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Best broadband packages for gaming

Our Broadband Expert says...

No matter what kind of online games you want to play, you'll need a reliable broadband connection. If you’re playing online and your connection drops - even for a few seconds - you could be killed by a zombie, lose your game, or even be kicked off the gaming server for being too slow.

Broadband speeds

As well as having a reliable connection, a fast download speed will also improve your gaming experience. Fast download speeds will give you a better connection to your gaming server, with low latency and ping.

The kind of speeds you need do vary from one type of game to another - for example, shooter games like the Call of Duty games will need a faster connection than a game like Sims.

If you have a game that will need a fast connection speed, choose a package that will be able to handle your needs.

Some of the best broadband providers for gamers include BE Broadband (www.BeThere.co.uk), O2 Broadband (www.O2.co.uk), Sky Broadband (www.Sky.com) - on its Unlimited package - and Virgin Media (www.VirginMedia.com).

BE even allows you to “customise” your broadband package to suit your needs, so that you can optimise gaming traffic, giving you an even better experience.

You should aim for a download speed of at least 2Mb when you play online games, but a speed of 4Mb or more would be ideal. You'll also need a decent, reliable upload speed.

Even if you're playing an online game that doesn’t need a superfast broadband connection, if you share your internet with other people in your household, having a faster, more reliable service will stop your gaming affecting their connection.

Download allowances

Although some games do use more data than others when you play, you also have to take updates and other downloads into account as well.

Service updates, new game maps and other downloads can be high, with as much as 1GB of data downloaded in one go, so you have to make sure that you have a broadband package with a suitable allowance.

Many packages advertise “unlimited broadband” downloads only to apply a fair usage policy, but this doesn’t have to be a bad thing. Both BE and O2 have very generous fair usage policies that are ideal for gamers, while Sky’s Unlimited package has no fair usage policy and Virgin Media doesn’t apply any traffic management measures to its 50Mb broadband XXL package.

You should also consider certain set download allowance packages. For example, Plusnet Broadband's (www.Plus.net) 20Mb broadband Premium package comes with a massive 80GB download allowance, which makes its perfect for gamers.

Wireless or ethernet?

Although most online games consoles, such as the Nintendo Wii and PlayStation 3 are wireless enabled, connecting using an ethernet cable can give you a far more reliable connection.

All broadband signals lose a bit of their strength when you connect wirelessly, and using an ethernet cable can help reduce lag - improving your connection and giving you an overall smoother experience.

NB Best buy tables (orange background) are always current.

Examples in the text of the article (white background) are correct at time of publication.

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If you have a general switching or provider query please email us at OurExpert@broadbandchoices.co.uk

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