Three to Offer Cellular Versions of iPad Air and Retina iPad Mini in the UK

MacRumors · Oct 31, 2013

UK Carrier Three has announced that it will be the first British carrier to offer cellular models of the iPad Air on November 1 and the iPad mini with Retina Display upon its release, reports Engadget.

The carrier will offer an entry-level 1GB data plan starting at £7.50 per month on contract, in addition to the £499 up-front cost for the tablet itself. For £25 a month, the carrier is offering a 15GB data plan, which will also be offered on contract. Initially, celluar models of the iPad Air purchased on the carrier will be restricted to 3G data, as Three will begin rolling out its faster 4G LTE networks in December, with service first launching in London, Birmingham, Manchester, and Reading.

Three also announced that cellular versions of the Retina iPad mini will be avaliable through its services with the same data plans offered alongside iPad Air, however it still remains unclear as to when specific release of the second-generation iPad mini will be due to tight supplies.

The iPad Air will be available beginning on Friday, November 1, with initial online orders beginning at 12:01 AM Pacific Time in the United States and at varying times in other countries. Apple retail locations will open at 8 AM local time on Friday to begin in-store sales.

Article Link: Three to Offer Cellular Versions of iPad Air and Retina iPad Mini in the UK

Mums · Oct 31, 2013

Three is kicking a** in the UK. Nobody else comes close to price or quality of coverage. Keep it up 3!

johnnyturbouk · Oct 31, 2013

Not for me- never get good signal either at work or home. In terms of coverage vodaphone is excellent !

GWIM2 · Oct 31, 2013

Three coverage, price, plans ....

Vodafone coverage is / was marginally better than Three's, as I noticed when I switched, but I have hopes for the 4G rollout in the next twelve months.

Why would anyone pay £25 per month for a 15Gb limit on the iPad, when they could just buy the iPad, plus a 'ONE' plan micro sim with all you can eat data from Three, and put that in the iPad for unlimited data at the same £25 per month?

Better still, put the same sim in your iPhone and tether it to a cheaper WiFi version of the same iPad and get phone and iPad effectively unlimited for the same price. When are you going to be walking around with an iPad when you don't have your phone on you to tether it to?

Or am I missing something ?

Oh, and potential Three customers please note, you need to have your phone and account up and running for sixty days before you can unlock it for use outwith the UK - understandable but REALLY annoying as it applies to contract as well as PAYG.

KrisLord · Oct 31, 2013

GWIM2 said:
Vodafone coverage is / was marginally better than Three's, as I noticed when I switched, but I have hopes for the 4G rollout in the next twelve months.

Why would anyone pay £25 per month for a 15Gb limit on the iPad, when they could just buy the iPad, plus a 'ONE' plan micro sim with all you can eat data from Three, and put that in the iPad for unlimited data at the same £25 per month?

Better still, put the same sim in your iPhone and tether it to a cheaper WiFi version of the same iPad and get phone and iPad effectively unlimited for the same price. When are you going to be walking around with an iPad when you don't have your phone on you to tether it to?

Or am I missing something ?

Oh, and potential Three customers please note, you need to have your phone and account up and running for sixty days before you can unlock it for use outwith the UK - understandable but REALLY annoying as it applies to contract as well as PAYG.

The £25 deal means you get the iPad from three for considerably less than the £500 it cost from apple. The iPad 4 on this deal is £99.

biohead · Oct 31, 2013

GWIM2 said:
...Why would anyone pay £25 per month for a 15Gb limit on the iPad, when they could just buy the iPad, plus a 'ONE' plan micro sim with all you can eat data from Three, and put that in the iPad for unlimited data at the same £25 per month?

Better still, put the same sim in your iPhone and tether it to a cheaper WiFi version of the same iPad and get phone and iPad effectively unlimited for the same price. When are you going to be walking around with an iPad when you don't have your phone on you to tether it to?

Or am I missing something ?
...

You can't put the sim in an iPad/tablet/dongle - it automatically blocks your internet access until you put it back in a phone. Although as you mentioned, you CAN tether on the 'ONE' plan so it just has to be done that way. Not sure what difference that makes when using tablets/iPads but that's how it works.

Not quite sure the reasoning behind that lack of 4G data - hoping it's just to ensure network stability at first.

matjamca · Oct 31, 2013

biohead said:
You can't put the sim in an iPad/tablet/dongle - it automatically blocks your internet access until you put it back in a phone. Although as you mentioned, you CAN tether on the 'ONE' plan so it just has to be done that way. Not sure what difference that makes when using tablets/iPads but that's how it works.

