What broadband speed do you need for gaming
It’s often hard to put into words the frustration players can feel when experiencing a poor connection mid-game. Whether you’re in the midst of a massive FPS like COD or breaking down the wing in FIFA, seeing the lag icon flash up at a crucial time can be game-changing. While you thought you were making an unseen break for cover, you’ve actually just been running into a tree for the past 5 seconds…
That’s why, if you’re an avid gamer (or you just live with one) finding the right broadband for gaming is so important!
Firstly, does broadband speed affect online gaming?
In a word, yes! If you don’t have enough speed then your game will begin to lag and might even lead to your being kicked off the server.
What’s the minimum broadband speed for gaming?
If you’re looking at the absolute lowest speed you could get away with, figures range from between 3 and 30Mbps. This would also only be applicable for small online games with a lower demand on your bandwidth.
What’s the best broadband speed for gaming?
For the best online gaming experience, we’d recommend a broadband speed of over 100Mbps. This will help provide smoother lag-free 4K gaming.
There are some other considerations to take into account. How many other people are using the internet at the same time? How many devices are currently connected? How far are you from the router? What is between you and the router?
If you’re home alone, gaming in the front room near to the router then 100Mbps will give you more than enough speed.
But, if your router is downstairs and you’re gaming upstairs, maybe a console in your bedroom or a gaming PC in the box room at the back, you’ll want a little more ‘power’ from your router. The broadband speed your router receives dissipates as it spreads throughout your home as Wi-Fi. You’ll lose ‘speed’ due to walls and doors, distance will also reduce the Wi-Fi speed you receive. What’s left is then split between all of your devices.
So, if you start with 100Mbps at the router, your console might only be getting 10Mbps by the time the Wi-Fi signal reaches you.
With this in mind, we have a few recommendations when thinking about broadband speed and gaming.
- Upgrade your speed – If you’re in a household where the demand for the Wi-Fi is high then have a look at higher speeds. It costs just £3 a month (roughly 10p per day) to double our 300Mbps package to 600Mbps. This will ensure you’re getting a lot more speed to all of your connected devices, and give you the best chance of staying out of the gulag!*
- Mesh network – If your high-end gaming PC is in the box room at the back, or your console is on the opposite side of the house to the router, then a mesh network could be the key. Our Linksys Wi-FI 6 router is state-of-the-art and can easily be combined with other routers to form a mesh network throughout your home. The Intelligent Mesh™ technology is designed to deliver gigabit WiFi speeds to cover every corner of your home, and is designed to have 4x greater capacity for devices connected simultaneously.
So in summary, you can get away online gaming with speeds of around 30Mbps, but if you want to take your gaming to the next level we’d recommend our 300Mbps or 600Mbps packages, supported by a mesh network.
*We cannot guarantee that our faster speeds will make you any better at COD, in fact, it might provide one less excuse…