What a game booster does and does not do

The mechanism

The app on your device sends the game's packets to an entry server near you. From there they cross the booster's own network to an exit server near the game server. GearUP describes its version as moving game traffic off congested routes onto a dedicated path, and says it runs over 7,500 nodes in more than 180 countries and regions and switches routes when it meets jitter or failures.

Game publishers use the same idea for their own players. Valve's Steam Datagram Relay carries traffic over Valve's network and finds a faster route than the default for many players, and Valve also writes that some players end up slower than on the default route. A private network can beat the provider's path; it does not always.

Where it can help

• Your provider's route to the server takes a detour. The route guide shows how that looks in the test: a high median on a steady line.
• You play on a region far away, for example with friends abroad. A long trip has more room for a better path than a short one.
• The route drops packets between your provider and the server while your home network stays clean.

Where it cannot

• Distance. GearUP's own help page expects about 200 ms from Brazil to Singapore even after boosting, because the physical distance stays.
• A short, strong connection. The same page gives a latency of about 20 ms close to the server as a case where the gain is smaller.
• Your home network. GearUP's troubleshooting page sends players with high latency or packet loss to local fixes first: restart or upgrade the router, switch to a cable, pause other downloads, call the provider. The Ethernet or Wi-Fi guide starts there too.
• Apps that are not games. GearUP says its service speeds up games only, not video or social apps.

Read the test before you pay

That is why our results show a route optimizer only on Far from the servers and Cross region, and never on a close result. The GearUP Booster page lists what GearUP says it does, its prices and trial terms, and when it will not help.

Check a booster on your own line

1. Pick one server in the game and one hour of the day.
2. Play a match with the booster off and note the game's own ping display. The game pages say where each game shows it.
3. Turn the booster on, play on the same server at the same hour, and compare.

The ping test cannot do this part for you: a booster routes game traffic only, so the browser's requests never take its route. The test tells you whether the route is worth working on; the game's display tells you whether the booster changed it.

GearUP, ExitLag and NoPing all offer a free trial. GearUP's needs a payment method and becomes a paid plan unless you cancel before it ends, so note the end date before you start one. The GearUP Booster page prints its terms.