Just about all gaming these days has an online component; some is entirely reliant on the Internet. Certain big console hits like the original Titanfall and Overwatch don't even have a single-player campaign mode: they're all about full online multiplayer combat to the death.

What kind of Internet connection do you need to make that work? A relatively fast pipe is fine, but that's more important for streaming video than it is for games which are (typically) rendered locally on a console or PC. What really matters for gameplay is the quality of the connection.

We've already covered the ISPs you should pick (if you have the option to pick) for the best speeds. We call that story the Fastest ISPs of 2016, because it fits so well. This article is not about speed, but quality, and thus below you're going to find out the best ISPs to make you feel like a winner at online gaming.

Methodology

This is our third year doing the Best Gaming ISPs and, as always, we're going to start with the part most people skip: the methodology behind picking the best. Thankfully it's all pretty empirical, based on the numbers. Those numbers come from our Speed Test tool. Give it a spin.

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Every test records the user's ISP, their location, and the ISP in question's download and upload speed in Megabits per second (Mbps)—which is why most people use an Internet speed testing tool. We use the up/down speed to create an index number we call the PCMag Speed Index, a score that can be used for direct comparison between any and all ISPs to see which is the fastest, taking into account that upload speed is maybe not quite as super important as download speed. That's why the formula—((0.8*100)+(0.2*20))—takes 80 percent of the download speed and adds it to 20 percent of the upload.

As we've said before, that doesn't really mean much to gamers. Anything over 1 or 2 Mbps download speed is going to be sufficient for most online gaming. The hard work of making a game look good and run smoothly is, after all, handled by the hard drives and graphics cards of your consoles or gaming PCs.

What matters for online gamers is low latency. Latency (defined as the average time it takes a network packet to travel from you, to a server, and back) is that lag you can sometimes see online, be it in a web page download stuttering or game struggling to keep up. An ISP needs to provide consistent and stable connection to the internet servers used for online play between players.

Thankfully, the Speed Test tool doesn't just stop at recording download and upload speed. It also records 10 measurements with each test of the latency and jitter (a measure of how consistent the latency on a connection is) between you and your ISP. The lower the latency and jitter, the better: zero for each would be perfect, but that's pretty much impossible.

Using a low number is the converse of our PCMag Speed Index where the higher the number the better. So we created the PCMag Gaming Quality index. All it amounts to is the two numbers for latency and jitter, added together. The closer they are to zero, the happier a gamer will be.

The results below are based on data collected over an 11-month period, from January 1, 2016, to December 1, 2016. All results were collected only from PCMag readers using the Speed Test tool. For an ISP to be included, it had to have a minimum of 100 tests with that tool in that time frame.

So yes, it is possible your own personal super-amazing Gigabit-capable uber-ISP didn't make the cut here—it's because we don't have enough tests from them to include and maintain any statistical validity. That said, share in the comments if you've got an ISP with not just great speeds but what you have determined to be killer quality when it comes to online gaming.

The Best Gaming ISPs in the US

Unlike ISPs speeds, which remain relatively consistent year to year (especially when they all tend to increase across the board), quality seems to fluctuate a little more. Take a look at one of our consistent winners for speed and quality: Verizon Fios. The fiber-to-the-home provider (which has sold off some of its networks to others recently, especially in the Southern U.S. which had a PCMag gaming quality score of 37.0 which dropped to a respectable 30.5 last year). This time it went up to 31, all in all a great number and certainly enough to earn Fios an award as best major ISP.

But that didn't make it the very, very best. Last year Fios was outclassed by Optimum and Midcontinent Communications; of those, Optimum fell from second to sixth place this year when its Gaming Quality went from a great 30.3 to a still respectable 38.8, while our old fave Midco had a stunning change when its 22.5 from last year got obliterated by a score of 61.4 this year!

