How to Reduce Lag in Wi-Fi

by **Kimchi** Sun Mar 14, 2010 2:43 pm

Here is an amazing guide on AiB by Dawei in which it makes your connection more bearable. It's also do-able on 360, ps3, and many pc games. Copied and Pasted directly from AiB.

Everyone hates lag. It's just common sense. People complain about how Nintendo made such shitty online, how they would pay for better wifi, ect ect. Well, how would you like to play online with a more bearable connection for free? I'll be detailing every way I know to make online play an enjoyable experience in this thread. Even for people who are too technically inept to do what I describe first off, I will have a section at the bottom for just simple, [possibly] common sense lag relievers. And with that, let's get started.

I- Speed Test

First of all, try out an internet speed test just to make sure it isn't a shitty connection and that you are doomed no matter what you do. I like to use speedtest.net, but feel free to do whatever site you like

Quick tip! If you have a laptop, put it right next to where you wii normally sits, and test do the speed test. It's more accurate that way, as latency (which is what we are testing) increases with distance. I also recommend putting your wii completely off (red light) as multiple things running on wifi can disrupt your connection.

What you’re aiming for here is a low MS Ping. 17> is ideal for smash, but don't fret if it's higher.
Ping is basically how long it takes information to travel and how much is lost in the process. So a Ping measure of 100 means it takes information 100 Milliseconds to travel and be received. 17 is considered the best for Brawl, but there isn't too much you can do about it since it is mainly your internet providers fault. For a more detailed Ping report...

Click Start
Run
"CMD"
In the command box type "ping ***" filling in the *'s with the name of a website.

This will also give you a dropped package percentage, where 0% is a must.

II- House Cleaning

Let’s make sure you are able to log into your router. All you have to do is type in your IP address in the address bar of your internet browser and fill in the user name and password. Before we get there however, let’s get all the information we will need. Go back to the command box as show in step one and type in "IPconfig/ALL". This will give you your IP address as well as numerous other numbers that will be needed later.

The password and user name are the factory defaults unless you have changed them, so please consult your router's website for that information. Now, make sure your router has the latest version of firmware (there is usually a check for new versions upon logging in) and we are ready to begin.

III- The Basics

First, something simple. Make sure your router's channel is on either 1 or 11. These do not overlap with other channels, so it'll help your connection. Next we will look into your SPI firewall settings. This firewall inspects the “packets” or pieces of information that are coming to your computer, or more specifically the Wii. Turning this off helps things run a bit smoother. If you do not have a regular firewall (like what you would get from McAffee or another security program) keep this on! Otherwise, you can go ahead and turn it off.

Next, make sure you have the most up-to-date firmware. Depending on your router, your current firmware could be listed in the router cp homepage, or it could just be in the top right corner of all pages. Navigate your way into the firmware update area, download the latest firmware (usualy found on the router manufacturers site), and then update the firmware. This'll help general productivity, and depending on how out-of-date your firmware is, it can increase your speed.

The last order of business is to make sure your NAT is set to “open.” Some routers may not have this option, but simply following the port forwarding section of the guide helps achieve the same effect. (Note- The NAT “Open” option also helps with X-box Live connections!)

IV- Open the Ports!

This is one of the major issues with Brawl. The information is so bogged down its nearly impossible for it to make it through in enough time to make the experience enjoyable. What we need to do is make it so only the Wii can get through the firewall we have up, don’t want total openness now do we? What you will have to do is go into your router settings and…

Click the Port Forwarding/Triggering tab. If its not an option, search around a bit or visit www.portforward.com. After you enter in your router model, feel free to click anything you want. You are only looking there to find out to get to the section, not what ports to forward.

Alright, now that that’s taken care of, you need to know what all those crazy numbers and such mean. Basically, the starting and ending points tell the router what pathways to open up. When you create a port, name it something you will recognize if you ever need to adjust the settings (Brawl, Brawl2, etc.) For Brawl, you will need…

TCP Outgoing (protocol must be TCP ONLY)
28910 Starting - 28910 Ending
29900 S - 29900 E
29901 S - 29901 E
29920 S - 29920 E
80 S - 80 E
443 S - 443- E

UDP Outgoing (UDP ONLY)
All ports (1-Max. Usually 65535)

The IP address will need to be filled in next, and will have a blank for the last numbers in the chain, such as 111.111.11.**
It is recommended that you use a number 10 above your IP, so in this case it would be something like 111.111.11.10. Some routers list the starting IP on the first page of the router cp, but if you don't just add 10 to the ip that you used to enter into your router cp.

