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People often assume that the answer to the question is 4G good for gaming, is a resounding no, but it’s not actually that simple.
4G has been around for a good long while now, and is increasingly being eclipsed by the sheer power and speed of 5G. 5G is excellent at gaming, boasting higher speeds than many broadband connections, leading many people to purchase gaming laptops and the best gaming phones that have 5G compatibility. If they’re fortunate enough to live somewhere with coverage that is.
So do any of these benefits apply to 4G too? Well, overall we think that 4G is adequate for gaming but only in certain circumstances and even then a faster connection can be significantly better.
There are two main areas of internet connection that really matter when it comes to online gaming, these are download speeds and ping time. We’re going to breaking down both and seeing how well 4G performs at them. Lets get into it.
Is 4G good for gaming?
Download speed is one of the most obvious place where 4G lags behind many of your other options. For example 4G has an average download speed of 35Mbps, which is far slower than fibre broadband’s 100Mbps and 5G’s 186Mbps averages.
You should be able to connect to online games and play them with a connection as slow as around 5Mbps, however, this will come as a huge bottleneck when it comes to downloading games. With a speed that slow, it would take you over 24 hours to download even a reasonably sized game such as Hogwarts Legacy.
The 30Mbps that 4G can average is more suitable to both online and game downloading. Though it will still take a while to download bigger titles. It will also be a less smooth gaming experience than 5G or fibre broadband can offer.
This decreased smoothness is made worse by 4Gs ping time. Ping time, sometimes known as latency is the amount of time delay there is between your computer sending a signal to the server and then receiving its response.
This is an area where even 5G lags behind, quite literally, and 4G is even worse with an average latency time of 50ms. In the fastest online competitive games this could be the difference between a headshot and a miss.
Overall we would say 4G is a good solution to get you out of a fix if your Wi-Fi has stopped working, or you are waiting for it to be installed. It can also be a hassle free way to game on the go. However, overall, we would recommend gaming over a fibre broadband or 5G connection if possible. This will give you a smoother and more enjoyable gaming experience.
Frequently asked questions
Is 4G outdated?
4G is significantly worse than 5G connections, however, these are not commonplace across the country. Whilst 4G will only become more and more outdated, we’re confident it will still be supported by services providers for years to come.
Can I use my mobile hotspot for my Xbox?
Yes, your Xbox should connect to your hotspot with no issue. Online gaming also doesn’t tend to use up a huge amount of data either, though downloading any games will.