Online gaming with friends can be quite difficult when people are required to stay indoors. When most people are home, the internet service tends to lose much of its quality. How do a bunch of friends go about enjoying a multiplayer game free of lag and all sorts of problems?
Connect two PCs to play multiplayer LAN games
One of the best ways to do this is by setting up a Local Area Network (LAN) party over Wi-Fi. Not everyone these days has time to set up Ethernet cables, so using Wi-Fi is much easier and less time-consuming. In a situation such as this, all you need is a working wireless network, friends, and the required video games.
We should point out that playing over Wi-Fi requires a game server on your computer or one leased over the web and connected to your Wi-Fi router.
- Set up your Wireless Network for guest
- Locate the best position for your wireless router
- Boost weak Wi-Fi signal
Let us discuss this in more detail.
1] Set up your Wireless Network for guest
We’re not going to explain how to set up a game server on your router because each router differs from the other, and game server services are usually not the same in terms of the setup process. First, you must create a guest or a second network. But remember that not every router on the market currently supports a second network.
If your router supports the parallel wireless network, it would make sense to use the 2.4GHz standard. Yes, it is slower than 5GHz, but it supports a longer range, which means folks on the network can spread out more instead of being in a congested area.
Create an easy-to-recognize SSID and WPA2 security password, then share it with your friends.
2] Locate the best position for your wireless router
The next step, and one of the most important, is to find the best spot in your house to place the wireless router. For everyone in the house or apartment to get a good signal, there shouldn’t be too many walls interfering with it.
So, the general idea is to place the wireless router in a central position, and after that, be sure to point the antennas away from walls and in separate directions at all times.
3] Boost weak Wi-Fi signal
If, for some reason, the signal is not being delivered to every person in the LAN party, then the next best step is to invest in a Wi-Fi booster. No amount of software will help in this regard; therefore, we suggest looking at external hardware.
We recommend the Wi-Fi Range Extender from Rock Space due to its over 1,000 sq. ft range and support for up to 700Mbps speed. It’s quite powerful and should indeed deliver great improvements throughout.
Additionally, network users who are experiencing problems should consider whether they are using old Windows computers. Newer models tend to be much better at holding a strong signal, so if an old device is in place, upgrade to a newer one if possible.
Related article: What is a Computer Network? Different types of Computer Networks explained.