Do I REALLY need full GB Broadband?

[ewhitey]

So do I REALLY need full GB Broadband?

I have around 30 connected devices at anyone time - rarely altogether but sometimes.

Devices include a few consoles, teenagers on voice and video phone calls, zoom and general internet. The other haplf playing games on the phone - one of four on the go in the home and various stuff like PC, printer, lightbulbs and several Alexaaaaas. TV wise I like having 4k and I do steam footy etc from PC to Chromecast etc. Any help would be greatly appreciated and thanks in advance 😉

[legacy1]

You mean a full WAN IP or speed?

Depending on your needs no until you need it then yes like with speed you only need it when you need it and then you be fine on 125M but if you can wait then 125M is all you need it can run 4K@60fps.

[jpeg1]

If you quietly dropped back to 350 or even 250Mbps I doubt if anyone would notice the difference. There might be an occasional delay on the reduced upstream speed depending on the individual users. 

[ewhitey]

Don't quite understand what you mean sorry... My needs are basically the use of all the devices listed? So are you saying that i DO need the Gig if and when I use all the devices together at the same time?

[ewhitey]

Not sure of the lingo...but my main priority is FPS PS4 gaming first then movies second...everything else third lol

[jpeg1]

As I said I doubt that you would notice the difference if you were on a lower speed. Games don't actually need very fast speeds - latency is more important. 

Virginmedia can only offer that speed in the knowledge that very few people will use it very often.  If every customer that is signed up to 1Gbps actually used it in full at the same time their network would crash. 

[ewhitey]

OK thanks for that... Obviously I've been paying for something I was told i needed but didn't!!! So how can I get good latency?

[Andrew-G]

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@ewhitey wrote:
OK thanks for that... Obviously I've been paying for something I was told i needed but didn't!!! So how can I get good latency?

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You go with an Openreach connection if you want low latency.

To be completely honest that's a good day, there's a few more spikes some days, but even at worst nothing like the trace you'd see on even the best VM connection.  

[ewhitey]

Openreach - Is that BT fibre to the house with no copper?

[Andrew-G]

It is indeed Openreach FTTP, but that's usually not significant - for years I've kept an eye on my elderly mother's Zen connection, and it has had similarly low and clean latency via a rural FTTC connection at 35 Mbps and a copper phone line.  Not that at 84 she's a hard core online gamer.

When I was with VM, it was rather galling that whilst I had speed six times hers (and double the price), my latency was always far worse.  Now I can play without the VM latency penalty, but of course it also means my mediocrity as a gamer is only attributable to me.