Gave up my unlimited data for Personal Hotspot...

[brig2221]

I just dropped my unlimited data plan for the tethering option. Very happy with the results. The most I ever used was 2 gb, now I have 4 gb to use.

I essentially saved myself $130 in hardware cost by being able to stick with the wi-fi model that I "spent" on a higher memory model. I also get 2 gb of data with this plan for $20 whereby I would have only received 250 mb for $15 using the 3G iPad data plan.

I currently have a 3GS, so I only have the option of tethering via Bluetooth. I tested it out yesterday and it worked very well. I almost could not tell the difference between it and my wireless network. One thing I noticed about tethering via Bluetooth is that it doesn't randomly turn off like I hear the personal wireless hotspot does. Just food for thought.

All that said, has anyone run any tests to definitively show if wireless is faster than Bluetooth when tethering. I would be curious if this is really the case or not.

 

[ClutchThese]

I just dropped my unlimited data plan for the tethering option. Very happy with the results. The most I ever used was 2 gb, now I have 4 gb to use.

I essentially saved myself $130 in hardware cost by being able to stick with the wi-fi model that I "spent" on a higher memory model. I also get 2 gb of data with this plan for $20 whereby I would have only received 250 mb for $15 using the 3G iPad data plan.

I currently have a 3GS, so I only have the option of tethering via Bluetooth. I tested it out yesterday and it worked very well. I almost could not tell the difference between it and my wireless network. One thing I noticed about tethering via Bluetooth is that it doesn't randomly turn off like I hear the personal wireless hotspot does. Just food for thought.

All that said, has anyone run any tests to definitively show if wireless is faster than Bluetooth when tethering. I would be curious if this is really the case or not.

speedtest.net app would do the trick.

 

[El3ctronics]

Hate to say it but if you have an unlimited ipad data plan, those sims are selling for like $3-500 on ebay and craigs list. I would just sell it and then open up a new plan. Just a suggestion, everyone else taking advantage of it so you might as well also...

If you do this would you have to give up your phone #?

 

[deeddawg]

If you do this would you have to give up your phone #?

christophermdia is talking about an ipad data plan / SIM, perhaps not realizing that much of the thread is talking about iphone unlimited data plans and having to given them up to use the tethering feature.

As to your question though, technically, yes you would give up the phone number attached to your ipad if you sell its SIM. Yet since nobody can call you on that phone #, it really doesn't matter.

 

[manman]

man, I don't know what all these problems are that people have had with their jailbreaks... I've jailbroken every iPhone i've had so far and I never get random resets/resprings or anything like that... there's the occasional homebrew app that doesn't work as you'd expect, but that's just bad dev work, not really the jailbreak.

Oh well, different experiences for different people I guess. Luckily my JBs have been stable, so I won't be dropping mywi + unlimited plan any time soon. I probably don't use even 2gb a month, so I COULD probably drop it down to the 2gb plan and still use mywi, but it's good to know the unlimited plan is there. At least until I get one of the scaaa~aary crackdown texts about unauthorized tethering lol.

Also both 4.3 and 4.3.1 have already been jailbroken for iPad 2 although it hasn't been made public yet. It will be soon though, and then mywi on demand will put a stop to any battery drain since you get bluetooth tethering that turns on/off automatically when needed instead of wifi tethering.

 

[ebika]

Hate to say it but if you have an unlimited ipad data plan, those sims are selling for like $3-500 on ebay and craigs list. I would just sell it and then open up a new plan. Just a suggestion, everyone else taking advantage of it so you might as well also...

Interesting. I haven't cancelled it yet.

 

[rcownley]

I switched from my old O2 iPhone tariff with unlimited data to a 1GB new tariff to enable the personal hotspot.

Just tried it on the train on the way home and I was impressed with how well it worked!

Doubt I'll go over the 1GB limit, but if I do I don't mind, as I saved myself £100 on getting the non-3G iPad2.

 

[kash04]

IF you are going to give up your unlimited data, can i possibly get a sim from someone?!? please fellow friends!

 

[CodeCavalier]

Status Update: Personal Hotspot relegated to "Nice, but unreliable"

It turns off after 5 minutes even if you're actively using the connection?

Can those using the hotspot service explain this? My (perhaps limited) wifi understanding is that you do not need to have SSID broadcasting enabled to use the service. I think I have my home SSID broadcast turned off by default. SSID boradcast is only used for discovery, correct? Once your device 'knows' the network ID it can attach without having the SSID broadcast to everyone else out in the world. Do the hotspots time out and radio transmissions go to sleep after 5 minutes requiring a manual wake up? (!?)

For those who are concerned about the true usefulness of Personal Hotspot, a full discussion of the timeout problems can be found on this thread: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1108637/

After having my Personal Hotspot enabled for a month now, I've decided it's not a reliable connection source. In real-life, this means we've stopped expecting it to be useful. We got tired of having to turn it on all the time, and my kids have stopped asking. What we thought was going to be the turn of a new card that allows us to enjoy new connectivity freedom while on-the-go has turned out to be a dud.

I'll probably keep paying for it, because I can turn it on and use it myself, particularly for business, ie: showing online presentations during a lunch meeting. (Heck, it's only 5 bucks.) But, it's not the panacea my family and I were hoping for.

 

[PhantomPumpkin]

I know it's old....

You must be among the people that think those who break copyrights are "stealing" too, right? Please check the definition of stealing. They're infringing on rights, but there is no good being actually STOLEN from anyone. Same with AT&T; you're breaking your contract, but it's up to AT&T to enforce their end of the contract. They can take action against you, but its not THEFT. Civil vs. criminal.

And yes, I know about the DMCA, etc laws regarding copyright infringement being a crime, but this is brand new thinking and I still assert that although it is a crime, it is not the crime of theft.

I know it's an old thread, but please read up.

http://definitions.uslegal.com/t/theft-of-services/

It is theft of services, generally a misdemeanor. You are obtaining services generally only received through compensation. It IS theft. You're also violating the contract, which is civil.