Fraunhofer Presents MPEG-DASH Streaming With HEVC And 7.1 HE-AAC At IBC

Comcast Xfinity is a DOCSIS 3.0 cable Internet service. Comcast has many speed tiers, up to 305 Mbps in some areas. http://isp1.us/blog/comcast-to-launch-ungodly-fast-305-mbps-home-internet/

At&t markets two U-Verse products, standard DSL over copper and a FTTK (Fiber To The Kerb/Curb) fiber optic Internet connection which uses fiber-optic trunk lines and then copper from the curb to your house. Most At&t Internet connections are standard DSL in the 3 to 12 Mbps range, At&t fiber optic U-Verse can be as fast as 24 Mbps at the top speed tier. With heavy competition from other ISPs, At&t is testing faster fiber speeds. http://isp1.us/blog/att-u-verse-launches-testing-for-faster-speeds/

That being said,

Your Internet bandwidth is shared among all of the users of your home network via your wireless router. So any bandwidth others are using will be deducted from the total WAN (Internet) bandwidth that is available to you.

In simple terms, the more users you have the more speed will be required.

Many people would be likely be surprised at how many active connections their wireless router has. I have dozens. cell phones, tablets, iPods, game consoles, laptops, desktops, ROKU boxes, Internet enabled devices such as TVs and audio receivers, and the list goes on.

Streaming video, such as Netflix and Hulu require a lot of bandwidth. Here are the minimum recommendations from Netflix. https://support.netflix.com/en/node/306

Naturally more speed is always better, however the tradeoff is price.

You’ll generally want to pick the fastest Internet plan that fits your budget. In some areas this can be 300 Mbps+. But these high end broadband plans are expensive. You may find that something in the 10 to 50 Mbps range might satisfy your needs at a much lower cost.

GAMING LAG:
Important factors for gaming are “ping” (latency) and upload speed. You can test these speeds here: http://speedtest.net

Latency is the delay (ping time) in milliseconds that it takes the signal to travel to the server and back. The lower the number the better, Ideally you want less than 80 ms ping to the gaming server.

Upload speed also plays a factor in updating your player position data to the gaming server. Slow upload speeds can cause your online game to lag. The faster the better, but at least 0.5 Mbps would be my minimum recommendation.

You can also experience gaming lag from a poor wireless connection between your computer and the router. Wireless connections suck for online gaming.

Even more important than speed for online gaming applications is the increased latency experienced by a wireless connection.

Although WiFi is convenient for mobility, wireless interference can cause it’s connection speed and quality to vary wildly.

Wireless signals are affected by many factors including distance, wall density, electrical interference, directional antenna range, etc.

All of these factors will affect your actual wireless range. As wireless connection quality varies the connection speeds are renegotiated. The connection may start at 150 Mbps and end up at less than 10 Mbps or drop entirely. Remember, this is the speed of the WLAN connection between your WiFi device and the router, not the Internet speed.

For serious gaming or video streaming your best bet is a direct Ethernet connection. Ethernet is unaffected by wireless interference and will give you a rock solid, stable network connection.

I would try temporarily plugging your Xbox into the router via a Ethernet cable.

If your game still lags with a direct Ethernet connection, then the fastest router or wireless adapter in the world won’t help, you’ll need to upgrade your Internet plan or switch to a faster ISP.

If it is not feasible to run Ethernet cable your next best option is to use powerline network adapters. I wrote a review here: http://isp1.us/reviews/netgear-xavb2101-powerline-adapter/

You plug one in by your router and one in the room where you need access and connect them to the devices with standard Ethernet patch cables. The network signals are transmitted over your existing home electrical wiring which will not be affected by wireless interference.

Good Luck…