Is AT&T Internet good for gaming? (Review 2021) – GetInternet (2023)

Is AT&T Internet Good for Online Gaming? In this post, we will answer this question. To sign up for AT&T Internet,Click here for today's best deals- Pay only $35/month for high speed internet and get a $200 VISA Rewards Card.

You've just won another victory for the "Cog" in Gears of War 4 and are about to place the perfect sniper shot to take out another "Grasshopper" from the enemy team -bam!

You've just been knocked out by a player from the opposing team when you hear insults and taunts through the headset. Congratulations, you've just been hit with lag! And when your game catches up, half your team consists of KIA

There's not much you can do right now except wait for the replay while you watch the enemy team dance around you and celebrate their victory.

In fact, seasoned multiplayer players will be the first to explain that no matter how impressive their stats look, not all ISPs are created equal - and this is especially true when we talk about MP game aspects such asreaction time,responsivenessAndpacket loss.

Fact #2: When we're talking about instinct-driven games like Battlefield, Call of Duty or Gears of War, where every millisecond counts, the only obstacle that can stand in the way of getting started is your ISPfull multiplayer dominance.

Multiplayer gaming: why understanding latency and packet loss is important

Maybe you just got a brand new gaming PC or Xbox One-X and are new to some of the terms related to online gaming, and that's totally fine.

First:reaction time. This is the time it takes for sets of ones and zeros (data in layman's terms) to travel back and forth. In other words, you can think of latency as the time it takes for your action—such as pressing a mouse button—to register on the screen.

If your internet connection is availablehigh latency, you will notice an indefinite delay ordelaybetween your action and the corresponding action on the screen. This is especially noticeable when your frames per second or motion fluidity is 60 fps or more.

The unit of latency is milliseconds, which at first glance doesn't seem like a big deal, because if your latency is less than 1 second or so, you're good to go, right?Incorrect!

The lower the latency, the better. Actualbest internet connectionshas a latency typically in the range of 4-8 ms. High latency, even in the millisecond range, can mean the difference between "missing a kill" and landing the perfect game-winning shot.

Now let's turn our attention to thatpacket loss. This happens when travel dates don't reach their destination on time - and unsurprisingly, it can cause great frustration for any player.

You've probably heard people talk about "drift" or "rubber banding", or how the action on their screen suddenly "swallows" and then resumes - with the positions of other players on the screen tilted like a bunch of chess pieces bouncing back and forth. These are some of the effects of packet loss.

So what is the absolute best internet service for gaming in 2021?

More specifically, the question you should ask yourself is:Am I willing to give up my current ISP that is full of annoying lags and packet loss issues??

When you're ready to hugLightning fast internet to play with, so to be honest: there is no better alternative thanAT&T internet for gaming. In fact, by and large, if we include other elements like features and pricing together, there really isn't a better alternative, period!

Let's take a quick look at some of the great plans that AT&T's fiber and DSL Internet services are offering in 2021:

• The entry or starter plan is Internet Basic 5, which gives you download speeds of 5 Mbps or more for $49.99 per month. month. clickHerto see plans.
• The Internet 10-100 package is available for $49.99 per month for 12 months, after which it can be increased to $60 per month, giving up to 100 Mbps - an impressive number that will be more than enough for most gamers.
• Step up to the Internet 300 package and get a cool 300 Mbps for $49.99 per month for 12 months, after which that rate increases to $70 per month.
• Finally, Internet 1000 caters to the most serious and dedicated gamer – a whopping 1000 Mbps, or more specifically 1 gigabyte, for $49.99 per month for 12 months, then increases to $90 per month.

Detailed AT&T internet prices and plans

At the end of the day, all you really care about is "What does it give me as a gamer??"

Well, one of the first things you really need to think about is whether you want to use DSL or fiber optic internet – and is fiber optic internet even available in your area? Unless you live in a fairly large metropolitan area, chances are you'll only be able to use DSL.

But if fiber optics is an option, we'd recommend going for it, as it's not only faster, it's betterPrice-performance ratioin the long run.

With that in mind, the 10-100 Mbps internet plan offers the fastest internet speeds available in your particular region. The closer you get to 100 Mbps, the better value you get compared to other service providers.

We still do thatAT&T fiber internet for gamingBut once you've played through all the numbers, it's significantly better value for money than AT&T DSL or DSL packages from other providers.

Of course, if your area is predominantly Verizon Fios users where the 970/880 Mbps plan is the norm, you can of course save a few bucks here and there. However, VF charges $10 a month for the fiber optic router, while AT&T's router is already included in the plans.

Is DIRECTV Internet good for gaming? AT&T and DIRECTV have partnered in recent years. So when you read about DIRECTV Internet, keep in mind that it's just another name for the same great Internet connection.

All in all, AT&T goes a long way to meeting our gaming needs, complete with lag-free, near-zero packet loss, and low-ping multiplayer gameplaybest long-term value.

