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Carrier What are Reasons FOR Getting AT&T iPad Air (over WiFi only)?

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Wooderson00

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Feb 15, 2011
28
0
(Sorry, as I am sure this has already been posted)

If you can Hotspot from your iPhone, what are legit reasons for getting an AT&T version?

I can't ever think of a time when I don't have my phone with me. So in the rare instances when I am not on wifi, hotspot will suffice just fine. While on hotspot, you can still use your iPhone for talk/text, etc.. The wifi-only device saves you $130. Since on a Mobile Share plan, an AT&T iPad would be pulling from the same data bucket anyway. So what's the point of connecting it to the account and pay an extra $15/month?

The only thing I can think of is potential resell value. Are there any other reasons? Thanks.
 
Battery life, hotspot is extra drain on iPhone.
Convenience.

Depends on how much you value those.

Resale value isn't as much as you'd think.
 
Wooderson00 said:
(Sorry, as I am sure this has already been posted)

If you can Hotspot from your iPhone, what are legit reasons for getting an AT&T version?

I can't ever think of a time when I don't have my phone with me. So in the rare instances when I am not on wifi, hotspot will suffice just fine. While on hotspot, you can still use your iPhone for talk/text, etc.. The wifi-only device saves you $130. Since on a Mobile Share plan, an AT&T iPad would be pulling from the same data bucket anyway. So what's the point of connecting it to the account and pay an extra $15/month?

The only thing I can think of is potential resell value. Are there any other reasons? Thanks.
Click to expand...

#firstworldproblems
What happens when your iPhone battery dies from the power hungry wifi hotspot and you have a wifi iPad?
/thread
 
GPS?

Doesn't the cell version include a GPS chip whereas the WiFi does not.

My understanding is that even if you are offline ( not connected to an AT&T account ) the GPS chip can still track your device. This would be useful as a large screen navigation system, say in a boat or vehicle dashboard.
 
960design said:
GPS?

Doesn't the cell version include a GPS chip whereas the WiFi does not.

My understanding is that even if you are offline ( not connected to an AT&T account ) the GPS chip can still track your device. This would be useful as a large screen navigation system, say in a boat or vehicle dashboard.
Click to expand...

If he's tethering anyway... iPad automatically pulls live GPS data from iPhone while tethering.
 
Wooderson00 said:
I can't ever think of a time when I don't have my phone with me. So in the rare instances when I am not on wifi, hotspot will suffice just fine. While on hotspot, you can still use your iPhone for talk/text, etc.. The wifi-only device saves you $130. Since on a Mobile Share plan, an AT&T iPad would be pulling from the same data bucket anyway. So what's the point of connecting it to the account and pay an extra $15/month?
Click to expand...
One, tablets are just an extra $10/month not $15. The access fee for tablets is actually cheaper than the access fee for wifi hotspots, 3G/LTE USB adapters and computers with built-in 3G/LTE ($20/mo). Two, if you get the iPad on 2-year contract, there's an automatic $100 discount and occasionally, you even get an extra $100 off on top of that so that can take care of the cellular price premium or a chunk of the service fee. Three, I've done the hotspot thing before (iPhone 4 + iPad 2). Drained the battery like crazy and it just isn't as convenient. While on hotspot mode, one thing I've noticed is the cellular data connection drops for a few seconds when sending/receiving SMS causing my devices (laptop and tablets) to have to reconnect. Very annoying if you've got downloads going on and the server has disabled resume. Four, I use the hotspot function on my iPad daily to tether laptops and it's got a crazy long battery life for that (40+ hours with 20% still left). Five, speed. Where I'm located, network speed is often capped at ~8Mbps down and ~2Mbps up likely to maintain quality of service. With the iPhone and iPad having separate cellular connection, I get 8 down/2 up on each device instead of having to share the bandwidth.

Menel said:
If he's tethering anyway... iPad automatically pulls live GPS data from iPhone while tethering.
Click to expand...
This hasn't ever worked for me. To me, it seemed like the iPad was just getting location based on wifi. It wasn't particularly accurate for navigation.
 
Last edited:
Main reason would be for my car, streaming Spotify/Pandera and GPS.

my iphone does that so I havent gone that way yet.
 
Wooderson00 said:
(Sorry, as I am sure this has already been posted)

If you can Hotspot from your iPhone, what are legit reasons for getting an AT&T version?

I can't ever think of a time when I don't have my phone with me. So in the rare instances when I am not on wifi, hotspot will suffice just fine. While on hotspot, you can still use your iPhone for talk/text, etc.. The wifi-only device saves you $130. Since on a Mobile Share plan, an AT&T iPad would be pulling from the same data bucket anyway. So what's the point of connecting it to the account and pay an extra $15/month?

The only thing I can think of is potential resell value. Are there any other reasons? Thanks.
Click to expand...
CONVENIENCE :)
I happen to be walking the dog right now. I'm out of range of my home Wi-Fi and would not want to go to the trouble of activating my phones hotspot.
 
Tmobile ipad ftw. Free 200mb for life and it rolls over per month. I have this amd so does my sister. It's great since I occasionally take my ipad out of the house. Now if you wamma use more, verizon has the lowest 1gb plan. I had that on my first mini. $20 per month.
 
ron7624 said:
CONVENIENCE :)
I happen to be walking the dog right now. I'm out of range of my home Wi-Fi and would not want to go to the trouble of activating my phones hotspot.
Click to expand...

I hope your dog is better behaved than mine, or your nice cellular iPad will be in pieces on the ground.

----------
1rottenapple said:
Tmobile ipad ftw. Free 200mb for life and it rolls over per month. I have this amd so does my sister. It's great since I occasionally take my ipad out of the house. Now if you wamma use more, verizon has the lowest 1gb plan. I had that on my first mini. $20 per month.
Click to expand...

