PlayStation owners rejoice! BT and Virgin aren’t the only ones offering epic downloads

With BT, Sky and Virgin Media all providing much faster download speeds, it’s taking less time to jump into your favourite video games on PlayStation, Xbox and Nintendo consoles.

Internet Service Providers are slowly rolling out faster Broadband Speeds and support, with BT and Virgin focusing on 1Gbps technology.

Meanwhile, Sky is also boosting its service to include the launch of 500Mbps speeds, making gaming much easier.

And with the size and scope of games expected to expand greatly in the years to come, now that the Xbox Series X and PS5 are becoming standard, faster broadband is going to be essential.

For gamers who enjoy online gaming, having as little lag as possible can be the difference between winning and losing.

So what internet providers are worth checking in 2021? 

For many, BT Broadband offers the best deal, and can prove to be one of the most reliable to keep connections stable. Recent Ofcom reports suggest that BT packet loss and latency stats are at the top of the list; however, there are drawbacks.

BT isn’t always the best for speeds and they also include having to sign up for 24-months, some of the longest contracts available.

Meanwhile, for those who are big fans of massive open-worlds and universes, like Grand Theft Auto and Final Fantasy, the size of future downloads will also be important.

Faster broadband will mean faster download speeds, and with so many games now receiving regular updates and patches, this will become essential.

And that’s without mentioning the launch of streaming services like Google Stadia Xcloud, which both rely on keeping button lag to a minimum.

Meanwhile, Virgin Media Broadband can offer some of the fastest speeds around, with shorter contracts but without the same speed guarantees as other service providers.

Gamers might not have heard of Hyperoptic Broadband but they are another company that can offer average speeds of 1Gbps, if you find yourself in a compatible area and are willing to splash the cash.

But even with these impressive upgrades being worked on at leading ISPs, a recent rival that entered the market last year is preparing to make some big changes that gamers will want to know about.

Cuckoo has been available since 2020 and doesn’t ask its customers to sign up to lengthy deals.

Instead, Cuckoo offers just one simple broadband plan with users able to access standard speeds of around 70Mbps.

That’s way below those currently available from BT, Sky and Virgin but Cuckoo has revealed that from October, users will be able to access full Fibre to the Premises (FTTP) speeds.

This will mean Fibre cable coming into a property, making it possible for Internet Service Providers to offer faster speeds.

FTTP currently has the capability of hitting rates that are over 10 times faster than the UK average.

And Cuckoo is also planning on offering its monthly rolling contracts even with better speeds.

This will mean being able to skip the usual 18-month deals through Full Fibre deals at Virgin and Sky.

“Our mission from the very beginning has been to disrupt the broken broadband market, dominated by a large few who rip off their customers,” Alexander Fitzgerald, Founder and CEO of Cuckoo Broadband, told ISPreview.

“As part of our mission to make broadband simple, flexible and fair, we are now launching a super-fast full-fibre connection for our customers. We are also the first ISP to offer full-fibre on a monthly rolling contract, making broadband work for you, not the other way round.”

Any upgrade in your current broadband package will affect all devices you use, so this same deal will improve connection performance on PlayStation, Xbox, or Nintendo Switch consoles.