The Internet has become almost a necessity in every household. At the very least, people have mobile data that they use to play games online. Some online games use more data to play so you need to have enough to avoid any lags or interrupting game time.
The speed of your internet is one thing, but if you have high latency, you’re going to have a bad time. You also have to be aware of your chosen ISP, what packages are available, and read the fine print. Some may only offer full speed during specific hours, so read on to find out what you need to look for to tell if your internet speed is good enough to game.
Know the upload and download speed
There is a basic guideline for how many Mbps you need to run your online games smoothly. The minimum recommendation is 3 Mbps download, 1 Mbps upload, and your ping less than 150ms. The lower your ping the better, as this is the rate at which your internet request is being sent. Full-time gamers will say that you need much more than 15 Mbps download, 5 Mbps upload, and less than 50ms ping rate.
This can be quite difficult and costly to achieve as your ISP will charge more for higher-speed packages unless you have fiber.
Platform and game requirements
The game and platform will be your biggest factors in determining how fast you need the internet to be. Between PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC, the minimum recommended speeds are the same as above, but when you start playing, these numbers don’t seem accurate. If you play simple card or casino games online, you may need a lower internet speed and resources.
Experienced players will agree that a minimum speed of 15 Mbps is good, but 25 Mbps is ideal. This is the speed at which lag and latency are less likely to occur unless more than one person is on your network. This leads to the next point.
Total network usage
You might be the only gamer in your house, but what about your mom or brother who watches YouTube and Netflix for four hours every day. Those streaming systems use a large amount of bandwidth and speed because they automatically download videos of the highest quality. This setting can be changed, but it involves some nifty fidgeting with your router or browser settings.
If your house has four people including yourself, expect to increase your bandwidth by at least 4x. When you think about 15 Mbps multiplied by four people, the cost starts to skyrocket. This is when you need to consider fiber and VDSL packages to handle your network’s load.
Improving your internet speed can be expensive as well as difficult, but there are ways to make sure you still have a streamlined online gaming experience. If you are in an area that supports fiber, you will find that many ISPs offer cheaper packages than the traditional copper cables.
Remember the number of players that will be connecting to the internet at the same time will affect your reliable internet speed, so try to keep it to a minimum, unless you can afford higher-speed packages.