My son keeps complaining that our WiFi/Internet is slow/lagging when he plays Xbox One. I did a speed test on my phone & got 29 Mbps download, 11 Mbps upload, & 11 ping. That's good, right?
Probably more players from Brazil right now, they lagged the hell out of BF3 when I used to play. I could tell when they joined because the game would look weird, I'd kick them and it would be as good as new. I haven't played Xbox One or PS4, but it probably depends more on the game and how they compensate for different speeds from players.
There's a lot more to it than just raw bandwidth: How many devices are on your network? Is your router any good? Does your router support quality of service (QoS) options? Are your devices all wireless? Do you have the latest firmware/drivers? Do you have a lot of simultaneous users?
To add to this... Most routers these days have 2.4GHz and 5GHz frequency channels. You can set up an SSID on each, giving you a choice of the two on your laptop, tablet, TV, etc., when joining a WiFi network. The 2.4GHz channel is more powerful. It goes longer distance, through walls better, etc. But it is more easily congested if you have a few devices connected to its WiFi. The 5GHz channel doesn't congest so easily, but you get less range from the router. Also, the weaker the signal (distance from the router, walls in between, etc.), the slower the Internet connection will be. A WiFi range extender won't really help much. It will allow you to connect further away from the base station, but comes at the cost of much slower bandwidth. Unless you connect the extender to the base station via ethernet. Ideally, you move the WiFi router to a more central location in the house where all the devices have the best possible signal. Or more ideally, use wired ethernet connections everywhere possible. I use ethernet for my home theater and my desktop computer where I do my job, and for the time machine backup device (so I get backups at 1GB speed).
Wired was better for my PS3, just seemed more stable. The display had an effect too. My plasma was more fun to play on but it had some lag even in game mode. Whenever my friends said they were going to play infantry maps I'd change to a computer monitor I had, it was better for that.
Updated my wifi router the other day because I got a Nest Thermostat and it was disconnecting. So far perfect, now I just started Game of Thrones season 6 on Amazon through my Samsung bluray player and it loaded instantly. Last used it to watch Walking Dead a few months ago and it buffered badly at first. May be Amazon or the update, not sure but it is probably good to update it once in a while.
This post is gold. Simply, Denny nailed it. You want the cheapest, easiest, quickest way to do it? Run an Ethernet cable from your router, down the hallway, to your kids Xbox. Problem solved. (as long as your router and internet provider are up to snuff....) Like Denny, we hit 100 to 120 Mbs down, all the time(wired on Comcast). You can even go into your router settings, and give his Xbox Mac address priority.(say his sis is streaming something. His stuff comes first.) Skip the Wifi, if you can.....
I try to go wired as much as possible, then put devices closer to the router on 5ghz and those farther away on 2.4.
You should be able to play games at those speeds. Does't the xbox game display ratings of your connection of the players in the game? Now if you have multiple devices on wireless, on the same band it could be wi-fi interference...for that matter, the interference could be coming from your neighbors.
