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Need some help from MacRumors' gamers...internet speed

Unspoken Demise

Unspoken Demise

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Apr 16, 2009
3,691
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Mods, feel free to delete this once my question is answered. I really need some help and MR has some savy people.

Here are my options for intenet plans and speeds. I have to get this company and the rates are non negotiable. Money is a factor, but I need to know which plan I should choose. Which one is best for internet gaming? I play a lot of xbox live and I want to get a PS3.

29.99 1mb download 256kb upload. Abysmal, I know.
39.99 3.0 mb download 512kb upload
49.99 6.0 mb download 1.0mb upload
54.99 10.0 mb download 6.0mb upload

EDIT: I should mention though, that this connection will be split between my girlfriend on the desktop computer, my roomate on her laptop, and me on my xbox, and there may be times where this is happening simultaneously, although I hope not often. Wont having a faster connection mean that we can split it up into 3 branches, and not see as much latency?
 
Well, obviously the highest one is best for gaming, and actually as a price vs performance comparison it is probably the most value for money.
 
swiftaw said:
Well, obviously the highest one is best for gaming, and actually as a price vs performance comparison it is probably the most value for money.
Click to expand...

Do you think that I could get away with the 49.99 plan? 5 bucks extra a month can be for gas or electric :p but really, I dont want to yelled at "n00b! getz a beterz cunnecshun!"
 
Yes, you probably could, but look at home much of a performance boost your get for that extra $5, especially on the upload speed.
 
Unspoken Demise said:
Mods, feel free to delete this once my question is answered. I really need some help and MR has some savy people.

Here are my options for intenet plans and speeds. I have to get this company and the rates are non negotiable. Money is a factor, but I need to know which plan I should choose. Which one is best for internet gaming? I play a lot of xbox live and I want to get a PS3.

29.99 1mb download 256kb upload. Abysmal, I know.
39.99 3.0 mb download 512kb upload
49.99 6.0 mb download 1.0mb upload
54.99 10.0 mb download 6.0mb upload
Click to expand...

You'll be perfectly fine with the 3.0 mb connection but i would recommend the 6.0.
 
I used to get a ping of 20 in Team Fortress 2 on the PC on my old 512kbps connection. It depends on what games you'll be playing too. Anything faster than 1mb will be perfect for gaming. What kills internet play is distance to the server. My girlfriends university house has a 20mbps fibre optic connection, but I still get lag if I play a game with a server in Europe or the US.

However a faster connection will be better if you intend on getting DLC and downloadable games. Obviously.
 
raggedjimmi said:
I used to get a ping of 20 in Team Fortress 2 on the PC on my old 512kbps connection. It depends on what games you'll be playing too. Anything faster than 1mb will be perfect for gaming. What kills internet play is distance to the server. My girlfriends university house has a 20mbps fibre optic connection, but I still get lag if I play a game with a server in Europe or the US.

However a faster connection will be better if you intend on getting DLC and downloadable games. Obviously.
Click to expand...

I play a lot of Call of Duty MW, WaW, GoW, GoW2, L4D. So connection is sorta everything. I think im going to go with the best plan of 54.99 but I may go with the 49.99 plan to save that few bucks.
Moving in tomorrow. Super excited :D
 
Unspoken Demise said:
I play a lot of Call of Duty MW, WaW, GoW, GoW2, L4D. So connection is sorta everything. I think im going to go with the best plan of 54.99 but I may go with the 49.99 plan to save that few bucks.
Moving in tomorrow. Super excited :D
Click to expand...

My brother plays GoW1 and 2 online and he gets a good connection (guys unstoppable too, treats it more like a sport than a game :rolleyes:), on L4D I get a ping of 50 on my current 800kbps connection. Again I'd say 1 or 2mb would be perfect for your needs.
 
my cable is 7.5Mbps down and I believe 512kbps up and I have no issues whatsoever while gaming.
 
I play Mario Kart Wii and Halo on a 1 meg down, 256 up connection, no problems. I would go for the 3 meg connection though.

PS- We pay $69 a month including the phone line.
 
my internet is 8Mb, and i cant say its slow, and i cant say its fast, its fast for downloading tough..

