With the recent announcement of the PlayStation Now cloud streaming service, the question that has been lingering in the air is whether our broadband connections can actually handle it. We've already been informed that a recommended speed of 5Mbps will be demanded in North America, but can the average consumer in the UK even fulfil that requirement?
Instead of sitting around speculating like a bunch of old ladies, the question was taken directly to UK regulator Ofcom. When asked, the involved party stated that in May 2013, the UK average peak-time download speed was 14.2Mbps. Stirring things up in the playground, however, was television streaming service Netflix, which claimed that the mean British broadband speed is in fact just 2.48Mbps. Ofcom staunchly disagreed: “Not everyone has the infrastructure, but clearly many people now do," a spokesperson said. "Over the last few years we’ve seen increased fibre deployments and people now routinely have 20Mbps, many can get 100Mbps."
Do you find your Internet connection a bit patchy, or are you running at light speed? Share your connectivity experiences in the comments section below.
[source mcvuk.com]
Comments 18
I currently have 2MBPS, so yeah I can only play online when I'm the only one on the house using the internet and when I'm not uploading college files or downloading.
Kinda hard to play online with all these limitations and cloud gaming isn't even an option for me.
you pay for what you get, I have 2 kids and a missus constantly on and I use the PS4 for gaming off skys cheap SKY FIBRE package with 6 months at £10 plus £15.40 Line Rental and get a constant 26.2 Mb. It does say up to 30Mb and it does depend where you are. It is getting better but it is still abysmal in comparison to the U.S.A.
Im on VIrgin's 120Mb (sometimes it shows as more than that) service at the moment so Im more than ready for all this stuff, but even then Virgin's network continues to grow with speeds going up to 200Mb later this year. Even when Ive not had the chance to go with fibre, Ive still managed to get 22Mb thru BT's ADSL2+ copper lines. With BT constantly on a fibre rollout these days (although I was suprised to learn that its only fibre to the exchange n still uses the same copper wire to your house) things will only improve it seems. Im not sure how things are for the rural folks tho, but I did used to play Fifa online with a bloke who lived in the middle of nowhere n he could only get 2Mb at best so I expect its similar for most in that situation.
Ofcom are full of crap, I only know one person that has a connection that is above 20mb/s and everyone else I know have under 10mb/s!
I'm lucky enough to live on the outskirts of a city centre so I get an average minimum of 75mbps even with the brother on his Xbox and the TV streaming. Just upgraded my Ethernet so possibly a little more now.
On 16 with Sky, used to have 60 with Virgin. Upgrading as we move soon.
Yes I would have gotten virgin but still isn't in my area. BT only rolled out about 6 months ago.
@RyoHazuki I'd prefer Virgin for speed and stability, but they still haven't gone properly 'unlimited' yet.
@KALofKRYPTON virgin clearly is the best option if you can get it. I'm really not impressed as I live only a mile outside the city centre. Rubbish.
I'm not sure why Sony are hiding behind this "UK broadband isn't up to it" excuse, as it's not only an issue here. From what I've been reading, much of the US is in a similar situation.
Sure, there are speed issues in some areas in most countries, but just launch the service and let those people who can use it, use it. Better to get the service online and let people join as and when they can, expanding with them, than wait for everyone to be ready at the same time and launch to congestion and lots of complaints about it being inaccessible.
Not sure what the demographic stats are but I imagine a lot of people that want this service will already have a decent speed. Do Sony have any stats on connection speeds for their customers?
I work for the communications ombudsman and deal with complaints about broadband speeds on a daily basis. Interestingly, there is no requirement for service providers to offer download speeds over 28kbps, which is equivalent to dial-up. Furthermore, some customers who opt for fibre optic broadband have a fibre optic cable from the exchange up to the green box on their street, but then have to put up with a copper cable from the green box to their home. It would require major legislation to change this, but there is no indication that this will happen any time soon. I currently enjoy, 4.5mbps dowload speeds on a good day so it appears as though I will be unable to use PlayStation Now. For now anyway.
In the UK Virgin lead the way but BT/SKY are finally catching up. I think the average in the UK is prob about 30mb now
I live in the US and I can only get 3Mbps =(
I'm with Virgin with 60Mbps. My body is ready.
I call BS. Most Europeans have a faster connection than your average American. http://www.netindex.com/download/allcountries/
It's latency they're after. They need to build some sort of network infrastructure on the other side of the pond.
@Paranoimia They can't. If they're going to make money off of it then they need a certain amount of people to use it without any major hiccups, I'm guessing.
I get around 16 Mbps where I live. Internet speed is never a problem with the service provider we have. TV on the other hand...
iv got roughly 12 to 15 mb speed and im having trouble using share play it will work for a few seconds then disconnect im furies as im the guy with all the good games and my friend has a good internet speed id love him n me to blast away at cod aw but its just not happening right now and to hounest its getting on my nerves i need a solution fast help plz...
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