4 Ways Fiber Helps You Win in “Fortnite”

Updated on May 16, 2023

With millions of players across games consoles, computers and smartphones, plus a professional league with huge prize purses, “Fortnite” is undoubtedly one of the most popular and important online multiplayer games in the world. Its cultural impact is so big, artists like Marshmello, Travis Scott and Ariana Grande have even played concerts through the game. If you’re a serious “Fortnite Battle Royale” player, and you’re looking to maximize your edge, then the next upgrade you need might be a fiber internet connection.

How much bandwidth does “Fortnite” need?

To play “Fortnite,” you need an internet connection with at least 5 Mbps download and 3 Mbps upload speed. Gigabit fiber with almost 1,000 Mbps symmetrical upload and download speeds absolutely smashes those requirements out of the arena. (A 2 Gig connection, with 2,000 Mbps up and down, is serious overkill—and there’s nothing wrong with an advantage like that!)

But here’s the thing: Bandwidth is key. When you’re playing “Fortnite,” you probably don’t turn off every other internet-connected device in your home. If your roommate is streaming HD videos on Netflix, or worse, uploading large files to the cloud, then it will affect your gaming—if you have a slower connection. With a fiber internet connection, however, you have enough bandwidth to go around.

Lower latency, less lag, more wins

While fiber’s bandwidth is killer, there’s a bigger reason it’s the best internet for “Fortnite”: latency or lag.

Latency is the time between when you do something in your game—like shoot at an opponent, press jump to dodge a bullet or simply trigger an emote—and when the server receives it. All else being equal, the lower your lag, the more you’ll win.

Here’s a hypothetical example: Say you and another player both turn around a corner and see each other at the exact same moment. You’re both armed with submachine guns and you both push the trigger at the exact same instant. You’ve just started a race between their internet connection and yours.

If you have a ping of 60ms (which means it takes 60ms for your button press to reach Epic Games’ “Fortnite” server and the server to send a response) and your opponent has a ping of 30ms (so their button press and response takes half the time), then you lose. On the other hand, if you’re the one with the faster ping—so less lag—you’ll win.

It’s the same whether you’re dodging attacks, surprising opponents or just running around. The less lag you have, the quicker what you do gets sent to the servers and becomes reality in the game. So how much better is fiber? Well, because it uses light to transfer data at super fast speeds through modern fiber optic lines, it generally has less latency.

If you really want to get into the performance metrics, check out the FCC report on fixed broadband measurement. They reported last year that DSL connections had median latencies of between 21ms and 37ms and cable connections had median latencies between 12ms and 26ms, while fiber connections had the lowest latencies of between a blistering fast 8ms and still lightning fast 13ms.

And for packet loss, which can also affect your ping, fiber did even better. Between 4% and 8% of DSL subscribers experienced more than 1% packet loss. For cable subscribers, it was between 0% and 5%. But for fiber subscribers? Between 0% and 0.6%. That’s practically none.

So, if you’re wondering how to win at “Fortnite,” maybe the answer is: Upgrade to fiber.

More stability, less down time

With a fiber connection you can play when you want, how you want, without any worries, whether you just want to game with your friends or take part in a big online tournament with real prizes on the line.

Streaming and sharing

While you don’t need all of your fiber connection’s bandwidth just to play “Fortnite,” it’s quite useful if you’re part of the Fortnite Twitch streaming community or perhaps like to upload videos of your greatest victories to YouTube.

To stream on Twitch in HD, for example, you need at least 10 Mbps of upload speeds on top of the bandwidth you need to play “Fortnite.” That’s higher than the advertised upload speeds of most DSL and cable providers in the FCC study. In other words, if you want to stream, a fiber connection is almost essential.

What fiber can’t help

Your equipment plays a part in performance, too. As “Fortnite” runs locally on your PC or games console, for things like 4K gaming or super high frame rates, you’re relying on the power of your devices. If you’ve got a next-generation console like the PS5 or Xbox Series X, you’ll be able to play with better graphics settings than someone using a Nintendo Switch.