What to look for regarding internet for online gaming
There are a few key things you should be aware of when choosing an internet service. You need a connection that’s fast and strong enough to handle the games you enjoy. In the next few sections, we’ll identify what you need to know about obtaining fast internet and explain how it can affect your gaming experience.
0–10 Mbps
- Good for:
- Checking email
- Browsing websites
- Browsing social media
10–50 Mbps
- Good for:
- Connecting multiple devices
- Streaming videos
- Online gaming for one player
50+ Mbps
- Good for:
- Streaming videos in HD
- Online gaming for multiple users
- Video chatting with friends
Internet connection speed for online gaming
Your internet connection speed is crucial when you play games that require you to make split-second decisions. Internet speed, or bandwidth, is the rate at which information can be sent and received through your internet connection.
Connection speed is measured in megabits per second (Mbps). To play games online, you don’t need a bandwidth that is too high (3 to 6 Mbps). For example, you can play games like Fortnite and Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War with a speed of around 4 Mbps. However, it’s recommended that you have fast speeds of at least 25 Mbps for a seamless gaming experience.
But why is a higher speed rate recommended for online gaming? You might be doing other things while you’re gaming (like chatting), or other people could be using your internet connection at the same time you are. You might also be accessing a game server at a high traffic time. An adequate internet connection lets you stay competitive even when your speed drops.
There is both download speed and upload speed:
Download speed is the amount of time it takes your computer or gaming console to receive information online. An example of a download would be buying and loading a video game on your PlayStation or Xbox. Another example would be streaming a film on Netflix.
Upload speed is how long it takes for you to send information online. An example of an upload would be sending an email or posting an image or video on a social media site.
When companies advertise their internet speed, they are usually talking about the amount of Mbps download speed their service has. Download speeds are faster than upload speeds in most internet plans.
Unlike other internet options, fiber-optic internet plans have symmetrical download and upload speeds. High upload speeds can be important if you want to do things like stream your gameplay on sites like Twitch. Frontier has several Fiber Internet plans with great download and upload speeds.
Internet latency for online gaming
Low ping and low latency rates are both important for gaming online. Ping rate is the amount of time it takes for a signal to get from your system to another computer. Latency is the lag time in between you making an action on your gaming device and the game or application responding to your request. Both latency and ping rate are measured in milliseconds (ms).
You want to make sure you have as little latency as possible. A noticeable delay between pressing a button and seeing the result on the screen can be extremely frustrating.
There are a few things that could affect your latency. The pathway that your connection is using and the quality of your router can contribute to latency. For example, if you’re using an ethernet cable, you’ll have much less latency than if you’re using a wireless connection to play games.
The distance between two computers can also cause increased latency. For example, if you’re playing someone in New York, but you’re located in another country, it will take longer for your signals to reach each other than if you’re playing someone nearby.
Latency has a huge effect on gaming. If your internet connection has a higher latency than someone you’re playing against, your moves won’t register as quickly as theirs, putting you at a huge disadvantage. This is especially important when you’re playing fighting games like Tekken or Street Fighter. For online gaming, 20 to 40 ms latency is recommended, and your latency should not be more than 100 ms at the very most.
Internet data for game downloads
Downloading games online can require a lot of data. That’s why it’s important for your internet plan to have a data cap large enough to download games. Data caps can be soft or hard.
- Soft caps simply charge you for the extra data that you use over your max amount of your plan.
- Hard caps may shut off your service or charge you penalty fees if you go over your limit.
The amount of data that you’ll need for online gaming depends on the amount of gaming that you do as well as the type of games that you play. At the very least, you’ll need a data cap of 50 to 100 gigabytes. Online games can require from 1 to 50 GB, on average, just to download, and you’ll need some extra available data to play them.
If you are continuously downloading games on a cloud server like Steam, you can eat data extremely fast. In that case, it might be wise to get an internet connection with unlimited data.