I had a problem with my wirless router....kept dropping connections. Called Comcast....the tech came....seen that I had the Router....sitting on top of my computer. Without checking anything....he moved the Router....off the computer....about a foot away. I have never had another problem. It was so damn simple. He said a lot of people put their routers....too close to their computers....get interference. Hell....I have an engineering background....though....not electronics....and I didn't even think about moving it. Duh! Not too long before I had the problem....everything was okay with the router....until I put it on top of the computer. I think old heimer's must have kicked in or something. VSTscalper
Does anyone use a laptop with a wireless access card say from Sprint that allows you to trade anywhere using the cell phone network? How safe is this type of wireless access card?
I've been curious about the use of these cards, also. Anyone with experience? Safety/connection, etc.
Wireless trading is OK, for lighter-volume types of trading. If you're doing more than 40-50 executions a day, I would strongly recommend AGAINST using a wireless system. I tried using a secured, heavily-encrypted wireless system with excellent speed and reception, and still had a 3-10 second dropout every ten minutes. This is due to packet loss inherent in wireless technology. As I understand it, when your internet runs through a cable, you can't drop packets-- there's nowhere for them to go. But with wireless, a few among the millions of packets sent/received will drop, and your connection will take a few seconds to reestablish itself. You don't notice this with most applications, like web surfing or even streaming audio/video... but trust me, when you're watching 15-20 different charts or tapes made from a stream of time-flagged data, you definitely notice when everything keeps stopping. If you're a heavy trader, this can translate into a missed fill or lagged L2/charts. Sometimes if I lost a few packets at once my software would interpret it as a total feed loss and disconnect me from my executor server, costing me even more time as I would have to reconnect. Bottom line: if your trading is at all concerned with exact timing and exact pricing, avoid trading through a wireless internet connection. Packet loss at a crucial moment can really mess up your precision.
The "packets lost" issue will have to do with several factors. 1. The router (brand and model) 2. The firmware of the router. (some can be upgraded or modified) 3. The distance from the router. 4. Environmental interference. (Microwaves, 2.4Ghz phones, Bluetooth. Steel beams, wall and floor material.) My routine ping tests consistently show 0% packet loss.
usually, some time is lost in the router/network card's encryption. However, this encryption is redundant, and is NOT necessary. Trust me, this is a total waste of time. You can secure your connection through: 1. SSL between you and your broker. 2. hide your SSID. If the hacker can't see you, they can't hack you. 3. register your MAC address. If the intruder is not on the list, he can't get hitched. Period.
Does anybody know how to ping the nyse order servers? As a scalper, I think it matters if you can get your hands on the most reliable internet setup you can afford and wireless is definitely not an option imo. I am talking from a scalper point of view doing several trades a day (50+ trades) who depends heavily on how fast the trigger is pulled.
I am by no means a computer expert: #2: I think packet sniffers might be able to still see you. #3: MAC address spoofing would probably get around this, but he'd have to know what your address was. From what I have heard, WPA is the only real security, as even 128bit WEP can be cracked fairly quickly
#2. they can sniff all they want, the same way any ISP can see your packets going through. But you already have SSL on your TWS connection. They can sniff you, but they can't see what is in it.