Has anyone tried to use Slingbox while tailgating?

Submitted by Brian on

Here's the sitation: I just got a Droid Incredible and am thinking of getting a slingbox so I can catch the end of noon games when Michigan has a 3:30 game. I could hardly get texts out with AT&T, but that was during the game and on AT&T. IIRC, Verizon actually brings in mobile towers to up capacity on gamedays.

Has anyone tried to slingbox on Verizon at a tailgate? Did it work? Should I save my money?

Brian

July 30th, 2010 at 12:14 AM ^

I like it a lot but it's my first smartphone so I don't have a lot to compare it to. I did have a moment of jealousy when I saw the actual size of an EVO (which would be the size of a Droid X)... I thought it would be just ridiculously huge. It is big but it would easily fit in my pockets.

Being able to just say an address to your GPS is ridiculous, though.

Rampage9

July 29th, 2010 at 11:44 PM ^

I have Verizon and often times have troubling sedning texts from inside the stadium even though it shows I have decent service. So I'm not sure if the same problem would screw with your slingbox or not

madtadder

July 29th, 2010 at 11:45 PM ^

Very curious about this as well. Since I already have a slingplayer and the android app...I'm committed, but I got it with the added intention of catching the end of noon games when we start at 3:30.

Hannibal.

July 29th, 2010 at 11:51 PM ^

The problems that you will have related to a sling box will be all upstream. Upstream bandwidth rules the performance.  Test your upload and if you are in the 800K/S range, you should be OK for at least a decent picture.  I, on the other hand, try to sling from my home to my stepdad's home, and I can't get anyhing higher resolustion than 320X240 because of my upstream limitatitions.  You've got to have insane upstream bandwidth to do any serious slinging. Upstream bandwidth.  Upstream upstream upstream.  You've got to have gobs of it to sling a game.

qbwaggle

July 30th, 2010 at 9:12 AM ^

Well, I believe the key point is that the bottleneck will be the slowest of these two connections:

(1) Home internet upload speed (i.e. the network your slingbox is connected to)

(2) Smartphone data download speed (Verizon in Brian's case)

DSL usually has slow upload speed compared to Comast.  I believe U-Verse has 1 Mbps upload (unless you pony up for a premium internet package) and Comcast is 3 Mbps upload (don't quote me on this...).

But, on game day when Verizon's data network will likely be busier than normal, my guess is that the Verizon download speed will be your bottleneck.

Just my experience.

dmgoblue08

July 30th, 2010 at 12:07 AM ^

had it for Blackberry for a while...after much success on my computer...but troubleshooting and signal quality became more of a bother than it was worth. I love Slingbox to death but lack of competition has kept the quality stagnant.

Shaqsquatch

July 30th, 2010 at 12:36 AM ^

I haven't had any problems with Verizon reception in past years (sending/receiving calls from inside the stadium), but this is my first year with a Droid too, I'm not sure how the 3G is on gamedays.

Alex021224

July 30th, 2010 at 1:34 AM ^

I will be attempting to stream live tv using my Evo as a modem. I don't think it will work to well. I will be using an hd antenna for the early games on ABC, NBC, and CHAT. I will report my results once I attempt the Evo tether.

jblaze

July 30th, 2010 at 7:29 AM ^

and a Sprint aircard and it didn't work well at all. However, if I'm in a good spot it works well with AT&T on my blackberry. Sorry, no Verizon service for me, so I can't comment on that.

However, Slingbox is awesome.

bigmc6000

July 30th, 2010 at 8:29 AM ^

Something to consider is that sending a text uses the cell phone part of the tower (GSM/CDMA) and the data would go through HSDPA so your performance on text messages isn't always indicitive of what you'd get using data.  I've used my slingbox on my iPhone while around the DFW Metroplex (yeah, I know, it's not AA but at least it's something) and I've had pretty good performance and have watched a few games on it.  If the playback gets really choppy I've taken to just listening to the games via the "audio only" option which, IMO, is still pretty good if you can't get a radio feed. 

 

So, basically, texting comparisons don't really apply as data is on a different channel and Slingbox is pretty awesome.  In an area as densly populated as Michigan Stadium you might have to go the audio only route but, like I said, it's still better than waiting for the web to update.  I actually listened to USA Hockey games on my drive home via the audio only option on my slingbox FWIW.

umfb19

July 30th, 2010 at 10:18 AM ^

Brian...

It's great... the reason I bought it was because I go to either UM games or my brother's games (He's also plays D1 Football).  So when I'm at one game, I watch the other, if they overlap. 

Sometimes it is choppy inside of the stadium.  So what I do is I'm on Sprint, have a Touch Pro 2.  I can get WiFi on it, so I pull the free, public Wi-Fi in the stadium and use that, rather than using the cell signal to stream while I'm in the stadium.  It's good if your cable box at home is a DVR, so you can rewind if you miss something, or even pause if something else is going on.  Where we tailgate, I have no problems wih signal strength.  One thing to be aware of... Sling will pull your battery big time.  I actually have an extra battery, just for football season.  Sometimes I need it.. sometimes I don't.  But good to have. 

So the answer is... yes... GET IT.  The other nice thing, if you have a laptop, you can use that as well.  Clearly, not ideal for tailgating, but when you are traveling, it's nice. 

ronaldeang

August 19th, 2013 at 6:48 PM ^

how is verizon 4g lte service on gamedays now? a bunch of alums and i are gonna go back to aa to tailgate for the first game but it's gonna be tough trying to get everyone tickets. was thinking of tailgating at the golf course and watching the game from there. any chance this would work?