Optimize Your Gaming VPN Settings for Minimum Lag
There are various things you can do on your own to reduce game lag and enhance your ping rate.
One of the options is just closing all of your background applications and leaving only your VPN and gaming software running.
Background Internet-enabled apps also make VPN calls, causing your connection to slow. To speed up your game, disable as many of these as possible.
Another technique to improve gaming slowness when using a VPN is to limit the number of devices connected to your WiFi. You can also connect to an Ethernet network. Both of these approaches segregate your gaming stream while also accelerating processing across your VPN and game server.
Final thought
Whatever type of online games you like, utilizing a VPN to connect with other gamers ensures your safety and privacy.
This slows things down a little, but with a few tweaks, you can avoid the worst gaming VPN slowness.
Visit VPN.com for more information on using a gaming VPN to speed up your connection and eliminate latency for good.