Worth getting the Broadband Adapter?

Because I am an avid Dreamcast collector and why would I not buy it at those prices is the real question

Well in all fairness the case was yellowed and metal was rusty so I took a chance.It did not work when I got the the chip set inside was damaged. I lucked up and found a replacement chip for pennies and got it working

 

No it really isnt. If your planning on browsing with it well... alot of people have computers now. If your downloading dlc sure, but its very expensive.

 

Planet Ring does not support the BBA. It only supports the 56K modem.

The BBA is a nice accessory, but it is probably overkill for most people now.

The Broadband Adapter supports Quake 3 Arena and Phantasy Star Online versions 1 and 2. The only PlanetWeb to support it is the semi-rare PlanetWeb 3.0. Broadband Passport and some of the Dream Passports do as well.

The LAN Adapter is harder to find, and only supports 10Mbps (the BBA supports 100Mbps), and only supports LAN Passport (no games!).

Homebrew software developed with the KallistiOS development libraries supports both Broadband Adapter and LAN Adapter. Most often they are used to dump GD-ROMs over the network and to send code to the Dreamcast to easily test builds when development.

However, nowadays the SD card reader which runs for very cheap can also be used to dump GD-ROMs.
You can also buy the equipment to have your 56K modem dial into your home network for around $100, and while it is capped at 56K, all Dreamcast games were designed with 56K in mind anyway and you can play more games than just Quake 3 Arena and PSOv1/2, like 4x4 Evo, Planet Ring, Maximum Pool, StarLancer, etc.

It all depends on what you want to do, but in my opinion, unless you are a Dreamcast enthusiast, it's really not worth the money for most people.

 

I have had 2 BBA's in the past and I knid of deep down want another but they just are not worth it!

The browsing is slow, theres only acouple of games that support it - the main one being PSO.

PSO is decent (although very samey) and used to crash every half hour or so - or when a PC or Gamecube player would join. Sometimes they would join fine and it would play ok but most times it would crash - and when that would happen you'd lose ALL items you'd collected!

VERY annoying

 

BBA's might not be difficult to find in the US or Japan, but here in the UK it's like trying to "play Tiddlewinks in a Rugby scrum".

They're just too expensive. What I would like to see though, is a mod that allows us to use our mobile phones as modems. At least you could tie that in to the existing software, instead of a complete re-write for LAN.

 

They are extremely helpful when developing on the DC. I only have two, and should really get a few more.

 

Like Storm says, they are mostly used for developing nowadays. Still, there are a dedicated few who often go online for some Quake3 or PSO action.

If you are looking for a BBA please check out my store - http://www.dcgaga.com/2013/02/welcome-to-dreamcastgaga-store-one-stop.html

 

I plan on getting one just to add to my Japanese Dreamcast collection and for the hope that in the future it will be utilized.