Latency, without the energy drink

Gaming broadband adverts are a distinct literary genre: neon, a number with three digits, an implication that the retailer has personally spoken to the packet. The packet has not been spoken to. It is trying to get to a server through a hub, a street, a backhaul, and someone else in the house watching 4K. Buy for that world.

What to buy if you actually game

• A wired socket for the machine that plays.
• Enough upload that a call or backup does not freeze the session.
• A network that is not a congested evening cable node, if you have a choice.
• A hub that is not already on its knees.

Megabits fill a progress bar. Latency is whether you were there.

Bufferbloat is the boring villain

A hub that queues a 4K stream can ruin latency for the machine next to it. Gigabit does not fix a stupid queue. A cable to the console, a hub that is not already dying, and not saturating the line with a backup during a match will do more than a 1.8 Gbps product you were sold as identity.

Ethernet the console

A ‘gaming’ tariff with Wi‑Fi 7 in a cupboard will still lose to a dull FTTP with a cable to the box. Latency is the WAN path plus the last radio hop. CGNAT and a VPN can add their own tax. Measure ping on ethernet at the busy hour before you buy a personality SKU. If ethernet is 12ms and Wi‑Fi is 80ms, you have a house problem. If ethernet is 80ms, you have a path problem.