What is a good Internet speed for PS4, Xbox, Nintendo Switch? 7 Tips

Sep 18, 2020 - Views: 3742

Rating:4.8 - 54Votes

It’s definitely frustrating when playing online games with poor Internet performance. 

What is a good Internet speed for PS4, Xbox, Nintendo?

You’re not alone in asking this question.

Luckily, here you can get the answer.

Reading this post, you’ll know the minimum and required Internet speed for online gaming.

Also, 7 useful tips to enhance Internet speed will be provided.

Why not dive into this article?

What is a good Internet speed for PS4, Xbox, Nintendo?

What is a good Internet speed for PS4, Xbox, Nintendo?

Some first words

To be honest, nothing is worse than gaming online with a sluggish Internet connection. 

We all know that! 

Sometimes, poor Internet performance is the main reason for ruining your gaming experience. 

For that reason, it’s a good idea to verify how good your connection is before starting the games. 

This way, you will know whether or not your latency, download and upload speeds are sufficient for online gaming. 

In the world of online games these days, Xbox, PS4, and Nintendo are among the most popular games. 

So, is 25 Mbps download speed good for gaming? 

Right now, we are about to figure out how much speed we need for playing them. 

But first, let’s find out why Internet performance matters in online gaming.

Internet speed for gaming

Internet speed for gaming

Why does Internet performance matter in online gaming?

When gaming with poor connectivity can’t provide you with inadequate download, upload speeds, and an optimal ping rate, lagging is expected. 

According to AllConnect, if the gaming is lagging, chances are that you’ll experience a “buffering” effect on your activity.

If that happens, while other players are immersed in their fast-paced battles, for example, it seems like you are unable to engage in the game smoothly. 

How frustrating!

That’s a brief introduction to how important Internet performance is for gaming. 

Move on to see how much the minimum speed we should have to play online games or is 10 Mbps download speed good for gaming?

Playing online games

Playing online games

Minimum Internet speed requirements for online gaming

Different types or different platforms of online games require a specific Internet speed to ensure a smooth gaming experience. 

While there are games that just need a normal speed, some others require a very fast Internet performance. 

Minimum speed for 1 player

Generally speaking, you will meet the minimum speed requirements for playing games online if you have the following speeds.

  • Ping rate: <150ms

  • Download speed: about 3 Mbps

  • Upload speed: about 1 Mbps

Well, it’s worth noting that these numbers are minimum speeds for a single-player only. 

If you want to have a better online gaming performance, your speed test results should have download speeds of about 15 – 25 Mbps per player.

Minimum Internet speed for 1 player

Minimum Internet speed for 1 player

Minimum speed for multi-player

For more than 1 gamer using the same network connection, we need to multiply the speed requirements by the number of gamers playing simultaneously. 

If you have 3 players in your home, for example, you will need a good Internet connection with a download bandwidth of at least 9 Mbps. 

In many popular games these days, the current ping rate, download speed, and upload speeds are often displayed right on the screen of the game.

It’ll help players themselves know how good their connection is before and while gaming. 

Unless you find this information right on the game screen, you can use a third-party testing tool such as Speedtest.com, Fast.com, or MySpeed, …

MySpeed is a useful speed test tool

MySpeed is a useful speed test tool

Also, to ensure your best gaming experiences, remember to check the specific speed requirements for particular gaming systems before calculating. 

Now you know is 25 Mbps download speed good for gaming, right?

In the next parts of this writing, we are going to find out whats a good download speed is for PS4, Xbox, and Nintendo.

Required Internet speed for online gaming by systems

Depending on the genre and the game systems, you need different speeds to enjoy the best gaming experience. 

Right below here are the minimum Internet speed requirements for specific gaming systems. 

Note that the following numbers are recommended just for one-player gaming. 

If your household has more than 1 gamer or multiple players, multiply these Internet speeds by the number of gamers using your connection.

Here are good download speeds for gaming Xbox One, PS4, Nintendo Switch, and Nintendo Wii U games. 

Also read: Download speeds up to 60 Mbps

Speed requirements for Xbox One

For Xbox One, you will need a minimum speed test results with:

  • Download speed: 3 Mbps

  • Upload speed: 0.5 Mbps 

  • Ping rate: 150ms

Speed requirements for Xbox One

Speed requirements for Xbox One

Speed requirements for PlayStation 4

What is a good download speed for PS4? 

For PlayStation 4 or PS4, you will need speed with:

  • Download speed: 3 Mbps

  • Upload speed: 1 Mbps 

  • Ping rate: 150ms

Ideal Internet speed for PS4

Ideal Internet speed for PS4

Speed requirements for Nintendo Switch

For Nintendo Switch, you will need the same speeds as for PlayStation 4:

  • Download speed: 3 Mbps

  • Upload speed: 1 Mbps 

  • Ping rate: 150ms

Although Nintendo doesn’t directly state its Internet speed recommendations, it asks players to test their Internet speeds in its troubleshooting guide.

