4G for Gaming?

Does anyone tether to their 3G or 4G wireless network to play games? I haven't had a smartphone for years, but am considering getting one sometime in the next year. I've had basic phone and texting for the last several years. But is gaming possible with 4G? Or is ping and consistent packets still an issue as it was years ago? Or is it still relegated to primarily web browsing?

 

I'm with Telstra in Australia. It's the best carrier here, but more expensive than others. Gaming over 3G is possible, not that I've had much experience with it. My brother used to play World of Tanks over 3G, and found it worked quite well. For FPS's, its a no go due high latency issues.

I'm sure RTS games, EVE online etc would work quite nicely. I only just got 4G the other day, my router died about the same time as well. Ended up setting my phone up in the centre of my apartment and tethering my laptop and partners iPad to it for internet whilst I sourced another router. Was very impressed with the experience, a few times I forgot we were using a mobile phone tethered and not the broadband. Gaming on this could be a serious possibility that I might now have to investigate...

I'm unsure of the 3G/4G network speeds/congestion in the States HT, I have heard that they are quite slow? What games are you planning on playing?

 

I dunno. Likely things like Battlefield 3 and DiRT 3. Not that I'll do it frequently, just periodically when I've found myself with spotty or no internet connection (usually at my mom's or sister's house - they mainly just browse so don't care).

 

It depends on your carrier and the area where you live, but some 4G carriers offer speeds around 10-20Mbps in big cities. T-mobile 4G in Los Angeles for example is often even above 20Mbps, faster than some DSL and cable connections.

The problem is most have a bandwidth cap around 4GB or 5GB per month and you can exceed this pretty quickly just checking your email, browsing web pages, etc. I suspect there may be some throttling of certain connections for Steam and gaming, as well.

 

I played a lot on 3g+ (I think you call it 3.5g something like that) in France. As somebody stated before RTS or MMOs are fine, streaming is very good, and shooters, well I only tried mass effect 3, but honestly it wasn't THAT good (if you've ever played mass effect 3 in platinum as a vanguard, you'd know it requires perfect timing so perfect ping). So if you're planning on playing shooters well as you suspected the ping won't be really good (the jitter is just huge). The other problem you'd run in is the cap. I don't know where you live, but when I came to Canada 3 months ago I was just astonished to learn that some countries still had a cap on their internet connection . So wherever you live, if you have a cap you'd better forget about it as it'll be using like 1 gb in less than a hour (when I was tethering I remember I had a counter, and it usually indicated like 4gb of DL in an evening). Finally I don't know what is your phone, but you better be careful about which program you're gonna use as some have some kind on of stealth function when tethering, but some don't and if you're unlucky enough to get caught, well needless to say...

 

I don't think speed or bandwidth will be the issue. It will be ping and jitter. I don't know if most data plans restrict tethering or not. That'd be dumb especially if there's a cap. But it's not like companies don't do dumb things.

Here's a 30 minute (1000 ticket) round of 64 player map of BF3 Armored Kill. 19.49MB total download data and 11.34kB/s average with 51.65 kB/s peak, so speed and bandwidth definitely not a concern.

 

I play on 4g t-mobile network everyday, and it works fine for me. Most of the time I get good pings from 35-80, I also tried both wifi tethering and usb tethering, but I prefer to usb tethering for steady pings. I play Black ops 2, bf 3, LOL.

 

i use wind mobile's 3G to play battlefield and its fine. i use it when the home internet is lagging when people are streaming videos

 

That's kind of my thought. My internet goes down periodically or acts flaky. I'd like to be able to set up a temporary connection even LAN for my kids' laptops. Is it possible to set up a Wi-fi connection with a phone's 3G/4G?

 

Yeah, with the iPhone that's what MyWi and PDAnet do. I'm amazed by the 35-80 ping somebody got, that's nowhere close to the ping I got in France, and imo for a shooter I really can't imagine 3g being a playable connection. Your headshots will often miss and you'll die in duels. If that happens on a steady 100 ms LAN connection, I'd be very surprised it wouldn't happen on 3g...

 

i have a blackberry with OS 7.1 beta, so i have hotspot, 6 users can connect to the phone at anytime. also i have unlimited data (for only $29 a month! but 5GB before throttling though)

 

The thing is BF3 tends to favor 100 ping connections over faster ones, so I might actually do better!

 

There's tethering for android where you can share your phone's internet connection.

There are also routers than can make use of 3g usb sticks plugged into them

Sent from my EndeavorU using Tapatalk 2

 

It depends on how picky you are. Games will work on 3G, but some games will compensate for the low connection quality better than others, so it depends on the game as well.

A 4G connection may or may not be better for gaming depending on the nature of the 4G. Bandwidth is definitely going to be better, but as you know, that's not going to make a difference. Some 4G setups have pretty poor latency / frequently dropped packets / other undesirable networking artifacts for gaming, despite high bandwidth.

