Mobile Internet Sticks

GTA PokerGTA Poker
in Off Topic Lounge
Anyone using these?

Cost per month and for the stick you use?

Contract needed?

Who are you using/how is the speed/coverage in comparison to an at home setup?

Are there usage caps?

Comments

  • VekkedVekked
    Using one from Rogers. On a flexible plan which is a minimum $35/month for 500MB. If you go over 500MB you get 500 more for $5, all the way up to a 5 gig cap for $80. Mine has been verrry reliable (far more than my home internet with a wireless router), and the speed is really good if you're in an area that gets 3G. It's only not been able to connect for me like a couple times ever (in like 2 years), and usually I think it's b/c the cell phone network was down or bad for w/e reason. The 5 gig cap or $80 for it shouldn't really be a deterrence cuz you should like never get up that high. Obviously you can't/shouldn't watch videos or stream audio while using it or you're gonna eat your data plan. It's great as a backup or if you like to use internet away from home a lot. It's a necessity if you're playing online poker for money (if you're putting any volume in at all I highly doubt it won't save you well over $35 month unless you're playing micro's or have the world's best internet provider).
  • GTA PokerGTA Poker
    I use internet to d/l tonnes of files -- movies, tv, etc as I do not have cable. So, I assume I need a no cap plan.
  • compueasecompuease Admin
    GTA Poker wrote: »
    I use internet to d/l tonnes of files -- movies, tv, etc as I do not have cable. So, I assume I need a no cap plan.

    If you are going to download movies, etc it's easy to get to 50-60GB per month... My Cogeco limits me to 60GB per month without overage charges so some months I have to manage it late in the month. Not sure in Alberta but there are no cell plans even approaching those kind of #'s.. Even if there were it would be rather expensive..
  • GTA PokerGTA Poker
    compuease wrote: »
    If you are going to download movies, etc it's easy to get to 50-60GB per month... My Cogeco limits me to 60GB per month without overage charges so some months I have to manage it late in the month. Not sure in Alberta but there are no cell plans even approaching those kind of #'s.. Even if there were it would be rather expensive..

    I was looking at this -- I realize the coverage isn't as extensive as the major companies, but it would be primarily for use around the city.

    http://shop.windmobile.ca/ProductCatalog/DataPlans/PlanDetails.aspx?id=Infinite%20Laptop

    I just noticed that the no cap states they may decrease speed when over 5gb -- likely not great I imagine.

    I'm pretty certain I would go over 60GB/mo...and don't want to have to worry about it -- if there isn't a decent no cap plan I will likely just stick to my Shaw home internet.
  • compueasecompuease Admin
    Just checked what the Rogers stick/hub data prices are here in Ontario.. It's $65. for up to 5GB and then $.05 per MB after that, ($5. per GB) so if you used 60GB it would come to a whopping $440. per month.... Methinks the cellular providers are still quite a ways from being competitive with DSL and cable for us reasonably heavy downoaders.
  • BlondeFishBlondeFish
    So my total cost of a Rogers Stick would be at least $420/year? I haven't lost that much from the very rare outages of Cogeco Internet, but next time Cogeco is unavailable for the whole day, can I just go to Future Shop (or any Rogers outlet) and have Internet access the same day? If the power goes down, will I be able to keep playing just by plugging in the Stick to my laptop?

    Do Mobile Internet Sticks come with an email account or other benefits? Is there a better option than the "Free Stick with two-year commitment"?
    Vekked wrote: »
    It's a necessity if you're playing online poker for money (if you're putting any volume in at all I highly doubt it won't save you well over $35 month unless you're playing micro's or have the world's best internet provider).
  • moosemoose
    Just head to your closest Starbuck$$ if your internet goes down.
  • compueasecompuease Admin
    If your internet reliability these days is so bad that you want a backup, then you need a new provider.... I can't even remember the last time my interwebz was down, other than caused by myself... :)
  • JtotheLewJtotheLew
    compuease wrote: »
    If your internet reliability these days is so bad that you want a backup, then you need a new provider.... I can't even remember the last time my interwebz was down, other than caused by myself... :)

    This.


