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All iPads No point in cellular iPad if you can tether from your phone right?

I got it this time because I have a 10gb mobile share plan and it's only 10/month.

Also I was going to get the 32 gb so I got on 2 year deal on mobile share for 100 discount. Came out to 629 which is only 30 more than non lte model

It was a no brainer. It definitely frees my experience. I simply take out my ipad and it's like a connected computer. Very nice.
 
Of course there is a point. Some people rather have always instant on connection rather than fiddle with a hotspot connection. Some people rather save their phone battery to, you know, TALK. Not everyone is looking for the cheapest way, some people value their time and convenience and rather have connectivity on their iPad regardless of the status, location, or battery juice of their iPhone.

So yes, there is a point. Not everyone gets it, but there is one.
 
I had the iPad 1 Wifi only and wished I had gotten it cellular. Tethering was cool at first but after awhile it became an inconvenience and I stopped taking it with me. . Got an iPad 4 with Verizon and I liked it a lot. Now I have the Air with Verizon and find it great once again. As I said tethering is cool at first but after awhile it becomes a pain in the butt. Some can do it and like it and some don't like me.
 
I went with cellular. I won't use it often, but the few times I do will make it worth it. Like at school when the wifi is acting up, or at a hotel where the free wifi is crap.
 
I have had cellular in both my first two iPads and toyed with the idea of going wifi only but the lack of GPS, the inconvenience of having to tether and being on Verizon where you don't have simultaneous data and voice was enough to sway me towards getting an Air with cellular. It is $130 more plus $10 a month but I use mine a tone away from wifi coverage so it's worth it.
 
I just cancelled my 4GB a month data plan, really only use it once a month when travelling for a few days and now have 2gb on my iPhone. This is a first for me will still buy iPad with 4G as i need the GPS for maps. See how it goes if no good will go pre paid.
 
I prefer to tether with my iPad than phone. Mostly because there are times when I don't need to tether. So I cancel the iPads cellular plan. Much easier to do that than adding tethering to my plan then removing it when not needed.
 
I guess there's "no point" to buying anything larger than the 16GB version then either? After all, we can just install/uninstall apps and copy over music/videos as needed, right?

It's all a trade off between convenience and cost...

C
 
ZBoater said:
Of course there is a point. Some people rather have always instant on connection rather than fiddle with a hotspot connection. Some people rather save their phone battery to, you know, TALK.
Click to expand...
Use Bluetooth. Unlike the wifi connection which times out after about 15 minutes of inactivity, the Bluetooth connection stays on until Bluetooth is shut off or the devices go out of range. For a month I was regularly tethering an iPhone 4S to an iPad Mini from the normal workday hours of 9-5. The connection was "always on" and the battery drain was pretty minimal; bearing in mind that the phone was off the charger starting around 4:30 AM, I still had over 50% battery at the end of most work days. Note that the iPhone 4S was the first iPhone to support Bluetooth 4.0, the "low power" Bluetooth profile; I've heard reports of Bluetooth ripping through other people's batteries, and not having two devices with Bluetooth 4.0 support is likely the reason.

If you're really concerned about phone battery life, carry a portable battery and/or get a battery case. I have both. I find it rare that I ever use even one, but I hate the thought of having my phone or iPad fizzle out on me. I rely on them too heavily for that.

Someone asked about speed over Bluetooth. From a benchmarking standpoint the wifi connection option would be faster. Bluetooth 3.0+HS (which Bluetooth 4.0 reverts to) has a max theoretical transfer speed of 24 mbps, which easily accommodates 3G speeds and most LTE speeds. In practice, though, I don't find Bluetooth tethering to be slow at all. I feel that the iPad loads pages as fast as the iPhone does.
 
I can tether to my Verizon iPhone 5, but I decided to go with an LTE iPad this time around. To be perfectly honest, I had some extra money to blow, and I thought it might be nice to have in a pinch.

What I'm disappointed about is that I can't seem to figure out how to load it with prepaid data and not be on an auto renewal. I have a coworker who just purchases x amount of data and when it runs out it runs out. He does this on a Verizon iPad as well. I can't seem to figure out how to do it without adding it to my plan or creating a new account.
 
