All iPads: A downside to tethering.

[darngooddesign]

My iPad 2 is 3G which I like for the convenience. In planning my next iPad, I thought I might save some money by just tethering from my iPhone 5.

After trying it for a bit I realized its possible to blow through my data cap quicker because due to my iPad thinking its on wifi all videos, and some audio apps, will be using their highest settings.

[FiremanMike]

Originally Posted by darngooddesign

My iPad 2 is 3G which I like for the convenience. In planning my next iPad, I thought I might save some money by just tethering from my iPhone 5.

After trying it for a bit I realized its possible to blow through my data cap quicker because due to my iPad thinking its on wifi all videos, and some audio apps, will be using their highest settings.

You just need to be mindful. Personally I leave my hotspot on my iPhone turned off unless I'm out of wifi and need my ipad, which tends to avoid inadvertent tethering. This also tends to make me more mindful of going onto tethering and watching my usage.

[syd430]

Yeah, I always switch of the hotspot as soon as i'm done with it as i figured it would be quite easy to forget the next time you fire up the ipad when you're back at home. Just try to make it a habit to switch off the hotspot.

[Bokes]

One rule is NEVER watch video when tethering.
I use it in the park or on the train for basic online webpage reading- nothing more- and my data stays well under 1gig.

[Breitling65]

Originally Posted by Bokes

One rule is NEVER watch video when tethering.
I use it in the park or on the train for basic online webpage reading- nothing more- and my data stays well under 1gig.

huh? i do watch netflix/hbogo ets and never went over 5gig plan. while sandy blackouts i tether 3 devices to my iphine5 LTE and that was only one connection to the world these days I think 3g on ipad is pointless since my iPhone5 is always with me and it is just some extra clicks to enable tethering.

[Bokes]

Originally Posted by Breitling65

huh? i do watch netflix/hbogo ets and never went over 5gig plan. while sandy blackouts i tether 3 devices to my iphine5 LTE and that was only one connection to the world these days I think 3g on ipad is pointless since my iPhone5 is always with me and it is just some extra clicks to enable tethering.

That's cool.
If it works and stays under great.
But from what I understand streaming video will eat into data usage very quickly- you say it doesn't?
Good to know.

[einmusiker]

without unlimited data there is no way I would purchase a data plan. It seems silly to me.

[zhenya]

Originally Posted by einmusiker

without unlimited data there is no way I would purchase a data plan. It seems silly to me.

Having recently given up my unlimited data plan, I can tell you why. The reality is that whether phone minutes or data, people tend to buy way more than they need to avoid overages. They'd rather spend an extra $10/month to avoid an overage once or twice per year. So instead of spending $20 on overage charges, they spend $120 to avoid having to think about it.

For me it wasn't the cost but the fact that I could no longer tether comfortably with my unlimited plan. I used to jailbreak, but now I'd rather just pay for official tethering when I need it, and in 4 years with my iPhones, I'd have paid for overages once or twice. It wasn't worth it.

[einmusiker]

I don't pay for home internet s I use my vzw unlimited plan to tether from my ipad. So for my home computer, cell phone and ipad I spend a total of $70 per month for data, minutes and texts (googlevoice ftw) any other plan just does not make any fiscal sense too me. I'd be paying a lot more for a lot less

[Breitling65]

Originally Posted by Bokes

That's cool.
If it works and stays under great.
But from what I understand streaming video will eat into data usage very quickly- you say it doesn't
Good to know.

it depends how long and what to watch. you could test yourself checking usage, one netflix movie takes 300-400mb of data, i am watching 5 of them max per month. Pandora doesn't take much as well, listening 2-3 hours a day. Other than this two all other is small amounts. While heavy usage Sandy days I took less than 4gb of data.

[Fruit Cake]

This is my usage graph from my droid usage meter tethering to my iPad for less then half an hour.

[haruhiko]

Originally Posted by darngooddesign

My iPad 2 is 3G which I like for the convenience. In planning my next iPad, I thought I might save some money by just tethering from my iPhone 5.

After trying it for a bit I realized its possible to blow through my data cap quicker because due to my iPad thinking its on wifi all videos, and some audio apps, will be using their highest settings.

Also your iPhone 5 will only have a few hours of battery life with tethering. I think the danger of having a dead phone is much bigger than the $130 difference Apple asks for the Cellular iPad.

[HazyCloud]

Originally Posted by haruhiko

Also your iPhone 5 will only have a few hours of battery life with tethering. I think the danger of having a dead phone is much bigger than the $130 difference Apple asks for the Cellular iPad.

A few hours? Thats not right. I've tethered for over an hour and my iPhone 5 only dropped about 6%. This was coming from a fully charged iPhone at 100% when I started. Tethering isn't near as bad on the battery as people tend to believe. Hell, even at 10% an hour, that's still 10 hours of tethering.

One upside to tethering is that your iPad will stay connected for very long periods of time. I left mine on one night and it was still connected the next morning.

[maflynn]

Originally Posted by darngooddesign

After trying it for a bit I realized its possible to blow through my data cap quicker because due to my iPad thinking its on wifi all videos, and some audio apps, will be using their highest settings.

That's not an issue just with tethering but on shared dataplans. I'm on a 4gb family dataplan. If I add the iPad its no different on using it, whether its tethered or I'm not using the cellular signal.