Not quite sure the reasoning behind that lack of 4G data - hoping it's just to ensure network stability at first.

The lack of 4G data is because 3 haven't launched their 4G network yet. Only goes live from December.

TWHH · Oct 31, 2013

KrisLord said:
The £25 deal means you get the iPad from three for considerably less than the £500 it cost from apple. The iPad 4 on this deal is £99.

But if I don't want that much data then I'm into a contract that gives me no more data for my £7.50 p/month than if I wasn't, and my reward from 3 for the contract is a big fat zero... same priced iPad.

...Mmm let me think this one over. Spending not insignificant money via a moderate to good retail experience and service from Apple, or shambolic nonsense from hair gelled kids that suck their teeth and say "innnit" too much and offshore call centres. Now that's a tough one

matjamca · Oct 31, 2013

EE all the way for me.

- £46 per month
- 11GB Data
- 2 for 1 Movie Tickets every Wednesday
- Excellent coverage everywhere I've been in UK
- Plus, My iPad can share this data. I don't need a separate plan.

The movie ticket offer alone is worth £28 per month because I go every week.

biohead · Oct 31, 2013

matjamca said:
The lack of 4G data is because 3 haven't launched their 4G network yet. Only goes live from December.

I took that to mean when their network does launch, it won't include 4G usage from the start - I probably looked too deep into it in that case

Newjackboy · Oct 31, 2013

matjamca said:
EE all the way for me.

- £46 per month
- 11GB Data
- 2 for 1 Movie Tickets every Wednesday
- Excellent coverage everywhere I've been in UK
- Plus, My iPad can share this data. I don't need a separate plan.

The movie ticket offer alone is worth £28 per month because I go every week.

I pay effective £9.90 a month for the same ( on 3G data speeds)

GWIM2 · Oct 31, 2013

Hmm

Newjackboy said:
I pay effective £9.90 a month for the same ( on 3G data speeds)

Well I have phone, plus tethered iPad and Mac Book, all you can eat for £25 per month, and when 4G gets to my local area in 2014 it is supposed to be the same price ( yes, it'll probably get a bump but hopefully not significant )

Let me turn it round and hit it from a different angle.

Assuming you are going to be carrying a phone around and paying for the phone connection and data anyway, why elect for a cellular iPad and pay every month for an extra connection, rather than just having a WiFi iPad and tethering it - any suggestions?

steve-p · Oct 31, 2013

GWIM2 said:
Assuming you are going to be carrying a phone around and paying for the phone connection and data anyway, why elect for a cellular iPad and pay every month for an extra connection, rather than just having a WiFi iPad and tethering it - any suggestions?

Because tethering for any length of time kills your phone battery, which may be inconvenient.

CarpalMac · Oct 31, 2013

Mums said:
Three is kicking a** in the UK. Nobody else comes close to price or quality of coverage. Keep it up 3!

I am hoping to move to Western Scotland and their 3G coverage (according to their maps) beats everyone else. Got a PAYG SIM to try it out when next there.

trevolly · Oct 31, 2013

biohead said:
I took that to mean when their network does launch, it won't include 4G usage from the start - I probably looked too deep into it in that case

Three announced that when they launch their 4G data network they will allow any user to use 4G at no extra cost or have to change their monthly plan to a 4G tariff. The only limit will be if you can actually receive 4G where you are based!!

http://blog.three.co.uk/2013/08/29/get-ready-for-4g/

Quote.... (extracted from the link above).... "Every Three customer with a 4G Ready device will get a 4G upgrade at no extra cost. Itll be easy to switch over too, all thats required is a simple software update. You wont even need to go in to a store. Therell be no new contract to sign, no new SIM and no tariff change. We really want this transition to be as easy as possible for our customers."

Morrile · Oct 31, 2013

matjamca said:
EE all the way for me.

- £46 per month
- 11GB Data
- 2 for 1 Movie Tickets every Wednesday
- Excellent coverage everywhere I've been in UK
- Plus, My iPad can share this data. I don't need a separate plan.

The movie ticket offer alone is worth £28 per month because I go every week.

really? On 3 for £25 per month I get all the data I can eat, so does this mean you are paying £21 for your movie tickets?

joelvega125 · Oct 31, 2013

"Let me turn it round and hit it from a different angle"

That's what she said.

NowConverted · Oct 31, 2013

Mums said:
Three is kicking a** in the UK. Nobody else comes close to price or quality of coverage. Keep it up 3!

