Internet gaming is on the rise and those in rural areas are feeling left behind! For many years, gaming on the internet in rural areas has been considered inferior if not nearly impossible. Broadband internet service is still scarce in rural areas, and the choice of internet providers is often limited. Furthermore, rural areas have historically suffered from a lack of connectivity infrastructure, and any existing infrastructure can be old and outdated.
Thanks to modern improvements in satellite and LTE internet, gamers from every location can get connected! Here are a few tips for the best quality gaming via a rural connection.
Check Bandwidth. Gaming doesn’t necessarily require “business-speed” internet, but you should consider your bandwidth. If you share internet use with other members of your household simultaneously, you can strain your bandwidth. Streaming videos, video chatting, and downloading files require a lot of data – quite a bit more than gaming. If you don’t have enough bandwidth to support all these activities, your gameplay may be significantly slowed.
Lower Your Latency. Network latency is the amount of time it takes for data to travel between its source and its destination. If your latency is high, you might try to move your character forward without seeing a response on the screen for a few seconds. Latency depends on more than just your connection. When data travels from the source to your home, it stops along the way at servers, routers, and through network hardware. The more stops it makes, the longer the delay you experience while gaming. You want to aim for latency that offers a ping rate below 150 milliseconds – 20ms is considered ideal.
Ensure the Fastest Connection. To ensure that you will have the best gaming experience possible, make sure your system has the best connection. Keep your router in close proximity to your gaming setup – this helps to keep latency low. When possible, use an Ethernet cable for even faster speeds. If you are having issues with lag, turn off or disconnect other devices such as phones and computers. Our blog post on How to Improve Your Internet Speeds can help you get the best results.
Game During Off Hours. It may not come as a surprise that your internet speed is faster at night. During “rush hour” – when everyone comes home from work and logs onto their home computer – analysts have found that average download speeds can drop to just over 6Mbps. In the early hours of the morning (think 2-3 am), the average speed jumps to almost 10Mbps. When too many users try to log on at the same time, some ISPs will throttle data in an effort to fairly distribute bandwidth. Avoiding gaming at “peak” hours can help you to avoid delays caused by high internet traffic.
Get Unlimited. Most modern internet game titles require internet speeds ranging from 40MB to 300MB per hour. While streaming services require even faster speeds, an hour or two of gaming every day can still easily eat up your monthly data allowance. The best way to ensure that you will always have the data you need is to find a provider with unlimited or endless data internet. Watch out for “unlimited” providers that throttle your data after a certain limit — throttled service will be too slow for gaming.
Sure Site is proud to offer Endless Data Internet Service and our team has the knowledge and experience to help you set up your service to maximize your gaming speeds. Call us today to learn how we can help you “up your game”!
