Connection Issues

## **Q: The lag is bad. Can you fix this or add more servers?**

**A:** Although the game is usually not taxing to new phones, lag could also be caused by the CPU. To check the CPU, changes these settings on your device:

* GFX Resolution = Low
* Field of View X/Y = 1.0x
* Blood = Hide
* Enhanced Visuals = Off

Did that make it better? If so, then it's a CPU lag problem and keeping those settings turned down should help the problem

Here is some more testing you can do to help us narrow down the problem:

* Is this happening in Custom or Quick Play games?
* How many players are being reported on the server when this happens?
* What type of activities were going on that seemed to cause lag (flying around, fire fights, or ?)?
* Do you see the same issues when you play at different times of the day?
* Even if you have a newer phone, if you turn the graphic settings all the way down, do you still see lag?
* Are you playing a modded game? Do you have the same type of issue without mods?
* If you play a solo game, is there lag when you interact with the server?
* What kind of internet connection are you using (internet via WIFI Data versus via a Mobile/Cellular Data)?
* Another tool is to check your connection with SPEEDTEST (https://speedtest.net). Be sure to pick a server in Bengaluru (South India) if testing for the Asia server connection.

## Region Servers

Regarding servers, we are limited to just a few locations right now. The regional support option was added to the settings screen (v0.9.2); however, this tool is not finished and will be completed later. In time, we hope to be able to spin up servers in regions with the highest demand. We are also toying with the idea of limited access server hosting available to Appsomniac subscribers and their friends. Both of these won't be able to happen until the monetization and subscription systems are in place (Beta).

## How are you connected to the global internet?

Q: I'm in India, why do I have a better ping to Southeast Asia (Singapore) than South Asia (Bangalore)?

### Submarine Cable 101

Nearly all countries that have a coastline are connected to a submarine cable. Countries must have multiple cables to ensure reliable connectivity in case there is damage to a cable.

Undersea cables are built between locations that have something “important to communicate.” Europe, Asia, and Latin America all have large amounts of data to send and receive from North America. This includes internet backbone operators ensuring that emails and phone calls are connected and content providers who need to link their massive data centers to each other.  Ultimately, anyone accessing the internet, regardless of the device they are using, has the potential to use submarine cables. When using your mobile phone, the signal is only carried wirelessly from your phone to the nearest cell tower. From there, the data will be carried over terrestrial and subsea fiber-optic cables.

### Don't these cables ever break?

Yes! Cable faults are common. On average, there are over 100 each year. Cables were recently cut in the APAC region, offshore of Singapore, roughly mid to early September. It's going to take the months to fix. Everybody's affected because it was a major backbone cable.

### Our Server Providers

* This is the general status page for DigitalOcean (our server provider). They're usually pretty good about noting if one of their data centers is having a problem.
* When we add other companies' data centers we will share their status pages too. All of our accounting login servers are compiled from West Coast Azure servers.

### The Internet Backbone

The Internet backbone consists of many networks owned by numerous companies. Optical fiber trunk lines allow for fast data speeds and large bandwidth, they suffer relatively little attenuation, allowing them to cover long distances with few repeaters, and they are also immune to crosstalk and other forms of electromagnetic interference which plague electrical transmission.

### Mapped: The Fastest (and Slowest) Internet Speeds in the World

Factors that affect internet speed:

* Infrastructure or the type of cabling (copper or fiber-optic) that a country’s utilizing to support their internet service. Typically, the newer the infrastructure, the faster the connection.
* Proximity/connection to submarine cables is important, as these massive undersea fiber-optic cables transmit about 97% of the world’s communication data.
* The size of a country, since landmass affects how much it costs to upgrade infrastructure. The smaller the country, the cheaper it is to upgrade cabling.
* Investment makes a difference, or how much a country’s government prioritizes internet accessibility.

Of course, other factors may influence a country’s internet speed too, such as government regulation and intentional bandwidth throttling, which is the case in countries like Turkmenistan.