iPad best way to handle iPad data + phone ?

I am confused. Which phone will you have?

Which carrier are you on?

I would go to that carriers web site and check their plans.

 

Check out whichever carrier has the best coverage in your area. iPhone plans with tethering tend to be much pricier than tablet data plans.

Verizon has a 2GB/$30 plan. They have the widest LTE coverage among carriers. That's what I would shoot for. Next to Verizon, there's AT&T with 3GB/$30. Sprint has 3GB/$35 and T-Mobile 2.7GB/$30 but for me, AT&T has better coverage than either of those two and since AT&T's also less expensive per GB...

 

Hmm, I remember reading somewhere AT&T blocks tethering on prepaid iPad. I'm not sure though since my AT&T iPad is on a Mobile Share plan. Tethering is allowed on Verizon prepaid iPads, though.

How many minutes and messages do you use per month? Do you have a smartphone and do you need data on your phone?

If you can at least get HSPA on your T-Mobile phone, don't sweat the lack of LTE. T-Mobile probably has the best plan prices among the Big 4, particularly for smartphones. I've got LTE coverage with AT&T but since their network is pretty congested, I only get around 5Mbps down/2Mbps up (used to get 20 down/10 up). I've been able to get higher than that on T-Mobile's HSPA (6 down/5 up). Unfortunately, completely no signal in my office last I time I tried T-Mobile (not even 1 bar).

Cheapest available is $25/90 days (or $100/year) for pay per use service (AT&T $0.10/min, T-Mobile $0.10/min, Verizon $0.25/min). Alas, some providers limit you to basic phones with pay per use. On the upside, these basic phones tend to have awesome 1-2 week battery life.

If you mostly do a lot of texting, few calls and don't need data on the phone, AT&T also has some relatively inexpensive plan options (namely $25 for 250 minutes and unlimited messages).
http://www.att.com/shop/wireless/plans/prepaidplans.html

There's also MVNO providers such as Straight Talk, H2O Wireless, Virgin Mobile, Boost Mobile, etc.