all i know is that tf2 consumes way less data than videos so thats p neat

just to attest, i've used 4g to scrim and it's only slightly worse than what i had.

When I first moved into my apartment I had to use a 4g hotspot to play. Servers I get ~20ms ping to now I was getting ~70ms ping to, which for hitscan isn't a big deal. Beyond that I don't know about any deals etc. Also not sure if I'd recommend scrimming over a wireless connection like that unless you're absolutely desperate.

hertz (prem player in oz) uses 4g when his normal net is shitting out and gets better ping and negligible packet loss, so it really depends on your connection

I did this like three years ago when I moved and hadn't set up internet yet. It was perfectly fine to play on most of the time. Ping was fine, bandwidth was fine. However, every ~10 minutes, I would get spikes to ~500 ping that would last for about a minute. Maybe it would be better now.

Usually playing 1-2 months / year over 4G.

Game + mumble is in my experience roughly 100 MB / hour. I used to get by on a 10GB / month datacap but then I was using it super conservatively (and also overcharged it a couple of times, you should make sure that you get a service that just reduces your speed instead of one that charges you a shitton for any MB over the datacap.)

Depending on where you live 4G isn't that bad, I had ~20 more ping and some minor packet loss at times. At least on the swedish net 4G can get shafted during peak hours (around 7-9 ) when everyone else gets home and starts netflixing though.

If you can then find someone that already got a 4G-router and borrow it for a couple of days to see if it's acceptable.

Bloodsire's been trying to play on 4G for years now.

Neat joke

Ok, it looks like it's quite possible. My dorm is in town, so it's likely to have good reception. I get 60 pings at my home anyway, so even if it's around 70 I won't see much difference.I'll try to get a bit more than #7 just to be safe.
Thanks a lot and cu next season of ETF2L! :p

Playing games on 4G can be a bit tricky, you normally want as much stability as possible for video games but 4G/3G+ tend to be unstable by definition. The stability of your 4G connection will be very dependant on a bunch of factors.
I'd definitely try to get a hold of a 4G router and try it out beforehand. Pay attention to the signal meter on the router itself and move it around your apartment/room/whatever, hold it high up infront of windows and see where you get the best signal.
Learning the location of the nearest transmitter and placing the router in the nearest window facing the transmitter can make a big difference in stability if you feel like going through that effort.
Some buildings can be radio signal repellents as well if there's iron/metal/something in the structure of the building, I've run into this problem a lot in industrial areas here in Iceland but idk how common it is elsewhere.
Can't emphasize enough though that you should try playing on 4G before you buy anything, experiences with 4G routers will always vary.

I play tf2 on 3g.

I get like 120 ping to eastcoast, and I can only really play reliably from like 9pm onward.

Dave_ uses 4G, (i think), at his dorm and ive never heard him complain about it.

It's pretty awful on my Verizon hotspot.

Plenty enough bandwidth (~2mbps, tf2 uses 100kbps max) and fine ping, but lots of loss/dropped packets and hangs. It'd often have a problem where it dropped the connection for 30 seconds every couple minutes; a problem specific to the device, but other options likely come with their own miscellaneous issues.

I've used 4G to play for about a month at a time a few times. It's good enough to play but definitely does make a difference (how big a differnece it is depends on your device and network though).
On my WIND HSPA+ connection I had about 45 ping more than usual and on my Rogers LTE connection I get about 25-30 more ping than usual. Both of these were on modern smartphones via usb tethering, I've never used an actual hotspot device to play before although presumably it would have similar ping differences.