How much can a VPN improve Ping?

Does a VPN improve gaming?

- Computer games in the VPN era

I've long seen myself as an advocate for open, free, and unlicensed Internet access.

To some, this means no restrictions on my usage of the Internet, others may have their eyes set on an encrypted connection, although others will find another goal behind this. Nevertheless, I'm not going to waste time in trying to persuade you; on the contrary, I'm going to share my experience as a gamer, a consumer of Internet contents, and an avid user of online services where restrictions are the rule, not the exception.

I've always been very excited about cybercafes: at first, because of all the options they offered - for instance, I was able to play FPS titles with a real-time graphics quality that was way above anything I was used to, or I could connect to IRC, or even join a community that was full of good people, but also very dedicated to gaming. But those times have long since passed - now, when we take an instant coffee and a quick Internet connection for lunch, or perhaps even in another coffee bar right around the corner, our lives get a little bit better. The fact that we don't have to pay money to access the Internet from the corporate lobby, or because we feel a need to pay the network provider, is what we should be thankful for.

And now, as technology has evolved, so have these coffee shops, making their services, both technical and legal, more and more transparent and reliable, while providing free, unlicensed Internet access to anyone who wants to use it. While the internet was designed in the past to just get stuff, it is now, and was created to be used as a tool by anyone who wants to, regardless of what kind of use they actually intend. We are free, unlicensed internet users now, and I have already taken part in a number of conversations where the question was asked: is a VPN a gaming thing?

The short answer is yes, a VPN definitely improves gaming. It lets us play games on an always on, high speed and fast connection that doesn't require us to think about monthly payment schemes, and that provides us with extra value over a shared connection which is shared by many people.

How do I lower my ping?

If you're familiar with the basics of networking, a computer can't tell that the information it's sending out over its cable is to another local device.

This could be the result of distance, and for many, distance will explain some of their problems. When sending a small file or an instant message, though, the connection won't make a difference; once a remote machine receives the data it was expecting, the information can reach its destination in a matter of milliseconds.

The problem becomes more prevalent on larger networks. When sending a large file, such as a movie, a chat window, or a picture, the lag can easily double or triple. It may also cause delays that create annoyances, such as when trying to play online games. The problem is most noticeable at all times of day, as well as on certain days of the week, and it's not uncommon for gamers to complain about the ping.

Although some programs and websites help players by displaying their ping in real time or while in game, the Ping command in the Windows command-line interface (cmd.exe) is your best bet for reducing your ping. However, it's easier to use tools to accomplish this rather than typing commands in a command line window, especially if you're working in the console. One such tool is the Ping command in MPlayer. Although you could download MPlayer and install it on your system, MPlayer is usually available on Linux distributions such as Ubuntu and other popular operating systems, as well as distributions intended for gamers such as SteamOS. To install MPlayer in Ubuntu, follow these steps:

Start a terminal and navigate to the directory where the file MPlayer.gz is stored by searching for the file through the file manager of your choice. Press the Enter key when you locate the file. Once you've located the file, extract the archive into the directory.

Next, open up a new terminal and use the following commands to install MPlayer: Press enter after executing the command and wait for the installation to complete. The terminal should have opened up and displayed the MPlayer installation program.

To get back to the prompt, execute the command that you closed in the previous step.

Why is my ping higher with a VPN?

I recently started using an openVPN (Tunnelbear) and a VPN (PPTP) for my daily travels. I have the usual speeds from my isp, except for when connected to the VPNs, where I can get 1Mbs up and 5Mbs down. Is there something in the setup I have not accounted for or are there other possibilities for higher speeds?

The VPN tunnels typically use UDP ports 80/443 and port-mapping for TCP ports 80/443 and 443, so you may have some problems when using ports as part of your packet structure.