Best broadband for gaming: High speeds and low latency

Dan Howdle

Best broadband deals for gamers

Two things are important when it comes to broadband for gamers: outright speed and latency. Happily, with the advent of Full Fibre, both of these things are tied to one another. Full Fibre offers both speed and very, very low latency. Here are the best gamer-friendly broadband deals available this week.

Sky logo

1. Sky Full Fibre Gigafast

£90 gift card • £37 per month • No upfront cost

Sky's Full Fibre Gigafast is Sky's absolute top-of-the-range package. It comes with the latest route and it offers incredibly fast download and upload speeds of 900Mbps and 100Mbps respectively. We think it’s probably too much for the average household but that said, if you can afford the comfort of such huge bandwidth, why not get it?

BT logo

2. BT Full Fibre 900

£150 reward card • £35.99 per month • No upfront cost

BT's top-of-the-line broadband package, Full Fibre 900 should deliver 900Mbps downloads, as you'd expect, with 700Mbps of that guaranteed. That's up there with the very fastest any national provider can offer. Blisteringly fast.

Broadband postcode checker

Our broadband checker will find you the best deals, providers and speeds where you live. It's free and takes less than a minute to check and compare.

Check your area now

Virgin Media logoSky logoBT logoNOW logoPlusnet logoEE logoRebel logo
Virgin Media logo

3. Virgin Media Gig2 Fibre Broadband + Netflix

3 months free • £59.99 per month • Zero upfront cost

Virgin Media Gig2 is the newest addition to Virgin's fibre broadband packages. Gig2 offers download speeds of 2Gbps.

Plusnet logo

4. Plusnet Full Fibre 900

£145 Reward Card • £33.99 per month • Zero upfront cost

Plusnet's top-of-the-range full fibre package. Expect average downloads of 900Mbps (even the guaranteed minimum is an incredible 500Mbps) from a package which for most will be one of the very fastest available.

We may earn a commission when you purchase via links on our site. The price you pay will always be equal to or often cheaper than the price you would pay by going direct to the provider. Please refer to individual provider's terms and conditions before signing up. All prices are inclusive of VAT except business prices.
Sky lgoo
Need help choosing the right deal?

Our expert advisors have access to special offers and can create a personalised package just for you. Give us a call!

Call 0330 221 9424

Broadband deals for gamers – what to look for

If you play games online, the right broadband deal can make a huge difference to how smooth things feel, especially when it comes to speed, since the size of game downloads these days are no joke! But for gaming stability is also key: low latency and avoiding any annoying slowdowns at busy times. The good news is that many Full Fibre packages tick all the important boxes.

The best gamer-friendly deals tend to offer fast, consistent download speeds and ideally with no hidden catches. There are a few key things worth keeping an eye on, in fact:

  • Low latency – Look for Full Fibre where possible, as it usually keeps ping times low and stable. If it's not available where you live, Virgin Media is the next best option
  • Consistent speeds – A steady connection is more important than headline numbers, especially if more than one person in your home is gaming or streaming at the same time
  • No upfront cost – You shouldn’t need to pay installation or activation fees on most gaming-capable packages
  • Generous upload speeds – Handy for cloud saves, multiplayer hosting, sharing clips, streaming your gameplay or even hosting a game server
  • Fixed-price period – A guaranteed monthly cost for 12–24 months means no surprise rises while you’re regining champion mid-season
  • Good router or Wi-Fi kit – Some providers include better hardware that helps reduce lag and improve your in-home Wi-Fi stability

What speed do gamers actually need?

In the past a 30-40Mbps connection may have been good enough for online multiplayer (and still is), but these days game download sizes are ballooning to astronomical proportions, and online competitive play demands low latency and high stability. A modern AAA title can easily be 80-100GB or more. For example, recent Call Of Duty games have had install sizes of around 230GB at in some cases! That's insane, and on Standard Fibre, you're going to be waiting a very long time for that while hogging the entire household's broadband.

So, while you'll be fine with 100-150Mbps for gameplay and streaming, if you want to download fast, avoid waiting around, and handle multiple users or devices, you’ll want the fastest connection you can get – ideally Full Fibre at 500Mbps, 900Mbps or even 2Gbps levels. It’s about future-proofing and reducing downtime before your game begins, while at the same time not hogging the bandwidth of the entire household.

As featured in

BBC logo The Sun logo The Metro logo The Guardian logo Daily Mail logo