This. Free t-mobile data is the reason why I got a cellular retina mini.
 
Not everyone has tethering available on their cell phone plan. Therefore a cellular iPad would be beneficial.

I can't tether with my carrier.
 
I like the idea of my cellar iPad over the wifi model, because of the
GPS - its a nice to have feature. The ability to use the iPad anywhere, not bound by a local hotspot. More secure, then using local hotspots and faster. Also if I don't want to kill my battery on my iPhone if I was to set that up with tethering.

----------
kupkakez said:
Not everyone has tethering available on their cell phone plan. Therefore a cellular iPad would be beneficial.

I can't tether with my carrier.
Click to expand...

I think ATT charges for that feature, but VZW doesn't as an example.
 
Amazingly, NOT everyone has a smartphone for tethering so us folks appreciate the cellular data when we need it. Ives used mine here and there and it's great to have. The speeds are incredible too. 4G kicks arse. I also like the AT&T plans that don't auto renew. That really nice since you can just but data as you think you'll need it.

IMO, the upcharge for the cellular version of the iPad is worth it. But that's just me.
 
Menel said:
Battery life, hotspot is extra drain on iPhone.
Convenience.

Depends on how much you value those.

Resale value isn't as much as you'd think.
Click to expand...

Exactly this. I was in the same boat as the OP & my cheap ass didn't want to shell out more $$ for a Cellular version. After i purchased my Wifi Mini w/ Retina, i realized i made a mistake. Hotspot only comes in handy in emergency situations. It drains the hell outta the iPhone's battery, whichever iPhone model you have. I'm actually planning on selling my Mini when the next gen's come out & upgrading to Cellular
 
maflynn said:
I like the idea of my cellar iPad over the wifi model, because of the
GPS - its a nice to have feature. The ability to use the iPad anywhere, not bound by a local hotspot. More secure, then using local hotspots and faster. Also if I don't want to kill my battery on my iPhone if I was to set that up with tethering.

----------



I think ATT charges for that feature, but VZW doesn't as an example.
Click to expand...

I don't think ATT charges to tether if you have a mobile share plan, but I could be wrong. I've been using Aio/Cricket the past couple of months and tethering isn't available period.
 
kupkakez said:
I don't think ATT charges to tether if you have a mobile share plan, but I could be wrong. I've been using Aio/Cricket the past couple of months and tethering isn't available period.
Click to expand...

Correct, mobile share comes with tethering included.
 
Wooderson00 said:
(Sorry, as I am sure this has already been posted)

If you can Hotspot from your iPhone, what are legit reasons for getting an AT&T version?

I can't ever think of a time when I don't have my phone with me. So in the rare instances when I am not on wifi, hotspot will suffice just fine. While on hotspot, you can still use your iPhone for talk/text, etc.. The wifi-only device saves you $130. Since on a Mobile Share plan, an AT&T iPad would be pulling from the same data bucket anyway. So what's the point of connecting it to the account and pay an extra $15/month?

The only thing I can think of is potential resell value. Are there any other reasons? Thanks.
Click to expand...


1. Not everyone is on AT&T. Some of us are on T-Mobile, where currently you can add a tablet and get a $10 monthly discount on its plan through the end of 2014. In T-Mobile's case, that's 1GB of data per month, for free.

Additionally, they have a "200 MB per month free for life" add-on. So whatever your existing data plan is, 200MB are added onto it. Or you could have no data plan that you're paying for, and just get the 200MB per month for free.

So, there are cases when the carrier you're own influences your decision on getting a cellular iPad.

2. As someone who has used a WiFi only iPad before, and tethered to my iPhone, tethering is flaky and not always consistent. Wifi tether can stall unless you're constantly waking up the iPhone. The iPhone gets hot, and the battery drops quite a bit. Bluetooth is a bit more reliable, but a lot slower.

3. Find My iPad. if my iPad is stolen, having its own cellular capability goes a long way to helping find it, instead of hoping it happens to connect to another WiFi hotspot somewhere to respond with its position.

4. I can USB tether my iPad to my MacBook Air, and use its hotspot feature, freeing up my phone so I can walk around with it.

Also as mentioned by others: some people don't have a smartphone, or want one, but do want something they can take around with them that's not a laptop. A cellular iPad is perfect for them.
 
I still have an unlimited plan with ATT on my phone. I would have to give that up in order to tether. Also, I use my iPad as a GPS and music streaming device in my car. T-Mobile allows streaming of music without using your allotted data. It works well for me.

Truefan31 said:
Jb and tetherme/mywi
Click to expand...

I did this when I had my phone jailbroken. I got a text, an email, and a letter from ATT stating that if I continued to tether they would cancel my plan.
 
Unless money is very tight, I'd recommend going with the LTE version.

Even if you don't use it frequently, the prepaid cellular access plans are VERY convenient when traveling, flexible and reasonably priced.

And don't forget that you only get a GPS chip with the LTE models. For me, this is a huge advantage. Google maps now allows you to download maps while connected via wifi and then use them offline with GPS and no data connection. Perhaps Apple maps will follow suit someday. The point is that there are advantages to owning the LTE model even if you have no intention of purchasing a data plan. It is $130 well spent.
 
What are Reasons FOR Getting AT&T iPad Air (over WiFi only)?

TWO2SEVEN said:
I still have an unlimited plan with ATT on my phone. I would have to give that up in order to tether. Also, I use my iPad as a GPS and music streaming device in my car. T-Mobile allows streaming of music without using your allotted data. It works well for me.







I did this when I had my phone jailbroken. I got a text, an email, and a letter from ATT stating that if I continued to tether they would cancel my plan.
Click to expand...


If this were to happen would you be charged an ETF? Seems like an easy way to get out of a contract if so.
 
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