Is 15/5 Fios Internet "good enough" for playing online gaming and streaming HD Netflix movies?

Is 15/5 Fios Internet "good enough" for playing online gaming and streaming HD Netflix movies? I'm currently under the 'old' plan where I get 25/15 and am looking to economize if its good enough bandwidth to support online gaming and streaming Netflix movies.

Thanks

Accepted answers

spacedebris

For online video games, they really do not take much bandwidth (unless your hosting the game). My brother and I play online together on his 1.5/.3 DSL line all the time. Never have any issues, even with both of us online at the same time. We can even stream HD movies, although they have to buffer for about 3-5 minutes first.

"Technically" HD movie streaming only requires a 3Mb connection although 5 is recommended. Verizons old 5/2 plan was more than enough for most gamers and video streaming. But this also has a lot to do with you. How much do you do at one time? If you only have one game going at a time and you dont stream a movie at the same time, then that would be fine. Like with my brother. He lives on his own and he is not a heavy computer user. So he is either playing online, or streaming a movie, not both at the same time. Therefore his DSL is nearly adequate. He would like a slight bit faster so he didnt have to buffer the movies, but his DSL does a decent job for his needs.

15/5 should be more than enough for just about anyone out there. For most users, anything more than a 10Mb internet service is more for bragging rights than for actual need.

All comments

Hubrisnxs

I think so, not everyone has FiOS and the other people that are gaming that aren't fortunate to have fios have 15/2 and lower in some areas. So to answer your question, it should be fine. I had 15/2 and 15/5 and was able to stream online HD quality movies.

If you do it wireless - you may have a bigger issue, than if you do it hardwired to an ethernet line.

hope that helps.

ejkkjh

My son does on line games and we watch streaming Netflix movies via the Roku and Wii, works great. We have 25/15 Fios. I have found that watching streaming movies using a device like Roku or Wii, which buffers the movie works great, no problems at all but if I use my DVD player and try watching amazon streaming movies without the buffering, it does not work too well, lots of stops and starts. I contacted amazon about it and they told me verizon slows down, controls the streaming speeds, that is why it stops and starts when there is no buffering? I tried both wireless and cat 5 wired connections, both ok for Roku or Wii. Hope this helps.....

somegirl

While that theoretically should be plenty of bandwidth, it would probably be helpful to know which game(s) and how you are planning on streaming your video (which device).

spacedebris

15/5 should be more than enough for just about anyone out there. For most users, anything more than a 10Mb internet service is more for bragging rights than for actual need.

anonFios

Sadly not anymore. While 15 Mbps would normally be more than enough to stream Netflix in HD, Verizon is intentionally allowing congestion to build up on their network which results in downgraded streaming quality (primarily during prime time hours).

Unfortunately there is nothing the customer can do about this other than cancel Fios and switch to something else.

Artofkicking

The speed is plenty the problem is that verizon servers seem to have some kind of inherent lag. Maybe it is the conversion from fiber optic to electrical (the type of internet everyone else on the planet seems to have).

When you need to play online I have always got some kind of lag, and often connect to foreign lobbies. The fact is while fios may be great for internet browsing and downloading I find that no matter how much I tweak it, it is NOT GOOD for playing online games.

Artofkicking

Actually 15/5 is plenty for ANY game at this time. The problem is lag which seems to something inherent with fios