Online gaming question from the sticks

You're out of luck, even that satty system will have high latency. Perhaps you could use a cellular broadband option from Sprint or Cingular.

You could do Live Marketplace and get downloads but your gaming would be spotty at best.

I, too, doubt you'll be playing many games without problems. Marketplace and downloading is fine, but I don't think you'd have the speed to pull off gaming in a quick environment.

This is just me, but honestly, I would pay the $2000 for the cable install. I won't lie to myself or anyone else, I've become hooked on the internet and high speed, if I had to run off of 26.6 I'd go nuts. Hell, we've got the slowest DSL (50K download/25K up) there is in Honduras and it's killing me.

Whats the monthly fee for Skyfx?

I'm writing this on my laptop connected via Verizon EVDO at Starbucks while sipping a venti coffee. Pretty nice speeds. Getting around 700Kb down and 100Kb down. Not sure how it would work for gaming though. Might want to give it a try.

How would you adapt a Verizon air-card to work with the PS3? Some sort of adapter that would plug into the ethernet port? I wouldn't bother using it for gaming, as it probably would be too slow. But it could work for downloads.

I am also out in the sticks. I bring internet in via Hughes sat. and the latency issue kills me, although I played a couple rounds of resistance online today without any problems.

My problem is that I'm having trouble dounloading demos from the PSstore. I get an error message before the download starts everytime.

You could probably set up internet connection sharing to bridge the connection out to to ethernet port or the 802.11b/g wireless.

There are EVDO routers made by a few companies. Here's one:

http://www.kyocera-wireless.com/kr1-router/

I've used the kyocera KR1 myself. As a "sticks dweller" myself, it has afforded me a great way to not only get internet access to my home, but also to network my house as well. Offering both 4-ethernet ports as well as wi-fi capabilities, it really has proven to be a boon.

Now...that said... I received a letter of service cancellation from Verizon Wireless just this past Friday. Seems that their "small print" within the EVDO card/service agreement stipulates that you may not download more than 5GB worth of data within a 30 day period. And in the short time I've owned my PS3, believe me, I downloaded a schload of stuff off Sony's Playstation Store. Undoubtedly rang the dinger on the 5GB limit. Regardless, Verizon had little 'conversation' to offer in a follow up call from receipt of the service cancellation letter. They informed me that if I could abide by the rules of the service agreement, that they would reactivate the EVDO card with a new number. Otherwise, effective 01/03/07, I no longer have internet service through that device. End of subject...GOODBYE!

Well, frankly, "POOP!" At first, I was like, Well fine! Although the EVDO card works wonderfully well for general internet surfing & e-mail, etc. the fact is I wasn't getting great download speeds with the EVDO card (for PS3 stuff) anyway. And the card would often disconnect/reset itself in the midst of a long download. And since the PS3 firmware does not provide for any sort of 'resume download' feature, I was having a helluvatime dealing with demo downloads, etc. So I decided I'd look somewhere else.

Guess what? As already mentioned here, there is little else for a "sticks dweller" to consider. Honestly, I thought I'd go with HughesNet. Had even scheduled an install. However, I just cancelled *that* consideration just last night (before the install) after having further investigated HughesNet's own "small print." Seems they have a "Fair Access Policy" that limits [of their 'Home Plan' for which I was interested] a user's internet traffic to no more than 175MB of data that can be downloaded continuously. Now, think about our typical PS3 demo download sizes... Here is their stipulation on the Fair Access Policy:

" To ensure equal Internet access for all HughesNetTM subscribers, Hughes Network Systems maintains a running average Fair Access Policy (FAP). Fair Access establishes an equitable balance in Internet access across satellite broadband services by service plan for all HughesNet customers regardless of their frequency of use or volume of traffic. To ensure this equity, customers may experience some temporary throughput limitations. HughesNet Internet access is not guaranteed. This policy applies to all service plans including Unlimited plans where customers' use of the Service is not limited to a specific number of hours per month.

