Will I be able to play classic wow with a DSL connection that has 700kb download speed? (that’s 0.7 of a MB.) The latency I think will be around 70-100. I know when it comes to gaming latency is more important but I think I should be fine with that. I’m more worried that the download speed may not be high enough. I won’t be doing anything else with this DSL connection except for playing classic WoW. I have a seperate ISP I use for streaming, downloading, etc, but has really bad latency for games.
70-100ms is just fine for latency, no worries there.
As for bandwidth, WoW tops out at about 10kB per second, max, when there are a lot of players around you, such as in a large battleground or raid.
During solo or small group play, it’s common for WoW to only use 2-5kB per second. Classic uses even less bandwidth than retail.
So, yes, you’ll be fine. You could literally play Classic (edited for clarity) on a dial-up connection, if you could track down both a 56k modem, and an ISP that supports such a relic.
On a 700kB connection, the 7kB per second taken by WoW is just 1% of what is available to you. You could easily stream HD video from YouTube in another window or on another monitor, while playing WoW, with that bandwidth.
Installs and updates, of course, are a different story. Expect to spend a couple hours downloading major patches or new expansion packs, which usually clock in between 5 and 10 gigs each.
Edit: I’m not sure if you mean 700kb (kilobits) down, or 700kB (kilobytes) (5.6 megabits) down. One is eight times faster than the other. Regardless, though, WoW gameplay will be just fine. Patches and installs will become day-long or overnight affairs if you really only have 700 kilobits (~85kB per second) download speed, though.
The game peaks in raids at just over 1 mega bit. A .7 mega bit connection could show a lot of lag in raids. While for everything else it will most likley be ok as long as you are acualy getting all of your bandwidth
Acualy it would be unplayable on a modem. The game draws closer to 30 kilobytes a second when doing dungeons and out in the world. Even if the 10 kilobytes were correct. 10 kilobytes per second is 80 kilobits per second which a dial up modem cannot acheive.
Perhaps today, maybe. As I made clear, though, I was joking, but in an effort to defend myself:
I can tell you from personal experience it was playable on 56k, because I did it regularly for a while back in the day. Lots of people actually did; you cannot tell me broadband penetration was that high in 2004. OP is specifically asking about Classic, and while I’m well aware that Classic uses a more modern architecture, the bandwidth used by Classic is in line with what it was 15 years ago. Which is to say, minimal.
It took me a couple weeks to get DSL in this house in 2005 when I moved in, so I used dial-up accounts in the interim. I don’t remember any issues. Since this house had two landlines, my wife and I both played at the same time using two 56k connections.
I’m sorry, that’s just not correct.
Only your past posts found via Google echo this information; I see no other MVPs or Blues or any players confiming that WoW uses anywhere near 1 megabit.
1 megabit is more or less equal to 125 kilobytes (8 bits in a byte). At no point while playing this game will your required bandwidth get anywhere near 125 kilobytes (1 megabit) per second. I can find no supporting evidence for WoW eating that kind of bandwidth, anywhere, nor have I ever personally seen my bandwidth usage creep anywhere near that point. And, yes, I do monitor it.
I’m sorry, but again that’s incorrect.
30 kilobytes per second is near what people report as peak bandwidth usage in a full 30 v 30 battleground or similar. Most sources (and my personal experience) suggest that 10 - 20 megabytes per hour (about 4 kilobytes per second) is used out in the world, and in dungeons.
But again - even if you were correct, that’s only 240 kilobit. If the OP does indeed have a 700 kilobit connection, he’s still quite good as far as bandwidth.
@OP: Regardless of our debate on numbers, you’re fine. Whether you have a 700 kilobit download speed (0.7 megabit), or 700 kilobyte download speed (5.5 megabit).
A general consensus I found online (which correlates with my personal experience) is that WoW normally uses 25MB per hour in small group or solo play, and about 60MB per hour in large raids or battlegrounds.
25 megabytes / hour = 6.6 kilobytes/second = 53 kilobits/second = 0.006 megabits per second.
60 megabytes / hour = 17 kilobytes/second = 136 kilobits/second = 0.017 megabits per second.
