Laptops and air cards

[Asmodai]

The new air cards are now alot faster than old dialup. I'm curious if anyone has A new laptop with a videocard in it that can play games with a NET connection out of their home. Yet when they travel they can get decent frames with whatever game, using an air card.

They have blocked off so much stuff here at work sitting and waiting for phone calls to come in puts me to sleep. Just wondered if I could get a newer laptop with air card and possibly play this game anywhere(at work).

[Sabaron]

Re: Laptops and air cards

Watch the provider and the limits. Certain activites can cause large amounts of data usage. Some providers cap your usage and then throttle you if you use too much bandwidth. Other providers just charge you at a per kilobyte or megabyte rate after you hit the cap. I'm pretty sure an MMORPG is not going to cap you in general, but it's possible.

We'll go with the diehard example on VZW's 5GB Data Plan (I work for VZW).

8 hours of gaming per day, 7 days per week, at 56kbps

56kiloBITS per SECOND
56 / 8 * 60 * 60 = 25200 KiloBYTES per HOUR / 1024 = 24.61MB per HOUR

24.61 * 8 * 7 = 1378.125 MB / 1024 = 1.35GB per Week * 4 = 5.38 GB/Month

If you play less than the above suggestion (which most people likely will be) you should end the month well under the cap if you're on VZW.

You don't need incredibly fast bandwidth for FFXI, since it caps out at 56kbps. Keep that in mind, too.

Also, broadband access is highly dependent on signal strength. You'll want to find a provider who has the closest tower. Broadband signal suffers worse from distance than voice does, so if you can buy a house next to the tower, you're in a good spot.

Some companies offer Unlimited usage. Make sure that you read the contract because it's not necessarily Unlimited. They may not charge you for the usage, but throttling may come into play if you overuse the service.

VZW Aircards are $39.99 or $59.99 per month plus taxes and fees (which could be as much as 21%).
5 GB $59.99 $0.49/MB after cap
50 MB $39.99 $0.99/MB after cap

AT&T charges $60 per month for 5GB, and says the "overage rate" is $0/KB, but I think it's throttled (or cut off) after you cap.

You can look up other providers yourself as a capable internet surfer.

[Asmodai]

Re: Laptops and air cards

Awesome info Sabaron! Thank you very much. I hope we have some users that can post their opinions.

[Satimasu]

Re: Laptops and air cards

I use the AT&T card on my laptop. It works pretty well and I don't really have any complaints. Wherever I have a signal on the cell, I've got a connection. I can usually play XI on any connection or bars pretty much. I got one for both the wife and I for when we were on the truck together so we could play together and such.

I think I've probably used over 5GB in a month and never got cut off. I've always paid the 60 bucks a month for each with no overage fees. I don't know how good VZW is, but I've heard good things about it. I have the older air card and it was only 40 bucks when I got it a year ago. Even when I'm in a non 3G area, I'm usually doing better than 56k.

About the only thing you can't do is play online games while on the move because of the changes in connection, which makes things unstable.

If you have any more questions, I'll try and answer best I can.