No, it turns out only one ISP in the US outdid Fios for latency/jitter this year. EPB Fiber Optics—the provider that made Chattanooga, Tennessee, the country's first Gigabit Internet city—is our clear winner as the absolutely best gaming ISP in the United States of America today. You just have to move to Chattanooga to sign up and use it, as EPB isn't anywhere else.

The third best gaming ISP is Google Fiber, at 34.3, helped by having the lowest jitter number of any of the ISPs tested by PCMag readers. It's new to the list this year and it wins by a pretty hefty margin, even ahead of EPB, and is available in more places. But the ISP is having a bit of an up-and-down year. In August it announced plans for testing in 24 cities, then followed that up with plans to cut costs and staff, a move that doesn't bode well for continued expansion.

The remainder of the top 10 is rounded out by mostly local or regional ISPs, with the two major exceptions being Optimum and RCN. Grande Communication from Texas, which came in third in our Fastest ISPs, managed a quality score of 40.1 to land in slot No. 8.

It's always interesting to note where all of these high-quality connection ISPs fall when it comes to speed. In the chart below you can see them in the same order as above, making it clear that high speed doesn't always equate to a low latency connection. If so, Hotwire Fision, which provides multi-family communities with fiber connections mostly on the East Coast as well as in Texas and Nevada, would perhaps rank higher for quality since it had the third best speed after Google Fiber and EPB.

Best Gaming ISPs 2017 by Region

Take a gander at the PCMag Gaming Quality score for the ISPs in your region. Remember, the smaller the number the better for your lag time while playing.

North Central

Includes: IA, IL, IN, KS, KY, MI, MN, MO, ND, NE, OH, SD, and WI

Midcontinent ruled this area last year as it did in our national list with superior quality scores. Its big drop knocked it completely out of the top 10. It was at no. 11 instead this year. The quality score in Central Northern states goes to an ISP that didn't make list all last year: Bright House Networks.

Northeast

Includes: CT, DC, DE, MA, MD, ME, NH, NJ, NY, PA, RI, VA, VT, and WV

Looking for consistency? You won't find it in the northeast, either. Optimum held the top slot last year with a PCMag Gaming Quality score of 30.3, but fell to 38.8 this year for fifth place. Instead, the lead goes to our big national winner this year, Verizon Fios (which also wins two more regions below) by earning a score of 30.9 averaged across those states (plus the District of Columbia).

Northwest

Includes: CO, ID, MT, OR, UT, WA, and WY

In the northwest last year we were limited to only a few ISPs led by Comcast Xfinity, the largest cable provider in the US; this year we got three more in the northwest list, including Comcast again but with a major fall in quality, going from 30.8 to 54.5 (which was still good enough for second place). The leader in the Northwest was instead Wave Broadband at 46.2. That's our worst number for a lead score in any region, so maybe gamers should stay out of the Northwestern states.

South Central

Includes: AR, LA, MS, OK, and TX

Last year, somehow fixed-wireless provider Rise Broadband snagged the top spot here with a 27.8. This year, Rise didn't even make the cut with enough tests. Instead, the top slot goes to Fios with a spectacular PCMag Gaming Quality score of 24.3, followed not very closely by Texas-based Grande with 40.1.

Southeast

Includes: AL, FL, GA, NC, SC, and TN

You won't be surprised to see EPB steal the top spot in its home region. That number equals what it got nationally since all the tests came from one place, so they were used for both charts. Next highest in that area is Hotwire Fision, but at a distant 43.5. Last year Fios was No. 1 in the southeast, but it slipped to fifth this year.

Southwest

Includes: AZ, NM, NV, and CA

Finally, we get to the lower left corner of the country, home of the big tech state of California. Last year Fios earned the top slot in the region with a 25.2 PCMag Gaming Quality index; it stayed in the lead this year despite a score that slipped to 30.3. Want a very close competitor for your gaming? Try to use a connection from Consolidated, aka CCI, which bought out the former Surewest ISP in the golden state. It scored a 30.6.