Anyone play games using internet from ATT/Verizon?

Oct 9, 1999
19,632
38
91
My current DSL is horrible. I can't get cable where I live. I do get nice 3G speeds around here. Thinking of going to one of the wireless providers and getting an internet package. Any one play FPS games using that and care to chime in? I only play BF3 and quake 2..
 

RavenSEAL

Diamond Member
Jan 4, 2010
8,661
3
0
Damn, that bandwidth limit is going to kill you.

Very hard to find a wireless provided that doesn't impose it. Not to mention your ping is going to be absolute crap...
 

Dankk

Diamond Member
Jul 7, 2008
5,558
25
91
While 3G may give you better download speeds, your latency is probably going to be crap. RavenSeal is correct: You'll have terrible ping, and you're going to be held back by strict bandwidth limits (unless you never download any games, ever).

You may not have cable in your area, but is there not a way to upgrade your DSL speed? Is that as high as it can go?
 

drebo

Diamond Member
Feb 24, 2006
7,034
1
81
I've had AT&T for years and years and never had a problem. Call them and have them certify your line if you're consistently getting less than half of advertised speed. If you're getting drops, replace your modem.
 

Concillian

Diamond Member
May 26, 2004
3,751
8
81
My brother in law was on Clearwire Wimax (which Sprint uses for their "4G" ) for a while. It was BAD for latency, like always 500+ms and frequent server disconnects bad.

3G is probably even worse.
 

VulgarDisplay

Diamond Member
Apr 3, 2009
6,188
2
76
I used sprint 3g for internet for like 2 years after college and I was happy when I got 170ms to chicago servers from central illinois.

If you DSL gets better pings keep it.
 

TakeNoPrisoners

Platinum Member
Jun 3, 2011
2,599
1
81
3G is going to have some nasty packet loss. Like others have said the bandwidth cap is going to be horrible too.

Speeds will probably be decent but it really isn't ment for anything more then casual email checking and web browsing when you are traveling.
 

VulgarDisplay

Diamond Member
Apr 3, 2009
6,188
2
76
Try doing a little searching in your area for a wireless internet provider. I found a company that had a tower that got me 3.5 MB/s at 10-20ms pings to Chicago for $60 a month. Not the greatest, but the best that's avaible and the connection has been rock solid for the last few years.

Almost no down time. The tower got struck by lightning once, but they got it back up a few days later. Wireless providers use 802.11 type connections which give much better latency and consistency than 3G providers.
 

AyashiKaibutsu

Diamond Member
Jan 24, 2004
9,306
4
81
I've used whatever alltel had for non3g connections. It was dial-up awful. Only game I could play effectively was EVE.
 

911paramedic

Diamond Member
Jan 7, 2002
9,448
1
76
Damn, that bandwidth limit is going to kill you./snip
This. I used to have it and I'm pretty sure it was a 2GB cap, but the speeds were actually pretty good. Oh, and it's like $60/mo.

It's the same as getting a smart phone contract for the most part, and yes, there is a contract with it.

This is a very bad idea IMHO.
 

VulgarDisplay

Diamond Member
Apr 3, 2009
6,188
2
76
In my 2 year experience with 3g internet the speeds were not that great. 100kb/s was my average download speed, and 170ms was my average ping. The download speed was far better than 3kb/s dial up, but the pings were not good enough to play games online.
 
Oct 9, 1999
19,632
38
91
yeah, i wont' do it. i'll make a thread in network issues explaining my problem. something isn't right. my ping(in quake 2) goes to SHIT around 7pm-11pm. i've had a 50 ping all day on the server i play on. 30 minutes ago it went up 100-130 and won't come down.