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Can VPN Cause Lag to Other Players? What Causes High Ping?
4 min. read
Updated onDecember 20, 2023
updated onDecember 20, 2023
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VPNsare more than often used to improve gaming sessions (ping reduction, look it up), but can use aVPNcause lag to otherplayers?
If you’re not a selfishVPNuser who doesn’t care about anyone else’s needs and you’ve ever considered this scenario, we’re going to debunk this mystery for you once and for all.
What causes high ping?
First things first, we’ve casually mentioned that you can use aVPNif you encounter high ping. And we’re going to explain how it works right away.
Generally speaking, the farther a game server is from your currentlocation, the higher the ping you’ll get. Low-quality servers will make you experience even more severe latency values.
However, high ping can also be caused by a series of factors that don’t have anything to do with the game you’re about to play.
For instance,your ISP might throttle your bandwidth, which in turn slows down your connection speed and has a negative impact on your in-game ping.
Another similar factor is network congestion. If the network you’re on is heavily congested, you will receive a high ping whenever you’ll try to play your favorite game.
Can VPN improve high ping?
Luckily for you, aVPNcan solve every issue we’ve mentioned above. If the game server is in another country, just connect to aVPN serverthat’s as close as possible to it. This could also improve matchmaking.
If yourISP’s bandwidth throttlingis the culprit,VPNcan also solve it. AVPNcan bypass your default connection, routing your traffic through non-restricted servers, thus letting your connection breathe for a while, away from the ISP’s tight grip.
Last, but not least,network congestion. We’ve covered this topic extensively, but we’ll say it again.VPNcan bypass your overcrowded network and reduce the harmful effects of network congestion.
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Can VPN cause other players to lag?
With that in mind, we’ve heard some rumors that using aVPNwhile playing a game can cause otherplayersto lag. It’s worth mentioning that inonline games, everyplayerinfluences on others.
Therefore, if aplayerhas high latency (or lag), otherplayersmight experience the same issue, regardless of whether the one who lags has aVPNor not.
But given thatVPNis actually used to reduce lag, it’s highly possible that theVPNisn’t actually the problem and what’s making everyone else lag.
VPN causing lag in Mobile Legends
We’ve stumbled upon a peculiar case ofVPNcausing lag to otherplayers, but only with a specific game: Mobile Legends. Although, it seems that it’s not theVPNcausing the lag.
In Mobile Legends, a user can invite otherplayersto join a game. Upon their acceptance, the matchmaking process starts. Note that this only applies if you’re playing the game with your friends (i.e. in a party).
Note that using aVPNwhile playing Mobile Legends might help bypass long waiting times in queues.
If you’re connected to aVPNserver that’s in another country while making the invites, you and the rest of your crew will be most likely queued for that specific country’s server.
For you, it’s no problem since you’re already virtually there (switching locations). However, your party members might lag, since they’re most likely playing on a foreign server without anyVPN-assisted routing.
But, as we’ve previously said, the problem isn’t likely caused byVPNusage. Poor matchmaking and possibly queueing withplayersfrom other countries is probably what’s causing lag issues in this specific scenario.
More likely, the otherplayers‘ connections might be poor, or their ISP might be throttling theirbandwidth. These are both more plausible explanations.
VPN can’t increase the latency of other players
Well, we’re pretty confident that using aVPNcan’t cause lag to otherplayers. Not a significant amount, that is. It’s a known fact that one player’s high latency can affect the otherplayers‘ lag.
However,using a VPN has been proven to reduce ping. Therefore, it would make sense to say thatVPNcan actually stabilize the connection. More so, it could help other users have lower latency.
In fact, most of the time lag is caused by improper server management, network congestion, ISP throttling, or low-speed/low-quality Internet connections.
More about the topics:gaming,lagging issue,VPN
Vlad Constantinescu
Vlad might have a degree in Animal Husbandry and Livestock Management, but he’s currently rocking anything software related, ranging from testing programs to writing in-depth reviews about them.
He spent 3-4 years as a software editor at Softpedia and another year as a VPN specialist before he landed his current job as an author at Windows Report.
In his free time, Vlad enjoys playing guitar, doing jigsaw puzzles, researching cybersecurity, and even having a good read on rainy days.
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