Internet connection

[Solmagnum]

I'm wondering if having a really good internet speed or just good matters. I want to be ready for when Xrd comes out to play a lot online. I don't want to have to go through 20 rooms or matches to find one that isn't completely terrible.

[Ichipoo]

I'd like to say that it helps? But then again I'm not an expert on this matter. However the number one thing to know however is to use a wired connection, but I'm pretty sure you know that already.

[Airk]

Having "good internet" helps a lot.

 

Having "good internet speed"... not so much.  At least, not in the way people tend to think about "speed".

 

Most people think about "internet speed" in terms of your upload/download MBPS.  Which is pretty irrelevant for these games - the amount of actual data sent over the pipe is pretty small.  What matters is how fast that data gets to where it's going.  You can get fast downloads over satellite internet, but your lag is going to be awful. 

 

Do some googling of "Bandwidth vs Latency" for more information.  The two factors are usually correlated, but not necessarily.

[Dusk Thanatos]

"Speed" (i.e., mbps) doesn't matter once you have enough speed to send all the packets you need to at once (and you will regardless).

What matters most is latency (pingtimes between you and other players) and stability (consistency of those times). You can't really know your ISP's latency/ping stability  until you've used the conn and tested it, though. Latency isn't important to the vast majority of users.

[4r5]

Your control over your connection quality starts from your console and ends at your router and choice of ISP. You want to use a wired connection, instead of a wireless one. And you want as few wires between your console and router/internet access point as possible. So no wire splitters, extensions, switches, or hubs. Most routers will be fine, but your router's configuration may not be ideal. After the router, the data leaves your network and enters your ISP's network and whatever politics, money, and self-interest shenanigans their involved with.

 

Comcast, for example, will configure your router to act as a public WiFi access point. Aside from the legal nightmare should someone do something unsavory on "your" WiFi, sharing your router with many connections could reduce your routers performance. Another Comcast example, (sorry, I use to have to deal with Comcast) Comcast employs data discrimination. If you ever played League of Legends, LoL game traffic often gets mislabeled as torrent traffic by their network, or contractor networks, and will be slowed down or dropped entirely. And as we all know, Netflix is already paying Comcast racket money to have their traffic sped up (ie: not slowed down).

 

As you can see, a lot of your control over your connection quality is not in your control at all. If the internet operated bullshit free, your data would still be subject to internet traffic and congestion. Like normal car traffic, transit time could change day to day, hour to hour. You and your opponent could have the most pristine of driveways, but that doesn't do any good if the streets are crap or if a big football game is clogging up the freeway.

[Solmagnum]

Your control over your connection quality starts from your console and ends at your router and choice of ISP. You want to use a wired connection, instead of a wireless one. And you want as few wires between your console and router/internet access point as possible. So no wire splitters, extensions, switches, or hubs. Most routers will be fine, but your router's configuration may not be ideal. After the router, the data leaves your network and enters your ISP's network and whatever politics, money, and self-interest shenanigans their involved with.

 

Comcast, for example, will configure your router to act as a public WiFi access point. Aside from the legal nightmare should someone do something unsavory on "your" WiFi, sharing your router with many connections could reduce your routers performance. Another Comcast example, (sorry, I use to have to deal with Comcast) Comcast employs data discrimination. If you ever played League of Legends, LoL game traffic often gets mislabeled as torrent traffic by their network, or contractor networks, and will be slowed down or dropped entirely. And as we all know, Netflix is already paying Comcast racket money to have their traffic sped up (ie: not slowed down).

 

As you can see, a lot of your control over your connection quality is not in your control at all. If the internet operated bullshit free, your data would still be subject to internet traffic and congestion. Like normal car traffic, transit time could change day to day, hour to hour. You and your opponent could have the most pristine of driveways, but that doesn't do any good if the streets are crap or if a big football game is clogging up the freeway.

 

Thanks for the advice everyone. I asked a friend about it too and he recommended that I get something like a Netgear nighthawk router. Do you think that could help?