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Frustrated with iPad data allowances

Chargerdan said:
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If there's an edge... Then you are assuming that yourself. Unless the post I am responding to was blatantly rude... Then there is no edge.
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I don't know how you normally speak to people but if anyone speaking to me starts a sentence with "I know that.." I would normally stop the conversation right there. It could just be me but that seems a little rude. Do you let your kids talk to you like that?

Also, I haven't heard why Sprint isn't an option for you. Is there no signal in your area? They have what you want/need. It may not be the best option but it is an option.[/QUOTE]

I guess it would depend upon the tone of voice used. Not every speaks in an aggressive manner.

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steve dave said:
You should re-read your first post. Not once do you mention the cost. You specifically say it is too hard to get data. You just didn't like the answer.
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Pretty sure I clarified shortly after. Posting with two kids sitting in your lap can lead to less than perfect postings. I stupidly assumed you would figure I can get more data if I want it... It's just hard to find it at a decent price.
 
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Frustrating? Maybe.

What are your options? Buy more data? Limit your children's streaming of videos? Maybe a combination of both? Strong arm the carriers to change their pricing? Not likely.

The iPad data plans are fine for a single iPad to complete most tasks, I don't think streaming video is one of those tasks. The average movie is nearly 1gb?

You could buy and hook up a mobile wifi hotspot in you vehicle. Virgin Mobile has a 4g option for $119 with a $35 plan (2gb 3G, 10gb 4G). Depending on the coverage you need. Ive used the MiFi2200 like this.

If you don't mind edge speeds, you could get an iPhone 3GS and pop in a T Mobile sim (if its unlocked) and pay $2 for all day edge speed data. Mine is jailbroken so I can use MyWi to tether. It works in a fix.

But really, I would figure out how to entertain the kids without streaming videos. I've traveled all over this country by car with my kids and they did fine with movies, games, and books loaded on an iPod Touch.

Fact is, though cellular data is expensive.
 
OP I understand your situation. I travel across the country for "work" full time. I have 2 kids. Streaming video helps my kids kill the many long hours. My son also Home Schools on line as we travel. So data is a must.

My wife and I both have unlimited data AT&T iPhones and iPads (grandfathered). My son has an iPod touch he got for Christmas. Here's what we do. We make the kids share one of our iPads with its unlimited data. They take turns as to choosing what they watch. With us monitoring their viewing choices. My 9 year old doesn't really enjoy the 2 year sister's "My Little Ponies" much but we don't have much choice. I know it's not a perfect plan but maybe the short term answer is to let the kids share the one unlimited data iPad that you have while rolling down the road. Then at home or hotels connect them to wifi.
 
tl01 said:
Reasonable quantity for reasonable price. Another countries have better prices... Why can't we?
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FYI we're enjoying unlimited* LTE plans @ around US$32 in Hong Kong ;)

*The carrier reserves the right to cripple your speed if the usage exceeds 5GB in a month.
 
Another idea is to get your kids into READING. Whole books are downloaded in only seconds so you can fill the bookshelves up for a full week in just minutes. You cold likely cut your data plan!

Reading is good!:)
 
You could try Clearwire. I just checked here and they have a hotspot device for $24.99 and two unlimited plans at $34.99/month (1.5Mbps) and $49.99/month (6Mbps). That's about as cheap as you are going to get for unlimited.

I agree with you that the carriers are milking the data. I'm sure they have a lot of sunk cost in infrastructure to recover, but their pricing doesn't even make any sense. I am paying AT&T about $300/month for 4 iPhones, 1 feature phone, and 1 iPad. I would like to go to a shared data plan, but what is holding me back is that they charge $15 per 1GB for overages on the shared data plan, while my individual plans are only $10 per 1GB. That makes zero sense in any thinking. If I am buying a larger chunk of data, I should be getting a bigger discount on additional GB, not paying 50% more than with an individual plan. A GB of data doesn't cost them more if its shared by 2 devices instead of 1. I can kind of see them charging more for the base plan GB, but overages are different. Once you get to that point, you are actually using it so its not them padding a plan or something to make it sound better. As it stands, we get way more data buying individual vs. shared. And we don't need the unlimited minutes that they bundle with the shared data plan. Clearly they are exploiting the situation and none of them want to start moving the prices down... plus the US 2 year contracts makes it near impossible for them to really compete with each other, since its so hard to move to another company if you have multiple devices.
 
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