Why Your Online Gaming Is Lagging—and How to Solve It Quickly

We partnered with a technology company for this post. The opinions in the post are honest. All reviews and opinions expressed in this post are based on our personal views. We are excited because we know you will love it.

Few things are as frustrating as lag when you’re gaming online. Whether you're in the middle of a critical match or exploring a virtual world, unexpected delays and interruptions can ruin the experience. The causes of lag are varied, but the good news is that most issues can be resolved with a few simple adjustments. Here’s a breakdown of why lag happens and how you can fix it to enjoy smooth gaming sessions.

Understand the Causes of Gaming Lag

To address lag effectively, it’s essential to understand its root causes. Lag often occurs due to problems with your internet connection, hardware limitations, or game server issues. Here are the most common culprits:

1. Slow or Unstable Internet Connection

Your internet speed and stability are critical for online gaming. Slow download and upload speeds, high ping, or packet loss can all lead to lag. Even if you’re using a high-speed internet plan, factors like network congestion or outdated equipment can hinder performance.

2. Wi-Fi Signal Issues

While Wi-Fi is convenient, it’s prone to interference and signal degradation, especially if your gaming setup is far from the router. Walls, other electronic devices, and even household appliances can disrupt the signal.

3. Outdated or Inadequate Hardware

Your gaming console, PC, or router might not be optimized for modern gaming requirements. Outdated hardware can struggle to keep up with the demands of online gaming, leading to delays and lag spikes.

4. Overloaded Network

If multiple people in your household are streaming, downloading, or gaming simultaneously, it can strain your network. This congestion can significantly affect your gaming experience.

5. Game Server or ISP Issues

Sometimes, the problem isn’t on your end. Overloaded game servers or internet service provider (ISP) throttling can also cause lag.

How to Fix Gaming Lag Quickly

Now that you know what causes lag, here are actionable solutions to solve the problem and enjoy seamless gaming:

1. Upgrade to Fast Fiber Internet

One of the simplest ways to reduce lag is by upgrading to a reliable, high-speed internet plan. Fast fiber internet is especially beneficial for gaming because it offers lower latency and higher speeds than traditional cable or DSL connections. Fiber internet ensures a stable and consistent connection, reducing lag and improving your overall experience.

2. Optimize Your Router Placement

If you’re using Wi-Fi, the placement of your router can make a big difference. Poor placement can weaken the signal, leading to lag.

Tips for Better Router Placement:

• Place your router in a central, elevated location in your home.

• Avoid placing the router near walls, large furniture, or electronic devices that might interfere with the signal.

• Ensure there’s a direct line of sight between your router and your gaming setup whenever possible.

3. Use a Wired Connection

Switching from Wi-Fi to a wired Ethernet connection is one of the most effective ways to reduce lag. A wired connection is faster, more stable, and less susceptible to interference than Wi-Fi. If running an Ethernet cable isn’t feasible, consider powerline adapters to deliver a wired connection using your home’s electrical wiring.

4. Upgrade Your Equipment

Old or outdated hardware can be a bottleneck for your gaming experience. Modern equipment is designed to handle the demands of online gaming more efficiently.

Equipment Upgrades to Consider:

• Router: Invest in a gaming router or one that supports advanced features like Quality of Service (QoS) to prioritize gaming traffic.

• PC/Console: Ensure your gaming system meets the recommended specifications for the games you play.

• Cables: Use high-quality Ethernet cables (Cat 6 or higher) to ensure maximum data transfer speeds.

5. Manage Network Traffic

If you share your internet connection with others, network congestion can be a significant issue. Managing network traffic ensures that gaming takes priority over other activities.

Steps to Reduce Network Congestion:

• Pause downloads, updates, or streaming services on other devices while gaming.

• Use your router’s QoS settings to prioritize gaming traffic.

• Disconnect devices that aren’t in use to free up bandwidth.

6. Check Game and Server Settings

Sometimes, adjusting settings in your game or checking the server you’re connected to can resolve lag issues.

What to Check:

• Game Graphics Settings: Lowering graphics settings can reduce the load on your hardware and improve performance.

• Server Region: Connect to game servers closer to your location for lower ping.

• Background Apps: Close unnecessary applications running in the background to free up system resources.

7. Monitor and Test Your Connection

Regularly testing your internet connection helps identify issues and track improvements.

How to Test Your Connection:

• Use online speed test tools to check your download speed, upload speed, and ping.

• Monitor your connection during gaming to see if lag occurs at specific times or under certain conditions.

• Contact your ISP if you notice consistent issues, as they might be able to help troubleshoot or upgrade your service.

Lag doesn’t have to ruin your online gaming experience. By understanding its causes and implementing these fixes, you can enjoy smoother gameplay and focus on winning instead of waiting. From upgrading to fast fiber internet to optimizing your network setup, small changes can make a big difference in how you game. Take action today and reclaim your lag-free gaming sessions!

What To Include in a Home Game Room

Just when you think you’ve conquered clutter, the kids pull out their Uno cards, chess boards, and backgammon games and scatter them all over the living room and the kitchen table. Keeping your home organized is easier if everything has a place. Creating a dedicated space for family fun keeps the clutter out of the rest of the house and makes family game time special. If you’re not sure how to start, here’s a basic list of what to include in a home game room.

