Why You Need a Better Internet Connection when Gaming

If you’re reading this right now you’re most likely a gamer and you’re obviously hooked up to the internet. Its what drastically changed the way we live in this highly-connected world and gaming has been one of the most internet-reliant industry in the world right now. But is an internet connection enough? What is this talk about high-speed internet, large bandwidth, and all that buzz from ISPs competing in to get you connected. That’s what we’re here to talk about. We won’t be going over the rich technical details but we’ll try our best to share as much as we can on just why you need a good internet connection if you’re gaming.

Lag Kills

 If you’re mostly playing online games, this is what matters most to you. Latency is the time it takes for data to travel from the source to the destination. In this case, its the various actions and game information that is served from a server which can be a dedicated server or a player acting as one.

In the case of a dedicated server, these are mostly high-performance computers connected to high-bandwidth, low-latency connections to serve multiple players at once and a player-created server could easily be someone just acting as the host of a game to which other players connect to instead of a dedicated server, in this case though it is possible that the player may not be hooked up to a good connection.

In both instances, lag can occur and when it happens its just plain ol’ nasty. Lag is when the game exhibits delays in processing the action of the player and the response of the server. This normally results in players suddenly stopping or moving erratically in-game which can really impair decision-making moreso in fast-paced games like first-person shooters or fighting games.

Game Sizes are Increasing

There’s a huge variety of games out there: browser-based games like that on social media or slots in online casinos won’t require much bandwidth and a consistent connection would easily result in a solid gaming experience. Its modern PC games and consoles that are easily driving up the bandwidth race along with video content that easily saturates our pipes with downloads. Games like the latest Call of Duty title, Black Ops III and its recent predescessors require nearly 50GB of install space and that is one huge download. Console games are also nearing these install sizes now.

Simply put, if your internet speed or more appropriately bandwidth is below 10Mbps you’re bound to wait longer for your downloads to complete which means you need to wait longer to get your game on. The downside of this is if you purchased a game which gives you early-access, a slow connection could easily eat-up those early-access days as you download the game which in turn devalues your purchase and wastes your supposed early advantage in-game.

There are plenty of other benefits of a better internet connection that compliments a gamer’s lifestyle. Streaming, faster patches, multi-tasking (downloading while gaming) are some of the immediate extras one can think of when these two are put together. Ultimately though, you are still at the mercy of your local ISPs and the internet infrastructure in your area. The main consideration is that you get the best balance of service (a nice mix of high bandwidth with low latency plus excellent support) for a good price. If you believe your internet speed is poor and your operators don’t see any problems with the connection, you can use WiFi boosters or phone signal boosters instead of changing your carrier. In the US you can find boosters at BoosterPlanet, if in Spain – check out GCMAmplificador boosters.

If you’re considering jumping to a better connection, take note of the things we’ve mentioned in this feature and hope it helps you in your decision making.