Buying physical copies of video games can sometimes prevent you from needing an Internet connection to play them. However, some games come with an online download code on the inside instead of a CD. You will also find games with day-one patches and updates over time.

Using an Internet plan with a data cap may cause you to worry about going over because of your gaming habits. Fortunately, here are some tips you can use to enjoy gaming with confidence.

Online Gaming

Playing online games with friends or strangers can feel like you are using a lot of data because of everything happening in the game world. However, most online games do not use much data, with one of the lowest only consuming around 3 MB per hour of playtime.

You can play most online games freely without thinking about the data use unless you get close to reaching the cap. A smart idea is to create a list of all the games that you play and how much data they use per hour of gameplay. Once you get close to the cap, you can focus on playing the least demanding games because they will not put you over the limit on their own.

Downloads

Downloading games is where you will experience significant data usage. Modern games with top-of-the-line sound and graphics often come with enormous file sizes. While you can download big games at any time, you may want to avoid hitting the data cap if possible. Going overboard early on in the month can lead to hitting the data cap in the first week or two.

An excellent strategy is to wait until the end of the month to download huge games. This way, you can download games on the final day right up until you are about to hit the cap. If passing the cap only slows down your speeds, you can keep downloading past the cap without issue.

Some game updates add new content or apply massive overhauls that require huge downloads. So, you can turn off auto-updates to avoid downloading updates for games you are not playing.

If multiple family members play the same video games, you should only have one person download games or updates. Then, you can copy the files onto a flash drive or portable hard drive to use on other consoles, laptops, or desktop computers throughout the house.

Using a couple of tips will help you enjoy gaming with a data cap Internet plan.