Is 200 Mbps good for online gaming, and how to speed up your Internet? Let us find out the answers to these questions in our article.
Internet speed makes online gaming an enjoyable experience. If not well taken care of, it can quickly turn enjoyment into something else stressful. Thus, the connection speed and stability are vital things to consider.
So, when you want to play games online, the first thing you must deal with is the lag or slowing internet connections. While buffering and frequent stalling can be the last thing. And in the same breath, the article is all about finding out if 200 Mbps is good for gaming.
Our article will help you by elaborating some of the dynamics of network connectivity as long the gaming is concerned. With that in mind, let us now get started.
Knowing about Mbps
Mbps is an acronym meaning Megabytes per second. This is a measurement of the internet bandwidth. In other words, bandwidth is the download rate of your internet connection. It simply implies that the higher the Mbps, the faster the download speed. But when it comes to online or video gaming, you should look at the download rate alone and consider the latency and ping rate.
Latency determines the game lag. Playing online games requires you to send a request to the server. So, the time taken for the server to act on your sent request is what we refer to as the ping rate. When the ping rate is slow, you have difficulty managing other players at a high ping rate. Sometimes, we refer to lags as buffering.
How do Mbps Affect the Games
Network metrics come into your mind when you think of online gaming. The two most important aspects are the frame rates and latency, which we sometimes refer to as the ping time. The two impact your gaming experience, and each can make it frustrating or enjoyable. We will consider each factor. Let us go into details and see how the two affect gaming.
Frame rate (FPS) is simply the number of frames per second. It plays a vital role in gaming. Primarily, it determines how smooth the game will run on your console, phone, or computer. The computer's frame rate is determined primarily by its hardware specs.
To enjoy smooth gaming, your computer hardware must have a high frame rate that ranges from 60 FPS to 120 FPS. This ensures that you get smoother on-screen motion rendering. However, a low frame rate somewhere below 30 FPS makes the whole process hectic. You cannot enjoy a gaming experience with a low frame rate computer.
Ping time is sometimes known as the latency in gaming. And this is the time difference a system takes, or a gaming server takes in processing your request. This involves moving the Joystick or even pressing a particular button. A lower ping rate ranging between 15 to 20 milliseconds ensures you get a better gaming experience throughout the session.
Thus we can conclude that 200 Mbps connection speed is not low for pings. But, where there is a network fluctuation, especially when the network involves many gamers connected to it, a good example is an average family, the ping rate can remarkably rise. When the ping rises, it impacts your network speed bringing in severe lags while playing the game.
In summary, the latency and frame rate affect a network's download and upload speed.
Is 200 Mbps Good for Gaming
Though there are different situations and gaming sessions like competitive gameplay and shared network, 200 Mbps is still pretty excellent for playing any game you can think of in your life. But, when you must download a lot of data, the genres such as MOBAS, FPS, RTS, and MMORPGs need extra bandwidth while playing online.
We can convert a speed of 200mbps to 25MB/S. This implies that you can download modern warfare games in 2 hours. This is the most giant known game that has become popular, which in the next few years, you will still be downloading. This is good news.
However, downloading is not the main concern for online gamers. Latency is the primary concern. Pay attention to most of the in-game ping; you will agree with us that latency is not vital, and you will not notice it until the game hits the 90 to 100 ms range. This means you must have as low ping as possible to enjoy gaming.
In most cases, as professional gamers, you can quickly feel when the ping goes beyond 20ms. This is why most tournaments are held at LAN events so that you cannot feel that latency even when playing fast-paced FPS games.
Therefore, with a speed of 200mbps, you can be sure to have a great ping. The only situation where this does not apply is when various devices are connected to that same network running a bandwidth-intensive application.
Most of the providers on the market do not advertise their ping rate. Instead, they only specify the maximum bandwidth. Latency and bandwidth are essential, but latency is vital for gaming. Some providers claim that a speed of 3 to 5 Mbps can help you play online games. This doesn't seem right. Due to network congestion and data loss, the advertised bandwidth differs from the real-world bandwidth.
When connecting multiple devices to one network, expect a much slower speed. Therefore, you must have at least 30 to 40 Mbps bandwidth to play online games with reasonable ping. And 4K streaming requires an average of 30 Mbps. With a connection of 200 Mbps, you can allow family members to watch different movies while you play online games.
