It's November! New consoles are coming out this month! Ready to stream
games to your Vita with the Playstation 4? Want to play a game and chat
on Skype with your Xbox One? Great. Just one question before you start:
how's your Internet speed?
There's an elephant in the room
Neither Microsoft nor Sony have addressed the fact that on average,
American Internet speeds are woefully slow. About 15 million lucky
Americans can get
Verizon FiOS, maybe another million or so can get
Google Fiber,
then you've got a few pockets of fiber from smaller local providers.
But most of us are stuck with speeds far slower than what fiber can
afford.
According to a Pando Networks study, the U.S. ranks 26th in Internet
speed with an average of 616 Kpbs. That's not great. Google says the
average American experiences speeds between 5 Mbps and 8 Mbps, better
than the Pando Networks study, but still not the best for gaming. Hell,
Google even uses that fact to illustrate how much faster their service
is. It's enough to make you absurdly envious of those in fiber cities,
right?
Game streaming and network multitasking is going to require more
bandwidth. If you can't get your Netflix to stream in the highest
quality without constant buffering, you might have trouble with many of
the new console features.
In an FAQ released earlier this week, Sony did sorta address the
network speed issue by recommending plugging your PS4 into the router
for better game streaming performance.
Remote Play will work best when the PS Vita
system is located within the same WiFi network where PS4 is connected.
We also recommend that PS4 be connected to the local area network via
an Ethernet cable, that a router suitable for gaming be used and that
the PS Vita system be within close proximity of the WiFi access point
so that the connection is free of interference.
Right, plug your wireless system into a router for better performance.
What can you do?
Aside from moving to a fiber city? Not much. If you can upgrade speeds,
I'd recommend bumping up to at least 12 to 15 Mbps. That's nowhere near
fiber, but it should offer better performance without breaking your
budget.
You'll also want to cut down on interference. Turn off extra wireless
devices when you're streaming a game on PS4 or multitasking on your
Xbox One. That includes smartphones, tablets, and for all you parents
out there, baby monitors (only do that last one when you don't need it
on, I'm not advocating you choose video games over your kid's
safety-those things tend to cause all kinds of interference though).
Finally, you can also upgrade your router to a dual band wireless N
router. With the extra frequencies, you should experience less
bandwidth clogging and slightly faster and smoother service.
Internet speeds in America are a bummer. But there are a couple of
things you can do for a better gaming experienceafter you download
that day one patch.
This article was written by Chris Beck is a well published freelance
writer in the insurance and tech space. Originally from Asheville, NC
and a University of South Carolina Alum, he graduated with a degree in
Journalism. He is also an avid Gamecock sports follower with a family
of four, six if you include our Fox Hound and German Shepard.
