iPad iPhone 6 Plus Owners Skipping LTE on New iPad Purchase?

[macduke]

Any iPhone 6 Plus owners skipping LTE on the iPad Air 2 for the reasons below? I got LTE on my last iPad because 1. It drains the iPhone battery and 2. It takes time to enable. Now that I have an iPhone 6 Plus I don't think I need to worry about tethering draining the battery (I can go two days normally), and in iOS 8 tethering is really easy to connect.

I'm trying to decide: If I get a new iPad, can I get by without LTE now that I have a Plus and iOS 8 Instant Hotspot? I have Verizon, so tethering is free and I would save $10/mo for removing an iPad on my account.

 

[rui no onna]

Any iPhone 6 Plus owners skipping LTE on the iPad Air 2 for the reasons below? I got LTE on my last iPad because 1. It drains the iPhone battery and 2. It takes time to enable. Now that I have an iPhone 6 Plus I don't think I need to worry about tethering draining the battery (I can go two days normally), and in iOS 8 tethering is really easy to connect.

Nope. I use my iPad as hotspot. It lasts way longer as hotspot than an iPhone 6 Plus. Besides, I have a different carrier for the iPad in case I don't get good coverage with my iPhone and vice versa.

 

[mvmanolov]

Any iPhone 6 Plus owners skipping LTE on the iPad Air 2 for the reasons below? I got LTE on my last iPad because 1. It drains the iPhone battery and 2. It takes time to enable. Now that I have an iPhone 6 Plus I don't think I need to worry about tethering draining the battery (I can go two days normally), and in iOS 8 tethering is really easy to connect.

I'm trying to decide: If I get a new iPad, can I get by without LTE now that I have a Plus and iOS 8 Instant Hotspot? I have Verizon, so tethering is free and I would save $10/mo for removing an iPad on my account.

yep, that's exactly what i just did (though i bought an Air (1) the 2 isn't worth the extra $$$ in my particular case/usage...

 

[Pjrufus]

Nope. I use my iPad as hotspot. It lasts way longer as hotspot than an iPhone 6 Plus. Besides, I have a different carrier for the iPad in case I don't get good coverage with my iPhone and vice versa.

Kind of similar here. iPhone is T-mobile which doesn't have the coverage here that Verizon does, but the monthly bill is half the price, so I live with it. My iPad is on Verizon and works everywhere, and $20/ month is fine.

I've had cell data on all my previous iPads, even though I often went months without using it, only paid for a month or two at a time when I needed it. Came in handy during the last hurricane, when Verizon was the only service functioning. Even if I thought I'd be using it only on Wifi, I would pay the extra just to have the option available if my situation changed, which it has done before.

 

[M87]

Kind of similar here. iPhone is T-mobile which doesn't have the coverage here that Verizon does, but the monthly bill is half the price, so I live with it. My iPad is on Verizon and works everywhere, and $20/ month is fine.

That's really smart. If I wasn't already in a contract I'd do the same thing.

 

[ZBoater]

I have unlimited unthrottled AT&T data on my iPad.

From my cold dead hands...

 

[CrAkD]

I have unlimited data on my 6+ so I can't hot spot it so my iPad has to have Cellular I'm not upgrading tho keep my two retina mini

 

[Eileen89]

I am pretty sure I'll order the new iPad Air 2 to go with my 6 Plus. I'm always on my Air when I'm home.

 

[mbaturin]

/Interesting idea....I have an iPhone 6+. How easy is tethering in iOS 8.1? I went with the AT&T LTE version for my current iPad Air and enjoy the convenience of the internet as soon as i unlock it. I remember on the iPad 3 which I had Wifi only, I had to open the phone settings, enable tethering, go to settings on iPad and connect from Wifi menu. Was a pain. Is tethering made simpler somehow in iOS8.1 Anyone care to explain?

 

[eekcat]

I have unlimited unthrottled AT&T data on my iPad.

From my cold dead hands...

lol, same here. It's the principle of it -- I don't think I've ever come close to using more than, say 5GB a month.

 

[macduke]

/Interesting idea....I have an iPhone 6+. How easy is tethering in iOS 8.1? I went with the AT&T LTE version for my current iPad Air and enjoy the convenience of the internet as soon as i unlock it. I remember on the iPad 3 which I had Wifi only, I had to open the phone settings, enable tethering, go to settings on iPad and connect from Wifi menu. Was a pain. Is tethering made simpler somehow in iOS8.1 Anyone care to explain?

I was checking through old threads I had started and saw that nobody had responded to you. It's fairly easy. First, unlock your iPhone. Then on the iPad, open the WiFi settings and tap on your iPhone which should show up under "Personal Hotspots". In my testing, if you don't first unlock your iPhone when it pairs then the connection will fail. In subsequent testing, I switched the iPad back to WiFi, and locked the iPhone. After a minute or two the blue bar at the top of the iPhone goes away again. With the iPhone sitting locked, I opened the WiFi settings on my iPad and tapped on the iPhone again. It connected without needing the iPhone to be unlocked, so I think it might only need the iPhone to be unlocked for the initial pairing. I haven't been able to extensively test this as I only got my Air 2 a couple weeks ago and haven't really needed the hotspot since then, but so far this feature is excellent.

My two wishes:

1. I wish the iPad could automatically tether when it loses WiFi signal, especially since Verizon doubled my data plan for free the other day
2. I wish there was a setting to change the blue tethering ribbon at the top of the iPhone to a simple tethering icon that "pulses" or something less annoying, in case my wife or someone is using the iPad while I'm using my iPhone

Something else to note is that I don't think AT&T has free tethering like Verizon, so it might be less worth it to you to tether.

EDIT: I tried reconnecting again after my iPhone had been asleep for a while and it didn't work, so I'm not sure if it's glitchy or it needs your iPhone to be awake. Maybe it goes into a deep sleep mode where it can't connect to the phone?

 

[bushido]

i had the Cellular version of the iPad 3 and i used it a total of probably 20 minutes in 2+ years so i just got the wifi model this time around.

i just realized that i use it mostly at home and when i do not use it at home i got wifi like on campus or at the library.

the couple of times i tried to use it going from my city to Frankfurt or Munich by train 70% of the times was Edge or less phone service signal so i just gave up. also i didnt even know what to really search for online LOL twitter, facebook, iMessage, Viber, WhatsApp, Instagram, Snapchat etc is more convenient on the iPhone anyway