After you have made all the ports (there should be 7) and set them all to the same IP address your finished with your router!

V- Wii Want to Brawl

Now you will have to tell the Wii to run through these ports that you specified. Turn on your Wii and…

A)
Go into the settings
Go over until you reach internet and click it
Click the connection you are using
Go into the settings
Pan over to the IP settings, and click “No” to the Auto Obtain feature
Set the IP address to the same numbers as the ports you created earlier
You Subnet ask can be found in the IP settings list show in the beginning of the guide
Default gateway is your original IP

B)
(Optional)
Now, pan over to Auto Obtain DNS and click “No”
Set it to the codes provided here ( www.opendns.com )
This will let your Wii run a little more independently of your computer, lessening traffic.
Warning! This can sometimes KILL your connection! It's worth trying out as if wifi is suddenly 10x worse you can just change it to whatever your computer has set as the DNS addresses, which can be found in the command prompt

C)
Pan over to MTU Value
Set it to 1500

And there you go, your ports have been forwarded and your connection should be much more bearable! But, like I said, many of you guys could be too lazy and/or dumb to do anything like that. So, what can be done for you so that online goes smoother?

1)
Get your router closer. This should be the most obvious thing, but some people don't think about it. When working in wireless, closer is ALWAYS better. It's also recommended to have your router 4-6 feet off the ground for maximum signal strength.

2)
Buy a wired connection. If your router is already 10 feet away, a wired connection will help as it'll remove any and all added latency because of wireless. It'll also let you play without having worry about your family being on their wireless devices and fucking up your connection.

3)
Exit out of what you are doing on the computer. Many people in the chats seem to know this (often I see people leave for their matches/yell at people for not leaving), and this will help! Less strain on the computer, less strain on your connection, better overall connection. An even better thing is to turn the computer off. This leads you to even less lag than just exiting out can. If you don't want to turn your computer off, look at the back of your router for a cable that is plugged into the router and then directly into the pc. If you unplug it from either side it'll sever connection to the desktop completely so that no internet is being used on it, and it can all go directly to your wii. Just plug it back in when you are ready to go back on, nothing will be different.

4)
Reset your internet connection. Unplug your router. Wait a minute. Unplug your modem. Wait a minute. Plug your modem back in. Wait another minute. Then plug your router back in.

5)
Do periodic spyware checks. Nothing can slow down a machine like a good dose of Spyware. Don’t let those people who write Spyware ruin your game.

Wii usb adapter owners)

1)
Hold down Ctrl-Alt-Delete, which will open the Windows Task Manager.

2)
Click the proccesses tab- it will show all the processes your computer is running at the time.

3)
Click the USER NAME heading at the top of the manager. This sorts all of the procceses by
username.

4)
Select an item with the usernames on your computer. DO NOT selec on from the SYSTEM, LOCAL SERVICE, OR NETWORK SERVICE groups. Also, do not select the explorer.exe, the taskmgr.exe, and the NintendoWFCregister.exe.

5)
Click END PROCESS. You may see a warning message, but if so, click YES. The selected item will be removed from the list and will stop running on the computer.

6): Repeat steps 4 & 5 until only the explorer.exe, taskmgr.exe, and NintendoWFCregister.exe remain on the list.

WARNING: After shutting down the background tasks, you must restart your computer to be able to run
most programs on your computer. Restarting your PC will make all background tasks
running again. Works best on XP. Try it out on Vista and tell me your results!

And that is it for now. More will come as I feel like typing/learning new things. Expect to see some stuff on wii usb adapters, as well as something else that I forgot while typing this last section. I'll also go around fixing up grammar and spelling so it's more bearable to read. Razz

Probably some more things if I find out about them too. Also, feel free to ask questions in the thread/pm me/contact me on aim/msn/yahoo/gmail if you need more help. And one last thing;
DON'T EXPECT MIRACLES FROM THIS. You are only marginally stronger than your weakest link. A awful connection plus a good connection will be pretty bad, but an awful connection and a great connection will be better than what you had in the previous situation. And with that, happy smashing!