Would I need full bars of service to play online games with a portable router?

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sensationlive3

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Oct 4, 2017
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So basically I'm in college ATM so not at home. The college wifi bans steam AND Vpns, even if I found a bypass it's far too weak to play online games anyway. I am a fan of the game rocket league and I still wanna play online on that game. I already have around 650 hours on it and last season I was 2 ranks from the highest rank lol, idk, it's just really fun. I do really wanna get a portable router, just a really powerful router designed for games but I can put a virgin media sim in it with 20gb of data a month. I am fully aware how expensive this is. Anyhow, In my room in college I get 1 bar of service, so would this plan work? I honestly miss gaming lol, I'm not sure why, it's been about 5 weeks without it and I feel like something is missing, what shall I do?
 
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bill001g

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Best bet would be to try it with your cell phone acting as a hotspot before you spend a lot of money.

More signal level is better but a weak signal with no interference will work just as good as a strong one. The reason strong signal helps is it increase the ability of the radio to pick out the actual signal from all the other noise on the same frequencies.

There is really no magic router that will do this. I am going to suspect your best option is to get a broadband USB modem. You could plug that directly into your pc but you could if your really wanted to plug it into some consumer routers. Many routers have lists of modems they support. You will want to put a long USB cable on the modem and place it near a window or maybe even outside if you can keep it dry.

How well it will work is hard to say. In addition to signal levels it depends on things like how crowded the cell tower is. The cell companies do really stupid stuff sometime to balance load on their network. It really makes no sense when I am sitting stationary that they switch me to a different cell tower especially one that I get lower reception from but they do this all the time.
 
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sensationlive3

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Oct 4, 2017
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So what I got from this was that there is such thing as a router that plugs into my pc and is long so the end of it can go outside the window so that I can get signal? Could you please link it? Also if I only get 1 bar of service I won't be able to play online will I? Thank you for your solution, it did help.
I won't be able to put anything outside, but outside the window is for sure fine. But yeah, the amount of signal bars I get on my phone in my room would be the same for my router right? I guess this is might just be a rip :(
 
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bill001g

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Unless you have to have wireless I would avoid a actual router just because of the complexity of finding one that will work with your provider.

To get a actual router you just put a SIM in you would have to find one on your providers web site there tends to not be a lot of selection. They do sell these hotspot things but performance is not the best because they are designed for portability.

Most companies though have a number of USB modems that they support. These plug directly into your PC and that is your best option if you can do it. You can not plug them into a game console though, in that case you would need a router.

You may want to see if there are other cell providers that have coverage in your area. Your best option is to see if you can find someone who has a device on these other carriers and see what signal levels you actually get.
 
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sensationlive3

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Yes, well the ones I've seen online look like a big USB and are routers, but I'm sure they're weak and not good for gaming? My plan was to buy a sim and a good gaming router, and wire up my pc with Ethernet from that. But nevertheless I wanted to know if I need full bars of service in my room, I literally get 1 bar in my bedroom, I can't even browse the web on my phone with 4g unless I connect to the college wifi.
 
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bill001g

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Yup signal level is key. After that you can look for devices.

You will find very few routers that directly take sims. Cell phones even though they are exactly the same device there are different sub models that only work on different providers. The cost is too high for router manufactures to have their routers that support all the different radio frequencies and they would sell so few it does not pay to have lots of different variations that support different ISP.

Would be nice if the SIM also had the radio part but the SIM is purely a security device.
 
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sensationlive3

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Oct 4, 2017
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Damn, I guess that's a rip. Nothing I can do then? Would 4 bars be enough to play online? Downstairs in my lounge I share with a roommate I get 4 bars on my phone, I guess it's better than nothing. However I don't want a big router if I were to do that, are there any Small routers with sims that would work for gaming? Like ones that could plug into my laptop? Sry for all the questions, I don't know much xD
 
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bill001g

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Those are not router those are modems and many time they come with the sim inside. They are very unique to the ISP. The ISP web site lists the one that will work on their system. Many times you must buy them from the ISP.....only because they are jerks but they will refuse to activate devices that technically can work but they did not sell them.

Again you best bet is to take your cellphone and run it in hotspot or tethered mode to your pc. This will quickly show you if the signals are good enough to play games on. Many times even the best signal will have too many latency spikes to play some games.
 
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sensationlive3

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Oct 4, 2017
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I get 1 bar of service in my room, like I said, I can't even browse the web on my phone in my room. But my original question was Does the amount of bars of service I get on my phone in my room affect my wifi if I were to get a portable sim router?
 
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