When every millisecond counts in the cutthroat world of online gaming, nothing can be more frustrating than seeing your internet speed falter at the crucial moment. Whether you’re a first-person shooter master or a multiplayer king, a lightning-fast connection is your best friend. Find out how to benefit from better internet speed for your games!
Although often associated with online security, a VPN can be your best friend to guarantee optimal internet speed during your online gaming sessions. You could even say it’s the best-kept secret among savvy gamers.
Indeed, although some solutions can cause a drop in the speed of your Internet connection, premium services can really amplify your gaming experience by optimizing your speed. Follow the guide to enjoy a more efficient Internet connection during your gaming sessions.
What internet speed is needed for the best gaming experience?
The ideal internet speed for a smooth gaming experience depends on the gaming platform you are using. However, most video game console manufacturers recommend a download speed of at least 3 MB/s and a sending (upload) speed of 0.5 to 1 MB/s. A stable ping is also essential. It should preferably be less than 150 ms.
For an optimal online gaming experience, here are the general recommendations:
- Download speed: Between 15 and 25 MB/s.
- Send (upload) speed: 5 MB/s.
- Ping: Ideally less than 50 ms.
Download speed, upload speed and ping: everything you need to know
The quality of your online gaming experience largely depends on your internet bandwidth. Bandwidth is typically measured in megabytes per second (MB/s), indicating the capacity of your connection to handle data.
On the other hand, ping is expressed in milliseconds (ms) and represents the time it takes for a data packet to travel between your device and the game server and vice versa. In other words, the ping reflects the responsiveness of your action on the screen. For example, with a ping of 27ms, your character reacts in just 27 milliseconds after pressing the fire button.
If you are an online gaming enthusiast, these two elements are crucial. For competitive games like League of Legends or Fortnite battle royales, low ping is essential to react quickly to opposing actions.
Regarding ping, here are some benchmarks:
- Less than 50 ms: Excellent responsiveness.
- Less than 100 ms: Average responsiveness.
- 150ms marks the threshold where lag issues start to be felt.
- Beyond 150 ms: High risk of lag.
Things that affect your online gaming experience
For a flawless online gaming experience, it is imperative to take into consideration several factors, including the number of members in your household which play simultaneously. If three members of your family are gaming enthusiasts, the bandwidth demand increases threefold.
Additionally, if other members of your family are watching streaming videos Or to download files while you play, your ping may increase significantly. Effective bandwidth management therefore becomes fundamental to avoid frustrating delays.
That’s not all ! Devices permanently connected to your network as well as online activities in the background also contribute to bandwidth consumption. If too many devices are connected simultaneously, it can significantly hamper your download speed.
However, your connection speed isn’t the only concern. Online gamers are often a prime target for cybercriminals. The latter exploit the fact that many players do not take the measures seriously. cybersecurity basic. Hackers target players’ accounts, spy on their private conversations, steal their login information to access other accounts or sell their valuable data on the Dark Web.
Therefore, the online security should be a constant concern for any online gamer wanting to protect their gaming experience as well as their personal data.
Reasons to Use a VPN to Improve Your Internet Speed
If your Internet speed drops inexplicably, it is also possible that your Internet service provider may impose a restriction on your connection. Some ISPs reduce the speed of certain users if they detect bandwidth-intensive or suspicious activity, such as torrentingTHE HD streaming or even the online games.
This practice aims to prevent a small group of users from taking up all the bandwidth. However, since you have signed up for a subscription for a fast Internet connection, you have every right to get it. This is where VPNs come into play.
Once you have one in place, you will never face these unexpected limitations again. THE VPN allow you to bypass these restrictions and benefit from the maximum speed to which you subscribed. This is an effective way to ensure that your online gaming experience remains smooth, even when your ISP tries to throttle your connection speed.
How does a VPN avoid network throttling?
To put it simply, a virtual private network (VPN) routes your entire internet traffic through its own servers whileencrypting. This procedure ensures that even when you use your Internet connection, your Internet Service Provider (ISP) is unable to decrypt the content of your online activity.
Therefore, it cannot identify you as a user consuming a significant bandwidth. This technology thus strengthens your confidentiality and your online security in an effective way.
So, by using a VPN, you can always enjoy a fast and stable Internet connection. This configuration guarantees you optimal online gaming experience by preventing anyone from imposing unjustified restrictions.
Improve internet speed for your games with a VPN
When considering selecting and configuring a VPN to enhance your gaming experience, it is essential to consider several key factors:
Choosing the Optimal VPN Server Location
Choosing the location of the VPN server is a importance key regarding the latency and the ping in online gaming. The distance between your location and the game server can have a significant impact on delays that you may encounter. Ideally, you should connect to a VPN server strategically positioned between your location and the game server, which reduces unnecessary detours that can lead to a increase your ping.
Before selecting a VPN server, it is strongly recommended to precisely locate the game server in which you wish to participate. This step is essential to ensure you choose the optimal location, ensuring a smoother and responsive online gaming experience.
Bypassing limitations imposed by your ISP
The common practice of ISP bandwidth throttling involves deliberately reducing connection speed for certain online activities, such as online gaming.
To determine whether your ISP applies such limitations, it is recommended to conduct speed tests with and without the use of a Free VPN or paying. If you notice a significant improvement in speed when using the service, it’s likely that your ISP is intentionally throttling your speed.
Internet service providers (ISPs) implement these restrictions in order to regulate bandwidth consumption for specific activities.
Virtual private networks offer a solution that allows your traffic to bypass the conventional routing path imposed by your ISP. As a result, the latter loses the ability to restrict your connection based on traffic type. You can therefore enjoy greater freedom and control over your online experience.
Using Smart Routing over VPN
THE routing is of paramount importance with regard to the management of ping and some latency in the context of online games. When you initiate a request to a game server and wait for a response, that communication follows a specific path to reach its destination. Therefore, more direct routes result in shorter travel times. reduced ping.
However, it is unfortunate to see that ISPs generally do not optimize these routing paths. This is precisely where VPNs come in.
With the ability to use predefined and static routes, they have the significant ability to substantially reduce the gap and the latencythereby significantly improving the online player experience.
Which VPN for better internet speed for your games?
When it comes to improving the performance of your online games while ensuring security and stability, NordVPN positions itself as one of the most robust solutions in the VPN services market. Here are the reasons why the Panamanian solution stands out as a preferred option for online players:
- Large network of servers spread across many countries
- Varied options to optimize the gaming experience by connecting to nearby servers
- Significant reduction in latency
- Robust security and no-logs policy
- Military-grade encryption to protect personal data
NordVPN also stands out for its friendliness. Its applications are intuitive and easy to use. They are compatible with a variety of platforms, such as desktop computers, smartphones And game consoles. This ensures a hassle-free experience, regardless of the platform used.