If you’re a serious gamer, particularly a gamer that plays
Internet-intensive games in categories like massively multiplayer online
role playing games (MMORPGs), you should be aware that some Internet
service providers (ISPs) are better for your gaming action than others.

When looking at ISPs, many people consider speed to be the primary factor delivering a quality experience, but when it comes to games, speed is not the most important quality for an ISP to have. Instead, the quality of the connection rather than the quantity of the data being served is the most important consideration when choosing an ISP.

Test Your Latency
Speedtest.net developer Ookla is well-known for having one of the
most widely-used apps, Speedtest, for testing speeds of an Internet
connection from a desktop or mobile device. But Ookla also has another
app, called Pingtest, available at pingtest.net, which measures two
other elements of a connection: latency and jitter.
The Best ISPs for Gaming
In national tests run by PC Magazine, the best U.S. ISPs for gaming were ranked in this order:
- Verizon FIOS
- Optimum Online
- Midcontinent
- MetroCast
- Optimum WiFi
- Comcast
- Hotwire
- RCN
- Suddenlink
- Charter
Unmetered Game Downloads
In addition to low latency, many gamers are downloading their games
rather than buying physical copies of them. Often, this can mean huge
download sizes in terms of gigabytes (GBs), and in many cases, ISPs may
limit how many gigabytes you’re allocated for downloading in a month. Be
sure to look at all of an ISPs monthly packages to see which package is
best for you. There are some ISPs that make exceptions, called
unmetered data, for game downloads. Check with your ISP to see if they
offer this.