Needed: 0.006 - 0.017 Mbps (megabits per second)
Available: 0.700 Mbps (megabits per second) minimum. Possible 5.5 megabit.
Don’t take my word for it, though, see for yourselves:
Estimates of 45 megabytes per hour:
https://www.kotaku.com.au/2018/06/heres-how-much-data-online-gaming-actually-uses/
Forum MVPs esitmating 10-20 megabytes/hour solo and 60 megabytes raiding:
https://eu.battle.net/forums/en/wow/topic/3129365333
Here’s a fellow that used 600 megabytes in one month playing “4-7” hours per day (~150 hours played, that’s 4 megabytes per hour, or 1.1 kilobytes per second, or 8 kilobits per second, or 0.008 megabits per second):
https://us.forums.blizzard.com/en/wow/t/wow-bandwidth-usage/7136/3
Here’s an article from Engadet estimating 5 kilobytes per second or less during normal play, and 30 kilobytes as the highest bandwidth usage they’ve seen:
https://www.engadget.com/2008/08/29/on-wows-bandwidth-consumption/
Here’s a Reddit topic, with tons of responses echoing numbers similar to what I am mentioning:
https://www.reddit.com/r/wow/comments/600ci9/how_much_data_does_wow_use/
And, finally, here’s my bandwidth, in the middle of Org, 7.7 kilobytes per second:
https://imgur.com/a/0dVPESz
There are tons of spots for more estimates, dozens of forum posts upvoted by further dozens of readers, and MVPs, echoing the numbers I’ve listed.
Did some testing a while back the game peaks or if you would prefer Spikes at 1 mega bit during a boss pull in a raid. Yes it drops rapidly after the pull but The numbers are correct. Broad band is done in bits not bytes. So a most likely he has a .7 mega bit connection. which is actually to slow for wow. Played for a while on a century link 1 megabit DSL connection and the game lagged during raids. Every boss pull the game would need to catch up. Also currently play on a LTE connection which is metered the game uses 105-120 Mega Bytes an hour Average Higher on raid days a lot lower on AH days. I get a detailed bill on my data usage. At 105 mega Bytes that is a average of 29.166666 Kilobytes a second of data usage.
Also have a lot of friends that play from The Philippines with .75 to 1 megabit connections and have issues with raiding.
If you would like can actually post the A image of the Bill. The fact is a .7 mega Bit connection is going to be to slow if the OP actually raids.
Again actually the number is correct. Did some actual real world testing a while back. And currently play on a metered connection. out in the world depending on were you are the amount of data varies but the average was 30 Kilobytes a second. Again can post a copy of the bill if you would like. The numbers on the website you posted are actually really low.
And again it actually depends on what you are doing in game. If you are doing nothing then the data used is going to be low. On AH days I use a very small amount of data on raid days the hourly usage is very High. If I just stand around and chat in the city again its low. If you play on a high pop server the data used is going to be higher. If you have chatty addons it is going to be higher. If you are actually doing something out in the world fighting monsters and questing its is going to also use a different amount of data.
The game use to be able to played on a modem but those days are long gone. The problem with a “56K” modem is most peoples phone lines could not actually handle 56K so it defaulted to 33.6 or lower. A broadband connection has been required for years now. If you actually played in 2004 then you remember all of the disconnects during raids. I use to play on a .250 megabit connection when I started same connection today would not handle wow without a lot of lag. The game requires a Broadband connection depending on what definition you use that is 4 megabits or higher .
Well, I don’t really want to proceed here. This feels like “work” now.
We can agree to disagree. I get that you’re bound - or prefer - to maintain that you need 4 megabit “broadband” or more, because that’s what it says on the box.
In the real world, though, we all know that what’s on the box isn’t necessarily required. My system hasn’t met the minimum requirements in a couple years, and I still peg the meter at 60 frames most anywhere in this game that I go. And, if 4 megabit is the actual system requirement, then I’ve never met or exceeded it in my life.
In my real-world experience, you do not need 4 megabit to play this game without lag. That, I can personally guarantee, because the cheap DSL connection in my house tops out at about 2.5 megabit, and I never, ever, ever lag.
Yes, but… look. You’re in tech support, or, at least you are as a hobby. You know full well that the public confuses bits and bytes, and it gets worse when people use “kb” for both instead of designating bits with a small ‘b’ or bytes with a capital.