HughesNet system usage data indicates that approximately 5% of subscribers are responsible for a disproportionate share often as much as half of the total HughesNet service traffic. Unfortunately, many of those subscribers are not using HughesNet for its intended purpose. To ensure that all HughesNet subscribers have fair and equal access to the benefits of the Satellite broadband service, HughesNet has enacted a Fair Access Policy to prevent abusive consumption of bandwidth by a handful of users.

FAP is straightforward: based on an analysis of usage data, Hughes Network Systems has established a HughesNet usage threshold well above the maximum typical usage rates. When a customer exhibits patterns of system usage which exceed that threshold for an extended period of time, the FAP may temporarily limit that subscriber's throughput to ensure the integrity of the system for all HughesNet subscribers.

Typically, the restrictions will be lifted within 8-12 hours of the original application of the FAP if the customer's usage in this period stays below the FAP threshold.

For example, you may experience FAP if the cumulative requested downloads in a relatively short time period (1-4 hours) exceeds your HughesNet plan download threshold. An example of what can be downloaded within any HughesNet plan would be a software application such as Microsoft Internet Explorer or Adobe Acrobat. And normal Internet surfing generates small downloads for each Web page viewed. For example, an hour of surfing can generate 1-10 MB of download activity depending on the content being surfed well below the amount required to trigger FAP.

Subscribers are likely to avoid the limitations imposed by the FAP if their use is typical of the majority of Internet users and consists of Web surfing and a reasonable amount of downloading."

So honestly, now I'm considering returning to another EVDO card. Perhaps through Sprint instead of Verizon (only because I've heard good things about Sprint's EVDO technology/speeds over that of Verizon). That said, I realize I have little recourse regarding downloading and/or online gaming for the PS3 living in the sticks. I do anticipate that I'll still download firmware updates with little to no hassle using the EVDO solution. And again, I can't stress enough just how much I've come to appreciate the KR1 as a wire/wireless solution for home networking -- GREAT PRODUCT!!! But as for PS3 demo-stuff?... I'm either gonna be in the cold, or I'm gonna have to truck the PS3 to a 'city friend' and use his high-speed broadband goodness to D/L demos, etc.

Thanks for all the help guys! I will look into the EVDO router. It funny because I have been to a couple local computer stores/verizon dealers, and no one mentioned that these were available.

Not too big of a surprise that Verizon didn't tell you about them. As W1ngman found out first hand, Verzion has an unwritten limit on their "unlimited" EVDO service.

Sprint however as of today does not have any limit and from what I've heard, they are glad to take on the customers that Verizon has cut off. You'd probably be best to just start off with Sprint if their EVDO service is available in your area.

AGREED!!! I just visited a local Sprint store. And "...glad to take on the customers that Verizon has cut off" is a PERFECT assessment of my visit there . I was completely forthcoming with the Sprint sales associate (younger fellow, mid-20's...I'm sure he could appreciate where I was coming from with regards to PS3 demo downloads, etc.). And he deliberately and emphatically responded that while he has signed up many a Verizon EVDO customer for this very reason, he's yet to have experienced a customer service scenario where an existing Sprint customer was dumped or otherwise chastized for how much "unlimited" data time they used on Sprint's EVDO card. I'll have me a U720 Novatel mobile broadband card by 1/2/07...and to make me super-happy, this particular store is willing to knock the price on that card down to a hard-to-beat-rock-bottom..."F-r-e-e." Way to go Sprint!

...Now, as soon as my Verizon voice phone agreements are up, you can imagine where I'll be heading...

- Dave

Well, I've got the Sprint service up and running with an S720 card in the KR1. Networked internet connectivity across 802.11 as well as ethernet patched PCs in the house is quite acceptable. Easily 50% better than the Verizon speed tests. However...as of this writing, I've yet to successfully sign onto the PS Store . I'm getting the 802xxxxxxx error. I suspect this will prove to be a setup issue within the PS3 Internet Settings, blah, blah... Unfortunately, the wife has presently commandeered the Sammy to watch [gulp] T.J. Hooker dvds she bought herself for Christmas. So I cannot post my actual errors, until I get some seat time in front of the PS3 again.

