XPOST: Online poker on a 3G broadband USB Modem (UK)

[jukofyork]

Not really related to software, but I'm eager to know if anybody here has experience of this (at £25 per month it could be a "dream" net connection backup, especially for SNG players where one loss of connection costs several times more than the net connection itself...).

I'm wondering if anybody has any experience of using the 3G broadband USB Modem for playing online poker in the UK.

As far as I can tell it should work fine with any PC so long as I'm in a Vodafone 3G area and it seems like the ideal mobile Internet backup device (only £25 per month).

Has anybody used this to play online poker and if so did it work ok? Can you see any pitfalls with my idea? I intend to use it purely as a backup connection when away from home (or at home after my one of my other Internet connections expire), possibly on other peoples PCs.

Juk [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[jukofyork]

Bump.

Has anybody here used one of these and if so how suitable are they for poker? (ie: will I get disconnected frequently, etc).

It seems that the contract has got way less stingy than it was back in March when I made the OP and I'm seriously considering getting one of these, but if it don't work for poker then it will just be an expensive paperweight...

Juk [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[BotOnTilt]

Have you thought about just using your current cellphone as a modem?

I upgraded my connection to a 3G one with unlimited data (€10 / month) since I was thinking the same as you [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] Turned out I was too lazy to connect it to my computer, even though I played a lot of SNG's and had hickups with my LAN.

I do remember someone telling me in a local forum that he uses his 3G-connection to play poker when he is on the buss, he said it was fairly reliable and the data traffic is very low, so you might not even need an unlimited data plan for poker although I suppose the traffic could be different depending on the site... He did say that the connection is slower, i.e. when you click on raise the delay is longer, this might impact on timing tells.

[herbstl]

Hi I am not in UK and heve never tried it there, but here in Austria and on Holidays in Croatia it worked very well. I have never experienced disconnection problems.

Even GPRS connections are good enough for online Poker.

[staring_elf]

I am currently using that exact vodafone modem and have been for 1 month now. However I am using it in Spain where i will be living for the next 5 months, not the UK.

I play for 6+ hours a day and it works perfectly 99% of the time.

Just make sure when you get it that you configure the settings to select "UMTS" at all times. do not use the gprs mode on it as it sucks ass.

Anyway, +1 vote to get one. it works great for playing online, its portable and stupidly simple to use , just plug and play usb. I play at Stars only by the way but i'm sure all sites would be fine with it.

[dave_w11]

I was going to get one of these as a backup connection but decided to get a new phone that would allow me to connect through 3g. I got a nokia n95 on t-mobile with the unlimited "web'n'walk" deal for £12.50 (on top of normal contract). I went for this because it would be cheaper than paying £25+vat on top of the phone contract I would have anyway.

I haven't used it for playing many tables but it seems to be pretty quick and I expect it will be fine should it be needed. I have tried observing a lot of tables (16 or 20) on stars through it and everything seemed fine. Only problem I've had is getting the content filter turned off which seems to block approximately 100% of the internet on t-mobile but that seems to be sorted now.

[TheBad]

I´m using 3G in Germany and had no problem playing a long tournament. However, my UMTS card allows me to use GPRS whenever UMTS is not available.