Quick question on Internet connection.

[Cedrica-the-Bard]

I currently have DSL and, obviously, have no trouble running the game. However, we bought a home in a rural area and the only options available are accelerated dial-up and satellite internet. The satellite rep told me the accelrated dial-up would likely be as good as the satellite due to the "fair use policy".

So, my question: does anyone use accelerated dial-up? If so, what headaches should I look forward to when playing the game on dial-up compared to how I am used to playing it now?

I just want to mentally prepare myself before it happens

Thanks.

[Freeman]

Accelerated dial up is really just normal dial up that has some compression for common web pages. I've never used dialup with DDO myself, but I've played with others who did, and they didn't particularly enjoy the experience. I know many people have used satellite connections, and I think that would still be better than dialup, even with the higher latency. Do you have any idea what the actual cap will be on your connection? That's likely what the "fair use" policy was referring to.

[Cedrica-the-Bard]

Accelerated dial up is really just normal dial up that has some compression for common web pages. I've never used dialup with DDO myself, but I've played with others who did, and they didn't particularly enjoy the experience. I know many people have used satellite connections, and I think that would still be better than dialup, even with the higher latency. Do you have any idea what the actual cap will be on your connection? That's likely what the "fair use" policy was referring to.

Well, the thing about the satellite is the cost. You can have a higher cap, but it costs you. The basic is $60/month and this is akin to dial-up in terms of data transfer limits. Then you can go up. In order to get it to a point where I can play comfortably, the cost is $199/month and we simply can't afford that right now. Also, the set-up fees are ridiculous: $300 if you sign a 2 year contract or $900 and slightly lower monthly costs. Anyway, it's just not a viable option for a few months so I'm stuck with dial-up.

[NullWolf]

Make sure noone around you provided wireless internet too.
I know here, population under 30k people, there is a provider (a couple of them really) that offers a wireless signal that can hit usually up to 30+ miles (depending on radio Line-of-sight). Also, some satellite providers limit not just the bandwidth, but they put a cap on how much bandwidth you can use per month, then charge for going over that. And with MMOs (and most other online games) you can hit that cap pretty quickly... (Knew a guy who played WoW when his satellite company first implemented that, they ended up turning off his internet till the next month...)