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iPad Keep my wifi or go for LTE?

Closingracer said:
Ugh I keep Going back and forth going to the Apple Store tonight to exchange it for the lte one :(

While I wouldn't use it all the time it is nice to have should I choose to. Plus t-mobile 200mb of data is 1gb I think till end of the year
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Keep in mind, with ios8, it is very convenient to use hotspot! You don't have to toggle it on and off on your phone...it's always shown as an available WiFi hotspot on your iPad. All you have to do is choose it and it will go on.
 
donster28 said:
Keep in mind, with ios8, it is very convenient to use hotspot! You don't have to toggle it on and off on your phone...it's always shown as an available WiFi hotspot on your iPad. All you have to do is choose it and it will go on.
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I don't own an iPhone lol . My phone is the Samsung Galaxy note 4.

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iPhone1 said:
I like the ability to buy mobile data if I need it on my iPad. Plus 200mb free from tmobile is cool. Also, you can always pop the SIM from your iPhone into the iPad and use that data. Been doing that for years.
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I can't do that :(

My note 4 uses a micro sim and the iPad uses a nano sim
 
I have yet to purchase an iPad that doesn't have cellular. I have ATT Unlimited on my iPhone so tethering is out of the question for me. Not only that but I find it to be a pain, I rather not have to constantly whip out the iPhone to get internet on my iPad. It really is about what is more convenient to you. If you rarely take your iPad out of the house then maybe Wifi is better for you, but if you are like me and you are always out working/traveling, having cellular built in makes the iPad a lot more powerful.
 
noodle654 said:
I have yet to purchase an iPad that doesn't have cellular. I have ATT Unlimited on my iPhone so tethering is out of the question for me. Not only that but I find it to be a pain, I rather not have to constantly whip out the iPhone to get internet on my iPad. It really is about what is more convenient to you. If you rarely take your iPad out of the house then maybe Wifi is better for you, but if you are like me and you are always out working/traveling, having cellular built in makes the iPad a lot more powerful.
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It's more convenient to tether with your iPhone with ios8. You don't have to turn hotspot on and off...it will automatically show as an available WiFi hotspot on your iPad which you can then select and you're ready to go. Most people (like me) can't live without their iPhones, so it's always an available mobile hotspot.
 
Tablets are a fun toy on wifi. With LTE they're fully standalone devices and it completely transforms how you can use them. I went from a wifi 1 to a wifi 3 to an LTE Air and I'll never go back to wifi. The ability to have an always connected tablet makes it infinitely more useful and desirable. Until I had the LTE tablet, I left my iPad at home most of the time. Once I got LTE, it went with me almost everywhere (I have a messenger bag so throwing the iPad into it isn't a problem). While I love the 6 Plus, it's still a better experience jumping onto my iPad for just about anything, and with an LTE enabled tablet I can.

If you have T-Mobile for phone service, getting the cellular iPad should be a no-brainer. They offer a match your data program for $10 a month which matches your tablet data to your phone data plan, up to 5 GB per month (they definitely do not match unlimited, they cap it at 5 GB). But the unlimited plan offers you 5 gb (or 7 if you want to pay extra per month) of tethering as well, so if you have unlimited you can get up to 10 GB of data per month on T-Mobile for $10 a month (on top of your existing phone/data plan), which is a hell of a deal considering the alternatives.

I recently got a Verizon unlimited data line, so I put that SIM in my T-Mobile iPad (all of the Airs are SIM unlocked no matter where you buy them) and now I've got unlimited data on my phone and my tablet. It's incredibly liberating.
 
donster28 said:
Oh, sorry..I missed that LOL.

EDIT: just realized I didn't miss a thing from your original post. I wish you made it clear that you're other phone is a Note 4.
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I forget this is Apple land lol and everything :p

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noodle654 said:
I have yet to purchase an iPad that doesn't have cellular. I have ATT Unlimited on my iPhone so tethering is out of the question for me. Not only that but I find it to be a pain, I rather not have to constantly whip out the iPhone to get internet on my iPad. It really is about what is more convenient to you. If you rarely take your iPad out of the house then maybe Wifi is better for you, but if you are like me and you are always out working/traveling, having cellular built in makes the iPad a lot more powerful.
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Well I guess I'll go to the Apple Store in Manhattan since it's open 24/7 and see if they have one in stock !
 
My new LTE Air 2 is replacing my old iPad 3 Verizon model. I got Verizon back in 2012 because they were the only ones that had LTE in my area at the time, even though our iPhones are on AT&T. I've been paying $20 a month for 1 GB of data for the last 2 1/2 years, even though I wasn't using very much of it.

