We have fiber optic internet at the home with 100 MB download speed. Fiber optic is considered the optimum connection method, but in the grand scheme of fiber optic speeds, 100 MB down is not all that fast. With that being said, we have had no issues with our internet speed. We can simultaneously stream HD videos, surf the internet, stream music, etc. I haven't had any trouble playing games online either. The only issue I've consistently run into in terms of internet performance is when trying to use Playstation Remote Play. Anything I've ever read says 10 MB should be adequate speed to stream efficiently. Remote Play is no different, as Sony's site recommends 5-10 MB minimum. We have 10X that speed, so the question is why do I have so many problems with Remote Play? The answer I've discovered is that speed isn't the problem. It's latency.
I have very little understanding of internet latency beyond what I can infer from the words in the phrase. However, it doesn't take much reading to learn that one of the best ways to improve latency is to bypass wi-fi and hardwire your devices with good old fashioned ethernet cable. In the past this would have been very difficult to accomplish, since my PS5 is in the basement and my main router is upstairs in my kitchen. However, when I updated my wi-fi router a little over a year ago, I decided to go with a Mesh network. This provided me with a node or access point on every floor of my house. Simply moving the basement node close to the PS5 allowed me to connect the Playstation to the network via ethernet.
Preliminary results have been promising. In addition to Remote Play, I also ran into issues streaming games on the PS5. Limited testing has shown improvement in both streaming games and Remote Play since connecting the PS5 to the network via ethernet. Using my iMac, I was able to play 30 minutes of Ghost of Tsushima without major interruption and complete an entire race on Gran Turismo 7. Using Remote Play to play a racing game would have been impossible when the PS5 was connected to wi-fi. Ghost of Tsushima did drop out of HD a few times, but only momentarily and there were no major frame rate drops or interruptions in the connection that made playing the game difficult. Using ethernet seems to have improved performance enough that I was satisfied with moving forward with Remote Play. I thought the Playstation Portal was an obvious choice, until a chance conversation over the holidays.
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