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What is A Proper Internet Speed for Gaming?

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It won’t be wrong to say that our lives will come to a halt if there is no internet around. The Internet is necessary for everything, from business, marketing, dining, and even groceries. If you know how to do it, the internet will find you the thing you need.

The Huge Fan Base for Online Gaming

The worldwide digital media market is increasing, and online gaming through broadband connection plays a huge role. These facts support the massive fan following for online games:

The online gaming market generated USD 21.1 billion as revenue in 2020 – a record-setting 21.9 per cent growth.

The number of online gamers in 2020 has reached the 932 million mark.

Online gaming spectators are estimated to surpass 1.3 billion in 2025.

The online gaming world is not only for role players, nerds, people wishing to spend time, and others. The gaming environment has changed for serious gamers. Nowadays, the global gaming event offers some significantly noticeable money prizes for the winners.

Interestingly, it has also opened the doorway to virtual economic transactions for in-game content and assets. People earn real money by crafting digital items and managing virtual real –estate in a game called Second Life.

The Associated Basic Terminology

As most of these games require internet broadband for gaming and to play, you will have to arrange for an internet connection with the required speed. Here are the associated terms you will do better to know:

Bandwidth

You must have heard of this term before, most commonly when you are looking to install a new broadband connection for your online gaming. Bandwidth is the amount of data the internet connection can manage without slowing or crashing down. In earlier days of the internet, high traffic caused trouble for famous sites. They would have to increase their bandwidth, incur charges through service providers, or make do with slower internet speed. You need to have proper bandwidth for gaming.

Mbps (Megabits per Second)

Your fiber internet service provider will have told you to increase your Mbps if your bandwidth situation is non-optimal and unchangeable. Mbps or megabits per second are the essences of an internet connection. However, it would be best if you didn’t confuse it with MBps (Megabytes per second) which states the file size you are downloading.

Your Mbps requirement will depend on the primary use of your broadband fiber connection. If you stream the latest movies and shows in 4K resolution, you would need at least 25 Mbps to 50 Mbps for gaming The best internet speed for gaming is 100 Mbps or above.

Ping and Packet Loss

How does ping relate to Performance Loss?

‘Ping,’ ‘ping rate,’ or ‘lag’ are the other communication latency names. It is the time taken to send information from one location on the internet to another and back. A lot of factors affect the ping rate of the internet. When the data takes much time to arrive at the destination and vanishes, it’s called packet loss.

Impact of Internet Speed on Different Gaming Platforms

The impact of internet speed on gaming platforms is significant, as it directly affects your ability to download games, access online content, and enjoy a lag-free gaming experience.

Let’s understand this impact a little better:

PC Gaming

You require a higher internet speed for a gaming experience, especially when it comes to online multiplayer games and streaming. Faster internet speeds contribute to quicker downloads of games and updates, ensuring a smoother gaming session without frustrating lags or interruptions. Additionally, a higher bandwidth enables you to enjoy lag-free online matches, as your actions are registered promptly on the game server, giving you a competitive edge over players with slower connections.

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Console Gaming

While consoles like PlayStation, Xbox, and Nintendo Switch offer offline gaming capabilities, they increasingly rely on internet connectivity for essential features such as updates, multiplayer gaming, and accessing additional content. With a faster internet speed, you can seamlessly download game updates and expansions, reducing the time spent waiting and maximising your gaming time. Furthermore, a higher bandwidth ensures a smooth online multiplayer experience, minimising lag and enabling you to react promptly to opponent moves.

Mobile Gaming

The mobile gaming industry has witnessed exponential growth, with many games relying heavily on internet connectivity. Faster internet speeds are crucial for a satisfying mobile gaming experience. They enable you to quickly download games and updates, ensuring that you can start playing without unnecessary delays. Additionally, a higher bandwidth minimises latency, providing smooth gameplay and preventing frustrating lags or disconnections, which can ruin your gaming experience, especially in real-time multiplayer games.

Factors Affecting Gaming Internet Speed

When it comes to online gaming, you need to pay close attention to factors that can significantly impact your internet speed, as a fast and reliable connection is crucial for an enjoyable gaming experience. These factors include:

Latency: Low latency, which is the delay between your action and the game's response, is crucial for a smooth gaming experience. You want to minimise this delay as much as possible, as even a small increase can mean the difference between a successful move and a frustrating lag. High-speed internet connections help reduce latency by ensuring data packets travel quickly between your device and the game server.
Download and Upload Speeds: Online games often require regular updates and patches to keep the experience fresh and address any issues. So, is 10Mbps Upload speed good for gaming? Faster download speeds ensure that you can quickly install these updates and get back to gaming without unnecessary delays. Internet speed of 10-25 Mbps download and 5-10 Mbps upload suits most online gaming needs. Additionally, a higher upload speed can improve the stability of your online gaming connection by allowing you to send data to the game server more efficiently, reducing the risk of lag or disconnections.
Consistency: A stable and high-speed connection is essential to prevent lag and rubber-banding during gameplay, which can be the difference between winning and losing. Lag can cause your character's movements to become jerky or unresponsive, while rubber-banding can result in your character appearing to move erratically or even teleport. A consistent internet connection ensures that data is transmitted smoothly, without interruptions or delays.
Network Congestion: Network congestion occurs when there is a high demand for bandwidth within a particular network. During peak usage hours, such as evenings when many people are streaming videos or playing online games, the network can become congested. This congestion leads to slower speeds and increased latency, which can severely impact your gaming experience.
Internet Service Provider (ISP): Your internet service provider (ISP) plays a crucial role in determining the quality and speed of your internet connection. Different ISPs offer various packages with different speeds and bandwidth options. The performance of your ISP's network infrastructure, including the quality of its equipment and network capacity, can also impact your internet speed. You need high-speed internet for gaming.

The Need for Speed

The Federal Communications Commission endorses a gaming download speed of 3 to 4 Mbps. More precisely, 3 Mbps is for a consistent gaming console, and 4 Mbps is for multiplayer games. So, is 50 Mbps good for gaming?

According to gamers, if the number of users using the internet isn’t much (one or two) and the number of devices sharing the bandwidth is minimal, broadband connectivity with 25 – 50 Mbps speed will suffice for gaming.

However, the games and the console itself can affect online gaming speed. Games like Diablo IV, Cyberpunk 2077, or Doom Eternal have to be downloaded, ranging from 40 – 70 Gigabytes (GB). Even gaming consoles like the PS5s can take huge updates.

If you have a data limit in our ISP’s plan, it is best to upgrade to more bandwidth or data so that you can play your preferred online game without interruption.

To get the best and most affordable unlimited high Internet speed data plans, click here.