Help with Internet Provider

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Asjdwf

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Jan 30, 2015
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Hello all,

I am moving to the sticks and have a choice between Hughes Net Gen4 which I hear is horrible for gaming, and a place called WIFI Midwest which is a fixed wireless internet company. Below is what WIFI midwest offers:

Residential #2 1 - 3(computers) 1 Mbps(download) 512 k(upload) 2 Mbps (burst available) $54.95
Residential #3 1 - 5(computers) 2 Mbps(download) 512 k(upload) 3 Mbps(burst available) $64.95

Does either of these two options look like a good bet for gaming on WOW, Xbox live, PS3/PS4, and streaming movies? Please help I am sooooo confused LOL. Also, what does burst mean?
 
Burst means they will let you "burst" to that amount for a short duration typically between 15 and 30 seconds. This is helpful for the initial loading of webpages, youtube videos, etc. So if you were to download a file you would see it start off at your burst speed, then slow down to the normal speed after the burst window.

As far as which plans, Netflix recommends 3Mbps download for SD (standard) quality streaming, 5Mbps for HD streaming.
 
Wow those companies are stuck into the land of 10 years ago. Burst just means that the first few seconds of a download will be at a bursted download rate. But with a 2mb connection it wont really do much in the end. As long as it is a stable connection with low latency that is all that matters.

Good luck!
 
deaedius said:
Wow those companies are stuck into the land of 10 years ago. Burst just means that the first few seconds of a download will be at a bursted download rate. But with a 2mb connection it wont really do much in the end. As long as it is a stable connection with low latency that is all that matters.

Good luck!
Click to expand...

This is incorrect. Bursting is a QoS feature that most WISP radios have. The maximum bandwidth and maximum file size are configurable (not "just a few seconds"). Time Warner Cable was notorious for abusing this feature, but that doesn't mean that everyone does.

It does concern me that they limit the number of computers that you can use. That should be none of their business.

You also should find out if they give you a public IP address. There are many WISPs that do NAT on their end, and just give you an RFC1918 private address. If you then plug in your own router, you will be behind "double NAT" and Xbox Live/PSN will bitch incessantly about it.
 
for the fixed wireless, you want to make sure they do not have a monthly bandwidth cap (or a reasonable one). clear does and it suck for watching porn (or netflix)
 
It is unlimited. It's not clear how fast it is though. From reading around the net it seems I should get 3 meg or faster
 
For gaming, the wireless ISP will be way better.

Satellite has a lot of lag due to the round trip time, thus it really is not good at all for gaming.

Back in the day, I gamed on Xbox Live and PC Games with a 512/256 DSL connection and it worked great due to low latency (~50ms).
 
Anytime gaming is thrown into the mix in situations like this I'd take Wireless over Satellite every single time. It's on the ground and much closer than a satellite would be. Ping times wont be great, but they will be tolerable. They are impossible on satellite. I would say between 80-150ms is likely, but that really depends on the provider, equipment, and number of users they're serving per tower amongst other things.
 
Would going with a wireless hotspot be better? I would only be able to get 12GB data would that work better than Hughes net gen4 and fixed wifi?
 
You will be happy with the fixed wireless. It really is the best out of all your options.

Besides, many wisp's are systematically upgrading their networks as of late. 802.11ac is really improving their services and reducing costs for them. They can serve more customers off the same hardware at a faster rate.
 
Asjdwf said:
Would going with a wireless hotspot be better? I would only be able to get 12GB data would that work better than Hughes net gen4 and fixed wifi?
Click to expand...

Fixed wireless should be better. If the WISP knows what they are doing, and doesn't overload their APs, there is very little added latency (less than 10ms).
 
wizdum said:
Fixed wireless should be better. If the WISP knows what they are doing, and doesn't overload their APs, there is very little added latency (less than 10ms).
Click to expand...

Exactly, I've got short links that are 1ms and 5km links that are 6-10ms. Even most ptmp (like a wisp) are usually 3-6ms as long as their hardware utilizes some kind of tdma.
 
just make sure you have line of sight with their towers/antenna :D

otherwise you'll be cutting down some trees or putting up a tower
 
Yeah but is 2mbps really enough for online gaming while the family watches netflix and a phone or tablet is connected also? I'm so in a bad spot here. The only other place is hughes net gen4 LOL!
 
No, 2mbps is not enough for that, but you won't be able to game at all on Hughes net.

just to say it again:
You can not game at all on Hughes net. it doesn't work because the ping is 150ms+ and jumps all over.

You will also burn through your cap (10gb, 15gb, 20gb or 50gb) on Hughes net watching netflix very quickly. You can use 50gb in 7 days easily. Even theb the 50gb plan is $120/mo.

For $120/mo you would be better off getting 2 fixed wireless accounts and doing load balancing with a decent router.
 
I chose the city I lived in when I moved to SoCal with a serious consideration for broadband options.
 
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