GenCon 2018 - How did HLO perform?

[civory]

Specifically, how did HLO perform for people trying to play in the Paizo hall? I've always had a hard time trying to get wifi or mobile access in there and I'm curious how the online-only model worked at scale.

[rob]

We ran the entire Character Creation Station inside the Sycamore Ballroom, with eight total computers, via a single mobile hotspot connected to the live servers. The performance we experienced was great. But that's just one data point.

So I'm also quite interested to know what performance other users experienced in the hall...

[Toblakai]

I hot spotted my tablet from my phone.

This was my first year at Gen Con and from all the people complaining about HLO and bad cell/internet connections at Gen Con I expected problems. I never had an issue getting to the internet from my phone. I did not buy the WiFi access that was offered in the convention hall so I have no idea how that performed.

[flyteach]

Rob, I had Verizon WiFi access automagically (it's a cantrip) and it was 5 bars in Sagamore. I did not try LTE at all. Used my iPad during 3 sessions, Friday morning, Saturday night, Sunday morning, and had no hiccups (it's like you had the servers in the room). Also did a little checking with my phone (also wifi) and worked when I randomly checked it during the weekend. The only time I had an issue was Saturday afternoon when I got the server down message. I will say that having the page there live, with conditions, was easy to keep track (along with spells and ammo). I certainly hope you get the starship stuff working so at least one player can track that info for the group. Being so new, it would help to have some mechanical assistance with those rules.

[Jamz]

Buddy of mine ran a hotspot on his phone and used his tablet without issue all weekend! Of course, he needed some extra battery power though for that....

[LazarX]

Originally Posted by rob

We ran the entire Character Creation Station inside the Sycamore Ballroom, with eight total computers, via a single mobile hotspot connected to the live servers. The performance we experienced was great. But that's just one data point.

So I'm also quite interested to know what performance other users experienced in the hall...

The con had a $15 dollar a day WiFi service. By all accounts, to describe it as terrible would have been an upgrade from the actual experience. Data dropouts and disconnects, as well as connection failures, were rife. GenCon is talking about relocation unless the Hall does some serious tech upgrades.

[rob]

Originally Posted by LazarX

The con had a $15 dollar a day WiFi service. By all accounts, to describe it as terrible would have been an upgrade from the actual experience. Data dropouts and disconnects, as well as connection failures, were rife. GenCon is talking about relocation unless the Hall does some serious tech upgrades.

That sounds bad. It also differs from the report of someone else in another thread that sounded like the WiFi performance was reasonable. I wish I remembered where that post was, since I'd like to re-check it to make sure I didn't misread it, but I can't remember the thread at this point.