If you game and your connection feels bad, buying more download speed is very unlikely to help. An online match uses a few megabits. You could play comfortably on a connection a tenth the size of the one you have.
What ruins games is timing, and timing is measured by three numbers nobody advertises.
The three numbers that matter
Ping (latency) — how long a packet takes to reach the server and come back, in milliseconds. Under 20 ms is excellent, 20-50 ms is fine, over 100 ms is noticeable in anything fast.
Jitter — how much that ping varies. This is the one people miss. A steady 45 ms plays better than something bouncing between 15 and 120. Jitter is what produces rubber-banding and shots that do not register.
Packet loss — data that never arrives. Even 1-2% is destructive, because lost packets in a real-time game cannot be usefully resent; the moment has passed. This is what causes teleporting opponents and dying behind cover.
Download speed appears nowhere on that list. It matters for downloading the game, not playing it.
What each connection type gives you
| Connection | Typical ping | Jitter | Suitability |
|---|---|---|---|
| Full fibre (FTTP) | Single digits to low teens | Very low | Best available |
| Cable | Low teens | Low | Very good |
| FTTC (copper to cabinet) | 15-30 ms | Moderate | Playable |
| Fixed wireless | Often low on a good link | Varies by operator | Usually fine |
| 4G/5G | Low but variable | Higher | Workable, inconsistent |
| Satellite | Materially higher | Variable | Poor for competitive play |
The practical conclusion: a 150 Mbps full-fibre line beats a 900 Mbps FTTC line for gaming. Technology matters more than the headline number, and if you take one thing from this page, that is it.
The £10 fix that beats every upgrade
Use a cable.
Wi-Fi adds latency and jitter even when it looks fine, and it degrades unpredictably when neighbours’ networks get busy or someone starts a download. An Ethernet cable from console or PC to router removes an entire category of problem permanently.
If running a cable is impractical, in rough order of preference:
- Powerline adapters — send network over the mains. Results depend on your wiring; cheap enough to try and return.
- A mesh node with an Ethernet port near the console, wired back to the router if possible.
- 5 GHz Wi-Fi in the same room as the router, as a last resort.
What will not help: a gaming router, a VPN marketed as “reducing ping”, or more download speed.
Diagnosing it properly
Before blaming your provider, work out where the problem is.
Test ping to a nearby target. On Windows, ping bbc.co.uk -n 50; on Mac or Linux, ping -c 50 bbc.co.uk. Look at the average, but more importantly at the spread between minimum and maximum. A tight range is healthy; a wide one is jitter.
Run the same test wired and wireless. If wired is tight and wireless is erratic, the problem is inside your house and no provider can fix it.
Test at different times. Bad only at 8pm suggests contention. Bad all the time suggests a line fault or your setup.
Check whether it is the game’s server. High ping to one game and low ping to everything else is a server-side or routing issue, not your line. Games usually show server region — try a closer one.
Things that genuinely help
Wire the console. Repeated because it is the answer most of the time.
Stop other traffic during play. A 4K stream or a large upload in the same house adds latency to everything. Some routers let you prioritise a device; if yours does, prioritise the console.
Check for a “gaming mode” or low-latency setting on the router. Occasionally useful, usually marketing.
Turn off Wi-Fi on the console if it is wired. Some consoles keep both active.
Full fibre if you can get it. Not for the speed — for the structurally lower and more consistent latency.
Cloud gaming is a different problem
Streaming games — where the game runs in a data centre and you receive video — inverts the requirements. Now you genuinely need sustained download bandwidth and low latency, because your controller input has to travel to the server and the video has to come back before you notice.
Typical needs are somewhere around 15-35 Mbps sustained for a good picture, with latency as low as you can get. Wi-Fi is much less forgiving here than for ordinary online play, because a momentary dropout is visible as a stutter in the picture rather than a brief prediction error.
For cloud gaming: wired, full fibre, and nothing else heavy running.
Downloads, briefly
This is the one place raw speed matters. Modern games run to 100-150 GB.
- 50 Mbps: about six hours
- 200 Mbps: about ninety minutes
- 900 Mbps: about twenty minutes
If someone in the house downloads a large game most weeks, a faster package genuinely improves life — just be clear that it improves waiting, not playing.
What to buy
- Full fibre if available. Prioritise the technology over the number.
- 100-300 Mbps is plenty unless you download constantly.
- Symmetric upload if you stream your gameplay — outgoing video is upload, and this is where FTTC struggles.
- Spend the difference on an Ethernet cable and a mesh system rather than on a bigger package.
If you filter this site by speed and sort by first-year cost, the practical move is to set the floor at 100 Mbps and choose full fibre from what qualifies. Beyond that you are buying download time, not gameplay.
Sources
- ofcom.org.uk — Ofcom — broadband quality, latency and reliability guidance
- ofcom.org.uk — Ofcom — UK Home Broadband Performance, including latency measurement
- ofcom.org.uk — Ofcom — minimum guaranteed speeds and the right to exit