iPad 2 Tethering to AT&T iPhone 4/4S

[DPOIFVet]

Hello good people! I was just curious to know a few things:

1. Is tethering my iPad 2 to my iPhone worth it?
2. How are the speeds with full AT&T service?
3. Can anyone verify if the tethering will be faster with the 4S since it has a substantially more powerful processor?
4. If I tether to my iPhone, will the iPad be able to use navigation?

Those are all the questions that I can think of for right now. I greatly appreciate any and all assistance on this! Thank you all very much in advance :-D

 

[DPOIFVet]

Ok then. I'm guess its safe to assume that literally not a single person who frequents these forums has tethered their iPad 2 to their iPhone 4.

 

[KevinC867]

I frequently tether my iPad (original) to my iPhone 4. Both devices are jailbroken and I use MyWi which is brilliant. I just ran a speed test on my iPhone and on my tethered iPad and got similar results on both - about 2Mbps down and 1Mbps up. (My ATT signal is not fantastic here.) I used the WiFi connection for the test (rather than Bluetooth) so I think the results should be similar to what you would see with the official Apple/ATT WiFi tethering plan.

My experience is that navigation works great on my tethered iPad.

 

[meder87]

Tethering your iPhone to your iPad or computer is awesome. To get better battery life I connect by bluetooth. It really is nice to be able to get internet on another device whenever I needed to. Mine was jailbroken but I sold my 3GS. Not sure what i'm gonna do when I have my 4S. I've considered giving up my unlimited data plan to get tethering from AT&T.

 

[Menel]

I use bluetooth. It maxes out around 1mbps even when the phone is pulling 5mbps. I don't think the 4S gets faster bluetooth, just new capability.

But that's enough for web/email/chat/facebook.

It uses far less battery, has a persistent connection even when asleep, unlike with WiFi.

 

[jsh1120]

Tethering an iPad to a smartphone can be useful if one has an unlimited data plan on a phone or simply does not use the full data plan allotment and wishes to avoid purchasing a separate data plan for the iPad.

An alternate approach is to opt for a mobile hotspot that supports multiple devices. In my case, a Verizon hotspot ($99 purchase price; $50 per month for five gigabytes on a two year contract) provides 4G/LTE service for my wifi only iPad and up to four additional devices at the same time.

Download speeds average about 6-10 mps using the portable modem with occasional speeds of up to 15 mps.

 

[bniu]

I tether from time to time with the $45 data plan, it's serviceable for the times when I'm out on the road. I simply switch to the $45 plan when I actually need to tether and when I'm done tethering, I switch back to the $25 plan. Since it's prorated, it comes out to $5/week. Most I've ever tethered was a gig, just can't imagine using up all 4 gigs in a month, 3G is too slow for big downloads anyways.

 

[BornAgainMac]

I do it. It is my hack to get around the restriction of only supporting Wifi for FaceTime. I also tether my Macbook Air too. You should see any improvement the iPhone 4S gives you.

 

[DVDxR]

I tether my iPad all the time as well. If I am in an area with good AT&T coverage the speed is just fine for most things (including streaming, but that will eat your data allotment fast).

As for the 4S, since it supports faster speeds on AT&T, it should be faster when tethered as well.

Did anyone ever figure out the answer to the Navigation question? I know it came up before when tethering was enabled on iOS

 

[DPOIFVet]

Thanks everyone for the responses! I think I will just opt to pay the extra $15/month to get the tethering plan after I receive my 4S.