Topic: Remote play

What is needed for remote play on vita?

Are there NY cheap contract deals, or is it possible on wifi

You need WiFi or be close to your PS4.

There is no contract needed. All you need is a Vita and a PS4.
It works well without any internet connection if you are in the same room, within like 15-20 feet or so. The Vita and the PS4 communicate directly to each other through their WiFi antennae (at least that’s my understanding), but it does not have to go through your router or the internet if you are close to the PS4.
If you want to do true remote play from the other side of the house or miles away at your buddy’s house, then the Vita and PS4 can stream to each other through WiFi internet connection also. The connection needs to be strong and fast on both ends I think, because I always had too much lag to make it worthwhile to do it away from home. It is pretty annoying if the signal drops or lags while playing a game and it will just flat out drop the signal altogether pretty often in my experience when connecting online. But playing Rise of the Tomb Raider or Metal Gear Solid 5 on a handheld while lying in bed is pretty cool.

If you want to use Remote play, you HAVE to get the two following accessories, especially if you're playing shooters. Otherwise, it's soooo hard to control:

• Get a HORI Vita L2/R2 grip on Amazon or eBay ($30-40). Don't get any other ones, get THIS one! It adds two sets of triggers for the L2/R2 and L3/R3 buttons. Otherwise, you have to use the touchpad, which is a complete nightmare for a lot of remote play games.
• Get some "Vita control stick extenders" (brand-less, usually $25-$30). By default, the dumb little nubs on the Vita make it next to impossible to be precise when it comes to shooters. These give them some extra height more in-line with the DualShock 4. Makes a huge difference.

If you're still uncomfortable with the controls, you can go on the PS4 to Options > Accessibilty > Button Assignments and do stuff like switch L1/R1 with L2/R2 (since you generally can't customize the Remote Play controls).

Also, when it comes to the connection, note the following:

• If your PS4 is connected to the internet via WiFi, make sure it's on a 5G connection. If you have an older PS4 like I do (i.e. not the Slim or Pro), it does not have the ability to connect to 5G and will stream games like TOTAL TRASH over wi-fi. In that case, you either have to connect it to the internet with an ethernet cable, OR get a 5G Wifi Extender ($40-80) and then run an ethernet cable from your PS4 to that (which is what I have to do).

After you do ALL of this stuff and are out an extra $100-150, you will have the PERFECT setup and will be able to easily control ALL PS4 games. No joke. And you should also be able to play online games without much lag.

I think it's totally worth it.

I want to be able to play out and about, I think I will need a SIM card and a data plan

Thanks so much

Yes those add on would certainly help @smelly_jr

@Silvertooth Sony stopped supporting the 1st generation Vita’s 3G cellular connection feature. If you have a launch Vita, it may have a SIM card slot and an app that would be used to connect to the AT&T network, but it is no longer functional. The only way to play online is through WiFi now. (Well, you can still tether your Vita to your mobile phone via hotspot if your phone plan allows for that. Then it would function just like connecting to a WiFi router)
At the time of launch, the 3G enabled Vita had monthly plans with no contract depending on the data package. The prices were pretty steep. Like 250MB (not much data) for $15 or 3GB for $30 per month. And the cellular 3G capabilities were pretty limited I think. I didn’t ever do mobile gaming with my Vita, but I believe it was limited to social features like messages and turn based multiplayer gaming, but couldn’t handle something like streaming a multiplayer game of Killzone Mercenary.