Poker while travelling? Satellite access?

[cianosheehan]

Hi there,
I'm planning on going travelling soon, mainly going to be around mainland Europe for the first while. I'm trying to figure out the best way of continuing playing, without relying on internet cafés that may or may not have wireless.

I heard of some kind of satellite service, where you can literally access the net from anywhere. Does anyone know much about this? Is there a deal I can get that will give me Europe-wide coverage?

If anyone can help me out I'd much appreciate it.

Thanks
Cian

[Hairball]

Here on this side of the pond I have Wild Blue satellite Internet access. I can't speak for Hughesnet or European options, but with Wild Blue the lag makes poker all but impossible to play. For a while it was OK, I would get drops every long once in a while, but about six months ago Wild Blue implemented a new network traffic management scheme that has resulted in significantly increased lag times. To make matters worse, secure connections over satellite are not transmitted at top speed. Apparently there is an incompatibility between the encryption used in secure connections and the satellite network software. The result can sometimes mean speeds that are slower than dial-up. It's my understanding that this last issue is not Wild Blue specific.

Based on my expereiences, I wouldn't recommend satellite internet as a viable option for playing online poker. To play poker online I've had to open a dial-up account.

[WhoIam]

Why don't you want to play in internet cafes? Security concerns?

[cianosheehan]

[ QUOTE ]
Here on this side of the pond I have Wild Blue satellite Internet access. I can't speak for Hughesnet or European options, but with Wild Blue the lag makes poker all but impossible to play. For a while it was OK, I would get drops every long once in a while, but about six months ago Wild Blue implemented a new network traffic management scheme that has resulted in significantly increased lag times. To make matters worse, secure connections over satellite are not transmitted at top speed. Apparently there is an incompatibility between the encryption used in secure connections and the satellite network software. The result can sometimes mean speeds that are slower than dial-up. It's my understanding that this last issue is not Wild Blue specific.

Based on my expereiences, I wouldn't recommend satellite internet as a viable option for playing online poker. To play poker online I've had to open a dial-up account.

[/ QUOTE ]

Damn...was hoping this wouldn't be the case. Thanks for the info though. So you definately think these kind of problems are not just related to Wild Blue?

[ QUOTE ]
Why don't you want to play in internet cafes? Security concerns?

[/ QUOTE ]

I dont want to have to rely on finding a cafe every time I want to play. It'd be great just to set up the laptop anywhere and play a few hands when I felt like it. Cafes can be a pain in the ass, distracting with everyone walking about, and many may not have a wireless connection option.

[pathogen]

Personally I would never play on an open wireless network you never know who could be sniffing your traffic. All it takes is one guy and he'll know he hit the jackpot when he sees your traffic going to a pokersite.

Personally I use my cell phone as a modem here in the US you could probably get away with the same thing in Europe as long as you have a data plan and a cell phone that allows tethering.

[JojoDiego]

[ QUOTE ]
Personally I use my cell phone as a modem here in the US you could probably get away with the same thing in Europe as long as you have a data plan and a cell phone that allows tethering.

[/ QUOTE ]

Pathogen, what kind of speeds do you get with this setup? Comparable to DSL, or more like dial-up? I was thinking of doing this with my T-Mobile phone.

[pathogen]

Typically, I get a download rate of about 20kb/s. Its faster than dialup but a noticable difference from DSL/Cable.

I use sprint and an old unlimited vision plan which is unlimited data usage. It is against their T&C for me to connect the phone to my laptop but there are rumors that as long as usage is kept below 250mb a month there should be no problem. So far this has held true for me.

When it comes to pokerstars I can 4 table with a two second time delay as far as actions go. When loading webpages I will usually time out.

[Audi]

[ QUOTE ]
I'm planning on going travelling soon, mainly going to be around mainland Europe for the first while. I'm trying to figure out the best way of continuing playing, without relying on internet cafés that may or may not have wireless.

[/ QUOTE ]

This is a problem I've been trying to solve for quite a while, I haven't managed to yet.

For Europe, something like Vodafone´s 3G broadband data card would be ideal. But it doesn't come cheap when travelling (119GBP/month and you are limited to 100MB/month whilst "abroad" AND subject to a minimum 12month contract). It can be used in over 100 countries though.

[MicroBob]

Cingular is also advertising wireless-broadband now with access available in many international cities.
No idea how much more the access for something like that costs over just a domestic plan.
I also assume the Cingular international stuff is mostly in major cities through Europe.
Certainly wouldn't count on it in the middle of the country.

I have the Verizon Wireless broadband which works great in the U.S.
But if they don't have international coverage by the time my contract runs out in Sept then I might switch over to Cingular on the off-chance I get to do a bit more international travelling.