Help me pick a USB internet stick plan so I can play XIV

My mom cancelled the internet because no one in the house uses it except me, and she doesn't have any respect for gamers. My only choice now is to grab a USB stick with a plan and I need help to find what plan I should get.

Keep in mind I will be playing 1 hour a day.
I also will not be downloading files, watching youtube, emails etc. It is 100% for playing FFXIV. I will bring my machine to a friends house to download updates and patches.

These are my options:

$20/mo - 100MB data
$35/mo - 500MB data
$50/mo - 2GB data

I don't want to exceed $50/mo but if I must, the next plan is

$70/mo 5GB data

Thanks for any help, hopefully I can be back up and running by tomorrow.

From my experiences with using a 3G aircard deep in the Appalachian mountains, you'll use about 10 MBs per hour of FFXIV, and depending on whether you'll be getting terrible reception like I did, will experience quite a bit of lag and the slightly more than occasional disconnection from the servers.

Make sure you don't let anyone else in your house use it if you're going to be paying that much for it. (I think it'd be cheaper to just straight up pay for actual internet yourself.)

I'm surprised she's canceling your internet. It is an incredible research tool and you can find a wealth of information for every-day life. Not to mention nowadays a PC's worth is cut by about half with no internet access.

But I agree with Montjuleant. It's probably better if you just pay for it yourself. it sounds like your machine is fairly portable, so why not just play at your friends house if that's not an option?

Just show your mom Facebook. That should fix all your problems.

or steal wi-fi from a neighbor or McDonalds! ^_^/

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Originally Posted by AcaciaTyrannia

or steal wi-fi from a neighbor or McDonalds! ^_^/

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Everyone is PW protected. And I don't know about bringing a huge case, huge monitor, heavy mechanical keyboard and mouse into a McDonalds. Lol.

Besides, those places make me sick without even eating the "food".

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Montjuleant

From my experiences with using a 3G aircard deep in the Appalachian mountains, you'll use about 10 MBs per hour of FFXIV, and depending on whether you'll be getting terrible reception like I did, will experience quite a bit of lag and the slightly more than occasional disconnection from the servers.

Make sure you don't let anyone else in your house use it if you're going to be paying that much for it. (I think it'd be cheaper to just straight up pay for actual internet yourself.)

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Hmm 10MB/hr is better than I thought. 500MB/month should work for me. And I doubt I'll be getting terrible reception here in the city. Thanks.

Can you not just get her to turn the internet back on and have you pay for it? Those stick plans charge you a arm and a leg if you go over and you'll have to download the new patches that come out and when 2.0 hits the new client. I'm sure you'll be tempted to go to other sites as well.

Why not use WiFi hotspot from your Mobile 3g/hspa? Or tether with a usb cable from your mobile internet?
You need a internet connection on your mobile ofcourse, but most people with smartphones have that nowadays?

for 40 bucks you can get either Cable/or ADSL at around 15mbits up/2mbits down, just get the net yourself.

unless you absolutely need an aircard don't bother with them they suck for gaming or any activity requiring a decent latency, not to mention blackouts during thunderstorms and heavy metro area's.

Teach her Farmville.

I would strongly consider just asking your Mom if you can pay for the internet yourself. I know you might not play that often, but considering HUGE patch downloads are coming that could potentially take days (2.0), you are probably better off paying for the internet on your own. Also, basic internet service is in the same price point as many of those data plans.

If Mom has an issue with the internet in the house for some reason, show her the plans for the Internet Sticks vs. just outright subbing for internet service. Also, maybe hardwire (instead of wireless) your internet so that she can have piece of mind that only your computer is getting on the internet. Lastly, if it's a 'how much time you spend on the internet thing, work out something with her personally that tracks your usage.

And that was my 'Mom' answer...

Or introduce her to Zynga games....I think My Mom is the Godfather by now with how much Mafia Wars she's played...

USB internet sticks don't work too great for online gaming is the experience I made so far.
Like many others suggested already, get your mom into resubscribing to normal internet which you pay for; it's way cheaper than those sticks and there are many different plans as well (for example for ~10 bucks if you use it for less than 20 hours per week - which is what you want to do anyways).

Wow, that sucks for you. I'd hate to be back in the information dark ages. IMO, the internet is something that I absolutely must have access to.

Sounds like OP is not in america. Or incredibly poor. If you're in america, 4g LTE by verizon is 3gb for $30/mo. Best coverage and fastest speeds. However based on the price/speed you've listed, they definitely do not sound like american plans. And if you're not in america, chances are the internet may not be as widely available as it is here. And who plays for only 1 hour a day.

I had a debate with some folks about the 3g ps vita the other day saying 250mb would be enough for browsing. Did you know just loading sony's website is 8.31mb for their forum? A single webpage. ffxiv's forum is similar. Browse a dozen pages and you're almost 1/2 into your monthly 250mb limit, in about an hour. I got my mother a samsung galaxy cell phone. no web browseing, just weather and occational facebooking. I started her off with the 250mb plan but we blew through it every single month so I moved her to the 3gb/mo plan.

Just pay for cable/DSL yourself... it's cheaper, more reliable and you won't have download overages like you will with those other plans. You'll pay about the same as well.

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Originally Posted by ToxicFox

Can you not just get her to turn the internet back on and have you pay for it? Those stick plans charge you a arm and a leg if you go over and you'll have to download the new patches that come out and when 2.0 hits the new client. I'm sure you'll be tempted to go to other sites as well.

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This, this and then this.

If there is DSL or cable available in your area, this will probably be cheaper, faster and more stable than almost any wireless solution. If you are over 18, it should probably be possible to put the plan in your own name too, so that your mother wouldn't even read the bills.