The topic QoS is the one setting that fixes the lag you blame your ISP for, and it takes two… is currently the subject of lively discussion — readers and analysts are keeping a close eye on developments.
This is taking place in a dynamic environment: companies’ decisions and competitors’ reactions can quickly change the picture.
I’m not trying to come across as condescending, but I’ve lost count of how many times my gaming friends have complained about lag while playing ranked matches. They’re quick to blame the ISP, but I usually ask them if they’re downloading anything in the background or if someone else at home is streaming Netflix or downloading updates. More often than not, that’s exactly what’s happening.
And the worst part? They just deal with it like there’s no solution, when all it takes is a couple of minutes to fix it and never have to worry about it again. Now, I get that they aren’t network-savvy by any means, but I’m not an expert either. I just happen to know which settings are actually worth changing, and as a gamer who has dealt with this issue for years, I can confidently say that enabling QoS (Quality of Service) usually gets the job done.
QoS on your router keeps your most important connections feeling fast by prioritizing their packets.
Of course, your ISP can cause lag sometimes, but if your connection is fast and stable until the moment there’s a download or upload happening elsewhere, your router is far more likely to be the culprit. For instance, if you’re experiencing rubber-banding in games when your roommate is downloading a game on their PS5, it’s probably not your ISP’s fault. This comes down to how your router manages all that network traffic. You can have a 1Gbps fiber connection and experience this issue in games that barely use more than 1Mbps of bandwidth.
No, I’m not saying you need a new router. In fact, there’s a good chance your current router already has everything you need to fix this. The problem is that by default, routers treat all types of traffic equally. When latency-sensitive traffic has to compete with other large downloads or multiple 4K streams, it can end up waiting for its turn even though it needs only a tiny fraction of your bandwidth. This is exactly what you notice as sudden ping spikes and network jitter. You just need to make sure your router prioritizes your gaming traffic, and QoS does just that.
Now that you know what’s causing the lag, the one thing you should do right away is configure QoS on your router. You can do this from your router’s admin page or companion app, whether that’s TP-Link Tether or Asus Router. Keep in mind that the exact name will vary depending on your router and manufacturer. Some may stick with QoS, whereas others may call it Adaptive QoS or Dynamic QoS. Some gaming routers may call it Game Boost or Game Accelerator, but either way, they all serve the same purpose.
What you need to do while setting up is make sure your bandwidth is set correctly. If you see an automatic option, go for that, but if it prompts you to enter your upload and download speeds, don’t enter the speeds your ISP claims. Run a quick speed test and set the limits to roughly 90% of your results. That lets your router step in before downloads start overwhelming your connection. If your router supports QoS, it should at the very least let you prioritize one device, say your gaming PC, over other devices on your network.
If you have an older or entry-level router, its QoS feature may not be advanced enough to let you prioritize gaming traffic. It’ll work when other devices on your network are hogging the bandwidth, but it won’t help if the download is happening on your PC. This is something I dealt with on my old DIR-882 router, but the workaround was to flash custom firmware like OpenWrt to access SQM. Unlike basic QoS, SQM reduces bufferbloat by actively managing traffic queues. You need to make sure your router supports OpenWrt, though, because Broadcom-based routers generally don’t.
Installing OpenWrt isn’t all that hard, but once you hace it running, you just need to go to system -> Software to search for and install luci-app-sqm and sqm-scripts. Then, you’ll be able to configure SQM from Network -> SQM QoS, and this step is pretty similar to setting up QoS, where you set your download and upload limits. You can choose between CAKE and fq_codel for the queue discipline, but I’d recommend starting with CAKE. It’s more CPU-intensive, though, so if your router struggles to reach the speeds you configured for SQM, switch to fq_codel instead.
You could upgrade from 100Mbps to 1Gbps, thinking a 10x faster connection would immediately fix the lag in online games that barely use any bandwidth, but you’ll run into this exact issue if your router isn’t prioritizing traffic. The only real downside to enabling QoS is that you may have to sacrifice some speed because your router has to manage and prioritize traffic. This is especially true with SQM, as it’s more CPU-intensive. Even then, I think that’s a fair trade-off. I don’t mind giving up some bandwidth if it means I won’t experience lag when my home network is busy.
The TP-Link Archer BE800 is one of the first Wi-Fi 7 devices most people can buy with a tri-band BE19000 connection. This multi-gig router has two 10Gbps wired ports with one supported SFP+ or RJ45. The other four Ethernet ports are 2.5Gbps. With 12 streams, this is one of the highest-capacity routers money can buy.
Higher speeds won’t fix your Wi-Fi — your existing network may be flawed in other ways