I do, clearly, understand how internet connections are rated. I was very, very clear about that in my earlier posts. I worked tech support for many years, and I’ve been using the Internet and building computers since the 80s.
“The public,” on the other hand, labels internet connections in any haphazard way they choose. So, when someone requesting tech support, out of the blue, says they have a “0.7 megabit connection” it doesn’t necessarily guarantee that they have 0.7 megabit down. They may be downloading, see 0.7 megabyte download speeds, and forever more call their connection “700 meg.”
Nothing against the OP at all, but they are not clear on their speed:
As stated, that means 700 kilobit. 0.7 megabit. Then they say:
As stated, that means 700 kilobytes, or 0.7 megabytes. That download speed is equivalent to a 5.5 megabit connection.
It’s not, though. I’ve given a plethora of evidence as to why not. And as for what he “most likely” has, see above. We don’t clearly know what he has.
Which is 240 kilobits down, or 0.24 megabit. The lowest we’ve guessed that the OP has is 0.700 megabit. He’s still in the green.
I think “from the Philippines” might be the operative phrase here. You understand, as a techie, that bandwidth =/= latency, nor does it really have any bearing on latency.
They could have had a dedicated OC48 connection in the Philippines, but if their latency was over 250ms, there would have been “lag” issues.
My parents next door have a 768k (0.768 megabit) down connection. I can connect to their wi-fi from my house and play with no lag. I do 25-man raids. I did the new AV, and I do the old AV. There’s no lag, I dunno what to tell ya.
You can, if you want. That would encourage me to go do some data monitoring today, measuring peak usage, then making screenshots, uploading them, responding again, etc.
However - posting your Internet bill doesn’t show me what WoW used at all. It simply shows everything you used. Who knows if you were watching YouTube at the time?
Again it’s starting to feel like work.
But if you want to, then feel free. I’m a big fan of the truth and correct information, so I’d be happy to do some data monitoring on my end if it comes to that.
Actually, it’s not. You keep trying to insinuate that this game uses 30k on average. It simply does not. In fifteen thousand hours of gameplay, I’ve never, ever seen my average data usage in wow stick at ~30 kilobytes per second.
It may indeed peak to 30kBps. If you want to post something showing me 30kBps sustained, then go ahead; that I’d like to see. I can respond with data on a couple hours’ play time later showing a much, much lower average.
Which? I posted like seven different links to different discussions and data, plus my own screenshot. Are you saying that all the data I retrieved is inaccurate? That seems a bit silly, given that, as I said, when you do research on how much bandwidth WoW uses, all the information found falls in line with the numbers I’m talking about.
Again, that’s not true. I don’t know why you stand behind this kind of information. Most people that owned 56k modems did not crawl along at 33.6 or lower.
56k modems would most often connect at 51.2. Brother, I took thousands, and thousands of calls, tech-supporting dial-up internet. I’m well familiar with how modems work.
If you had a 56k modem connecting at 33.6 or lower, then you had a crappy connection that needed work, not a faulty piece of technology.
Time to check the POP, or speak with your Telco about a physical line check for noise, or at least add a filter. 48.8 or 50k was the minimum acceptable connection speed for us techs at Earthlink to call the connection “acceptable.” And most customers getting off the phone with me had their connection square in the target connection speed.
Anything less, and I went right to the NOC to see if there were point of presence problems, and if not, the customer was directed, as I said, to discuss the issue of line noise with their telco.
51.2kbps back in the day was well sufficient for playing WoW.
Classic. Classic. Classic WoW currently consumes bandwidth as if we were all back in 2004. So all of this discussion over what speed he has, how much he will lag, etc., is academic.
Classic WoW will not “lag” in any sense of the word over a “700 meg” internet connection, regardless of what the person saying “700 meg” means.
First, I don’t raid anymore.
Having said that, I have Verizon DSL and never had any problems (even when I raided).
They only thing I hate (for example) is when you have to download a 2GB expansion. With DSL that takes about two hours (1 hour for each GB).
I had to reinstall ESO last year - 90GB - that drove me crazy lol.
Good luck.
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I feel your pain LOL, same here.