Boost your gaming VPN

IF YOU’RE A SERIOUS GAMER, you’ll be aware of the advantages of using a VPN. As traffic between your device and the server is encrypted, your ISP can’t monitor and ‘throttle’ it, slowing down your game. With the IP address hidden behind the VPN server, players are also better protected from DOS (Denial of Service) and ‘swatting’ attacks.

- NATE DRAKE

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AN ACTIVE SUBSCRIPTION to your VPN provider

Still, connecting to the internet through a VPN introduces an additional ‘hop’ in your traffic’s route, which can increase latency. This can be an issue if your chosen title only allows you split-seconds to shoot, slash, or jump. Many VPN providers claim to offer the very best servers in optimal locations, with swathes of bandwidth for the perfect gaming experience.

In this guide, we’ll explore some ways to test such claims. This is done by closely examining the location and type of VPN servers, evaluating different VPN protocols, and deploying extra features and hardware.

1 SELECT YOUR SERVER

When playing online, every gamer’s main consideration is ping time: the time taken between a player’s action and the game server’s response.

» A good gaming VPN should be able to keep your ping time under 50 milliseconds. If you’re engaging in competitive gaming, a ping time under 20 ms is ideal.

» You can keep this down by choosing a VPN server location close to the gaming server. This isn’t always as simple as it sounds. For instance, Fortnite has dedicated tournament servers in Ashburn, Virginia. If your VPN provider simply offers a ‘US Server’, this could be located in Moloka‘i, Hawaii, which is almost 4,800 miles away.

» Even if your provider appears to offer servers close to your gaming location, you should double-check that these are physical rather than virtual.

» Virtual VPN servers have their uses. They can make your device appear to be in a different location, eg. for watching geo-restricted streaming video on Netflix via an appropriate IP address. However, the server on which they run could be located far away from their apparent location.