I had planned on adding the new Air to our AT&T Mobile Share plan for an extra $10 a month, but I've decided to try out the free 200 MB plan on T-Mobile for a while first. If the service turns out to be decent and I rarely use more data than that anyway, why pay more?
 
duaneu said:
My new LTE Air 2 is replacing my old iPad 3 Verizon model. I got Verizon back in 2012 because they were the only ones that had LTE in my area at the time, even though our iPhones are on AT&T. I've been paying $20 a month for 1 GB of data for the last 2 1/2 years, even though I wasn't using very much of it.



I had planned on adding the new Air to our AT&T Mobile Share plan for an extra $10 a month, but I've decided to try out the free 200 MB plan on T-Mobile for a while first. If the service turns out to be decent and I rarely use more data than that anyway, why pay more?
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If you live in a big city t-mobile should be fine. I live in a building where it sucks but other then that it is great in nyc. There is this pizza place where I never got service with AT&T but full bars with t-mobile. Also at a store I shop in. If you live in he middle of nowhere I would stick with AT&T or Verizon imo

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I guess I'll be keeping this model for a while because no way am I going to be spending this much money to sell it in a year
 
dagamer34 said:
If you ever get an LTE model, know that there is no going back to the WiFi model.
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Well my first iPad was a 3 with LTE. This time I got a wifi because in the 2.5 years I owned it I used the cellular once when I was in Vegas and it was cheaper than the room wifi. Most times I travel with it now I always have wifi.

Believe me I love having top of the line but this time it was hard to justify the added cost. Honestly my iPad rarely leaves the house.
 
Closingracer said:
If you live in a big city t-mobile should be fine. I live in a building where it sucks but other then that it is great in nyc. There is this pizza place where I never got service with AT&T but full bars with t-mobile. Also at a store I shop in. If you live in he middle of nowhere I would stick with AT&T or Verizon imo

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I guess I'll be keeping this model for a while because no way am I going to be spending this much money to sell it in a year
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I only live a couple of miles from T-Mobile's headquarters, so their service is actually pretty good around here.
 
dagamer34 said:
If you ever get an LTE model, know that there is no going back to the WiFi model.
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This x 100

I upgraded my iPad every year since the iPad 3 but didn't get the LTE version till the iPad Air, no way could I go back to wifi. The convenience of always have LTE and not worrying about getting wifi, many times the wifi is terrible, it's a great feeling


Also, in big cities like New York, wifi many times isn't free or it's terrible if it is free
 
donster28 said:
It's more convenient to tether with your iPhone with ios8. You don't have to turn hotspot on and off...it will automatically show as an available WiFi hotspot on your iPad which you can then select and you're ready to go. Most people (like me) can't live without their iPhones, so it's always an available mobile hotspot.
Click to expand...

You cannot tether with ATT unlimited.
 
I originally bought the wifi + LTE and only occasionally used the LTE because at the time, I needed LTE when I was on vacation. I would say that if you feel you're going to use you iPad where there is no wifi often enough that you'll need LTE, go for it.

I went with wifi only because I don't need LTE at all with wifi almost everywhere I go.
 
The $130 is almost not worth waiting in line at the apple store at 5th Ave in Manhattan lol but since I paid to get here might as well wait
 
The original ipad I bought the cellular version and never used it. Went to wifi only for the ipad 2. For the third iPad i again went to cellular and used it a grand total of 2 times in the 18 months I owned it. Went back to wifi only for the air and probably will stay way for the air 2 when I upgrade next month.

Cellular version is probably great for most, but for me to spend a extra 130 bucks, and a monthly bill for data when I will only use it once or twice just isn't worth it. I have a hotspot on my phone plan. If I really need LTE and don't want to drain my iPhone by tethering I'll just use the iPhone to check mail and web browse.
 
Another thought for US users:

Public wifi frequently leaves a lot to be desired. The download speeds can be terrible, the connectivity inconsistent, and the security poor.
When I go into Starbucks and bring up the Starbucks app, I can immediately tell I have connected to their wifi because it takes ages to update my card balance. In most cases I actually actively disable wifi when I am in a public wifi spot to prevent a connection - LTE is so much faster.
 
The question now is who do I use lol . Get the most data cheapest with t-mobile but better connection with AT&T or Verizon
 
I'm in the same dilemma. I have a mini retina wifi 32GB. I'm with ATT so it'll only be $10 month to share my 20 gigs.

ATT is offering $200 off any iPad with the purchase of an iPhone.

I haven't tried the instant hotspot feature on ios 8. How is the battery with that feature enabled?
 
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