New study: Gamers' internet speeds are 2X faster than the average U.S. internet speed

Angelo Ilumba Senior Writer

Updated 02 March 2021

For gamers, fast internet speed has always been a priority. More than 80% of gamers play online, and a fast connection not only makes for a smoother experience, but it can give gamers a competitive edge. We gathered data from over 45,000 gamers to see how much faster their internet speeds are compared to the national average.

Gamers have much faster internet

Not surprisingly, gamers’ internet speeds are generally faster than the average users' internet. What is surprising is just how much faster their connections are: at 181.7 Mbps, gamer internet speeds are about 2 times faster than the 94.6 Mbps national average, according to our latest report on internet speeds.

PC Gamers have the fastest internet

With average speeds reaching up to 246.08 Mbps, PC gamers use the fastest internet within the gaming crowd. That’s about 2.8 times the average speed for all internet users. On the flip side, Nintendo Switch users are seeing the slowest speeds among gamers, averaging at 165.6 Mbps—still well above the national average. Xbox gamers have average speeds of about 191.09 Mbps, while PlayStation gamers average speeds of around 171.64 Mbps.

Conclusion

With 81.3% of players gaming online, internet bandwidth is clearly going to be a priority. Of all gamers:

53.16% play online mostly with friends
28.27% play online mostly with strangers
18.57% play offline

Gaming doesn’t automatically require high bandwidth, and the average household speeds tend to be adequate. Gamers, however, do need lower latency and this oftentimes comes with internet plans that have high bandwidth. Perhaps, it’s just the tech-loving nature of the average gamer that has them paying a little extra for high home internet speeds.

Methodology

To find the average internet speeds of gamers in the US, we looked at speed test results from over 45,000 gamers with representation from each US state. Results were anonymously self-reported. This study was conducted by WhistleOut and is in no way sponsored, endorsed, administered by, or associated with any of the properties listed above or their affiliates.

The average internet speed for US households was taken from a report by WhistleOut in November 2020. In that report, we analyzed over 717,000 speed test results taken from mid-March to early July 2020.

Angelo Ilumba

Senior Writer

Angelo is a highly experienced writer for WhistleOut, specializing in unraveling the complexities of the mobile and tech world so that readers can easily understand what is relevant to them. Angelo has been featured on several publications such as MoneyTalksNews, Yahoo Finance, NPR and more.

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