Did Santa bring new Nintendo, PlayStation or Xbox games to the kids (or you) this year? Make sure to get the most out of their amazing graphics and live action play by optimizing your HTC WiFi. If your modem speed is slow or the signal can’t get all the way through to your console, you’re likely to see pixelated images. Even worse, you could lose an important battle if your screen freezes mid-fight! Here are some tips for checking your speed and connection.
Maximize HTC WiFi at Home
Test Your Internet Speed
While most consoles will operate okay at an Internet bandwidth of 25 Megabits per second (Mbps), 300 Mbps is ideal for multiplayer or competitive online gaming. Doing a speed test can help determine if your service is fast enough, if the connection between your device and the Internet is strong enough, and if it’s operating at 100%. If during a speed test, you find that your connection is slow or your service needs to be faster, you can contact HTC and we can check your service or upgrade your HTC Internet package.
Check Your Ping Rate
For gaming, there’s also a measurement called a ping rate, which shows how long it takes a data packet to travel from the console to the game server and back to the console. It’s measured in milliseconds (ms) and shows how quickly your action appears on the screen. For instance, if your ping rate is 25 ms, it takes 25 milliseconds for your character to kick, punch, or shoot. If your opponent has a lower ping rate than you, you’re more likely to lose a battle. In general, a ping rate of less than 50 ms is very good, less than 100 ms is average, and higher than that is when gamers become very frustrated. Both PlayStation and Xbox have online instructions on how to test their speeds.
If you have higher than desired ping rates, it could be that you have an unstable connection, or there could be too many other devices on your network. Checking the next couple of suggestions could help. Otherwise, you may need to upgrade your Internet plan.
See How Many Devices, and What Kind of Activities, Other Household Members are Using
Your Internet bandwidth should be large enough to accommodate everyone’s online activities within the home. If your daughter is streaming Netflix while your wife is working from home, and you and your son are playing Xbox, you will need a fast enough speed for all of that.
If everyone in the house is doing one of these activities, you’ll need around 300 Mbps of bandwidth to avoid latency. Next time your game seems slow, ask who is using what device and do the math. If the Mbps isn’t high enough for all of that, consider upgrading your Internet plan.
Consider Relocating Your Router
Many gaming systems are located in a basement rec room, or a kid’s upstairs bedroom. If your router is in a corner office on the main level of the home, it may have a hard time sending a signal to your console. To help it reach as far as possible, try: placing it in the center of the home, keeping it away from other electronics, and if it has an antenna, point it straight up instead of horizontal
Ask About a Router Upgrade
If you have an older router and have since bought new gaming systems and smart TVs, it may be too old to be compatible with them. It’s also possible that your house is too big for your current router and it can’t reach everywhere it needs to reach. Upgrading to a new router like HTC’s GigaSpire BLAST could help. It’s an advanced WiFi router that has a longer range, higher efficiency, and is less affected by interference. It’s cloud-managed by our HTC experts, so you won’t have to go through all of the suggestions above, because we can check your speed for you and fix it from our office!
Let HTC Help Improve Your Game
We want to ensure you and your family have the best possible gaming experience. Call 618-939-6112 and we will discuss options for upgrading your current plan.
Harrisonville Telephone Company is a provider of reliable, cost-effective Internet (for streaming, gaming, surfing, viewing, listening, downloading, and more), television (hundreds of channels, free HD, VOD access and more), and phone ( unlimited local and long distance, voicemail, caller ID, etc.). Want to learn more about our great home or business bundles? Visit our website, call us at 618-939-6112, or fill out our Contact Us page. We look forward to hearing from you.