Well, i play COD, and i dont get that good Ping, but on CS i get like 10 ping or someting, it really depends what game and which server you play..

but 6Mb, is okey.. dont get 3Mb lol
 
(By any chance are you getting Cox Cable for Internet?)


I have almost exactly the same prices per speed as the OP.
I'm sure I'm on the $49.99 plan.
*Talked about dad yesterday about upgrading to 20/6 plan for about 10$ extra*
 
fireshot91 said:
(By any chance are you getting Cox Cable for Internet?)


I have almost exactly the same prices per speed as the OP.
I'm sure I'm on the $49.99 plan.
*Talked about dad yesterday about upgrading to 20/6 plan for about 10$ extra*
Click to expand...

Actually, its direct path, which is a branch of direct TV.

I should mention though, that this connection will be split between my girlfriend on the desktop computer, my roomate on her laptop, and me on my xbox, and there may be times where this is happening simultaneously, although I hope not often. Wont having a faster connection mean that we can split it up into 3 branches, and not see as much latency?
 
Then go for the fastest. It also depends on how you're connecting to the router. Wired connections have bandwidth priority over wireless (case in point, if my brothers on Xbox Live via wifi or the girlfriends on my MB then gaming is fine, the increase in latency is minimal. But if anyone is using a wired computer next to the router all internet hell breaks loose).

It's also worth noting that if you do have a fast connection and somebody is streaming video, the video (server depending) will use up most of, if not all the connection speed too. And downloads without speed limits set.
 
Gaming relies on ping more than speed - case in point, lots of people remember gaming on 512kbps cable connections, or even slower. Simply throwing more money at your ISP to get a "faster" connection won't help your ping, as that is built into their network.

Bandwidth will make a difference when you have lots of devices running - so if you're streaming a video, downloading some music, surfing the net and then gaming then you'll need enough bandwidth to accommodate all that.
 
raggedjimmi said:
Then go for the fastest. It also depends on how you're connecting to the router. Wired connections have bandwidth priority over wireless (case in point, if my brothers on Xbox Live via wifi or the girlfriends on my MB then gaming is fine, the increase in latency is minimal. But if anyone is using a wired computer next to the router all internet hell breaks loose).

It's also worth noting that if you do have a fast connection and somebody is streaming video, the video (server depending) will use up most of, if not all the connection speed too. And downloads without speed limits set.
Click to expand...

Chances are, in a hyppothetical situation, that my gf will be on the desktop via wired, me on the xbox wired, and my roommate on her laptop wireless. Would problems arise? My gf would probably only be on facebook or something while i'm playing. she would know better than to download while I'm playing. :p I think we're going to get the fastest to make sure. Maybe the 2nd fastest.
 
I'm on a 3mbps down connection 768kbps up for about 9 months now and no issues gaming online on PC, PS3 or 360 systems. Although problems arise when my GF wants to stream video on the computer, then one of us will have to quit out for a smooth experience. With 3 ppl in the home, I'm betting there will be simultaneous use of the internet, so 6mbps is what I recommend to be safe. Why not split the extra $10 3-ways?

I'm paying $30 a month. I want to upgrade though soon to 7.1mpbs for $42/month just so I can stream HD video b/c it hiccups @ 3mpbs. Just so you know too.
 
3 Mb/s will be more than enough for your needs (although I certainly don't agree with the price). You mentioned DirectTV; it's not satellite, is it?
 
Nermal said:
3 Mb/s will be more than enough for your needs (although I certainly don't agree with the price). You mentioned DirectTV; it's not satellite, is it?
Click to expand...

I think its owned by direct tv, but its its own company, and its cable. :)
Do you still think 3mbps is ok when split between 3 people. Thats why we want a higher speed to compensate for the split between the bandwith.
 
3MB/s is fine for you. CoDs has terrible server system so that's why they lag so much. I have 2MB/s net and never had a problem with Killzone 2 but CoD4 lags because of host system (host is always a 11 years old Portugal kid with 54kb/s net and fills it with his headset)
 
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