AT&T Internet Package

A big advantage that you can immediately enjoy as an AT&T customer is that you can save even more money with the internet packages. You can bundle your choice of DSL/Fiber package with either AT&T's own TV service or DIRECTV Internet.

Packages may include phone service, but for the sake of simplicity, we've rounded up some of our personal favorite Internet and TV packages to give you a clear picture:

For more details on these juicy packages, click hereHer.

But I'm just a gamer - which plan is best for ME?

Well, that's a valid question.

When it comes to Internet gambling, there is a bit of controversy about the Internet 300 plan, and here's why:

Most online gaming fans don't even need 300Mbps unless they plan to download 50-80GB in a few hours. However, what makes this plan really good value for money is the fact that if you have multiple devices connected to your fiber internet (which most households do), your bandwidth availability may be limited - which in this case will almost never happen.

This fiber plan simply provides good services and is quite cheap compared to other providers offering similar fiber internet packages.

In fact, if you do a quick Google search, you'll find that you'll pay about $30 more for very similar download speeds on a fiber connection, say from providers like Verizon Fios or Frontier.

However, if you find that 300 Mbps is way beyond your needs, or you may not really need to use the extra bandwidth, you can opt for the 100 Mbps fiber package. If you want to save more, choose the 10-100 Mbps DSL plan, where you can choose either a 10, 25, 50, 75 or 100 Mbps download speed - whatever suits you as they say.

There's a caveat, though: the DSL plan can be risky, paying exactly the same price regardless of whether your area supports Internet speeds as low as 10 Mbps or as high as 100 Mbps. Takeaway: If your DSL speeds are supported up to the 100 Mbps range or closer, AT&T's 100 Mbps DSL package gives you the best bang for your buck.

That brings us back toFiber optic internet for gaming- If you can get fiber, do it! The special feature of fiber optic internet is that it has symmetrical download and upload speeds. So if your download bandwidth is unlimited (not shared, which is the case with DSL) 100Mbps, then you also get dedicated bandwidth 100Mbps upload speed! Did you say? packet loss? We don't even know if such terms exist in "Fiberland"!

In general, fiber is not only much faster, but alsomore reliable– there is virtually no downtime, and your internet connection is “active” all the time 24 hours a day, 365 days a year – and with dedicated,full bandwidth available at download and upload speeds.

Here's a quick overview to help you decide between DSL and fiber:

What about data caps? AT&T DSL plans are widely available for the most part, offering customers speeds up to 100 Mbps. The closer you get to 100Mbps, the more value you can enjoy. The only drawback, if you can even call it that, is the 1TB data cap, which is only the case if you buy DSL only. There are no upper data limits for internet and TV packages.

To be perfectly honest, even if you choose a plan that limits downloads to 1 TB, you would literally have to download a lot of content every month to even reach that limit.

AT&T's fiber optic internet is limited to certain areas, but getting it can save you big bucks. There are three speeds available and there are no data caps on the fastest fiber package, although you save on the TV packages.

Go toto find out if your region supports high-speed fiber optic internet.

How does AT&T compare to other top ISPs?

Here's how AT&T compares to other well-known ISPs like Xfinity, Spectrum and moreCox communication.

AT&T vs. Xfinity

MensXfinity offers plans ranging from $49.99 to $154.99/month, 140-260 channels, speeds from 25-1000 Mbps and 60 hours of X1 DVR service - AT&T comes with DIRECTV and offers plans from $65-190/month, speeds from 5-1000 Mbps, 155-330 channels and 200 hours of their Genie DVR service.

But in terms of sheer ubiquity, AT&T comes out on top with extensive coverage covering nearly the entire United States.

As far as plans go, high-end fiber plans from AT&T, like the 300 Mbps fiber plan, offer much more value as it is equivalent to a 250 Mbps non-fiber plan from Xfinity.

As for the "public opinion" of the two, there is room for improvement for both ISPs. Earlier this year, customers cited Xfinity's higher costs and somewhat lackluster customer service as their top complaints, while AT&T customers said they could do with fewer service interruptions.

However, a 2018 study offers a different insight: It awards AT&T four "Power Circles" in all categories in the western US and five each in the south and north central US regions. Xfinity on the other hand scored 3-4 Power Circles across the board.

AT&T vs. Spektrum

Priced at $44.99 per month, Spectrum's DSL 200Mbps offers unlimited data downloads, while AT&T's DSL 5-100Mbps package is available for $40-50 with a data cap of 1TB. However, the $50-$90 fiber bundle, which offers between 100 and 1000 Mbps, only has a data cap of 1 TB for the 100 Mbps package and no data cap for the 1000 Mbps package.

Now, Spectrum might be a bit priced ahead of AT&T, but if you're a casual gamer who wants to enjoy lag-free multiplayer gaming, the extra bandwidth and faster internet access with AT&T is always a big plus. In addition, if you have a large family where several members need to use the Internet at the same time, you will still not experience annoying lags or packet loss problems when playing online games.

