I travel for work so I live out of my fifth wheel. I would like to know if anyone has a solution for getting internet that would allow gaming. I have heard satalite has great coverage and decent dl sppeds but the latency is terrible making gaming almost imposible. Right now I am using droid hotspot. When it works its great but it constantly drops me and verizon has a secret cap on usage even on unlimited plans. Any feedback would be appreciated especially from those who game also.
I am afraid that since gaming takes up so much bandwidth, campgrounds are not going to be friendly to your needs. There is only so much bandwidth and gaming will take it away from other paying customers. I have Verizon unlimited (grandfathered in) and have never run into a problem. I do watch some news clip type videos. I have an antenna and frequently "poach" WiFi instead of using the Verizon if it is faster. Bandwidth is a product and it must be paid for just like you are buying soap or something. A 5 pound box cost more than a one pound box. I have heard that even the cable companies like Verizon, Comcast are penalizing the top 5% of users by slowing them down after they reach a certain point in the month.
We have data devices for Sprint, Verizon, and ATT (DW professional needs). When we travel we have enough bandwidth/speed for gaming only in those areas with really good 3G coverage or 4G, even with a fairly good antenna and booster. Even then availability can vary minute to minute based on, I suppose, number of users and whether or not another large motorhome has parked between us and the tower or maybe even weather conditions. Even when speed is good enough there are bandwidth caps - they are not secret - a little research will show criteria for throttling. Sprint has unlimited data but caps their hot spots at 5G so you have to tether the phone to take advantage of the unlimited data. We are starting to see campgrounds monitor and limit bandwidth use on their WIFI systems, so even if the connection were fast enough (which most are not) that is not a very good option. Basically, I have not found over the air internet to be gaming friendly. Good luck.
Hi, In theory one could game but in practise it won't be much different from what you have now. You could, in larger centers, use a cradlepoint router with three data sticks from Verizon, Sprint and ATT. Some of the routers allow the bandwidth to be set to share all three connections "on the fly". It will be a bit better than what you have now. But that will mean three fees per month with data caps in place. Another option would be two Millenicom accounts, one that is Verizon based and one that is Sprint based. That would give you more total bandwidth before caps come slamming down. I do not think there is a terribly good solution to your query.
QUOTE(Lindsay Richards @ May 2 2012, 09:33 AM) [snapback]29432[/snapback] I am afraid that since gaming takes up so much bandwidth, campgrounds are not going to be friendly to your needs. There is only so much bandwidth and gaming will take it away from other paying customers. I have Verizon unlimited (grandfathered in) and have never run into a problem. I do watch some news clip type videos. I have an antenna and frequently "poach" WiFi instead of using the Verizon if it is faster. Bandwidth is a product and it must be paid for just like you are buying soap or something. A 5 pound box cost more than a one pound box. I have heard that even the cable companies like Verizon, Comcast are penalizing the top 5% of users by slowing them down after they reach a certain point in the month. Okay Lindsay, I have to ask - if he only did his gaming at night so he's only competing with the Carbonite backups, would it then be okay :lol:
Stay in parks with good wifi. I have sat internet. Slow and there is some latency. But overall speed is much slower than a droid tether. I also use a droid tether. I have a Verizon unlimited. I am always way way under any limits though. I mostly do stuff like this forum and emails though so I don't chew up a lot of bytes. Maybe in a few years sat internet will get faster.
Hi RFCN2, Satellite internet will never be faster until the actual "birds" are in low earth orbit. The existing system is at the Lagrange points, so latency is due to the extremely long distance the signals must travel.
QUOTE Okay Lindsay, I have to ask - if he only did his gaming at night so he's only competing with the Carbonite backups, would it then be okay I have Carbonite and it backups continuously rather than at night. It is pretty much seamless. If we have been away from WiFi for a while I might have 250 photos to backup (125 large and same 125 compressed for the web). I will turn it off until I am through "surfing" and then allow Carbonite to do it's thing. Only very rarely would I ever go to sleep with it still running. I used to be able to tether my laptop with my Android until I got a new phone and they have it blocked out. That was perfect for me. My new phone does allow me to do my "surfing" and campground research via Verizon, but the screen is small. This whole thing is evolving so quickly, no telling what we will be doing in a few years.
QUOTE(Lindsay Richards @ May 3 2012, 01:11 PM) [snapback]29442[/snapback] ... I used to be able to tether my laptop with my Android until I got a new phone and they have it blocked out. That was perfect for me. My new phone does allow me to do my "surfing" and campground research via Verizon, but the screen is small. This whole thing is evolving so quickly, no telling what we will be doing in a few years. You might want to join the InternetBySmartphone Yahoo forum. There are several alternatives for tethering most Android phones now. In the interest of full disclosure, I am the owner of that forum, but it's not like it's a for-profit enterprise.
I just put it in my favorites and will look at it tonight when I have some time. It would be great to tether again.
