Gooberking
FGC Cannon Fodder
Is there a discussion being had around cellular home internet? I know we all big mad about WiFi but it may not be the only wireless tech we need to have a conversation about.
I’m currently speaking as a blatant offender of cellular home internet use.
[I’m a typer, so there is a spot down below to jump to]
My old ISP decided to remove “promotional” pricing after 6 years and jack my monthly fee up to an even more ridiculous price in the middle of me taking some time away from working. For the first time I had another ISP option and it was half the price, faster upload speeds, and I would have one bill. I knew it wasn’t going to be ideal for this thing we do, but in the name of savings and pretend science here I am.
According the little box my signal is solid, and speeds are generally much better than what I had been putting up with up. The consistency though is garbage. I’ve had good days (even good weeks) but also lots of bad runs for days or longer. Deeper numbers on the signal quality seem to show it really isn’t that great of a connection after all, and cloudflare tests are all over the place where the only consistent thing is a “poor” or “bad” for gaming result. Basically it probably says “meh” for Netflix and that’s about as good a rating as I can expect – ever. I don’t think my experience would be in any way unique, but don’t really have a way of verifying that, and it could be something that varies a lot and gets better over time. Who knows
I switched right about the time SF6 came out. It’s really the only game I’ve tried at this point, and I’ve had days where despite everything the games are pretty good, but overall the experience has been unpleasant for me and a large number of randoms. I’m really liking SF6, I want to play, but I just can’t game in good consistence most of the time.
If all I ever did is stream buffered videos, go to a few websites, and download some single player games I probably wouldn’t notice how lacking it is, but we have this niche hobby where consistency maters more than anything else and I don’t currently have that. There isn’t much I can do at my present location that could improve the situation and I’ve discussed it with the provider who basically said the service is more geared to the general population and their usage needs. That's not us
[Recommend TLDR starting point]
I’m not really surprised and it kind of is the service it is. This is a service now, and it’s being advertised and sold to people. It is one that can be rolled out to people without rewiring buildings or entire apartments to provide an alternative. As a customer you just plug in a box and that’s it. That part is kind of cool
Cool, but when I go online to fight you, you are going to see a 4-5 green bar WIRED opponent. Then we fight, and it will be fine for a round or so, at which point I’m suddenly a 1-2 red bar connection with 400+ms pings and maxed out rollback frames.
WiFi filters and icons will not save you from me or anyone like me, and I cannot protect you with a $5 cord in this case.
Is a conversation yet? How do you feel about it?
I’m currently speaking as a blatant offender of cellular home internet use.
[I’m a typer, so there is a spot down below to jump to]
My old ISP decided to remove “promotional” pricing after 6 years and jack my monthly fee up to an even more ridiculous price in the middle of me taking some time away from working. For the first time I had another ISP option and it was half the price, faster upload speeds, and I would have one bill. I knew it wasn’t going to be ideal for this thing we do, but in the name of savings and pretend science here I am.
According the little box my signal is solid, and speeds are generally much better than what I had been putting up with up. The consistency though is garbage. I’ve had good days (even good weeks) but also lots of bad runs for days or longer. Deeper numbers on the signal quality seem to show it really isn’t that great of a connection after all, and cloudflare tests are all over the place where the only consistent thing is a “poor” or “bad” for gaming result. Basically it probably says “meh” for Netflix and that’s about as good a rating as I can expect – ever. I don’t think my experience would be in any way unique, but don’t really have a way of verifying that, and it could be something that varies a lot and gets better over time. Who knows
I switched right about the time SF6 came out. It’s really the only game I’ve tried at this point, and I’ve had days where despite everything the games are pretty good, but overall the experience has been unpleasant for me and a large number of randoms. I’m really liking SF6, I want to play, but I just can’t game in good consistence most of the time.
If all I ever did is stream buffered videos, go to a few websites, and download some single player games I probably wouldn’t notice how lacking it is, but we have this niche hobby where consistency maters more than anything else and I don’t currently have that. There isn’t much I can do at my present location that could improve the situation and I’ve discussed it with the provider who basically said the service is more geared to the general population and their usage needs. That's not us
[Recommend TLDR starting point]
I’m not really surprised and it kind of is the service it is. This is a service now, and it’s being advertised and sold to people. It is one that can be rolled out to people without rewiring buildings or entire apartments to provide an alternative. As a customer you just plug in a box and that’s it. That part is kind of cool
Cool, but when I go online to fight you, you are going to see a 4-5 green bar WIRED opponent. Then we fight, and it will be fine for a round or so, at which point I’m suddenly a 1-2 red bar connection with 400+ms pings and maxed out rollback frames.
WiFi filters and icons will not save you from me or anyone like me, and I cannot protect you with a $5 cord in this case.
Is a conversation yet? How do you feel about it?