One thing of interest regarding inability to log onto the Sony Store. I *can* browse the Internet from the PS3. Its slooooow, but its always been slow. When I did the Internet Settings feature to Self-Test, I error out immediately at the DNS test. Again, I know I need to apologize as this post is vague at present. But I'm using it at this time as an update marker...and just to kill some time while minutes pass with Mr. Shatner on the TV ...

- Dave

All is swell as of this morning. Downloaded GTHD using Sprint's service & Meridian S720 EVDO card through my KR1 Kyrocera router.

As an fyi covering the interim between this post and my 12/30 post...I managed to royally hose my home network with a simple tick / disabling of the KR1's DHCP feature. And since, at the time of doing that, I didn't know much about networking (if it didn't just plug-n-play), I can promise you that caused absolute havoc for me, the PS3, and trying to log into the PSNetwork. I won't even get into what various network settings I managed to dick around with in the process of going, 'Huh...I wonder if I do *this*...what will happen?'

All that stupidity aside...I came out of the exercise roughly one week later with a great appreciation for IP Addresses, Gateway numbers, Primary & Secondary DNS numbers, how DHCP works...you name it. Aaaaaaand, I have a fully functioning home network once again successfully bound around the KR1. And the PS3 is a great part of that.

I really like the solid connection with Sprint. I *wouldn't* say that it was super-quick...the GTHD download took over 4 hours beginning at ~ 11pm EST. BUT...the connection never dropped, and the download completed/installed successfully. And I would consider a lot of that speed issue to still be a result of congestion on PSNetwork's servers (as reported in other threads). My general connection-timing tests I've been running have me anywhere from half-to-full T1 speed. Again, tho, consistency of connection for the PS3 was extremely evident with Sprint...whereas with Verizon the connection would OFTEN time-out and cause my KR1 to reset...killing any download.

I strongly suggest you consider looking into Sprint and the KR1 if you're interested no limits on downloads, good-to-great online gaming, and internet connectivity "in the sticks."

w1ngman,

Would you care to post your download/upload speeds that your system allows. As a boonies liver with dialup I'm keen on upgrading.
If you have any links of your connection hardware would you mind posting them too.

Regards,
Frank

I have considered ISDN at my place also. I may be able to get it approved as a work expense. I am just 1/2 mile from DSL but my road is of low population and ATT has no plan to bring it to just me. ISDN would suit me in relation to VPN into work and allow some "modern" things to happen in my house.

How many hoops did you have to jump through to get ISDN?

I, like w1ngman, went with Sprint EVDO service, but I have a Linksys router that the PCMCIA card plugs into.

I made it a grand total of about 1.5 hours on dial-up when we moved into our new house back in October. Keep in mind that the 1.5 hours was to just check my email using a Java based client. I forked out WAY too much money for the hardware, but now I get speeds approaching what I had on DSL years ago, but still slower than the cable that I had most recently in my condo.

I went through 3gstore.com. Their service is fantastic to boot!

FWIW, my latency speeds are a little slow, but I can' play battlegrounds in WoW without problem.

My solution: I just picked up a Samsung Blackjack II, 3g phone with a Data Plan through AT&T. They limit you to 5gb a month, but going from dialup at 44kbps to 230kbps using my phone as a modem has allowed me to surf with my laptop and my desktop units much faster than before.
While it may not be fast enough for gaming, it's definetely better than dialup.

At first I was thinking of getting just an air card and a router, but I needed a new phone badly, and the BJ II is pretty darn cool and allows for the same speed of connection, plus I can use it much more than just an air card.

A question I do have now, is there a way I can set up a network using my phone as the broadband connection? I know there are routers that accept the PCMCIA air cards, but I connect using a USB cable. Can I connect all my machines, PS3, desktop and laptop to a wireless router and use one of my computers as the connection point instead of the router? I'm fairly new at networking so I apologize it these are simple questions.

Also, according to the 3g network info, I should be able to connect at a faster rate, somewhere around 600kbps to 1.4mbps, but according to my network connection it says I'm getting a speed of 230.4kbps. Is there a setting I need to change or is this the limitation of the USB port?

Any info is greatly appreciated!

Regards,
Frank