All iPads Cellular iPads obsolete

cannono said:

It certainly won't happen until they figure out how to get rid of the huge plastic cutout for LTE antennas, I would think. Marketing is strictly Wi-Fi models now. And nobody is saying LTE will never be cheap enough to just build in, just that it is not adding $130 value for a lot of people, and that number who won't need it just grew with Instant Hotspot. You don't pull out your phone. You can connect as easy as when you find an open Wi-Fi network (unless y'all are savages who never use your Wi-Fi). No passwords, no pulling out your phone.

It really just is so easy now and Wi-Fi is in many places you'd be with something as large as an iPad as a consumer.

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But I (and many others) won't use public wifi unless I'm just surfing. I certainly wouldn't use it for banking etc. And like I said, I travel a lot so I can't just wait until I get home to do some things.

It may be easier, but it still is not AS easy as just having a cell tablet. And with the advent of being able to use shared data it has become easier and less expensive.

Everyone has their own opinions. What works for me might not work for you. But I suspect there are enough people like me to convince Apple et al not to drop cellular options.

So, no, if Apple ever stops offering cellular tablets I simply won't buy one. Someone else will certainly meet my needs and wants.

donnaw said:

But I (and many others) won't use public wifi unless I'm just surfing. I certainly wouldn't use it for banking etc. And like I said, I travel a lot so I can't just wait until I get home to do some things.

It may be easier, but it still is not AS easy as just having a cell tablet. And with the advent of being able to use shared data it has become easier and less expensive.

Everyone has their own opinions. What works for me might not work for you. But I suspect there are enough people like me to convince Apple et al not to drop cellular options.

So, no, if Apple ever stops offering cellular tablets I simply won't buy one. Someone else will certainly meet my needs and wants.

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Well yeah, I'd use LTE for banking too. And sure, it is not AS easy, but the point here is that it is so close, it has dropped the value of that $130 add on for almost anyone with an iPhone who can Instant Hotspot. I think as tech gets cheap, someday Apple would be way more likely to simply include the LTE and I think carriers would like that because while tethering uses data, LTE built in encourages outright with a dedicated plan and everything.

I also would not buy unless a cellular option was not offered. Besides battery drain, some areas like school, let you use iPad as a note taker and electronic school books and online work. Sometimes or lot of times the wifi slow or just not secure enough to use.

It's an option I want available though I may not need it all the time .

sssshh. don't tell that to Apple or else they will make wifi models expensive.

DivergenceZero said:

Seems like to me with the advent of iOS 8.1, specifically Continuity, the cellular iPad as we know it seems completely redundant now.

You can pair your iPhone to your tablet and make calls/text smoothly thanks to the new features. In a situation where you have a tablet you usually have your phone around too.


What do you think? Did Apple shoot themselves in the foot here?

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For me a Cellular iPad is still needed as AT&T doesn't allow us Unlimited Data Plan customers to tether. The cellular iPad is still a cheaper option for me VS giving up my $22/month unlimited plan and forced to a higher one.

miamialley said:

So you disagree with the OP, not agree.

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I was responding to ee4life yet didn't quote him.

Eileen89 said:

For me a Cellular iPad is still needed as AT&T doesn't allow us Unlimited Data Plan customers to tether. The cellular iPad is still a cheaper option for me VS giving up my $22/month unlimited plan and forced to a higher one.

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This is me also, only on Verizon. It's cheaper to keep my unlimited plan and add a new pre-paid plan for the ipad than it would be to switch to a plan that allowed me to tether.

Yeah, I mentioned this in another thread a few days back. Three big reasons for me: Instant Hotspot, iPhone 6 Plus (huge battery), and on Verizon you can now have voice while using LTE. Verizon customers get hotspot included for no additional charge, so I can cancel my $10/mo iPad line and save $130 on my next iPad purchase. I'm not sure if Instant Hotspot uses less battery than before on the iPhone, but I'd be careful trying to do a lot of tethering on anything but an iPhone 6 Plus. The drawback for me would be going back to charging it every night, lol. Although I seriously think I would use my iPad less. I hardly use my Mini now that I have a Plus, but they are somewhat close in size. The Air I would use more for browsing at home and for drawing and Lightroom. Not even sure if it's worth bringing to work?

