It’s the end of the work day and you hop online to play video games with your friends and relax — the last thing you want is a slow internet connection. Online gaming requires decent speeds coming both ways from and to the server.
However, speed isn’t the only factor. “Ping” has an important role to play. Ping is a measure of the latency between your home network and the game server. A lower ping is better. Playing games hosted on the other side of the world for example is going to lead to a higher ping and potentially worse gaming experience.
Fortunately, a few telcos put in work behind the scenes to provide a better gaming experience to their customers.
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Here are the NBN providers that provide an enhanced gaming experience.
NBN providers that optimise performance for gaming
Aussie Broadband has international links to ensure you’re routed as directly to the game server as possible to help minimise any lag. It also has direct partnerships with platforms such as Steam and Twitch to help lower update time.
Here are Aussie Broadband’s NBN plans:
For an extra $10 per month, Optus offers its customers Game Path. Game Path ensures your connection is routed via the fastest path to the game server. Here are Optus’ NBN plans you can add Game Path to:
Note: Optus NBN plans come with a free Ultra WiFi modem with 4G backup (valued at $306) when you stay connected for 36 months. If you leave before the 36 months is up you’ll need to pay out the remaining cost of the modem ($8.50 for each month remaining).
Finally, Telstra has its Internet Optimiser as part of all its NBN plans. This lets you geo-filter gaming servers to rule out any that might be too far away to provide a decent connection. It also lets you set a network priority between gaming, browsing, or streaming which means you can activate optimisation for gaming at any time.
Here are Telstra’s NBN plans:
Note: Telstra provides its Gen 3 Smart Modem free with its NBN plans. It’s yours to keep if you stay connected for 24 months but if you leave earlier you’ll need to return it in good working order or pay a $200 non-return fee.
Cheapest NBN 100 plans
Another option to ensure a smoother gaming experience is to make sure you’re on a fast NBN tier. An NBN 100 plan is the fastest speed tier available for the majority of Australians. It’s suitable for households that have people working from home or playing online games.
Here are some of the cheapest NBN 100 plans available sorted by highest typical evening speed:
Dodo’s NBN 100 plan is the cheapest of the three, pay $64/month for the first six months and then $85/month ongoing.
Exetel follows suit, pay $68.99/month for the first six months then, $84.99 ongoing. Exetel provides up to five free speed boosts a month to the next available speed tier.
Finally, SpinTel’s NBN 100 plan costs $69/month for the first six months and $79.95 ongoing. Over 12 months it actually comes out to be the cheapest.
Dylan Crismale is Digital Content Editor at WhistleOut, Australia’s mobile and internet comparison site.