    GTA not that it's any of my business, but it sounds like you are getting this to basically replace your internet? And I would wonder why you would do that, it seems like the wireless sticks are more or less for people who are always on the go or need internet in random places, not to replace your home cable/dsl. One day that might be a viable option, but if you are a download heavy user or you stream media etc. then I don't think wireless sticks will be cost effective at all.
  • GTA PokerGTA Poker
    JtotheLew wrote: »
    This.


    GTA not that it's any of my business, but it sounds like you are getting this to basically replace your internet? And I would wonder why you would do that, it seems like the wireless sticks are more or less for people who are always on the go or need internet in random places, not to replace your home cable/dsl. One day that might be a viable option, but if you are a download heavy user or you stream media etc. then I don't think wireless sticks will be cost effective at all.

    Sounds like you are correct -- I just didn't know much about them and was wondering if they would be a viable alternative, sounds like they are not.

    Now if the Shaw guy would actually show up one of these days...
  • JtotheLewJtotheLew
    Not sure what you are on now but when I was in Calgary I spent about a year on Telus and couldn't stand it, it went down atleast 5-6 times in that year for periods of 10-12 hrs, it was also slow..they also called me once and said I had been downloading too much and they were going to cap my bandwidth so I couldn't go ever X amount or I could pay for more.

    When I switched to Shaw I really liked it and found it really fast, you can also spring for Shaw Extreme or even Nitro and your speed will go up..Nitro is pretty expensive but Extreme is reasonable.
  • T8urmoneyT8urmoney
    GTA Poker wrote: »
    Sounds like you are correct -- I just didn't know much about them and was wondering if they would be a viable alternative, sounds like they are not.

    Now if the Shaw guy would actually show up one of these days...

    shaw = the nuts in Edmonton

    get internet stick for backup or mobil only
  • GTA PokerGTA Poker
    Not sure what it is with this new house -- Shaw guy didn't show up, junk removal guy didn't show up, carpet cleaners didn't show up
  • philliiveyphilliivey
    GTA Poker wrote: »
    Not sure what it is with this new house -- Shaw guy didn't show up, junk removal guy didn't show up, carpet cleaners didn't show up


    Hard to get good help these days, sadly.

    Don't worry my pay has not shown up from last week yet.
  • MuddgutsMuddguts
    I had always wondered about poker and the sticks so I posted a message over at the Rogers forums and apparently they don't like it for some reason. My post, has been deleted twice without any reason given. Time to write me a letter!
    http://communityforums.rogers.com/t5/forums/forumtopicpage/board-id/Community_feedback/message-id/303


    EDIT 15 hours after above post: LMAO! Someone actually deleted my post in which I was asking why my other posts were being deleted. Looks like someone has a huge ego over at Rogers community boards.
  • BlondeFishBlondeFish
    Is any other Cogeco Internet subscriber getting intermittent disconnections? For the past several days, I would get disconnected for a few minutes throughout the day so I would get blinded off while multi-tabling online tournaments. I have bubbled a couple of times already today, including losing a $600+ prize. :arghh:

    If this keeps happening, is the best backup the Rogers mobile stick with an option to pay only for each month that I use it since I will only need it if Cogeco is down?
    compuease wrote: »
    If your internet reliability these days is so bad that you want a backup, then you need a new provider.... I can't even remember the last time my interwebz was down
  • compueasecompuease Admin
    I've been on Cogeco now for 2 years and to my knowledge have never had an outage... Check with a neighbour who is on Cogeco and see if anyone else is having similar problems. Do you have more than 1 pc connected? If so do both lose there connection at the same time, ie router prob? No chance of virus or spyware?
  • HVEEPOKERHVEEPOKER
    I have been disconnected a few times playing 4 or 5 MTT's on poker stars.
    Happens once in a while but my dell is 4 yrs old. Probably something on it.
    goes unresponsive a fair bit.
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