BEST INTERNET FOR GAMING

Online gaming itself uses relatively little bandwidth, typically between 3-10 Mbps. But as devices consuming bandwidth add up in your household, you also need bandwidth for game downloads, streaming, video calls and your smart home. Exetel The One gives significant headroom for large downloads and concurrent users.   

Download speed affects how fast you can download games, updates and files. 

Latency (ping) affects how responsive your online gameplay feels. 

Higher speeds won’t necessarily lower your ping, choosing a provider with strong routing and infrastructure will. For gaming, low and consistent latency matters more than raw speed. 

Not really. While 5G can be fast, it’s prone to latency spikes and inconsistency. Fixed-line nbn (especially FTTP or HFC) is far more reliable for gaming. 

Playing games uses minimal data, roughly 40-300 MB per hour depending on the game, but downloading them doesn’t. Many modern titles exceed 100GB and updates can be tens of GB each, so an unlimited data plan is highly recommended to avoid hitting a cap during a large download. For those nights you need to download a new game and you just can’t wait, Warp Speed upgrades your Exetel speed to 1000/100 Mbps (Typical Evening Speed: 860/85 Mbps) for just an extra $1/day. Simply open the mobile app, toggle the Warp Speed dial to select the amount of days you want it to be active and you’re good to go. Once activated, Warp Speed stays on for the number of days you’ve chosen—no need to manually restart it each time. After the set period ends, it automatically turns off, no fuss. 

Start with the basics: 

• Use a wired Ethernet connection with a Cat5e or Cat 6 cable for best results  

• Play on local Australian servers  

• Upgrade to a QoS-enabled router  

These small changes can make a big difference. 

Most games display your ping in settings or network stats overlay. You can also open the command prompt (type cmd and enter ping followed by the game server address) or use Exetel’s online speed test here to check your latency to a local server.  

Satellite internet is generally not ideal for gaming. The long-distance data must travel introduces high latency, which leads to noticeable lag, especially in fast-paced games. Even Low Earth Orbit services like Starlink typically have higher and less consistent latency than wired NBN connections. For fast paced gamers or competitive gaming, a fixed line NBN connection will provide a noticeably better experience.   

Wired wins every time. Ethernet connections are more stable, with lower latency and less interference than Wi-Fi.  But the real GOAT? Using a cat 6 ethernet cable. Good for network stability and supports up to 1 Gbps speeds.  

Bufferbloat is a network performance problem that occurs when a router or modem uses an excessively large data buffer to manage network traffic. Instead of dropping or prioritising packets intelligently, the device holds them in a queue — and that queue introduces unpredictable, variable latency (also called jitter) into your connection. 

For online gamers, bufferbloat is particularly damaging. Even on a high-speed nbn connection, bufferbloat can cause your ping to spike from 20ms to 200ms+ the moment someone else on your network starts streaming or downloading. You might see your speeds test perfectly fine, yet still experience rubber-banding, delayed hit registration, and desync in-game — all classic symptoms of bufferbloat rather than raw speed issues. 

You can test for bufferbloat at waveform.com/tools/bufferbloat — an "A" or "B" grade means your connection handles latency well under load, while a "D" or "F" indicates a problem worth addressing. 

Fixes include upgrading to a router that supports Smart Queue Management (SQM) or FQ-CoDel — algorithms designed to prioritise latency-sensitive traffic like gaming packets over bulk downloads. Pairing quality hardware with a low-congestion ISP like Exetel gives you the best foundation for a consistently responsive gaming connection. 

An nbn Point of Interconnect (POI) is a physical handover point in Australia's nbn network where nbn Co transfers data traffic to retail service providers (RSPs) like Exetel. There are 121 POIs distributed across the country, and every Australian nbn connection routes through one of them. 

For gamers, the POI matters because it directly affects latency — the time it takes for data to travel between your device and a game server. When an RSP purchases insufficient bandwidth capacity at a POI, congestion builds during peak hours (typically evenings), causing lag spikes, packet loss, and rubberbanding — the exact conditions that ruin competitive gameplay. 

Choosing an ISP that invests in adequate CVC (Connectivity Virtual Circuit) capacity at your local POI is one of the most important and overlooked factors in gaming performance. Exetel actively manages its POI capacity to minimise congestion, helping ensure consistent low-latency connections when it matters most — like that final circle in a battle royale or a ranked match in peak hour. 

Yes, and it comes down to two key parts of the nbn network: Points of Interconnect (POIs) and Points of Presence (POPs). Every nbn connection in Australia routes through one of 121 POIs, which are the handover points where your ISP takes ownership of your traffic. From there, data travels through your provider's own backbone via POPs, regional network hubs that determine how efficiently your traffic reaches game servers, content delivery networks, and the broader internet. 

Exetel is connected to all 121 nbn POIs and maintains POPs in every Australian state and territory. That means your connection never has to travel further than necessary to reach its destination. For gamers, this translates directly into lower latency, reduced jitter, and a more stable connection during peak hours so whether you're in Sydney, Hobart, or Darwin, you're playing on a network built to keep your ping low and your gameplay smooth.