OTR, Gaming And Wi-Fi, OH MY!!

First off let me just say this is not an argument about whether you should be or not be gaming on your down time. Drivers do all different kinds of activities during their down time. Some like to watch movies, read books, get in a little bit of exercise. What ever still makes you feel like your part of the world during your down time I think you should do, but like anything else in moderation. The most important thing is getting your rest for that next 11 hours down the road.

That being said, I have often looked for reliable Wi-Fi while out on the road. Basically short of paying for it at a Loves, Pilot or TA etc. you were out of luck. Occasionally if your lucky enough you could roll into one of the afore mentioned Truck stops and they may have a McDonalds or Denny's that has free Wi-Fi. Still they are throttled down so much you can barely stream a movie let alone do any real gaming. Also your sitting in there and everyone is looking over at you after you have refilled your cup for the 30th time and I swear they shut down the router on you. Also your bladder is so full you might think it's going to bust but you don't want to leave your laptop on the table for the taking.

Last month I purchased a new phone. First I had just a windows smart phone from Wal-Mart on the Strait-Talk plan. They are not kidding about calling it strait talk. They tell you it's unlimited data but that is rubbish, after you reach a certain amount of data they all but cut you off and you can barely open up your Facebook App. Ok like I said I purchased a new phone through AT&T. Samsung Galaxy S5 Active. I got one for me and my wife. She just got the Samsung S5. As I'm going through all the apps I noticed one that said Mobile Hotspot. Once you open this app you can slide the bar over to turn it on or leave it off. I would recommend leaving it off if your not using it. This app will connect to your laptop, surface, pad via the app. 1. Turn on the Wi-Fi on the device. 2. Find your phone in the Wi-Fi network list. 3. Connect to your phone by entering the provided password. 4. Enjoy the internet using portable Wi-Fi hotspot.

I was still skeptical. How much does this cost? Is it extra service? How much Data will I use?? So first thing I did was start up my game. Currently I'm playing Eve Online. This game uses very little data from everyone that I have talked to. It was true I played for over a hour and only used .03 GB. To put this into perspective for those that don't know it takes 1024 MB to make 1 GB. so essentially I only used 30.72 MB. I have a 6GB plan and it's pretty clear to me I will be downgrading that in the very near future. Now for the bad news. Gaming is one thing, streaming a movie is entirely different and I learned this all too quickly. That same night my Co-Driver and I decided to watch one of the new Hobbit movies and only halfway through the movie I had consumed over 2.5 GB!!! We didn't watch the rest of the movie. After talking with AT&T they explained to me that gaming does not use very much but streaming a 3.5 hour High-Definition epic movie does.

My AT&T rep also assured me that this is not an additional cost feature so long as I don't go over my data plan. If you do go over your Data plan things get very expensive very quickly. I have heard that you may be able to get a one time forgiveness if you call them and upgrade your plan. I don't plan to go over my Data. Great thing about this phone is you can monitor your actual data as your using it. It updates like every 15 minutes or so and the last dozen times I have played my game the results have all roughly been the same. I have tethered my Surface Pro 2 now several times to my phone and I'm still amazed that even if I have poor reception, as little as 2 bars on my 4G network I still get an amazing connection with little to now lag. I'm playing Eve wide open and I never lag out or disco.

I looked all over for information on the internet before this. Either I was looking for it wrong or it didn't exist for the Professional Truck Driver community via my searches. It just kinda fell into my lap and I wanted to pass it on. If this helps anyone out there then I'm happy.

Be safe, get plenty of rest and get your game on!

Jim

You might end up keeping your plan. I have been very carefull with mine and i blew through my 2 gb in 2 weeks. I upgraded. The only video i stream is an occasional face book tid bit. I found that the google maps eats a lot of data. I always look at satellite views of the shippers and recievers where i am going so i can see their entrances and such so i know what to expect when i get there.

I was still skeptical. How much does this cost? Is it extra service? How much Data will I use?? So first thing I did was start up my game. Currently I'm playing Eve Online. This game uses very little data from everyone that I have talked to. It was true I played for over a hour and only used .03 GB. To put this into perspective for those that don't know it takes 1024 MB to make 1 GB. so essentially I only used 30.72 MB. I have a 6GB plan and it's pretty clear to me I will be downgrading that in the very near future. Now for the bad news. Gaming is one thing, streaming a movie is entirely different and I learned this all too quickly. That same night my Co-Driver and I decided to watch one of the new Hobbit movies and only halfway through the movie I had consumed over 2.5 GB!!! We didn't watch the rest of the movie. After talking with AT&T they explained to me that gaming does not use very much but streaming a 3.5 hour High-Definition epic movie does.

My AT&T rep also assured me that this is not an additional cost feature so long as I don't go over my data plan. If you do go over your Data plan things get very expensive very quickly. I have heard that you may be able to get a one time forgiveness if you call them and upgrade your plan. I don't plan to go over my Data. Great thing about this phone is you can monitor your actual data as your using it. It updates like every 15 minutes or so and the last dozen times I have played my game the results have all roughly been the same. I have tethered my Surface Pro 2 now several times to my phone and I'm still amazed that even if I have poor reception, as little as 2 bars on my 4G network I still get an amazing connection with little to now lag. I'm playing Eve wide open and I never lag out or disco.

I looked all over for information on the internet before this. Either I was looking for it wrong or it didn't exist for the Professional Truck Driver community via my searches. It just kinda fell into my lap and I wanted to pass it on. If this helps anyone out there then I'm happy.

Be safe, get plenty of rest and get your game on!

Jim

Jim, welcome to the world of hotspots lol..

Now, on to giving you a bit of help. I have a 30GB plan with Verizon, Im spending a bit for it, but I can do a lot with 30GB. with that being said.

If your streaming through netflix, I'd recommend dropping your video quality to low, it consumes .3gb per hour or 307mb/hr

First thing is log into netflix

On the top right should be your profile :) click the arrow

From there Select account

Next hit Play back settings

And select low.

And don't forget to save

I am able to watch a full 2hr movie and use just a little above 1/2 a gig. I've managed to get through to the 3rd season of Criminal Minds on netflix in 4gb of data, thats a lot of video time.

most online games will use close to 30-50mb per hour. I do a lot of Teamspeak (Voice over Internet like skype), while also playing Archage, Dragon Age Inquisition, Far Cry 4 and Diablo 3. Diablo and Archage are the only ones that use data and its very small. I can do 3-4hrs of either game without breaking 1/4 gig (256mb)

You might end up keeping your plan. I have been very carefull with mine and i blew through my 2 gb in 2 weeks. I upgraded. The only video i stream is an occasional face book tid bit. I found that the google maps eats a lot of data. I always look at satellite views of the shippers and recievers where i am going so i can see their entrances and such so i know what to expect when i get there.

maps shouldn't eat much data. like .3-6gb

those are my most used apps and the most data used is my tether, my maps and earth don't use much at all and I use them every day.