My internet connection is usually very good and rarely plays up, but there are random times it will cut out for several minutes (though it can be as much as 30 minutes or an hour). I do the usual stuff - unplug the lead and plug it back in, switch off and unplug the modem plugs and plug them back in. But that doesn't seem to help.

So far it's not cut out at any crucial times, apart from one crappy freeroll. I am scared it will cut out at a really important moment and I'll lose a lot of chips/be knocked out a tournament. What ways can I ensure this doesn't happen and what preventative measures can I take to limit the damage caused by a momentary lost connection? (there might already be a thread on this so if there is, I don't mind being linked to it)

yes

always have a backup

You can tether your smart phone to your computer pretty easily.

Like what?

I don't have a smartphone (yes I know I'm living 10 years in the past lol ).

USB internet backup

You should get one, they are mostly very cheap (especially if you were going to buy another form of backup anyway) these days and the data you would have as part of your plan would be more than sufficient for your purposes.

Sometimes you just gotta let it happen

Feel like your stack might do better sitting out tbh. But you say youre living 10 years in the past so Ill give you the lolold benefit of the doubt.

google usb internet (your country/nearest big city) Get a prepaid modem with enough data on it to get you through 6 hours or so. Depending on the site the poker clients dont take up that much data.

Depends on the stakes your playing. If you have a bunch of freerolls and micro mtts usually, paying 50+ bucks every few months might not be cost effective. Just know where a closeby wifi spot is and and hopefully have a laptop if youre playing pretty low stakes imo.

Just don't forget when you tether cause your main connection is jittery to stop streaming music etc. Learned that one the hard way (rain).

not sure if this applies to you OP, but if you're in a dodgy power area (like me) then a brown out can cause everything to go off for a few seconds or a few minutes - but then you're waiting for PCs and routers to reboot and then stars etc to reload. if your shallow stacked on a FT it can be several minutes out and very expensive.

a good quality uninterruptable power supply (UPS) with 30mins or so battery life, with your modem/router, pc and monitor plugged in, isn't too expensive and will pay for itself in one mtt.

my brown outs usually do not affect internet

mackey d's, starbucks, soup kitchen. order to find wifi imo

If you're not interested in buying a smart phone, a USB Internet backup is probably the best alternative mentioned here.

You can usually get like 1GB of data for $10, which lasts 30 days. So $10 per month isn't a bad investment for peace of mind. Make sure you get it with a different IP than your main connection obv

Contact your ISP, it shouldn't cut out for huge periods of time... It could be a fault at the exchange (adsl), your line, maybe even a filter in your home etc etc.

As for back ups, I have my iPhone ready to tether if it ever happens.

There are also a lot of pay as you go, internet usb dongals that you can buy and top up when you need.

I had this problem for 2 years when it would get hot. Something in the hub (?) where the service splits from street to house. Took me 5 visits for them to figure that out and fix it. No issues since.

Just get a highspeed internet connection from reputable company. These days, it should not be a problem and if your current connection sometimes go out for 30 minutes u should easily be able to get a better one!. Also, get the smartphone as others mention. u can share the network on that, and while it will probably be a much slower connection, it would mitigate the risk of being completely blinded out for 8 orbits on the FT bubble or something, in the rare event of ur std. connection failing