Bottom line: When given the choice between cable internet plans and AT&T's fiber internet plans, choose the latter.

When it comes to reporting, AT&T is once again ahead of the curve. Although Spectrum can cover a total of 43 states, AT&T covers almost the entire United States.

If you enjoy reading online reviews, Spectrum's biggest customer complaints are its rising costs and connections that aren't necessarily as fast as advertised -- while AT&T customers have sometimes complained about slow speeds on DSL connections.

Frankly, if you ask us to pit two of the nation's largest ISPs against each other, we'll give AT&T credit for that aloneAvailability,fartAndbundling.

AT&T vs. Cox

Obviously, AT&T is best suited for those who want the fastest internet connection speeds and don't want to pay too much for it.unlike some other ISPs including Cox Communications.

AT&T's fiber 1000 Mbps plans give you a full gigabyte of download/upload bandwidth for less than $100 a month - what more could a gamer ask for? And on top of that, the customer service is nothing short of legendary, for which AT&T is known across the country.

However, Cox also offers 1GB packages, although the slower internet speed packages really shine. While most people don't need the fastest Internet speeds, such as college students or stay-at-home moms who work occasionally, you can't go wrong with AT&T for lag-free multiplayer, even if you choose DSL packages to begin with.

When it comes to customer service, AT&T ranks second in overall customer satisfaction -- beating almost every other ISP except RCN, where Cox lands somewhere in the middle of the rating scale. Although customers have not voiced any glaring complaints about the lattergood customer serviceis a selling point for you when you make your choiceISP for gaming, then select AT&T.

Why Choose AT&T Internet for Online Gaming?

Wide coverage

This is something you may not know even if you play online games regularly, but AT&T's internet is at your disposalmore people in the United Statesthan any other non-satellite ISP in the country. If you think about it, it's a big deal because the fiber optic network is very special11,3 mioPeople grab it every day.

Even more impressive are the DSL service statistics120 million peopleacross the country - that's actually 72 million more than second place,CenturyLink.

Impressive speeds and bandwidth availability

To put it bluntly, AT&T's fiber optic internet connection offeringlightning fast internet access speeds, which is hitting the 1 Gbps mark in a number of US states. This type of internet connection is not only perfect for heavy, lag-free online gaming, but also for large households where internet activity is very high, especially if families are constantly downloading and streaming.

With AT&T's fiber optic internet, you can betSuper responsive game with no lag, regardless of how many users in your household use the available bandwidth.

However, if there are no fiber connections in your area, you can still opt for the DSL 100Mbps packages – which are by far the fastest and fastestThe cheapest DSL packagesin the land we know.

Excellent customer service

Depending on your characteristics and preferences as an online gambler, good customer service may be important to you.

Let's think of it this way, if you have questions or need help getting the most out of your internet connection, or even help troubleshooting problems (which is pretty rare), you'll have someone on the other end, who will not only be helpful, but also go out of their way to meet your needs as a paying customer.

That's what AT&T customer service is all about, and in fact, the company consistently leads the way when it comes to how customers are treated and interacted with.

In 2016 and 2017 alone, they won the US Residential Internet Service Provider Satisfaction Study award for the North-Central region and have since won numerous customer service awards.

Impressively, they were the only ISP to receive a full 5/5 rating in all relevant categories; i.e. H. Performance and reliability, billing, customer service, communication, cost of service and overall satisfaction. That really says something.

We'll repeat it briefly in case you missed it at the beginning of the article: AT&T's Internet is truly insanePerfect for gaming.

React in seconds, hit your target with almost 100% accuracy, no matter how busy the servers are, and play on all your devices - with all the necessary routers and WiFi devices at no extra cost. Okay - we'd love to see another ISP try to top it.

Internet for Games FAQ

Q: What is the recommended internet speed for gaming?

A: While the general rule of thumb is that you need an internet connection with at least 3 Mbps download speed and 1 Mbps upload speed, these are just the "absolute minimum requirements" for consoles like PS4 and Xbox.

A higher bandwidth is recommended for particularly demanding PC games. Since there is virtually no price difference between choosing a 10, 25, or 50 Mbps DSL package from AT&T versus a 100 Mbps DSL package, you might as well choose the 100 Mbps package, which not only gives you really fast download speeds you need to download and install games, but also ensure at least 10 Mbps upload.

Q: What is considered high latency?

A: The further the game server is from your location, the higher the delay. The lower the number, the better. However, note that anything over 100-120ms is considered high and may introduce lag.

Q: How do I choose between DSL and fiber for gaming?

A: Although DSL generally meets the needs of most multiplayer players, you should use it 100% if fiber optic internet is available in your area. Not only do you get the full range of download and upload speeds, but you can still enjoy lag-free gaming when multiple people in your house are using the internet.

Get your AT&T Internet connection today and enjoy smooth, hassle-free online gameplay. Just take our word for it!