• Get High-Speed Internet
• Get a StarterKit
• Choose a Connection Type

• Direct
• Router
• Windows ICS

• Guide to Home Networking
  How to set up your own home network quickly and painlessly.
• Xbox Live and Routers
  Everything you need to know about routers on XboxLive.
• Diagnosing Xbox LiveConnections
  Use the Xbox Dashboard to solveICMP, MTU, and NAT issues.
• Support Webcast
  Customersupportlives it upwith the latest tips for connecting, signing up, and features.
• Lose the Lag
  We've got a few pointers to help you avoid laggy games and host lag-free ones.
• Glossary
  Finding this is all pretty new to you? Let the glossary help out.

How Games Use Bandwidth

Different games have different bandwidth characteristics. One game sending data might be the equivalent of an eighteen-wheeler driving up or down your exit, while another might be a small, zippy motorcycle. In order to avoid laggy games, you need to make sure that the roadway you are using has the capacity to handle the traffic.

When an Xbox is acting as a host for a game, that game needs to send data to everyone who is playing. The onramp from your house to the Internet (the upstream channel) is the limiting factor here. Let’s use that one-lane onramp we discussed earlier. Sending a little bit of information from your game is like using motorcycles to deliver packages—by using multiple motorcycles, you will be able to send information to a lot more players than you might if you were playing a game that was sending bigger packages that needed a big, eighteen-wheeler truck to deliver them.

Unfortunately, getting a lag-free game isn’t quite as easy as just picking bandwidth-efficient games to play (ones that use motorcycles). You also have to deal with latency, or the “lag” of information being delivered.

How the Internet Affects Games

An unfortunate aspect of the Internet is that the roads that your traffic will follow are highly variable in quality. Imagine driving cross-country down a nice, smooth, six-lane asphalt freeway at the speed limit when, suddenly, it turns into a rutted dirt road with potholes. You’ve driven this route a million times before, and it’s always been reliable—but not today, and you can tell your delivery is going to be delayed.

That, in a nutshell, is lag—a delay in getting information delivered. The road might suddenly get a little better, or it might not. Either way, there’s a bit of a random factor that’s completely outside of your control that affects the speed and reliability of data delivery to your home. Remember, this is a separate issue than the number and width of lanes of the onramp from your house!

The point here is that there are factors that are outside ofanyone’s control (including Xbox Live) that can affect the quality of an online game. However, there are some things you can do to increase the chances of finding a smooth game.

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