Vegas, Wifi, and Internet Poker
I am in Vegas for the World Series of Poker, which means 30 days of living out of a suitcase in a hotel room. After using the internet connection in the hotel for less than a few hours there is one thing that really stands out: this is the worst connection ever. Constant disconnections, tons of lag, and I have no idea how secure/unsecure the network is. These things all make it impossible to play online poker.
I did some research on wifi cards and came across Clear, which currently has 4g network infrastructure in Las Vegas as well as a month-to-month payment plan. Jackpot!
Clear's 4g USB Wifi Card
They have two options, buy online or buy in one of their Vegas stores, which are about five minutes off the strip. I choose to do an in-store buy because I wanted the connection right away. Purchasing the plan/card was really easy. I was somewhat hesitant because I never heard of this provider before, but I was really impressed with their store and knowledge. All-in-all I paid about $170 dollars for the modem, activation, and one month of coverage. I was also in and out of the store in 15 minutes, which is unbelievable when you think of average time spent in cell phone stores.
Since buying the card I have played six sessions of online poker on just about every single site. My average session is about five hours. I have had one disconnect, after four hours during the first session. Since then it has been flawless, including an eight hour session.
I am in one of these mega hotels in Vegas and my connection is usually one or two bars out of 10. The connection manager rates this as a ‘weak signal’. This is somewhat worrisome, but like I said, I was able to play a couple of big sessions without a single disconnect.
The speed seems pretty solid, it is not your cable modem, but for browsing webpages its perfectly fine.
Clear Wifi 4G Speed Test in Las Vegas, NV
I would easily recommend this to any online poker player spending the month in Vegas. Especially when you consider the $14.95/day fee for using the hotel’s unstable internet, this card becomes a no brainer.
