3G internet connections.

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Hey guys,

Bottom line, I like to plays games. I am currently in my first year of university and the network in my halls blocks ports for all my online games, either standalone (it just won't let them connect to the internet) or via a platform like steam (it won't let steam connect to the internet).

Obviously this is killing me, so I've been looking into buying 3G, just a simple thing where you can plug in the USB, connect and go. I've been looking into deals from the major mobile networking companies in the UK (orange, 3, T-Mobile, Virgin, O2 and probably some others which I can't think of right now)


I was wondering however, seeing as these are somewhat basic plug and plays, will they have ports blocked for my games? If I signed a contract for internet with these guys, and when I hooked it up I still couldn't play my games, I'd be very unhappy.

You guys got any experience or knowledge of this?

Thanks

Joe
 
you'd be limited to how much you can download, i believe you could end up with quite a slow 3g connection download/upload at times and i cant imagine it would do great for your ping in online games.
The upside is its usable in most places and i suppose its relatively cheap for that.

best option to find out what the 3g in your area is like, use a 3g phone and testing the bandwidth/ping maybe 3 times during the day (morning/afternoon/evening) to see what it is generally like.

Your best option is to get out and go flatshare and get the internet that way. atleast you can choose who the provider is (get something decent) and not have limitations on ports etc. I know it would mean flat costs and food/eleccy and that but its far more exciting than a room in halls...
 
Bandwith is the least of your issues, the latency will suck. Simple.

Average of 300-500ms are not uncommon for a 3G link so whilst you'd be able to get online and launch steam you really wouldn't want to play online :)
 
I couldnt even update games thru steam on an O2 one, not tried on my 3 but tbh with the usage limits I'm not going to bother.
 
So, are we saying the 3G providers would or wouldn't block certain ports?

also, I'm mainly planning on playing WoW (Cataclysm wahoo), and I've heard it's pretty optimised in terms of lag issues, so I dunno if that would be easier than running steam games.
 
So, are we saying the 3G providers would or wouldn't block certain ports?

also, I'm mainly planning on playing WoW (Cataclysm wahoo), and I've heard it's pretty optimised in terms of lag issues, so I dunno if that would be easier than running steam games.

I don't play WoW (or any other MMO's) but I have read plenty of people who say they find the latency of a 3G connection acceptable.

I have a Vodafone and Three dongle, pretty sure nothing is filtered on the Voda one and the only problem I have encountered on the Three network is they block port 25 (SMTP) which is fairly common and not really an issue at all.

T-Mobile used to filter various applications based on your tariff (had to pay extra to use IM apps) though that was a while ago and I think they dropped the idea anyway.

Dont know about Orange or O2 from any personal experience either.

Most of the networks do offer no quibble returns on things like 3G dongles, I'd go buy a PAYG one and give it a go, if its no good take it straight back and just say the signal is poor.
 
also, I'm mainly planning on playing WoW (Cataclysm wahoo), and I've heard it's pretty optimised in terms of lag issues, so I dunno if that would be easier than running steam games.

Doesn't matter how optimised the game is. 3G inherently has rubbish latency. As has been said, 300-500ms is typical.

Remember that 500ms is half a second, in both directions - so when you click, you might have to wait a full second for a response on screen.

I don't play WoW (or any other MMO's) but I have read plenty of people who say they find the latency of a 3G connection acceptable.

The latency isn't a big problem for web browsing or streaming, but it will make for a horrible gaming experience. High and variable latency is really not what you need when playing an MMORPG. I would just forget the idea.
 
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This isn't onlive...

How's that relevant?

I don't play online games, but it's fairly obvious even to me that if you're fighting someone and they can react to your attacks nearly a second faster than you can react to theirs, you're probably not going to win very often.
 
Try a VPN and see if it is blocked. Look for an OpenVPN service as it will run over port 443 (HTTPS).

Don't bother gaming over 3G.
 
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