Any serious gamer these days probably has a broadband connection that is often shared by multiple devices. With the help of a small broadband router, which usually has four ports, a gamer can have online access on several computers or game consoles simultaneously.

Your connection speed or hardware isn't necessarily your biggest problem in online gaming, but rather how you and others use your connection at the same time. Typical download speeds range from 768Kbit/sec to 3Mbit/sec, with upload speeds of 128Kbit to 1Mbit. That's more than enough for several people to enjoy broadband-only games online. So why do so many users experience so much lag? Usually something else happens on your home network that slows things down a bit. Peer-to-peer file sharing trashes your network connection, as do really big local file transfers.



Link: ExtremeTech