Gaming Broadband

Gaming broadband essentials

Avid gamers are going to need to tick a few boxes with their broadband, or face frustration every time they want to get online and start an epic session!

When choosing between broadband providers and broadband deals, you need to look out for download usage and download speeds, particularly if you play a lot of online games. Gaming doesn’t use up too much data, but if you have capped usage you could breach this when playing online regularly.

It is best to go with a deal that offers truly unlimited downloads (preferably with no fair usage policy, although this wouldn’t be essential). You may also find juddering and jarring unless you have a fast connection. You will want fast download speeds AND fast upload speeds in order to enjoy a smooth and free-flowing gaming experience.

Most providers advertise the maximum download speed clearly (but be aware that the actual speed may be much lower, depending on area, time of day and various other factors). You will also want a reliable connection and a router or modem compatible with your games system.

Gaming broadband deals

Some providers, such as BE Broadband and Plusnet, offer specific broadband packages designed to suit online gaming. These deals offer fast maximum broadband speeds, and look out for ‘low latency and pings’, which will benefit your speed as well.

There may some offers that have short minimum terms, so you can try them out and see if they’re suitable. Gaming broadband deals could include other benefits, but one of the main ones to look out for is unlimited data usage.

You can get stung if you breach this, so try to stay away from capped data and go with something unlimited, and free from any fair usage policy. Don’t forget that the ‘maximum’ broadband speed is exactly what it says on the tin... so you can expect to average somewhat lower, depending on your area and the time of day.

Rural areas may also experience much lower speeds than advertised, so check details with the provider; you don’t want to fork out for up to 50Mbps broadband if you can only ever achieve 8Mbps.

Without gaming broadband

You could survive without a specific ‘gaming broadband’ deal, but you will still want to find something with an uncapped or very high allowance for data download, as well as fast download and upload speeds. You can certainly find the right offer without actually looking for a gaming broadband deal, because many of the packages simply designed for heavy movie and music downloading would also be great for gaming.