Having just fought the lag monster and beat it after months of investigating, there is no simple answer. Causes of lag are so many possibilities
Possible lag issues starting at the Wii
Possible lag issues starting at the Wii
- Wiiconnect- this function needs to be disabled as it can attempt to download info while you are playing, thus taking up bandwidth
- Wired or wireless- distance to the router can make a difference. Long distance from wireless router can cause a weak signal. Likewise if wired, the longer the LAN cable is, the worse.
- Router- some routers are incompatible with Wii. There is a list of them on Nintendo's website
- Router- firewall will cause lag. Port forward the Wii
- Router- older routers have slower processors.
- Router- if not protected, neighbors might be using your router
- Router- if other people in your house are online, this will have a dramatic impact on your game play, causing extreme lag if they hit websites like Facebook, Myspace, and youtube
- Modem- if DSL, the modem will have an internal router. This router also has another firewall.
- Modem- if cable modem, if there are a lot of neighbors on the same cable, during peak hours your bandwidth will be cut down as you share all the bandwidth
- ISP- if your plan is a slower speed, you should upgrade to a faster speed plan
- ISP- Some ISP's are incompatible. There is a list of incompatible ISP's on Nintendo's website
- ISP- some ISP's are not "game friendly". They have systems in place that detect when high bandwidth games are being played, and they "throttle" the account so that the game is incapable of fully using the bandwidth
- ISP- distance to the ISP hub can make a difference
- Game host- the further away the host is, the worse the lag. Turn "region" on to make sure the game only searches for hosts in your area of the world
