Linux and Networking

Linux and Networking

5.3 What is latency?

When playing online, but also in daily work with the computer, the user expects a fast response time to his commands.

However, low latency is not always possible: long distances and other hardware and software issues can slow down the flow of data.

However, you can take concrete steps to reduce latency.

How to reduce or improve latency

One of the most important factors to achieve good latency is that there is a short distance between sender and receiver. This factor is managed through so-called Edge computing, in which a computer architecture is established that processes data as close as possible to its source. In addition to this, you can optimize your hardware and software to improve latency:

  1. When you are watching videos or playing online, try to select a Spanish or at least European server in the game or streaming platform settings.
  2. For high data intensity applications, use cable instead of wifi.
  3. Reduces the so-called packet loss due to the firewall. The firewall examines incoming packets and may even block them. This takes time and sometimes data is lost. To avoid this, you can configure the firewall indicating the pages and applications that do not require this check.
  4. Reduce the load on the cable to have more bandwidth for the application you are using: close the programs that are running in the background on your computer, put the rest of your devices (smartphone or tablet) temporarily in airplane mode and let the router prioritizes your computer. If you can, uninstall totally unnecessary programs from your computer.
  5. Make sure you have more RAM in your computer.

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