Recommended minimum internet speed to play online?

[BlueDaruma888]

So my wired adapter finally came in today, and I went onto For Glory for the first time since getting the game (been playing against CPUs for a few months already, and which sadly, I learned that I have A LOT to UNLEARN). As predicted, I lost every single match. Holy crap does the input lag take time to get used to. The input lag definitely wasn't unplayable; probably around half a second of delay, but because my opponents were likely also having a similar experience, it's fair to say that the lag probably wasn't entirely to blame.

Since I live alone, spend a lot of time out of the house due to work, and don't play MMOs, my home internet speed has consistently been around the test listed: http://www.speedtest.net/my-result/5211785396. I'm no expert, but think it's fair to say that these are pretty inadequate numbers, even with the wired connection. What do you guys typically have running, and how has the experience been so far?

 

[~Skelly~]

I have a wireless connection. So far it's been working fine with most of the matches I've played running smoothly.

Where do you live exactly? An apartment or...? And do you have anything surrounding your residence that could potentially block out signals? Because even on a wired connection, unless your residence is on an completely wired connection, connected to a hub and everything, your device/residence will have to give out a signal eventually. Do you live in a high traffic area?

 

[BlueDaruma888]

I have a wireless connection. So far it's been working fine with most of the matches I've played running smoothly.

Where do you live exactly? An apartment or...? And do you have anything surrounding your residence that could potentially block out signals? Because even on a wired connection, unless your residence is on an completely wired connection, connected to a hub and everything, your device/residence will have to give out a signal eventually. Do you live in a high traffic area?

Hmm. I live in an apartment in the middle of downtown Cleveland, so from what you said that could be a thing. As far as I know though, I don't really have anything that could potentially block out any signals; only other devices that use wifi would be my phone and my computer, and I made sure that both were off while I was playing yesterday.

Sorry if that wasn't the information that you were looking for... I'm not particularly tech savvy.

 

[~Skelly~]

Aye, it's no problem. At least you enlightened me on your situation. Sorry I couldn't help you much either.

 

[BlueDaruma888]

Aye, it's no problem. At least you enlightened me on your situation. Sorry I couldn't help you much either.

That's okay. I appreciate the help! Honestly, since my opponents are dealing with the same lag too, I may as well suck it up and git gud until I move out in a couple of months.

 

[HYP3R]

You could have an A+ perfect connection on Speedtest.com and still get laggy matches online because it takes into account BOTH players connections. Sometimes it may be your opponent that's lagging and it may not even be your fault. Also Nintendo's servers are not exactly stable, I play online with someone that lives in the same city as me and I still experience delay.

 

[BlueDaruma888]

You could have an A+ perfect connection on Speedtest.com and still get laggy matches online because it takes into account BOTH players connections. Sometimes it may be your opponent that's lagging and it may not even be your fault. Also Nintendo's servers are not exactly stable, I play online with someone that lives in the same city as me and I still experience delay.

Yeah, I've actually heard that a lot while doing research to improve stability. But considering that all of my matches had fairly similar input lag (I just played online a while ago actually), I think it's fair to say that the issue is usually gonna be me. Definitely will consider the lack of stability on both ends I eventually upgrade though, and perhaps by then I'll be more readily accustomed.

 

[GhostUrsa]

There are no 'servers' for Smash other than matchmaking, as it uses Peer2Peer for the actual fights. Once Nintendo's network finds you an opponent, it is just you and them directly. (Which is why the opponent's internet is taken into account, as your lag and their lag will kind of 'compound')

Was this speed test done using the Wii U, or your computer? I find ping and variance to be far more useful information than just raw speed, as quality and consistency help fight off lag spikes. Example, I get 40 Mb down (with the Wii U only seeing about 10 of that) but before I got my LAN adapter was seeing a 70% variance (so it would drop as low as 4 mb down, and .5mb on the wii u). Can you do a speed test that see how your internet handles the stress over time? I usually use testmy.net personally, as it can be done on consoles and checks for variance spikes.