Hardware LTE for Switch, would you be interested?

[gnmmarechal]

I would like this, it worked well on the Vita for me so I don't see why it won't with LTE on Switch. I just had a copy of my phone's SIM made by my carrier and put it in the Vita to use the same subscription on both devices, I don't know how it works in USA tho.

It worked well? Tell me you're being sarcastic.

Sent from my cave of despair where I collect souls

 

[Ridge]

It worked well? Tell me you're being sarcastic.

Sent from my cave of despair where I collect souls

No really, I'm not. I never used it for playing like Street Fighter on the go or something, but it was great for uploading photos from Tearaway and updating my Monkey Ball scores.

 

[AlexanderLS]

It depends on the provider.
If they go with T-Mobile then most defiantly.
T-Mobile might even count it as a tablet and offer us 200MB a month free.
All the other providers are too greedy with high costs for limited data.
Ability to change the sim card would be a plus, t-mobile mvnos can be cheaper than t-mobile.

 

[Jayro]

If Nintendo pairs it with LTE, they better foot the data bill, not me.

 

[Xuman]

If its an extra feature, i can see it being useful for people who travel alot. Me personally tho, if i leave the house with it, its to take it to a friends hows to play anyway so i wouldnt need it

 

[InsaneNutter]

I'm not interested, I already pay for data on my phone which I can tether to any wireless device. It seems pointless paying for another data plan for the Switch.

I guess in America it will be useful where you can have multiple sims on one plan (I believe), however as far as i'm aware it's not possible to do that in the UK.

 

[duffmmann]

you know that internet-like system using satelite so you can use online function even where there is no wifi?
well would you be interrested in a nintendo membership for lte on switch?
ofc you would be able to do everything online, gaming, browsing, streaming, etc..
i was thinking about something like 20$/month for unlimitted data, ofc couldnt be offered in all country
after, some dont support lte at all...
so what do you think?

What world are you living in where $20 gets you unlimited data?

Beyond that, no, it seems like a waste to put LTE in the device. We all have smartphones now, maybe thats not universally true, but a huge percentage of us gamers have smartphones now. The Switch will have wifi of course, and like I already do with my 3DS, if I want to play online on the go, I just turn my smartphone into a wifi hotspot and connect my 3DS through there. This is how I'd plan on using the Switch as well, even if the Switch offered an LTE version, I wouldn't bother paying the extra money for it. Especially because then your monthly cell phone bill you'd have an extra connected device, so even if you don't change your cell phone's data plan and share the data you already get with the device, you still have to pay a connected device fee per month, which is either $5 or $10 extra per month (depending on your carrier) at the least. Which again, is just extra money I don't need to pay when I can just make my phone into a mobile hotspot.

Plus the old wifi hotspot is future proof. Should the day come where we have 5G or better, we can always still use our cell phones as wifi hotspots and then connect our device directly to the faster network. While if the device has 4G LTE built into it, at a certain point it'd make less sense to bother using that and not instead just connect to a wifi hotspot on the faster network.

Even disregarding the fact that 3G was pretty much on the way out when the Vita was released, I never understood the appeal of the idea in general, it costs more to get a feature you can easily get anyway if you already have a cell phone at no extra cost.

 

[Yil]

Will the volta refresh support 5G?

 

[foob]

I can definitely see having a SIM in the device appealing to a vocal niche of the userbase. But personally it's not for me; I am mostly into games machines for the effortless local multiplayer. The less online nonsense, the better for me.

It's hard to say whether the Vita 3G wasn't accepted for the fact that it had 3G or the general fact that the Vita (even the plain wi-fi model) was priced too high. That includes those memory card costs being a true slap-in-the-face to would-be customers. Would Nintendo even entertain the thought of a model that accepts a SIM card? I have my doubts; we are talking about a company that is too tight to bundle a USB cable with its 3DS units (even those coming without a power supply).

 

[jesterscourt]

The launch model Vita had a 3G option, which was locked to a carrier. It was effectively worthless.
LTE enabled portable consoles sound great in concept, but it would take up valuable space that could be better used toward battery or processing power.
The latency in cellular connections, while getting better, is still not viable for things that require fast reflexes and responsiveness. There's a reason why competitive players still used wired connections.