Solutions for when the internet goes down.

[FieryJustice]

Basically, last night my internet service went down and I lost $860 in sngs. Soooo...I already have service through my cable company. I was also considering somehow getting service through my phone company also. Or, I was considering getting some sort of wireless isp like verizon or something like that. I guess, please let me know what kind of solutions there could be to my little problem.
Thanks a lot
Jcardshark

[Tilt]

You should find a relationship with another player or two who you can call to finish your tourneys for you when this - or anything that interrupts - happens.

[Apathy]

[ QUOTE ]
You should find a relationship with another player or two who you can call to finish your tourneys for you when this - or anything that interrupts - happens.

[/ QUOTE ]

even doing this still costs you quite a few hands and a lot of money, and is obviously pretty unreliable because noone will always be on hand in the event you need the to finish SNGs at 4:30am.

I would reccomend getting dial-up along with your cable. If you have two unique ISPs only a blackout can stop you.

[Chiron]

Last time this happened to me I hauled ass to the nearest internet café.

[Big Limpin']

...what they said. get a backup buddy, and a backup ISP.

But i can give you a funny story. About a year ago, i was in a big multi when my internet dies...im freaking out for like 10 minutes, rebooting comp, fiddling with wires ont he modem, etc....after 10 min, im in panic mode, it was a $50 multi with over 500 entries, and we were down to 2 or 3 tables, already ITM, and i was in good shape chipwise.

Well, i had just moved, and didnt now any of my neighbors or anything. So i go tearing out of my apartment, directly to the local public library, which was about a 3-5 minute sprint away.. If you've seen American Pie 1, that scene where they guy (jim?) has got shannon elizabeth to strip in his room, and he has to boot it over to his freinds house to watch...that was about what i was doing.

So, i get to the library, and DAMMIT ! its Sunday and the thing is closed. /images/graemlins/mad.gif /images/graemlins/mad.gif /images/graemlins/mad.gif Now i'm like "omg, maybe my internet is back up at home, so off i go in the other direction, mach chicken, get home, nope, still down.
At this point i know i have lost some blinds, and maybe its final table, but im pretty sure im still alive. Then insperation strikes...Plan B....where do they have comps??/ THeres a mall just a block away, so i sprint over there, running down the hallway looking for some kind of computer store, theres a Radio Shack (halleluliah! they have demo computers), but the f*cking dick of a salesman wont let me on. Im pretty much begging the guy, and he wont let me. I consider decking him and taking over the store, but decide against that.

Next stop...the realty place next door

"please sir let me use your computer i wont be long i need to play poker you have internet right please please please i wont be long its alot of money ill give you half anything please cmon guy let me use it " (i smoke, and am very out of breath at this point, im sure you can imaging the rate at which im spurting these words at him).....anyways, the guy lets me do it..... i log on to the site, it cant load quick enough, c'mon, c'mon, c'mon...finally.....AND TEH TABLE LOADS UP, IM STILL ALIVE !

I have about 5 BB left. I push some mediocre hand before i even see the blinds again. I lose all my chips.

As i am walking home, dejected, i realize that i would have placed a position or two higher if, when that whole mess started, i just said fukit, and turned on the TV.

[multifast1]

I have a DSL provider but also have a free Netzero dial-up account as backup. If my DSL goes down... I can quickly unplug it and dial up at a blazing 28.8K and reconnect to finish my current tables... Usually can get reconnected in about 2-3 minutes once I stop swearing.

[EdgePort]

As I have mentioned on this forum several times. A solution looking like this is probably the best you can do.

1. Cable Internet Connection
2. DSL backup connection (you can reverse the two if you want)
3. Dial-up Connection (usually included with a lot of DSL)
4. and if you want to be super safe, get a phone you can use to connect ot the internet through your computer as well.

The extra $50 a month for an extra DSL or Cable connection is still worth it.. Plus you can download pics with one connection, while your aren't using it, without effecting your other connection speed.

[DonButtons]

raptor and I just got a new apartment (whole new 2+2 cribs edition post on the way soon), but were going to have the main cable serive, then a DSL back up, and also a wireless back up(maybe even more back ups, b/c raptor is a nut). Plus our whole condo building has wireless/ethernet connection available, so its p i m p....

[ilya]

Whatever you do don't get Comcast.

[dfscott]

[ QUOTE ]
Whatever you do don't get Comcast.

[/ QUOTE ]

[Gramps]

On a related note, it's worth the investment now to spend $200 or so on a good battery backup. When the power goes out with $860 (or more) on the table, you'll be glad you did it, esp. if it's out in the entire area. Plus, if you buy an add-on, you get like 5-6 hours worth of juice out of it, allowing you to keep playing and earning vs. reading some book under candlelight.

If you're playing HU with me when it happens, ignore the above advice...

[uphigh_downlow]

Intergate is a internet gateway for your local network. It supports connection teaming.

Anyway what this jargon means is that you can simultaneously plug two different ISPz into one machine, and have your internet traffic distributed over both connections. It has failover capability. The chances that two ISPz go down at the same time are low. Do your research and pickl two completely unrelated ISPs.

So if one link goes down, you are automatically switched to the second one. The second(bakup) link can be a simple dial-up connection.

Anyway to cut a long story short, if seconds can be critical to your gameplay, then this setup fill fix your problem.

[Blarg]

Get a dial-up account, at minimum. 20 bucks a month. You can even leave it on while you play, if you want to, so there is no dial-in time. You can at least 8-table very comfortably on a dial-up modem that connects with as little as 42.6 speed. I have, for a year. Now I have DSL, and kept the dial-up as back-up. And it has come in handy.

A professional player I know has cable, dial-up, and DSL. He didn't want to have one of those $860 losses like you had, so it's money extremely well spent.

Right now I'm getting Yahoo DSL at $20 a month and MSN dial-up at around $20 a month. Every even halfway serious player needs back-up.

[raptor517]

well, for the most part, this works SOMEWHAT. however, most people dont really like playing 12 tables, so you have to call 2-3 people. in the time it takes to do all of that, you may be 10 minutes into the game. if yer on the bubble or 5 handed, yer screwed. get 2 backup internet connections and a couple usp's(uninterrupted power supplies.) holla

[imcastleman]

Easy solution. I have 2 isp's, one is Cable and the other is DSL. I have both of my modems hooked up to two separate Linksys Wireless routers. When I lose service, I simply open up my available wireless connecitons and I select the one that is working.