What ping is usable for online poker? Anyone use EGPRS (wireless)?

[AssFrister]

Hi,

I live in the middle of nowhere at the moment and currently conect via single channel ISDN. However the throughput is just below what I need, and the call costs are huge for the amount of time im online. (200+ euro per month.)

I have ruled out satellite for now for certain reasons so I was considering wireless. I would not get 3G coverage but should be OK with EGPRS. But from looking around it seems the latency might be 500-800ms on average. Is this going to be too laggy for poker? Anyone know roughly what is a usuable ping?

If this ping is too high for playing, would it be OK just for data mining/observing games? I should imagine the higher ping wouldnt be such a problem there.

With mining and my other net activities my dial up connection is currently up around 12-15 hours a day. If I could do the mining and web browsing on the wireless connection I could cut down the dial up connection to about 6 hours playing time per day. With a 20GB wireless plan for 99euros my costs should end up about the same and probably a little bit less but ill then have the higher bandwidth needed.

Thoughts?

Thanks and regards.


EDIT: Im not even sure Im right about the 500-800ms number now. Just seen a message board with people reporting info on their speed tests and they are all saying 1s-2s latency. Anyone have any experience? And still the same questions, will this still be OK even if it is just for mining and browsing, and not playing?

[ispiked]

Are you serious about that average ping time? I go on tilt if mine gets anywhere above 300ms avg. That said, everytime I've experienced latency, there's usually been packet loss, too, so I'm not sure what it is like to experience pure latency with no packet loss...

[SlantNGo]

I don't think it would be a problem, unless the poker software has built in latency checks that sense you as disconnected if your latency exceeds a certain amount. EGPRS is pretty slow for web browsing IMO but it's worth a try for poker.

[AssFrister]

From my reading it seems that ping is 1s-2s on average. So you are saying you notice delays in your with your actions/tables when your ping goes up to as little as 300ms?

This is looking like a non starter I guess. Although im still curious as to whether mining would suffer the same problems.

[AssFrister]

[ QUOTE ]
I don't think it would be a problem

[/ QUOTE ]

So you dont think ill be slowing up the games then? I have this image in my head that ill click bet then it will take 5-10 seconds to register the action or something. And if this was to happen every single action I make obviously thats no good for me or the others at the table.

If my average ping was 1s, would that mean my actions would take on average 1s to register on screen? Or is it not as simple as that?


[ QUOTE ]
EGPRS is pretty slow for web browsing IMO

[/ QUOTE ]

But would it be at least as good as my 64k ISDN? From what I read EGPRS averages around 100k-130k.

I know it doesnt sound much but that little bit of extra download will really come in useful for me. With my current connection if I mine 24 tables of Party I have problems 4 tabling on another system and have to reduce the mining to six tables. With 100k-130k Im assuming I should be able to mine 36-48 tables. (I know many think mining is not so useful but personally I have found it to be a great help, especially with intial table selection.)

Thanks for the helpful responses so far.

[ispiked]

Here's what I get after pinging google.com 10 times:

Ping statistics for 64.233.187.99:
Packets: Sent = 10, Received = 10, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 42ms, Maximum = 125ms, Average = 55ms

For me what usually happens on FTP is that stuff will happen really fast (to make up for the lagging); e.g. I'll see the flop and next thing I know the river's been dealt. I also get disconnected sometimes when I get severe packet loss.

For what it's worth, I've found it harder to use programs that require a constant connection, i.e. IRC, or poker software, when my connection is latent; web pages seem to load in reasonable times.

[AssFrister]

OK, should have thought of this before. I was going to get a 3G prepay SIM for 43 euro and just test it, but I was thinking I have to buy the data card that is 300 euro too, so I left it. But I just realized, shouldnt I just be able to put that SIM in any EGPRS capable phone and connect my laptop via bluetooth?

[Dilznoofus]

I don't really know what you guys are saying but I have Hughesnet Satellite Internet and I can play poker easily on most sites with a slight delay, except for Full Tilt which is completely unworkable for me, and was even before the upgrade.

I guess if you know what average pings are for Hughesnet/Direcway or whatever this might help.