If you have a decent LTE connection, you should be fine.

 

Just out of curiosity I hooked up to tether (using USB, wifi is supported and works well too but I like to let the laptop charge the phone when possible) and see what the ping was reporting... using a Galaxy Note II running android 4.1 and PDAnet (GREAT tethering app!), Verizon 4G LTE here in NC, a quick speedtest.net run resulted in a ping of 56ms, 15.76Mbps down and 9.22 Mbps upload, which is usually right where it has been when I check.

Haven't played Battlefield, but have played flying/driving games online and they worked just fine. For browsing and normal usage, it's really tough to tell I'm not on the 30Mbps (30down/5up) cable connection most of the time.

For downloading, using Steam and their same servers as a comparison, using 4G tethered it downloads at 1.9-2.4 MB/s compared to home cable connection which runs about 3.3-3.9 MB/s.

If 4G was truly unlimited without any throttling, I'd ditch home cable service and just use 4G, it's that good. But with the massive Steam downloads and Verizon getting rid of their "unlimited" plans which still throttled eventually, it's just not cost practical for full time usage at this point....

But for random use when needed, it's fantastic. I would recommend Android if you go this route just because I love the freedom the platform offers, but that's a whole different topic ha.

EDIT: Played with some different speedtest.net servers and locations around neighborhood curious how coverage etc changed ping, ping stayed between 50-75ms, upload is staying right around 15Mbps and upload varies from 5.5-13Mbps

 

Thanks be77solo. What's the jitter like with your speedtest.net tests?

Also, I would definitely go with an Android based phone if/when I go. Seems my internet goes down a half dozen times a year for a day or so. I should complain to Comcast but they won't do anything. I've already had all the cabling replaced inside and out twice in the last few years too. Just would be a good alternate, seems when it goes down are the times I really need to do something instead of just screw around. But may be placebo too.

 

I use LTE at work... And i play games... mostly starcraft 2 (latency is very important) and Guildwars 2.

I ping google.com between 40-70ms during the night... and I download for about 10-20mbs... upload is usually higher than download.

The technology is there... its very fast and stable... now its just a question of price and bandwidth...

I pay 52$/month for 10gig... sure im in Canada so price are always ridiculously high... but I do believe that LTE is really next gen and once price goes down most people will use it.

But for a gamer... playing games barely use bandwidth... until you start using VoIP with friends...

Also 4G is not really LTE in north america... They call "hspa+" G4 when it is not... sure its pretty good and cheaper (not in canada) but the latency is way higher.

 

On a family plan..that part about price and bandwidth. I found it much cheaper to go the next tier higher on your home cable provider.

I don't see any really cheap unlimited plans from the like of greedy AT&T in near furture...

 

I'm actually one of the few lucky ones who was able to keep and upgrade the grandfathered verizon unlimited plans, so I'm currently running a droid razr maxx with an unlimited 4g hotspot for $30/month

When it came to ping, I'm able to play games (though in battlefield 3 for example, there weren't as many sub 100ping servers I could play on). Me and 2 other friends were hooked up to my hotspot for some tf2 multiplayer and other than random lag spikes of my phone connecting dropping (verizon lte has an issue of dropping their 4g service for a few seconds, but my phone was done it much less now) we were all able to play it fine. At my house, the ping is at 70 but kind of depends where I'm at (I think the lowest I ever clocked it at was 50).

I would look at the razor maxx if you're wanting a 4g hotspot. This battery is incredible even with the hotspot on (lasts longer than my 2011 macbook pro while connected to the hotspot) and the phone itself is good. I would get the droid razr maxx hd as the screen on mine is pretty bad

 

Thanks for the suggestion on phone EpicBlob, I started looking at them. There is a provider called "MetroPCS" that has tiered data plans with limits on 4GLTE then after that amount it just drops to regular 4G speeds, whatever that means. Just sounds like it's throttled down.

I can get unlimited data for $55/mo for single phone plan or $70/mo for multiple phone plan, or $60/mo for 5GB data. They don't really bundle phones with their plans though, but that just means no contract too and can use an unlocked phone. However, I do like the Galaxy SIII. But how is battery life? I find it hard to swallow $500 for a phone though, and spending $70/mo, although I'd likely go with the $60/mo 5GB up front and see how that goes. I'll likely add my parents to the plan otherwise I'd just go with the $55/mo unlimited.

It just seems like a hard pill to swallow. It's going to be a $1000 a year expense that's hard to justify. Presently I only pay about $20/mo to my sister since I'm on her plan for just voice and text. I have a Samsung Galaxy player with Wi-Fi that I've been using in the meantime.

 

3 mobile in the UK offer unlimited data and I have tried to game with it on 3G.

It's pretty rubbish, especially FPS. Latency is normally huuuge!!

 

+1 3UK all you can eat data are pretty good. My pings are around 60-80ms usually which is bearable I guess for some types of games.