I completely agree. Prices are perfect, service is amazing, coverage is good (I can talk for London), and you forget about this stupids data caps.

afd · Oct 31, 2013

Plus one for the tethering from iPhone solution. You can leave phone on a window sill where it gets a signal, if there is charging nearby even better. That way you can work on your iPad or laptop anywhere in the room.

aegisdesign · Oct 31, 2013

matjamca said:
EE all the way for me.

- £46 per month
- 11GB Data
- 2 for 1 Movie Tickets every Wednesday
- Excellent coverage everywhere I've been in UK
- Plus, My iPad can share this data. I don't need a separate plan.

The movie ticket offer alone is worth £28 per month because I go every week.

I use a 3 data sim in my Nexus 7.

A 3 month 3GB SIM, which is plenty for me since I'm usually in wifi range costs £20.49 BUT if you buy it via TopCashBack.co.uk they give you £13.17 back so it effectively costs £7.32. I'm on my fifth consecutive SIM so over a year's data for about £35.

I have an old Nokia in the car with an Orange PAYG SIM in. It came 'free' with a handset from Carphone Warehouse and use that to get the 2 for 1 movie tickets. You can do it entirely free - just ask for a free SIM in an Orange/EE shop and they'll give you one. They come with a couple of quid's credit.

My main mobile is on Three also. About £12 a month for unlimited data IIRC and I got cash back on that too so I think it's working out at about £6-8 a month.

And when Three upgrade their network to 4G, the costs don't go up, unlike the other networks.

£46 a month for one phone? Does Kevin Bacon come round an answer it for you?

hadleigh101 · Oct 31, 2013

aegisdesign said:
I use a 3 data sim in my Nexus 7.

A 3 month 3GB SIM, which is plenty for me since I'm usually in wifi range costs £20.49 BUT if you buy it via TopCashBack.co.uk they give you £13.17 back so it effectively costs £7.32. I'm on my fifth consecutive SIM so over a year's data for about £35.

I have an old Nokia in the car with an Orange PAYG SIM in. It came 'free' with a handset from Carphone Warehouse and use that to get the 2 for 1 movie tickets. You can do it entirely free - just ask for a free SIM in an Orange/EE shop and they'll give you one. They come with a couple of quid's credit.

My main mobile is on Three also. About £12 a month for unlimited data IIRC and I got cash back on that too so I think it's working out at about £6-8 a month.

And when Three upgrade their network to 4G, the costs don't go up, unlike the other networks.

£46 a month for one phone? Does Kevin Bacon come round an answer it for you?

Well said, I pay £17.90 for unlimited data with tethering, plenty minutes an texts (use about ten texts a month for non apple friends) and got family on EE for 241 on cinema tickets.. A lot cheaper than your 47£, granted you get a phone as well but what's that a 18/24 month contract? 30 day rolling one for me but haven't felt like I've needed to change provider, good service where I live in a city, much better than Vodafone (my work iPhone). Works out a few quid cheaper than getting a contract for a ridiculous amount of time.

Nevaborn · Oct 31, 2013

I dont plan to leave 3 if they stay the same, its perfect.

£15 pm and I get unlimited data... That plus tethering means I am sorted. Plus FREE 4G when it comes as an existing cusomer.

The One plan blows every UK phone plan away

Lukkee24 · Oct 31, 2013

Mums said:
Three is kicking a** in the UK. Nobody else comes close to price or quality of coverage. Keep it up 3!

It's the complete opposite in London, unfortunately. Terrible coverage from 3 here.

----------

NowConverted said:
I completely agree. Prices are perfect, service is amazing, coverage is good (I can talk for London), and you forget about this stupids data caps.

Hmm that's strange because I find their coverage is terrible in London, at least for 3G Internet anyway. I tried them for a month two years back and it was terrible. I've had other people complaining about their coverage here too and not being able to get Internet, with one friend complaining about it last month. :S.

Gav2k · Oct 31, 2013

Lukkee24 said:
It's the complete opposite in London, unfortunately. Terrible coverage from 3 here.

----------

Hmm that's strange because I find their coverage is terrible in London, at least for 3G Internet anyway. I tried them for a month two years back and it was terrible. I've had other people complaining about their coverage here too and not being able to get Internet, with one friend complaining about it last month. :S.

London is a big place and in all fairness everywhere I frequent in London I've had no issues with on three

barnesy99 · Oct 31, 2013

I signed up to Three a month ago on a 30 day rolling contract after hearing a lot of rave reviews recently. 2 weeks ago I moved to London and have no signal at home, and out and about signal and speeds are very unreliable. I'm waiting until 4g comes out in December and if there is no improvement I will unfortunately be leaving.

Three to Offer Cellular Versions of iPad Air and Retina iPad Mini in the UK

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