Multi-Purpose Game Table

Most home basements or family rooms won’t have enough space for separate billiards, table tennis, or foosball tables. Try a table with multiple functions instead. Some tabletop converters for table tennis can rest atop a pool or card table for more versatility in your game room. Other tables reverse to display chessboards on one side and backgammon on the other. Whatever game tables you choose for your space, make sure the table includes storage for game pieces.

Dartboard

If your kids are old enough to not injure themselves or others, a dartboard is a classic game room addition. It doesn’t take up much space and stays on the wall. Hang a basket next to the board to hold the darts until the next game.

Board and Card Games

This is where a closet or attractive shelving unit comes in handy. Arrange classic board and card games by age range, and keep the kiddie card games such as I Spy and Uno lower, so they’re accessible for younger children. Store more complicated games such as Risk on higher shelves for the adults. Keep several decks of playing cards in their boxes and chips in their stacker to bring out for poker, or use cards to play Crazy Eights, Old Maid, or Go Fish with the kids.

Arcade Game or Jukebox

You may have to do a little online searching to find an old arcade game or jukebox that still works. They can be expensive, but it will be worth it for the ambience these machines can add to a family rec room. Make sure you can use them without having to insert coins!

Chalk or Whiteboard

Part of the fun of a game room is friendly competition. Hang a chalkboard or a whiteboard on one of the walls, so participants or observers can keep score and declare a winner of the latest contest in darts or table tennis.

Some families like to keep screens out of the rec room, encouraging conversation and offline fun instead. Others have their rec room arranged to double as a home theater or video game room. Whether or not to have a screen and a game console is an individual decision. Your most important choices will be storage, layout, and budget. It’s possible to have a great game room on a small budget by choosing to include games and furnishings that you can use for more than one thing.

Interview - Troxes

Over the years, there is not much we haven't seen in our client's homes. However, some items we see in ALL of their homes, especially when it comes to toys & games. While there is nothing wrong with Candyland at House to Home we encourage our client's to seek out quality items that might not be so disposable. We spoke with Jonathan Bobrow about Troxes to learn more about this interesting invention.

For the busy person, what are Troxes?

Troxes are like Origami meets Lego™. They are non-rectilinear (not square or cubic) paper building blocks. No scissors. No tape. No glue.

Note: Don’t be fooled by the paper aspect, they support over 500 times their weight and by thinking literally outside of the box, they mimic structures found in nature like the crystalline structure of diamonds and fold just like our proteins. They inspire new ways of thinking, counter to the status quo and opposed to the right angles we are all too familiar with.

What is your background, how did you create Troxes?

I grew up with an artist mother and an educator father. I have always been a passionate artist as well as math lover, leading me to study mathematics in college and later design and media arts. I applied these talents to art installations, websites, game design, product design, and interactive museum installations. Inspired by the creative humanitarian and technological efforts of Nicholas Negroponte, I decided I wanted to pursue my own interests with inventing curious devices for social change. I applied and was accepted to the MIT Media Lab. It was my first week in attendance, in a class called How To Make (Almost) Anything, taught by Neil Gershenfeld, and my assignment was to make a press-fit kit (something that would hold together without adhesives or screws) only out of cardboard. I thought it would be neat if my design not only press-fit together, but once it was done press fitting, it could press-fit once again in a modular way. I had seen something similar created by Jef Raskin in the 1970s that built from squares and I thought, what if it were based on triangles. The projects was just a first week assignment and Troxes were essentially invented at that point, however I enjoyed the process of making them so much, I decided to shrink down the design so I could make many more (like hundreds… or thousands) and continued to iterate the design on my nights and weekends. Some of the best traits of Troxes were happy accidents as well as carefully considered design.

What are some of the popular creations for Troxes?

The first creations that anyone makes with Troxes are typically the Platonic solids (Tetrahedron, Octahedron, Icosahedron). From there, people tend to invent their own shapes, as well as combine units together to build larger structures or figurative forms. We package a Trox Fox Kit and a Trox Penguin Kit, so those two are popular creations by design, but people always want to create their own forms. Most recently, a classroom working with Troxes was particularly determined to invent the Trox Turtle, a welcome new member of the Trox critter family and I have seen a unicorn appear on a number of occasions. Me personally, I dream of abstract and architectual designs with Troxes.

What is Move38?

Move38 is a design and game company based on my research at the MIT Media Lab. The name however, has a fun backstory, so I’m glad you asked. In 2016, one of the worlds best Go Players, Lee Sedol, faced off against a computer AI, AlphaGo, in a 5 game match of Go*. Due to its complexity and dependance on player creativity, it was once thought that a computer could never beat the best human Go players. There was only one moment in all 5 games that stirred conversation after the showdown. In the second game, AlphaGo, made a single move that no professional player predicted. It caught all of the commentators off guard, as they had never seen such a move. The move, as it turns out, was a very good one–it not only threw off Lee Sedol, but secured the win. This was the 37th move of that game and so Move38 represents the human response to playing with systems.

We believe the kinds of systems we create, participate in, and are composed of are more complex than ever before, and through new kinds of play, we can raise a generation of systems thinkers.

*Go for reference, is played on a 19 by 19 board, meaning after the first move, there are 361 possible starting positions, and when the player makes her second move there are over 46 million possible arrangements. Needless to say the complexity of the game grows factorially and there are sadly not enough atoms in the universe to represent all possible game outcomes.