What Is A Good Internet Speed for Gaming?

Online gaming is one of the best ways to pass time, and it’s even more so since you can do it alone provided you have a fast enough internet speed for gaming. We will be discussing the best speed for your PC, PS4, Nintendo Switch, and Xbox gaming.

How Many Mbps Is Required for Gaming?

You can check your router speed at speed test using the following steps;

• Connect your computer to your router via an Ethernet cable
• Open your web browser
• In the address bar, type in http://www.speedtest.net/ and hit ‘Go’

Fast is also another platform where you can check your router speed. It’s easy to use and straightforward just as with ‘Speedtest’. 

• Connect your computer to your router using the Ethernet cable
• Open your web browser
• Type in https://fast.com in the address bar and hit ‘Go’

The speed in terms of Mbps depends on the type of game you are playing and also your gaming console. Below are the general guidelines provided by tech experts and different ISPs. Minimum internet speed for gaming is:

• Download speed: 3Mbps
• Upload speed: 0.5 – 1Mbps
• Ping rate: <150 ms

For optimum performance, the recommended internet speed is:

• Download speed: 15 – 25 Mbps
• Upload speed: 5 Mbps
• Ping rate: <50 ms

What Is Download Speed, Upload Speed, And Ping Rate?

Download and Upload Speed

Your internet bandwidth is the maximum amount of internet data you can upload or download at a point in time, and it determines the smoothness of your online gameplay. You can say your bandwidth is the amount of data your connection can take. Being calculated in megabits per second (Mbps), it is a reflection of the number of megabits per second of data you can upload or download.

Ping Rate

Ping rate is also called latency and is measured in milliseconds (ms). It is the measure of how long it will take a data packet to travel from source to destination, and for you to get the response. For example, from your gaming console to the server, and back to your console. So in simple terms, you can say the ping rate is the speed at which your action responds on the screen. For instance, if you have a ping rate of 20 ms, then it will take 20 ms for your gaming character to shoot in the game after you have pressed the action button. So in summary, bandwidth is the maximum amount of data you can send and receive at a time, while the ping rate is the speed at which the data travels. If you have a high ping rate, then other players’ moves would be registered before yours. So you might get killed even before you get the chance to defend yourself. With the ping rate, the rule of thumb is as follows:

• Below 50 ms is very good
• Below 100 ms is averagely good
• At 150 ms, lag issues start
• With a ping rate of more than 150 ms, you will have lag

How Much Internet Speed Is Needed for PlayStation 4? 

For PS4, the minimum requirements are:

• Download speed: 3 Mbps
• Upload speed: 1 Mbps
• Ping rate: below 150 ms

You won’t find any minimum requirements for PS4 so the ones we have given are based on general guidelines. The recommended requirements however are:

• Download speed: 16 Mbps
• Upload speed: 4 Mbps
• Ping rate: below 50 ms

PlayStation’s support page doesn’t provide any requirement for ping rate, and so the one we have put up is based on general guidelines.

How Much Internet Speed Is Needed for Xbox One?

According to Xbox One’s support page, the minimum requirements for online gaming is as follows:

• Download speed: 3 Mbps
• Upload speed: 0.5 Mbps
• Ping rate: below 150 ms

The recommended requirements are as follows:

• Download speed: 15 - 25 Mbps
• Upload speed: 4 Mbps
• Ping rate: below 50 ms

These parameters are based on general guidelines as there aren’t any specified recommended requirements according to Xbox.

How Much Internet Speed Is Needed for Nintendo Switch?

The minimum gaming requirements are:

• Download speed: 3 Mbps
• Upload speed: 1 Mbps
• Ping rate: below 150 ms

Nintendo only provides the minimum requirements for download speed and upload speed. The ping rate isn’t included and so what we have added here is based on general guidelines. The recommended requirements for gaming is:

• Download speed: 15 - 25 Mbps
• Upload speed: 4 Mbps
• Ping rate: below 50 ms

Nintendo doesn’t provide any recommended specifications to the public about internet speed for gaming, and so what we have provided is based on general guidelines.

How Much Internet Speed Is Needed for PC or Mac?

The minimum requirements for PC or Mac are:

• Download speed: 3 – 6 Mbps
• Upload speed: 0.75 – 1 Mbps
• Ping rate: below 100 – 150 ms

The recommended requirements for gaming with PC or Mac are:

• Download speed: 15 – 25 Mbps
• Upload speed: 5 Mbps
• Ping rate: below 50 ms

These recommended requirements are based on general gaming guidelines and your experience will be largely based on the computer you are using or the game you are playing.

Others Factors That Affect Your Online Gaming Experience

High Internet Usage

It's easy to find out the amount of Mbps you need for online gaming as it depends on the general internet usage of your household. Say you have two others who are gamers and you all mostly play games at the same time, then you would have to multiply your bandwidth by 3 to satisfy your gaming needs. If other online activities like online video streaming and download of huge files go on in your home as you play, you will have a higher ping rate.

Bandwidth

Every device that connects to the internet uses bandwidth, and when you have too many connections taking up their share, you will have slow internet speed for gaming.

Cyber Attacks

Online gamers are easy targets for cyberattacks as they rarely use security measures while gaming. So hackers can easily take over the gamer’s accounts and read private chats getting as much information as they can. They can also combine your login details and try to access your other accounts, or sell your stolen details on the dark web.

10 Tips to Help You Improve Your Internet Speed for Gaming

• Using a wired connection such as an Ethernet cable would give you a faster and more reliable internet connection that is required for gaming. You can set up a wired home network by following this guide.
• Set your console closer to the Wi-Fi router, or buy Wi-Fi extenders.

• Secure your Wi-Fi connection as someone could have hacked into your connection and is using up your bandwidth, causing a slow connection.

• Use a premium VPN. due to the tunneling involved in the VPN process, it is usually slower than your connection without one. But with heavy internet use such as gaming, your ISP may throttle your bandwidth, slowing down your connection. A VPN is useful at this point as it prevents such throttling and allows you to browse unhindered.

• Connect to a VPN server that’s closer to your real location. This way your speed would increase. For example, if you are in Germany, it would be unwise to connect to a US server that is farther away when there is an available France server to connect to. 
• Free up your bandwidth by closing up some apps, web pages, or services such as YouTube or Netflix if they are not being used at the time.

• Reset your router occasionally to ensure optimum performance at all times.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9CEk08Hac4

• If your game isn’t running smoothly, adjust game graphics settings. Dial it down a notch to free up bandwidth and make gameplay smoother.
• You can upgrade your internet connection by subscribing to a faster internet plan, purchasing a new router, or completely upgrading to a fiber optic internet connection.
• Quality of Service is a feature that’s present in most routers. It allows you to give priority to certain types of online traffic. So by enabling it and selecting games or devices to be given the greater priority to, you allow for faster internet speed when gaming. 

Conclusion

Fast Internet speed is a huge part of the gaming experience, and it can be really frustrating when your ISP throttles your bandwidth. LimeVPN however masks your task and IP so that your ISP has no way of messing with your Internet speed. This, together with ensuring security and privacy through encryption are the reasons why you should connect to LimeVPN when gaming.