Forum: gaming.stackexchange.com
Tags: <diablo-3><system-requirements>
Title: What does Blizzard mean by broadband?
Question: According to  Diablo 3 System Requirements , we need a broadband connection.    What qualifies as "Broadband"?    Does DSL-3Mb connection count?    What could possibly be the issue with Wireless?

Answers:
sents: text: Usually broadband just means "not dialup".
text: If you have even the lowest end DSL, it'll probably be playable, and anything faster than a megabit should be more than sufficient.
text: I played the open beta on a 1mb/s connection without any problems.
text: And wireless just tends to be buggy, especially with stuff like this where a few lost packets can make you jump around the screen and lag a lot.
text: Putting in a caveat about wireless is just a way for them to wash their hands of your local network problems.
answer_details: author: gaming.stackexchange.com/users/479/Satanicpuppy
score: 8
sents: text: What qualifies as "Broadband"?
text: The term broadband refers to a telecommunications signal or device of greater bandwidth, in some sense, than another standard or usual signal or device (and the broader the band, the greater the capacity for traffic).
text: Source
text: Any good connection to the internet.
text: Diablo 3, different from diablo 2 and diablo.
text: can ONLY be played with internet connection (without being dial-up) Does DSL-3Mb connection count?
text: Digital subscriber line (DSL, originally digital subscriber loop) is a family of technologies that provide internet access by transmitting digital data over the wires of a local telephone network.
text: The 1980s saw the development of techniques for broadband communications that allowed the limit to be greatly extended.
text: Source
text: And what could possibly be the issue with Wireless?
text: The only issue about Wireless connection is the interference by walls and other stuff between your device and your antenna.
answer_details: author: gaming.stackexchange.com/users/12936/Michel
score: 8
sents: text: I would think your DSL-3Mb would suffice.
text: With regards to Wireless, it will probably be playable, but it can be very "unstable" because of latency, interference and signal strength issues.
text: And 802.11b has a theoretical max of 11 Mbit/s, which can be lowered because of interference and signal strength.
text: I would suspect Blizzard added that caveat to be able to say during support, that people should try a wired connection and see if that helps.
answer_details: author: gaming.stackexchange.com/users/8017/Holger
score: 4
sents: text: By Broadband, they simply mean 'faster than dialup'.
text: The 'some wireless connections are not true Broadband' is not referring to Wi-Fi networking, but rather to wireless internet connections provided by cellular providers.
text: Many of these are still available at speeds well below 3G - much closer in fact to the sort of speeds you'd get over old Dialup, and that's before taking questions of reliability into account.
text: The warning is primarily aimed at users who expect a high quality gaming experience over this sort of connection.
text: Not Wi-Fi.
answer_details: author: gaming.stackexchange.com/users/3129/LessPop_MoreFizz
score: 4
sents: text: And what could possibly be the issue with Wireless?
text: If you are talking about 3G/4G then the answer is that its simply not fast enough.
text: If we are talking about 802.11N then that of course is supported.
text: 3G/4G is fine when you are talking small TCP packets that happen when you refresh a page; Diablo III will require continuous packets.
answer_details: author: gaming.stackexchange.com/users/24871/Ramhound
score: 3
sents: text: The least connection I have used thus far is a personal hotspot from my 3G iPhone providing a wireless signal for my laptop.
text: The game was quite playable but I wouldn't try hardcore that way :-)
answer_details: author: gaming.stackexchange.com/users/10260/Tharius
score: 3

Summary of the answers:
Broadband means not dial up. It refers to a device of greater bandwidth than the standard signal.
In simple words, broandband means not dialup. Basically any good connection to the internet.