Wi-fi setting change that could completely eliminate lag during large downloads for gamers

Higher latency and lag spikes when downloading can now be a thing of the past as one tech expert discovers the Wi-Fi setting that allows you to play your favorite competitive games online while also downloading with high speeds at the same time.

It all revolves around the implementation of Quality of Service (QoS) and Smart Queue Management (SQM) tools within your router, and all it takes is a few clicks to get everything up and running for good.

One of the biggest issues you might encounter is the increase in latency when your Wi-Fi's internet speed is being hogged by another device downloading a large game — something that you're especially likely to run into if you live with other fellow gamers.

They might be downloading the latest Call of Duty or perhaps even pre-loading GTA 6 in the week ahead of its release, but that means that you're not able to jump on games like Counter-Strike 2 or Valorant that require price connections to maintain a competitive edge.

Having as low a latency as possible is vital in competitive games like Counter-Strike 2 (Valve)

As explained by Hamlin Rozario at XDA, while this might seem like something you simply have to put up with, it can actually be fixed by changing a few settings on your router without too much of an impact on the speed of your download.

QoS solves the issue for multiple devices

The first of this relates to your router's QoS options, which could be referred to as an 'engine' and is likely found within the features on offer through your router's settings menu.

This allows you to place connected devices into different priority slots, which determines what your router chooses to send a connection to first. Putting devices that handle downloads as lower priority while something like your PC – which you need for low-latency gaming – in the highest is definitely going to make a difference.

You can also cap the download and upload speeds on certain devices, and limiting these to 90% allows you to maintain a fast connection while not taking up everything that the router has to offer, leaving plenty of headroom for online gaming especially if your speeds are in the hundreds of megabits per second.

SQM is where to head when dealing with a single platform

What QoS doesn't solve, however, is the issues that might emerge if you want to download and play competitively on a single platform as there's no way of using the feature to prioritize applications over platforms.

You can use features like QoS and SQM to sort your network flow and prioritize latency-intensive systems (Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images)

Using OpenWrt and enabling SQM QoS through your router's setting will allow you to separate your network traffic individuals and place latency-sensitive packets as the highest priority, which helps you stay competitive while gaming.

There are still downsides to this approach, especially if you happen to have an older router, as SQM can be CPU-intensive which introduces potential performance degradation and hardware latency increases that are potentially higher than their network equivalent — but it's still definitely worth trying out to see if it benefits you on an individual level.