ATT data package question

Yes.
No.
Yes.

 

Verizon/CDMA is limited to us only. ATT unlimited grandfather plans still exist, ie. I would never choose Verizon.

 

I travel for a living. AT&T sucks. It's a bummer to stay in a decent size town in a top notch Holiday Inn and not have 3G. AT&T is only good if the city you live in has it, witch is actually moot, because if you're static, you'll use more wireless. I used to defend AT&T until I started traveling.

I was so disgusted with AT&T last week that I was seconds away from buying a Verizon iPhone 4. Only thing holding me back was the 5 coming out this summer. Amazing I was surfing the web off a Verizon iPhone hotspot on my AT&T iPhone 4 that couldn't because I was on EDGE.

EDGE has been getting dramatically slower lately.

I'm not even thinking twice of the Verizon iPad. It's that real man. Go with the best coverage, not fastest. You'll be hopping from little 3G islands with AT&T when you're on the go.

 

There are no contracts between either carriers. Start/Stop any time.

From what I hear, AT&T speeds are faster than Verizon. (I never had Verizon anything though).

Keep in mind, with Verizon, you'll incur a $35 activation charge when you sign up and if you resign up after being inactive for 3 months, you'll incur another $35 activation charge.

 

I'm not sure why AT&T calls it "edge"..for me Edge is the Black hole of death...outer space - nothing flowing. It is utterly useless for anything. And it happens FAR more often than it should, in very populated places.

I can easily buy an AT&T iPad2 and move my unlimited plan to it. Will I be doing this tomorrow at 5pm? Probably not...

AT&T does suck.

 

Here it is:

"Keep in mind that the plans on both Verizon and AT&T are offered on a no-contract, month-to-month basis. That means that you can sign up for a month, cancel the plan afterwards, and then sign up for a separate month at some point in the future. However, while AT&T now offers both prepaid and postpaid options for data plans, Verizon only allows you to pay for data upfront. Verizon's Executive Director of Corporate Communications, Brenda Raney, also confirmed to Macworld that, like AT&T, Verizon will not charge an activation fee to begin service, or even a reactivation fee if you cancel your service and start it up again a few months later."

 

My experience has been the complete opposite. Took the iPad to Colorado then Dubois WY high up on a mountain top. No Verizon cell service but hey sorry to burst your bubble but I got an ATT signal and I was on the net. Literally out in the middle of nowhere. Also took it deep into the Selkirk mountain range in northern Idaho (close to where Hillary and hubby Bill ordered the murder of that family up on Ruby Ridge in '92) and guess what? No Verizon cell service but somehow ATT got a signal in there. Even on the map, it shows no service but I was strummin' along the highways of the net on my iPad. I'm sold.

 

Top-notch Holiday Inn? There's an oxymoron if I've ever heard one.

 

to be perfectly honest, I am going to buy one of each....64GB Verizon and 64GB AT&T and do side by side tests.
I've already used the AT&T on an unlimited plan since ipad1 launch, so I am pretty familiar with it. I have taken it on no less than 25 trips out of town. I have seen "edge" on it many many times and it never gets any better.

I also have a Verizon BB and used a mifi quite a bit, so pretty familiar with VZW data. My gut tells me that Verizon will be the best choice, but no better way than to trial them side by side.

 

Does my iPhone data usage directly translate into data usage as it would be on the iPad? In other words, if I did all the same activity on both devices over 3G, would the data usage be the same?