# High Ping while gaming when others use internet



## Deithor

Hi there. I'm a gamer, and as you know I need consistent and reliable internet. I play League of Legends currently.
The problem I'm having is that whenever someone else in the house browses the internet, downloads something, or especially when they watch Youtube or any other kind of videos, I get EXTREME unplayable lag. My ping can shoot up to and higher than 1000 ms! 
I have my modem right beside me, and I am the only one connected to it VIA an Ethernet cable.

I was wondering if there's any way for me to limit the amount of bandwidth (if that's the correct term) that other devices in the house can receive, as to prevent other devices from stealing all of my internet strength. It almost seems like my desktop is the lowest priority for receiving signal strength, yet I am the only one connected to the modem VIA an Ethernet cable, everyone else is wireless.

I have access to the website that I can configure settings about my internet, devices and modem etc. 

It looks like this (I scratched out the IPs and serial number of my modem): http://i.imgur.com/MKHVF.jpg

Is there any way I can limit other devices strengths?

Is there something I can do with regards to QoS? I don't really know what it is or even if I have the option to use it. 
Also, I live in Ontario, Canada and my ISP is Bell. 

My OS is Windows 7.

Thanks in advance.


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## CubicleCowboy

What speed does your ISP provide you with under your current plan? I'm guessing that it's not a lot because it doesn't sound like you have much bandwidth to spare from the way you described it. If you have a 20 Mbps connection and you're still having these issues, then something else is going on.

QoS is Quality of Service. Within the context of bandwidth it basically means prioritizing certain types of traffic over others. It may be of some help to you. I don't think that your gateway has any QoS options; if you can't find any QoS options anywhere on the setup page, then it's probably not there.

As I see it, your options are to pay more money for higher bandwidth (assuming that your current speed provided by Bell isn't that much) or to get a proper router that has QoS. That might be difficult, though, because you would need to put the 2wire into bridged mode and, as I understand it, the Bell 2wire gateways are locked down so that you can't mess with certain device settings. You'd have to ask Bell for the password or find some other way. This is assuming that you're paying for a low speed connection. If you're getting 20 Mbps, then I would check for malware or see what other users are doing with their internet access.

Just FYI, you don't have to worry about hiding your IP address; any IP with 192.168.x.x is a private address used in internal networks. Your public IP is the one that others can use to find you.


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## Deithor

Thanks for the quick response.

I definitely do not pay for anything close to 20 Mbps. I think we pay for 6, MAYBE 10. There are a lot of devices connected to our network as you can see from the Imgur photo I posted. More Mbps has to be the answer .

Also, I lag extremely during other people in my house downloading anything. If I get more bandwidth, say 20-25 mbps, would someone downloading not leech some of my bandwidth for the time being anyways? Or would there be a cap on how much one device uses, instead of prioritizing them way over the others whenever there is a high demand for the bandwidth.

I assume we pay for 6 Mbps. I'm not sure if speedtest.net would give me the results of the actual speed my ISP provides me with, but here are some recent results from speedtest: http://i.imgur.com/jxiBN.jpg
(these IP look different than the ones you explained I shouldn't hide )
As you can see, the results are all over the place (the last 3 tests, maybe because they were tested from different servers? I didn't select them, I just hit begin test). Maybe the speeds are speeds are different (like the 3.60 Mbps result) because someone in my household just opened a webpage at the same time as I was testing? 

My brother lives with me and he plays World of Warcraft, I know he was online while I did those last three tests, as well as having his computer running wireless for WoW, he has his Ipod connected wireless while he uses Skype. I also have Skype open and will be playing League of Legends shortly, and there shouldn't be any lag with just these on. It only becomes a problem if he surfs the web, downloads, or watches a video.

Also, someone using the Ipad downstairs causes everyone to lag badly >.<

Thanks again for the help


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## KizzaD91

Hi there,

I know your pain. There are actually set times in my household as to when someone can download something and here's why: In Layman's terms, wireless internet supplies a certain amount of bandwidth to each of its clients. If one of those clients (such as your brother) exceeds that bandwidth and starts downloading, it'll drain the bandwidth of the other clients (such as yourself). This is why you're experiencing such bad lag. When anyone on your wireless starts to download (mainly a large file, pictures and small videos shouldn't do anything), your connection will weaken as the internet focuses on whoever is downloading. It's more complicated than that, but I don't want to rattle on!

