Broadband Guide

Best broadband for gaming

Wednesday 2 May 2012

By Duncan Heaney

There’s nothing more frustrating than having your online gaming interrupted by a slow connection. We’ve put together a list of the best broadband packages for gamers and reveal some technical specs to bear in mind.

Videogames have come a long way from the simple monochromatic joys of Pong.

Increasingly, gaming and the internet are becoming intertwined - players across the world compete online via games consoles, millions of people log into virtual worlds like that in World of Warcraft every day, new technology like OnLive delivers entire games to screens via the web, and Facebook has led to an explosion in the popularity of social games. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg

If you want the best gaming experience, make sure the provider you're switching to has:

• Unlimited downloads or a high download allowance
• Fast download speeds
• Fast upload speeds
• Reliable connection
• Low latency and pings
• Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 or Nintendo Wii compatible modem or router

The best providers for online gaming

Some providers offer gamer-specific broadband packages, or ones that can be “personalised” to suit your needs, such as Plusnet Broadband's (www.Plus.net) Pro package, which optimises gaming traffic, reduces latency allowing for quicker ping times, and making for smoother games.

Sky (www.Sky.com) is one of the few providers to offer truly unlimited broadband, through its “Unlimited tariff”. That means you can download games and extra downloadable content, and play as you like, without worrying about things like fair usage policies. In addition, Sky doesn’t do any traffic management, which means its speeds of up to 14Mb will never be artificially lowered, even during peak times.

BE Broadband (www.BeThere.co.uk) also allows users to optimise their line for gaming, speed, reliability, or general web surfing. BE’s Unlimited and Pro packages are good for gamers as they’ve been designed for heavy internet users. Both packages offer up to 16Mb broadband, with upload speeds of up to 1.1Mb and unlimited downloads. There’s a fair usage policy, but it’s pretty generous.

O2 Broadband (www.O2.co.uk), which owns BE Broadband, is also a great option for gamers. It offers download speeds of up to 16Mb broadband and uploads at up to 2Mb on The Works package, giving you an even better gaming experience. Like Sky, it offers truly unlimited broadband downloads on its top two packages.

Is it really worth paying for unlimited broadband?

If you’re planning to play a lot of online games, then choosing a provider that offers unlimited broadband is a sensible idea. An increasing number of games are seeing online releases, and players that want these are looking at pretty sizable downloads. What’s more, many games can be expanded with downloadable content, increasing usage further.

Console gamers should also remember that their Xbox 360s and PlaySation 3s (PS3s) don’t just do games. Users can stream or download television, movies, and music, chat with friends, connect to Facebook and Twitter, and more, so it’s worth choosing an unlimited data plan to ensure you can play, watch, browse, download and tweet as much as you like.

Bear in mind though that most unlimited packages come with a fair usage policy. This means that your provider may restrict the speed of your connection or cap your downloads if it believes you are using their service excessively.

Can I play games online through mobile broadband?

Most mobile phone operators sell mobile broadband dongles that you can plug into a computer to create a Wi-Fi hotspot. Alternatively, some handsets, such as the iPhone, can also be used to establish a wireless network through 3G.

Which raises the question: can you use mobile broadband to play games like Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 online? Yes you can. But, then again, you can kiss a shark on the mouth, toast a muffin in the bath or poke a bear in the eye -just because you can do something doesn’t mean you should.

On the surface, mobile 3G internet connections seem like they should be capable of managing online gaming. But players of fast-paced shooters like the Call of Duty will experience some serious latency issues - lag in other words. Lag occurs when the data you’re transmitting isn’t getting to where it needs to go fast enough to keep up with the action on screen. In a game like Call of Duty, this can manifest itself as other players disappearing and reappearing somewhere else, or bullets appearing to have no effect.

When playing with most home broadband connections, modern games disguise latency very well. They’ll adapt and adjust to give the impression of a seamless experience. But with mobile broadband, the issues tend to be more pronounced, potentially breaking the game. There are few things in Call of Duty as frustrating as unloading bullet after bullet into an enemy with no discernable effect - it’s what it must feel like to be the bad guy in an Arnold Schwarzenegger movie.

Mobile broadband plans often have tighter usage limits than home broadband too. Play for a while, and you’ll hit your limit quite soon, and probably face additional charges.

How much bandwidth does gaming use?

If you’re an avid gamer, or you’re in a home full of people that will also be using the web, it’s useful to have an idea of the demands that gaming has on bandwidth.

Different types of games will have different demands, so defining the exact bandwidth is difficult. But here’s a (very) rough guide to some common gaming activities:

• Games consoles - Typically, average downloads playing on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 are around 50MB an hour, but that can vary according to the game, and the conditions you’re playing under. For example, a fighting game like Marvel vs Capcom 3, which is typically played one-on-one, will be noticeably less than an 18-player game of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. The amount of bandwidth used will vary further depending on a number of factors, for example if you’re using voice chat to talk to other players.


• World of Warcraft - When it comes to multiplayer videogames, World of Warcraft is the big one. The game plonks users in a persistent online world filled with other players, and lets them loose to seek treasure, battle monsters - basically live a virtual life. Despite its apparent complexity, World of Warcraft isn’t hugely data intensive. According to the Activision Blizzard, the company that makes and publishes the game, an hour of play will typically consume roughly around 40MB. That can change depending on what you do in the game - for example, if you’re teaming up with large groups of other players or engaging in large scale battles.


• Onlive - OnLive is a service that lets you stream videogames and other content to your TV, computer or tablet - similar to how you can with BBC iPlayer. There’s no need to install the game - it’s hosted elsewhere and delivered to your screen across the internet. BT estimates that on average OnLive uses a massive 2GB every hour. Some technology blogs have put that figure even higher - Techbeast.net for example, measured usage at 2.9 GB. So if you want to use OnLive, we strongly recommend a fast internet connection and unlimited broadband package.


• Social / Facebook games - From addictive world-building titles like the massively popular CityVille, to old classics like Scrabble, there’s now a game to suit all tastes.As to how much bandwidth they use, that will vary game to game - although they look simple, these web applications are constantly downloading data. While it’s unlikely to be using massive amounts of bandwidth, it will eventually add up. The best way to find out how much your preferred titles are using is to use a download monitor to track how much data you’re using.

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