Networking for Internet Cafés and Game Centres

Internet cafés and game centres differ from coffee shops: customers don't need Wi-Fi that's "good enough", they need ping that doesn't change. A five-second lag mid-match is why customers switch to the place down the road. This guide lays out a café network from what matters most: cabling, switches, bandwidth sharing, then Wi-Fi for those who aren't playing.

PCs always on cable

This isn't negotiable. Wi-Fi adds latency that varies, 5 ms when quiet, 80 ms when every seat is full, and players feel it as stutter. Every PC gets a Cat 5e or Cat 6 cable to a gigabit switch. Cable guidance is in choosing LAN cable; for 20+ PCs, consider a rack and patch panel so cabling stays tidy and traceable, see choosing a network rack.

A switch, not the router's LAN ports

A home router has four ports; a café needs dozens. Use a gigabit switch, a 24-port unmanaged one covers most cafés; managed if you want VLANs separating player PCs from the till and Wi-Fi. Avoid second-hand 100 Mbps switches: game updates downloading to several PCs at once will choke there.

The part most often done wrong: bandwidth sharing

Online games use only 1–3 Mbps per PC. What eats bandwidth is downloads: a 20–80 GB game update started by one visitor can hog the entire line and raise everyone's ping. Two remedies, and ideally both:

• QoS on the router: prioritise game traffic and throttle large downloads. Business-class or gaming routers have profiles for this; how to in the QoS guide. Provider-supplied routers usually aren't enough; see is a gaming router necessary, for a café the answer is "yes" more often than for a home.
• Schedule updates: download game updates after closing, not during peak hours. Launchers like Steam can be scheduled; PCs with big updates can simply be left on overnight.

Pick a plan with adequate upload, not just download: players streaming to Twitch/YouTube and voice chat need stable upload. The difference is explained in why upload is slower than download. Also make sure you're not behind CGNAT, some peer-to-peer games and lobby hosting break behind it; ask the provider for a public IP if needed.

Wi-Fi only for phones

Spectators, players waiting their turn, and visitors just hanging out still need Wi-Fi, on a separate network from the PCs. Create a guest SSID with a 3–5 Mbps per-device cap and no access to the PC and till network; steps in separating a guest network. One ceiling access point mid-room is usually enough for a shophouse-sized café; larger venues follow the venue Wi-Fi capacity guide.

Backup internet

A café whose internet drops is an empty café within ten minutes. A dual-WAN router (fibre primary + 4G backup) switches traffic automatically when fibre dies, see backup internet for businesses. Add a UPS for the router, switch, and ONT so a power flicker doesn't cut every match at once.

The rules side

An internet café is a public access provider: the general obligations on content filtering and reasonable record-keeping apply. A summary is in public Wi-Fi rules in Indonesia and log retention obligations. Café operators should also read copyright and illegal downloads over Wi-Fi, since torrents from customer PCs run under the café's connection.

PCs on gigabit cable to a switch, not Wi-Fi. QoS that prioritises games and holds back downloads, plus updates scheduled after hours. A plan with adequate upload and no CGNAT. Separate guest Wi-Fi for phones. Dual WAN and a UPS so no match ever drops. Stable ping is the product a café actually sells.

Frequently asked questions