Your internet shouldn't lag too much if someone is streaming YouTube videos as they don't demand much internet usage (particularly recently as YouTube videos are now limited to downloading ten-fifteen seconds of footage at a time), and your internet definitely shouldn't lag AT ALL if someone else is simply browsing the internet. Skype is only a VOIP so it shouldn't lag at all with that either - it's just the same as running Mumble, Vent or TeamSpeak (unless you or your brother is using a webcam with it, in which case your ping will increase by about 300m/s). If your lag is bad with people just browsing Facebook or Google then I'd get in touch with your ISP (or get your parents to) regarding why your internet connection weakens when someone else just opens a browser tab.


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## Deithor

Whatever my brother would be downloading would most likely be games, so those can be pretty large. Also patching his games is a problem too.

Also, the only time I lag when people are browsing the internet is when it's being browsed on a mobile device (Ipad or Ipod). Sometimes it happens while he's on the computer but I only really notice it when he's looking at GIFs or there's a page with a bunch of advertisements and what not.

Also, I think that when my brother uses Skype it causes me to lag more than it should since he is using it on his Ipod WHILE his computer is running his game, which makes no sense to me why he needs two devices running for it. 

On the QoS side of things; I found these settings options while fiddling around on my gateway site: http://i.imgur.com/O5awZ.jpg

It is listed under Settings > LAN > Wireless. I can select whichever device from here. Do you think the maximum connection rate tab will enable me to limit a device to a certain limit, so that even if he decides to do something with a high demand for bandwidth, it will stay under the selected limit? 
I don't want to screw anyone over to make their internet terrible, but as I pay the bills (I intend to upgrade the internet soon) do you think there's a reasonable amount I could limit other systems to? The options for the Mbps are as follows (I have to select one of the options, there's no manual input)
-Auto
-1 Mbps
-2 Mbps
-5.5 Mbps
-6 Mbps
-9 Mbps

This continues all the way up to a maximum connection rate of 54 Mbps (which is what all the devices are currently set to. Keeping in mind that we get 6 Mbps, what are your suggestions?


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## KizzaD91

Well it sounds to me like you're getting nowhere near 6mb/s. Even at 1mb/s your internet should not be getting slowed down by someone watching a GIF image. Mobile devices are another story though; they tend to be pretty bandwidth-demanding so they're likely to cause lag, but it shouldn't be too bad (certainly not as bad as creating 1000m/s ping!)

I'm not a whizz with fixing internet problems but it sounds to me like not a lot can be done from your end. It seems like you're going to have to contact your ISP directly and see what can be done. This method does work as I did it myself a couple of years ago when my connection speed was dropped to half a meg; I called up, threatened to change company and now I'm on 2mb/s and paying half the price. Although the drop in price isn't guaranteed, if you (or your parents) threaten to change company because you're not getting the connection speed you were promised, they'll do what it takes to keep you as a customer. They'll either tell you how to fix it, bump your speed up and/or drop the price. If your parents are the sort who don't know much about the internet and probably won't call them on your behalf then show them this post, because trust me, either the ISP are scamming you or there's a more in-depth problem here, but from experience I know it's likely to be the ISP


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## Deithor

Alright. Does anyone have any idea about the maximum connection rate limitations?


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## Redeye3323

Hey,

Since you have already tried SpeedTest.net, why not try their sister site - PingTest.net

When it comes to gaming, download/upload rates aren't as crucial as your pings. This means you can have a 20MBps Satellite connection which will be great for streaming movies & downloading, but won't be good for gaming (I said satellite as they offer higher download speeds, but the ping is far higher than ADSL/Fiber Optics). I usually game fine and my speeds are 1.5MBps on average.

Hope this explains a few points,
-Redeye


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## Deithor

I understand your point but the issue is that there are multiple people using the internet in my house. If you have a 1.5 Mbps connection that might work for JUST you, but when there are 5-10 devices connecting to one 6 Mbps connection things can get hectic. When my Mbps lowers from other devices taking it, my ping goes up.


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## Redeye3323

Deithor said:


> I understand your point but the issue is that there are multiple people using the internet in my house. If you have a 1.5 Mbps connection that might work for JUST you, but when there are 5-10 devices connecting to one 6 Mbps connection things can get hectic. When my Mbps lowers from other devices taking it, my ping goes up.


Well, we have 2 laptops, 1 iPad, 1 iPod touch, 1 Gaming PC, 1 Xbox 360 and 3/4 phones which all use the WiFi (though only 3 of those devices would be using WiFi at one time)


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## Deithor

Interesting. Nobody has anything on the connection rate limitations? I'm going to start a new thread.


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## Redeye3323

Try the Networking Subforum. They might not be Gamers, but they can probably help you with your issues & questions


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