Mbps stands for megabits per second. It's how you measure internet bandwidth or how much information flows to and from the web every second. The higher the number, the more you can either upload or download; enabling everyone in your household to get on with their lives online. Say you are filling a swimming pool up with a hose. You’ll need a good nozzle and then also water pressure that is powerful enough to fill the pool, otherwise it will take forever. That’s Mbps, the better it flows, the better your time online.

This refers to how many of those megabits per second it takes to get data onto your device from a server elsewhere, in the format of images, text, video, files or audio. Listening to music on Spotify or watching shows on Netflix requires the downloading of data.

On the flipside, upload speed tells you how many Mbps you can send from your computer or mobile to another device or server on the web. Emailing, joining live gaming tournaments or massively multiplayer online games, even making video calls – to send data elsewhere you need fast upload speed. Excellent broadband helps.

Lag is a slow response or delay between a game’s server and a play doing something. [Find out how to reduce lag in gaming](https://www.virginmedia.com/blog/gaming/how-to-reduce-lag).

This is how fast your gaming device sends data from your game’s server and then back again. A higher latency equals a slower response time.

Ping rate measures latency in milliseconds. So a lower ping will equal a faster response time and your moves will be more faithfully represented on screen.

Whether you are playing Among Us, Fortnite, Fifa or a different game of choice, you can follow the instructions in the game’s menu and change servers. With a bit of trial and error, you'll find the closest one and improve the stability of your game.

What Is a Good Internet Speed for Gaming?

Q: Reset your network devices

If your gaming experience is less than rock solid, reset all your network devices and re-established connections between your PC or console and your home router. Always the first step before technical interventions with your broadband provider.

Q: Switch from WiFi to Ethernet

If you are keen to make every gaming session count, one thing worth trying is to plug an Ethernet cable into your gaming machine. Especially if your broadband isn't as strong or as fast as it could be.

Q: Turn off your other devices

Perhaps you have a busy household full of web browsers, TV watchers and work-from-homers? So this may not be easy to do, but turn off some of your personal devices when gaming; this can help. Focus all that bandwidth on the task at hand.

How fast should your internet be?

The simple formula is that faster is always better. Especially if you're sharing your broadband with non-gamers who browse, watch, stream, download or even work from home, when you want play online. For heavy users and family-size households, M500 to gigabit broadband speeds are usually the most tempting.

The terms you need to know

Before you get further into the nitty gritty, let’s clear up some keywords and phrases...

Mbps

Download speed

Upload speed

Lag

Latency

Ping

Benefits of high speed internet

It’s worth considering how faster, bigger bandwidth broadband packages can greatly enhance your life online. If you’re a fan of multiplayer gaming or video streaming and you've many devices at home, a higher speed will have everything running smoother. Everyone at home will enjoy better response times and probably stop grumbling about dropped calls or choppy meetings.

One approach to take is to have a quick think about how you expect to use the internet in the coming months or next year. Choose a plan with enough flexibility for your needs.

So, what Mbps is good for gaming?

When it comes to download and upload speeds, one general mantra is ‘faster is better’ which is true from a certain point of view. To some people’s surprise online gaming actually isn’t the most bandwidth-busting activity you could be doing. Unlike online videos, which stream across your internet connection, video game images are rendered by the graphics engine in your PC or games console. The information that needs to go back and forth online is from the keys or joypad buttons you are pressing. All this means – even for modern games with pin-sharp 4K graphics – you'd only need a download speed of around 3Mbps to keep playing online.

As games are interactive, you do also need to think about upload speeds for your online gaming as well. The speed at which information hits a remote server when you’re playing is a factor. The upload speed you need is actually pretty slow, roughly 1Mbps to 2Mbps, which even a lesser connection will supply you with, so other factors may be more important in the long run.

Broadband speed in practice

Say you want to download a 50GB file. With a 10Mbps connection, this would take roughly 11 hours or longer to download. On 1GB fibre broadband, the same file is going to download for you in 8 minutes. Now apply this to upload speed, which is a factor if you either host streaming channels on Twitch or upload videos to YouTube.

Using our example of a 10Mbps connection, your uploads will transfer at a speed of 1Mbps. Applied to a 50GB file, that means it would take a hefty 5 days to upload. Now consider if you used gigabit broadband for the same job. The expected 40Mbps upload speed would get it all done in around 3 hours. Please note, these data transfer speeds and times are rough estimates, not an exact science.

What are some recommended download speeds on different consoles?

If your broadband internet connection hits these speeds you should be able to play online. Having a superior connection might be preferable as well to make sure you don’t suffer the buffer or drop out at a key point in a tournament or match online.