WoW via Cell Phone
Wednesday, April 19th, 2006 - 6:14pm
I just switched my wireless provider to Sprint PCS and got a new Samsung SPH-A900 to go with it. Anyways while messing with the phone to pc cable I noticed that the device registered as a modem on my machine. After some finagaling I finally figured out how to set up the connection, the tricky part is you have to set the connection to dial #777 to get to the sprint high speed data network. The other trick for the A900 is to do the following:
1. Settings
2. Display
3. Press zero
4. Type in 040793
5. Go down to Toggle NAI and turn it off
So after those steps I was able to connect to the internet. The next logical step of course was to try WoW, and it worked! My ping was around 300ms which isn't the best but was perfectly playable so I spent about the last 10 minutes of my lunch break playing WoW from work. My wireless account at sprint has unlimited internet from the phone, there are rumors if you abuse this kind of access by using your phone as a modem they will charge you though so use at your own risk. But still the ability to play WoW from almost anywhere has me pretty excited.
PSN ID: Stric9
Yeah, read the fine print, I've seen multiple articles about how "unlimited" doesn't actually mean "unlimited" in those cases.
Also, I am leaving Sprint. Sprint Sucks. Coverage blows - my wife can rarely reach me... at freaking work! In Addison, TX, nearly in Dallas. There are big chunks of the 190 tollway that I can't get coverage, and big parts of the roads by my house that are dark.
Ree. Dik. You. Luss.
P.S. I hate Sprint, but good luck!
"And my son, too, thinks everything is a launchpad, every bug a meal, and every sunny day a reason to take all your clothes off and roll around in the grass." - rabbit
Cingular is no better. Their voice mail system is horrendous!
Im happy with Sprint in SF
Being fangoriously devoured by a gelatinous monster.
I have Sprint and won't get into who's the best or worst company but I have done exactly what you describe Stric9. My latency was however much worse, around 1000 to 1200 ms. There was about a second delay in combat actions but PVE was still very playable. I imagine PVP would have been a little more difficult. Anywho, I got major cool points from the slacker elite here at work for getting WOW up and running... and on a Linux laptop no less.
Baba Ganoush1
-WAR, Iron Rock-
Flisriin, Zamfir, Ser
Pretty cool Stric. Like you said, be careful because if you exceed some internal bandwidth limits Sprint has, not only will you get charged, but they will also cancel your Vision service period and not allow you to get it again. Check out HowardForums, I think they know the limits so you can try to watch it. If you want to do this without risk, Sprint wants you to buy the Vision data plan or whatever it's called.
Oh, and I've had Sprint for over seven years, I'll be dropping them this summer when my contract is up. The contract BS is the main reason, every time I make any little change to my account, even just moving to a new city so I need a new number, they make you sign a new contract. Want to add a second line? New contract. It's BS. Not sure who I'm going with next.
Yeah, that new contract stuff is one of the reasons I left sprint a couple of years ago.
Kind of lost on this as I've done no research.
You're just using your cell phone as a modem to connect your laptop to the net to play? Or do you have some program / client that allows you to actually connect to the game and play on your phone's screen?
Using it as a modem, while that in and off itself may not be that note worthy. I was impressed that it's a good enough connection to play the game. Although I should mention to get this connection you have to have one of the newer phones that can run on Sprint's high speed data network.
PSN ID: Stric9
So I one upped it and managed to use bluetooth to connect the laptop to the cellphone and play. Worked great as well although moving the phone about one foot away from the laptop doubled the latency to about 600ms compared to having it right next to the computer. But still the fact that I don't even need a usb cable now is pretty awesome. Looking at the data connection for two one hour wow sessions so far the total data sent is around 1MB which doesn't seem like it should raise any red flags considering you could easily amass that amount of data using sprint's video streaming server. I'll still be keeping an eye on my bill though.
PSN ID: Stric9
WoW has very low bandwidth requirements - it would work on a 33.6 modem. I think you will be fine.
Just watch out for patch day though, not a low bandwidth day
"Also, I have four legs and am covered in wool. Baa!" *Legion* reveals his inner furry.