 

Ha, I wish I had a $20 a month bill! Not really a fair comparison though since you're tagging along with sis I've got to use my phones and data for work out on the jobsites, so I don't have a choice, not to mention my nerd side loves having fast internet where ever I might be... Who is your sister with? Could you just add a data plan to your line on her current plan assuming she is with somebody that has good 4G LTE service? I've got 6 4G devices on my current business plan, it's always been cheaper to bundle up when I run the numbers. But yeah regardless how you do it, it's gonna be at least around $50 for service.

 

Well she's with Verizon. I believe there's a 5 phone limit. And right now its her and her husband and two if her kids and me. Her third kid will probably be getting on plan soon too. Plus she's getting divorced so she may end up on my plan anyhow.

Sent from my YP-G70 using Tapatalk 2

 

Sam's club had a nice deal for the Samsung SIII during the last black friday..Free! with 2 year plan. He said another sale may be "around" Christmas so check the Kiosk if you have a local store.

Nice smartphone review at AnandTech testing hotspot and talk time battery life; AnandTech - The iPhone 5 Review

 

Aand the Razr maxx comes on top for the hotspot I haven't really heard anyone rave about the sg3 battery life, but it kind of seemed like the droid razr maxx hd is the motorola version of the sg3.

 

Sounds like there may be another available slot for #3

 

I'd go with Sprint HT. I live in Michigan and I've been looking at a lot of the plans lately. With Verizon you'll end up paying more for a tiered plan since they got rid of unlimited data. A buddy was getting 25 mb/s download speeds on Sprints 4G network around the Detroit area. He stated he was able to play WoW with little noticeable lag. I heard Metro PCS wasnt bad but you have to pay a lot more for the phone, and they have spotty coverage throughout the rest of the state. Same with T-Mobile. I dont even have service in my area with T-Mobile.

 

There may be no room for anyone, because they likely won't be sharing a plan any more. Or maybe him and the kids, since he makes all the bucks. Who knows. Either way it's not promising, especially if she puts her youngest on the plan even if they all stay on, no room for me.

In any case, I like a 5" screen. My Galaxy player is nice and has 5" screen, not sure if I want any smaller.

 

I play with 3G when I am on duty away from home. Speeds are ok, but ping is horrible at least here in México, going on average 180ms or so. It works for simple games but nothing that requires quick reaction and precision.

 

The Galaxy S III got a 4,8" screen i think while the bigger Note II got 5,5" or something so both might feel like using a Galaxy Player.

 

I raided in WoW at a very high level (top U.S. 50) for several years on verizons 3G, the ping ranges anywhere from 120-200 for me in most games and I'm in an extremely wooded area.

 

I havent tried but it is possible. I had a buddy who used his unlimited data for Xbox Live.

Here in Reno, I have Verizon and the speeds are impressive. I get under 40ms ping and speeds of 10MBPS Down and Up

 

I just got a AT&T 4gLTE Elvate wifi hotspot and the ping and speeds are impressive. I ping in the 60's with 19mbps down and 8mbps up on average. I cant tell any difference from Comcast to the 4gLTE games play the same.

Greg

 

I was playing online games a few years ago on 3g+ but the ping is really bad. Maybe 4g is better but I doubt it, as the ping will be terrible.

 

you must've never used/observed an LTE connection.

 

I did say that I only had 3g+, but very soon I will buy the S4 so I will have the chance to observe it.

 

you're talking to somebody who bought the HTC titan, a 3G+ handset, mere months before the titan II, an LTE handset, was released. so excuse my potness for calling your kettleness black. :hi2:

although i have "observed" it on my girlfriend's phone and it's bananas. i need it in my life. would love to test out tethered gaming on it, HT. now please excuse me whilst i egress thous resurrected thread.

(man, i need to go to bed.)

 

LTE is much faster than Optimum base land line. But it is not consistent.

 

Chill dude, you don't get my point, but just play some shooter game like Counter-Strike via 3g+ and then look at the ping and how it runs....

 

I played D3 on my tethered galaxy nexus on T-Mobile a while back. It was actually playable I had seen worse pings. HSDPA should be viable in some cases, lte would work better obviously.

 

Might be ok for mmo, but def not good for fps or anything twitchy or pvp. Vs computer, coop should be alright.

 

I got Verizon and use my wifi tether for my internet on my pc's. I get about 51mbs down and 13mbs up and never had any issues gaming.

 

I played bbc2 on 3g for a time. It wasn't that awful except i was often called a lagger by players i killed Ping was pretty high.

 

My 4gLTE ping is in the 60's which is for sure low enough for FPS games.

 

As long as it's consistent 60 ping and not all over the place averaging 60.

 

I have 4GLTE too and personally I'd never use it for gaming. I don't see the point if I already pay for internet.

 

you have a gaming laptop, no?

 

That's like saying you already have a desktop computer so why get a laptop...