You won't feel any impact with this connection speed even if you consider factors like network congestion. If the above stats are only the determinants, 200 Mbps is more than sufficient for gaming.
How to Speed Up Your Internet
Every gamer and anyone online wishes to speed up their internet connection. There are many potential solutions to try. However, not everything works because some tricks are fake while others are technical, if not expensive. So, to speed up the internet connection, we have compiled a list of 10 tricks to try.
Here we go:
- Data caps are the primary culprit of slow internet connection.
For well-known reasons, all ISPs do not advertise their Data cap as the monthly limitation where when you exceed it, the ISPs restrict your internet speed after that. If you are not aware of the data cap, check your bill.
- Ensure that you reset your router every month or give it a short break.
Equally, you can refresh the network. However, when experiencing network speed issues, we highly advise you to reset your router every day. you can also reset the modem so that it can stimulate the ISP connection
- Consider repositioning your router.
This is good when the WiFi signal does not reach you correctly. Reposition your router so that you do not suffer from the network connection anymore. Make sure that you position it close to where you are.
- Consider embracing ethernet
Wireless connection is a common, convenient and incredible option nowadays. However, it is not fast, so you should try embracing ethernet. This is reliable and faster than wireless as it lets your device get a direct signal than air transmissions.
- Do away with endless ads on the internet.
This is because ads tend to slow down the internet connection. You can easily block them using ad-blocking plugins.
- Go for a streamlined browser.
We recommend using a block-up browser like opera. This is because having multiple open tabs causes slow internet connections. But when using opera, for instance, it streamlines all information on a webpage to offer the fastest browsing experience.
- Any virus that attacks your device tends to drag your internet connection.
If your device does not have an antivirus and malware scanner, consider installing them. Also, general rules require you to install protection software. Then set this software to scan your device automatically, which stabilizes your internet connection regularly.
- You need to ensure that you remove all the cookies stored on your devices by caches as well as some trackers.
While you can achieve clearing cache manually, you can still install clear cache plugins to make work easy. Also, have clear cache plugins installed on your computer. This way, you are sure that any accumulated data does not interfere with your internet connection speed.
- Talk with your internet service provider in your area.
If it is only one ISP, it must have multiple plans to serve you better. Even though you might pay more, you are guaranteed a stable internet speed to better experience using alternative plans.
- Quick check the available ISPs for faster speeds and cheap pricing.
If one provider gives you a slower connection, go for other available options, and in the long run, it might turn out to be a cheaper option. And lastly, if the provider does not have an alternative plan, try finding a different internet service provider in your area.
How to Test Internet Speed
You can quickly check your internet speed to evaluate and verify if it meets your needs based on the ISP adverts. You can go to the Speedtest website and measure your internet speed and stability as well. The analysis report from the above website can give you a real picture, and you can easily decide if the speed is worth online gaming.
The site also has some of the native software for particular operating systems. The software supports chrome, CLI, android, AppleTV, windows, Ios, and macOS. This makes internet speed checking an easy process regardless of the device you are using.
Besides giving you the speed test, the site also helps you rank your internet speed compared to the Speedtest global index. Thus you can quickly analyze your country's network speed rank. This way, you can quickly verify if the 200mbps speed is suitable for online gaming. The test does not only apply to gamers but also applies to non-gamers.
How much Internet Speed is Enough for Most Individuals
The type of internet speed you need to use depends on the number of devices and people that will access it. Generally, 50 to 100 Mbps speeds are suitable for single-person streaming HD and even 4K games. It can be lower than 200 Mbps or exactly 200 Mbps connection. Considering that factor, you can easily access the same internet without hitches simultaneously.
For instance, you can be playing a game; someone is uploading heavy files while others are watching Netflix, and you will not have any issues like lagging. But in a situation where you are alone, you might only need internet that meets basic needs, which are not the same as those in a family that every person needs to use. Consider the chat below.
The question in our article was to determine if 200mbps is good for gaming. We have covered everything, and 200mbps is perfect connection speed and somehow more than enough for a good gaming experience. It is even smoother when not many devices are connected and when the latency is low. If the speed is not pleasing, you can also try out our tips and improve your internet speed.
