Over the past years, gaming has gained much popularity and become a popular pastime activity for both casual and professional players. Gaming has become a method by which some people have built fortunes and gained popularity today.
While all this is true and acceptable, a bigger part of the world still struggles with having a proper internet provider with a stable internet connection, which limits online gaming. Starlink has gained a high reputation in a short while, with many users wanting it, but is it ideal for gaming?
The question of whether it is best for gaming has kept gamers confused and slightly hesitant toward Starlink. The Starlink satellite internet is an exciting new development in online gaming. This innovative technology allows gamers worldwide to connect and play their favorite games from anywhere.
Gaming is a versatile thing to do, as little interruptions can render your gaming experience and achievements null. If you are considering going for Starlink gaming, but want to know how it handles all aspects of gaming, then this is your article.
Contents
Factors Affecting Gaming
Satellite internet is unique because of the vast distances between the user and the orbital satellites. Some satellite internet services have satellites in the upper orbit, while others, such as SpaceX, have satellites in the lower orbit. But what are some of the major issues that influence online gaming performance when using satellite internet:
1. Latency
Latency is the time data moves from your home to another computer. In gaming, it is the time taken for data to go from your game to the game server. The lower the latency number, the better. For gaming, under 100 ms is ideal.
You may have heard the term lag, which refers to some of the negative effects of high latency. If you think about a first-person shooter, imagine it takes half a second for data to travel from the game server to your PC. If you come head-to-head with an enemy player, all your movements are way behind what is happening because of the significant time delay. Starlink is way ahead of the competition when it comes to latency. The total time taken to send and receive data using Hughesnet and Viasat is over 10x that of Starlink.
2. Packet loss and reliability
Packet loss happens when incoming data to or from your home is corrupted, lost, or inadequate. Imagine our first-person shooter scenario. If you moved your character three steps left, but some of those data packets were lost, the game server might only think you moved two. When your position is updated again, suddenly, the game has to correct your location, causing lag.
A higher latency leads to higher packet loss. Due to Starlink’s lower latency, the chances of packet loss are also lower. As for reliability, each of the three satellite ISP is susceptible to weather events like rain and snow. Any signal blockages to satellites will cause outages for satellite internet users. Satellite internet is more susceptible to adverse weather.
Speed
Your connection must be fast enough to timely send and receive data from the game server. Without the necessary speed, you could experience packet loss. For gaming, the higher the upload and download speed, the better.
Starlink users are experiencing speed of around 90.55 Mbps to 97.40 Mbps.
Is Starlink good for gaming?
Starlink is considered suitable for most online games, but it can be impossible to know exactly how it will perform until you try it. This is because Starlink’s performance depends on various variables. These may affect not only your internet speeds but may also have an effect on your ping – otherwise known as your latency.
Download and upload speeds have somewhat little influence on gaming performance. Instead, the ping matters the most. Unfortunately, as Starlink dishes have to connect to satellites, there is an unavoidable amount of ping while data is being transferred. Typically, you can expect pings between 80 ms and 180 ms depending on the available data transfer factors.
You are good to go if Starlink can deliver ping under 50 ms in your location, along with reliable connectivity. Otherwise, you will face problems with online gaming.
Advantages of using Starlink for gaming
- It is easy to set up
- It delivers high-quality graphics with little lag time
- It is affordable
- Easy to use manual, ensuring an easy customer interface.
How to avoid latency issues when gaming with Starlink?
Latency and ping are common issues that can affect your gaming experience. Latency occurs when your game data takes longer to travel from your computer to the server and back, which can cause stuttering, freezing, and other performance problems.
Things to do to help reduce latency while playing online games include:
- Configure and optimize your computer for gaming. This includes closing any unnecessary programs running in the background, updating necessary drivers, and reducing clutter on your hard drive.
- Adjust the settings on your game to reduce latency as much as possible. Some games may have options for reducing latency by lowering screen resolution or framerate, while others may have specific settings for reducing lag.
- Contact Starlink internet service provider if you still have problems with high latency and your games. They can help you determine whether there are any network errors or issues causing latency on your connection, and they may be able to recommend specific steps or solutions to reduce latency in your gaming experience.
Overall, you can do some things to help reduce latency and improve your gaming experience. Optimizing your computer for gaming, adjusting the settings on your game, and working with your internet service provider can minimize latency and enjoy smooth, responsive gameplay.
FAQs
For gaming, the higher the upload and download speed, the better. Starlink provides the best speeds compared to other internet providers and is thus good for gaming.
Fast-paced multiplayer games like Fortnite and call of duty are not going to play well in traditional satellite connections making Starlink your only option for effective plays
In optimal operations, the internet speeds are good with Starlink. The download speeds range between 50 Mbps and 250 Mbps
The latency is relatively low as they have their satellites in the lower orbit hence a reduced traveling distance of the signals.
Starlink retails at $110 monthly and has a $599 equipment fee. As compared to the service it provides, it is worth it.
Conclusion
Starlink makes gaming more possible by detailing, reducing their latency, using various techniques, and utilizing ground stations. Starlink transfers gigabytes of data from one satellite to another in orbit, thus reducing the latency speed and making it better for you as a gamer.
With Starlink, competitive gaming will be possible, and customers will not worry about connection speed and latency. Starlink also offers many other accessories to ease installation and ensure you find the best installation location. Once the obstructions have been reduced to the minimum, you should have a seamless Internet connection, but a high ping could still affect gaming.
Plummeting latency speeds to less than 20ms will make the Starlink connection comparable to the wired broadband connections. Starlink was initially manufactured for rural areas where internet infrastructure is expensive.
Additionally, it is not suitable for cities as they are highly populated areas, which may cause congestion in the network traffic, leading to reduced speeds, which can be annoying when gaming.
Good post. I learn something new and challenging on blogs I stumbleupon everyday. It’s always useful to read through articles from other writers and practice something from other websites.