DivergenceZero said:

Seems like to me with the advent of iOS 8.1, specifically Continuity, the cellular iPad as we know it seems completely redundant now.

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Tethering was always an option. Nothing new here. Cellular iPads will still sell. GPS isn't available in the WiFi-only models.

flur said:

The hit to the battery on the smartphone is enough of a reason for me.

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Yep, this is the reason my next iPad will have cellular connectivity.

As someone who used to own Wifi-only iPad and switched to an iPad Air with cellular, I can tell you, you couldn't be more wrong about cellular iPads being obsolete.

Cellular hotspot is great on my phone, but it heats up my phone, drains the battery, and isn't always the most reliable over Wifi. I use my phone hotspot mostly to tether my MacBook Air over USB, and that easily eats up my tethering allotment anyway (but at least that charges my phone instead of draining the battery).

With a cellular iPad, I don't need to connect anything, and I don't need to freak out as much if I forget my phone somewhere (which has happened). I can just fire up the iPad from wherever I am, and use Find My iPhone to find it and lock it down until I retrieve it. The reverse is also true if I misplace my iPad somewhere.

Also, being on T-Mobile is nice, in that you can get 200MB of data per month free on your tablet. So if T-Mobile covers your area well, there's that.

I do understand that some people only use their iPads in a single place (home, or a workplace) that has WiFi, and for that a WiFi only iPad is great. But, some of us use it differently too, and I'd never assume that WiFi-only iPads are "obsolete" in any way, just because I find an iPad with cellular to be better for my needs.

I thought the other way. Why would anyone buy a wifi iPad? I need the GPS in the cellular or rather I want it. I love navigation so..

Nothing wrong with options, but I won't ever get a cellular iPad again. I have a cellular capable iPad 2 and never once used it. I guess it just didn't make sense at the time to pay extra for a data plan with I was around a wireless hotspot 99% of the time.

Not obsolete for me. My phone is on T-Mobile which costs me about half what Verizon would/did. I'm happy with it, but the coverage in my area is not great. I have my iPad on Verizon, never use more than $20/mo., and sometimes turn it off for months at a time. I like having the option, and the extra reliability/coverage when I need it, like occasional forays into rural areas where I need GPS and T-Mobile doesn't get a signal for miles.

If money wasn't a consideration, I'd have my phone on Verizon, but I would still pay the $130 or so upfront so my iPad could use cell if I wanted it later on.

I had ATT cellular ipad and paid for data most months. I replaced that with a Tmobile cellular ipad air. For me, Tmobile's free cellular data has already saved me the cost of the cellular upgrade. When travelling I don't trust most free WiFi, so the cellular option is good to have.

DivergenceZero said:

Seems like to me with the advent of family plans, specifically free data promos, the wifi iPad as we know it seems completely stupid now.

You can kill your iPhone battery by pairing it. In a situation where you have a tablet you usually have your phone around too but my not have reception with you phone carrier. If you have a free data promo from another carrier you can still have connectivity


What do you think? Do I make any sense here?

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I fixed that for you!

lulla01 said:

This would be great if i didn't have an unlimited data plan and if I actually had the capacity to tether

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One reason I jailbreak

s2mikey said:

I agree with this. I dont care about the phone calls part but there is NO reason they couldn't open iMessage to allow sending texts directly to users on other services. Ya know, I should be able to use iMessage to send a text to a friend with a windows phone or whatever.

I got excited when I heard about the new SMS feature in 8.1 but that requires a phone and isn't really what I had hoped for.

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I don't use iMessage for precisely that reason. Instead, my family uses an app that allows us to send texts to any phone. The app also does phone calls.

I didn't realize so many people connected to public wifi.

Cellular all the way. Hate draining the phone battery tethering and I like having GPS on the ipad. Also with cellular there is an always on connection so if your not in a wifi area and not tethered you still get email, notifications, updates etc. A completely self contained device.

Q-Dog said:

I had ATT cellular ipad and paid for data most months. I replaced that with a Tmobile cellular ipad air. For me, Tmobile's free cellular data has already saved me the cost of the cellular upgrade. When travelling I don't trust most free WiFi, so the cellular option is good to have.

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T-mobile right now has a promotion. If you have a phone with data plan, they will give you the exact same data plan on your tablet for an extra $10 a month.

So now, I will get 3 gigs on my new iPad for $10 a month.