It’s to see if they meet 1 Mbps upload speed and 3 Mbps.

What are the speed requirements for Nintendo Switch?

What are the speed requirements for Nintendo Switch?

Speed requirements for Nintendo Wii U

For Nintendo Wii U, you will need a speed with a minimum download speed of:

  • Download speed: 2 Mbps

  • Upload speed: 1 Mbps 

  • Ping rate: 150ms

Along with that, the minimum download speed of HD should be 5 Mbps.

Nintendo Wii U’s Internet requirements

Nintendo Wii U’s Internet requirements

That’s the reason why you should perform an Internet speed check online before gaming.

For an overall picture of the required speeds for some online gaming systems, refer to this table:

Speeds

Xbox One

PS4

Nitendo Switch

Nintendo Wii U

Download

3 Mbps

3 Mbps

3 Mbps

2 Mbps

Upload

0.5 Mbps

1 Mbps

1 Mbps

1 Mbps

Ping

150 ms

150 ms

150 ms

150 ms

 

How to improve Internet speed for better gaming experiences?

After performing speed checks online a few times, you find that your connection is insufficient for gaming, or though it’s sufficient, you still experience game lag.

Well, it’s time for you to improve your Internet speed. 

But how should you do that? 

Right below here are 7 small suggestions that can help you improve your Internet speed for a better gaming experience.

Let’s take a look!

How to improve Internet speed?

How to improve Internet speed?

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
1. What is a good Internet speed for a PC or Mac?

Here are the general guidelines of minimum and recommended Internet speeds.

Minimum requirements

Recommended requirements

Download

Upload

Ping

Download

Upload

Ping

3-6 Mbps

0.75-1 Mbps

100-150 ms

15-25 Mbps

5 Mbps

< 50 ms

Remember that your Internet experience will still vary based on your computer and the game you’re playing.

2. What is a good Internet connection for PS4 Fortnite?

Gaming consoles requiring an Internet connection, like Fortnite, demand a bandwidth of 3 Mbps, as stated by the Federal Communications Commission.

Even if Fortnite may only require 3 Mbps to run smoothly, ensure that no other Internet-capable gadgets are using up too much of your bandwidth.

3. What is a good Internet connection for PS4 Warzone?

Gamers that enjoy Warzone require Internet rates of around 20 Mbps.

It’s the speed ensuring you may not be interrupted during gameplay.

Pings of 50–60 ms are possible with 100 Mbps speeds, although anything under 100 ms is acceptable.

Conclusion

Recently, we learned about what is a good download speed as well as ways to improve Internet speed for a better gaming experience. Well, knowing what good download and upload speeds are is always important for online games. That’s all for our today’s article on What is a good Internet speed for PS4, Xbox, and Nintendo? Really hope that this writing is helpful to you.

Rating:4.8 - 54Votes

10 Comments

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  1. Teagan Evans

    Your info is so detailed, thank you

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    1. MySpeed

      You are welcome

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  2. Kinsley Diaz

    Do you know why are Internet speeds measured in mbps and not MB/s?

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    1. MySpeed

      Interesting question. Probably because megabits are smaller than megabytes and providers can list their speeds as larger numbers

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  3. Felicity Houston

    Why is my ping at 40 if my PS4 says my Mbps speed is in the hundreds? Shouldn't it be lower?

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    1. MySpeed

      Hi, ping time has little to do with bandwidth (which is what your Mbps speed is). Bandwidth is the number of bytes you can send in a second. Whereas ping time is the amount of time it takes to send a very short message and get a very short reply

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  4. Sabrina Cruz

    Hi, do I need 1 gbps Internet speed? I have a few TV's in the house and we all watch Netflix, Hulu, Xbox live, and have wifi on our phones. 4 people live in the house and we may not always be using at the same time

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    1. MySpeed

      It is nice to have but not needful. 100Mbit/s would be enough for you and 200Mbit/s is the point where nobody in your household would see any constraints at all

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  5. Levi Ward

    I don't see you mention PS5 in the post so I'll ask here. I live out in a rural area and my PS4 lags occasionally with fair connection. Will the PS5 require faster internet speeds to be run as it is intended? Or will it be just fine with my current internet speed?

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    1. MySpeed

      Well, it will depend on what your internet speed is, vs what you are actually getting. For example, if you current have say a 3 Mbps connection and are regularly getting that, you will probably want to upgrade. The slowness could just be natural slowness because of time or day or any of many different issues

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