Retail Games and Steam

So for the last 5 years I've been blessed with having good internet, never less then 15x5 speeds.

But we are purchasing a home with property, unfortunately the closest cable plant section is about 2 miles away, and the nearest DSL service is also as far. We are a bit out of town. I'll probably be stuck with either satellite internet or mobile broadband type services, both to my knowledge have horrible caps like around 5gb to 10gb. I've never had a cap before and am a little concerned.

I've been a PC Gamer since about 1993, and now use Steam on a regular basis, but with this cap I'm kinda screwed I think. So two questions for those who may already have had this problem, or currently do.

1. When you buy retail PC Games now that require Steam, Orign, D2D etc, after you run the disc installer, are you still required to download files through the digital client to complete the installation to play your game. I haven't purchased a PC game retail in probably 4 years.

2. As much as I'd hate the thought, am I better off going to consoles to avoid digital distribution hassles.

I've had good internet and never had to worry about this...but I can't justify paying extra money, for something that I already paid for, just because I exceeded my monthly caps. I'm not going to buy a game for $60 and then have to wait 3 months to play it either.

Thoughts? Experiences?

1) Some games will have updates after the retail version went on sale, so you'll probably have to download patches here and there.

2) Strictly in terms of download limitations: yes.

Get a sprint unlimited data smartphone plan and tether it to your computer.

The phone and cable companies in my area adopted bandwidth limits within the past year. Game download size on digital platforms now goes into my purchasing decisions. I believe that most of the USA's internet providers now have bandwidth limits.

That had crossed my mind, but I'm still on contract with Verizon for my smartphones and they want something like $30 per phone for tethering...which is dumb.

Problem is mostly the bandwith cap, right now I work for a nationwide ISP and get unlimited data at 30x5, but now I'll be going to something alot slower with 5-10gb caps.

Seems almost a waste of time to even try with a plan like that.

I have noticed with my friends Xbox's and PS3's, there seems to be an update as soon as you run a game the first time anymore. But if they aren't connected they won't try.

My concern I guess is, lets say I buy Skyrim or Deus Ex through retail, can I install via the disk, activate on Steam once and play?

Having a 5gb or 10gb cap will create problems having to install the full game. I bought a game once, can't remember what it was, but the disk didn't install anything but Steam, then I had to download the whole game. I will have to wait a month or two to play the game like that.

I can live with the slow speeds, I'm patient. Just not with the bandwith caps. We currently use about 300gb a month lol.

I know there isn't DSL where our new house is, it's too far away from the VRAD's. Put it this way, the only thing near me is 2 houses, 8 lakes and a church camp.

I have noticed with my friends Xbox's and PS3's, there seems to be an update as soon as you run a game the first time anymore. But if they aren't connected they won't try.

My concern I guess is, lets say I buy Skyrim or Deus Ex through retail, can I install via the disk, activate on Steam once and play?

Having a 5gb or 10gb cap will create problems having to install the full game. I bought a game once, can't remember what it was, but the disk didn't install anything but Steam, then I had to download the whole game. I will have to wait a month or two to play the game like that.

I can live with the slow speeds, I'm patient. Just not with the bandwith caps. We currently use about 300gb a month lol.

I know there isn't DSL where our new house is, it's too far away from the VRAD's. Put it this way, the only thing near me is 2 houses, 8 lakes and a church camp.

Recon19D20