Data plan is $10/month, 2-year deal gets me $100 off the iPad Air, and I can just connect.

Yes, I know how to tether. But as another poster wrote, it's not about what's cheapest (then we'd all have refurbished 16GB iPad 1's, right? :)), it's a trade-off between cost and ease of use.

YMMV, IMHO, ABC, 123...:D
 
Rhyalus said:
Verizon LTE phones absolutely can do data and voice at the same time.

snip
R
Click to expand...

Not Verizon or Sprint iPhones. Not even the new 5c & 5s iPhones on Verizon and Sprint can handle simultaneous voice and data. Here's one link. They are many, many others. Tethering iPhones while trying to handle a conference call and view a webex on the iPad is a no go for CDMA carriers and iPhones.

http://www.fiercewireless.com/tech/...ultaneous-voicedata-verizon-sprint/2013-10-13

Cheers,
 
Depends on how you use your iPad. I use it constantly away from wifi and, wherever possible, instead of my phone, so cellular is a billion times better than tethering for me. Data only sims are peanuts here in the UK, so the only real hit you take is on the initial purchase.

Made the mistake of going wifi only on my iPad 3 purchase, then bought a cellular Mini. Order is now restored, selling the Mini and the 3, and loving cellular on my 128gb Air :). The Mini is great, and the retina version will be tremendous, but maaaan I missed the bigger screen.
 
ZBoater said:
Or better yet, buy a cellular iPad! :rolleyes:
Click to expand...
If you can afford the up-front cost and don't mind paying for the added data line, sure, I suppose there's some convenience there. The way I see it, I'm paying top dollar for a phone that makes tethering to other Apple devices seamless, and my data plan includes tethering at no extra charge. It is a very simple step to connect one device to the other via Bluetooth.

For me, going with a cellular iPad is a waste. I won't say that it's a waste for everyone; there may be cases where it makes more financial sense to get the cellular variant. It seems to me that most people aren't aware of the tethering options available to them, though. I'm happy to discuss what can be done with tethering, and people are free to calculate out what they would be saving and whether or not it's worth it to them.
 
Ledgem said:
If you can afford the up-front cost and don't mind paying for the added data line, sure, I suppose there's some convenience there. The way I see it, I'm paying top dollar for a phone that makes tethering to other Apple devices seamless, and my data plan includes tethering at no extra charge. It is a very simple step to connect one device to the other via Bluetooth.

For me, going with a cellular iPad is a waste. I won't say that it's a waste for everyone; there may be cases where it makes more financial sense to get the cellular variant. It seems to me that most people aren't aware of the tethering options available to them, though. I'm happy to discuss what can be done with tethering, and people are free to calculate out what they would be saving and whether or not it's worth it to them.
Click to expand...

you still need a 4g iPad for maps. wifi only no GPS
 
I always end up tethering over bluetooth from my android phone, where I have unlimited 4G. But I still get the cellular ipads anyway due to the GPS chip.
 
For me the cellular iPad is crippled by Apples choice to block large app downloads/updates over cellular. Also some app developers also added blocks over cellular. None of these are present if you tether.

That's why the Air is my first WiFi only tablet, will not get another cellular until Apple fixes the issue. If I want to download a 1 GB game over my 60 MBit cellular connection while in the taxi to the airport that is my choice, why would Apple force me to tether if I spent money on a cellular iPad?
 
I prefer my mobile devices to be independent if they need to be so I have mobile share across all my devices.

----------
Davidkoh said:
For me the cellular iPad is crippled by Apples choice to block large app downloads/updates over cellular. Also some app developers also added blocks over cellular. None of these are present if you tether.

That's why the Air is my first WiFi only tablet, will not get another cellular until Apple fixes the issue. If I want to download a 1 GB game over my 60 MBit cellular connection while in the taxi to the airport that is my choice, why would Apple force me to tether if I spent money on a cellular iPad?
Click to expand...

I agree with you but its just too useful to go back to wifi only. I dont want to drain the battery of two devices trying to use one of them.
 
AdonisSMU said:
I agree with you but its just too useful to go back to wifi only. I dont want to drain the battery of two devices trying to use one of them.
Click to expand...

I would need to tether either way since I hate the feeling of being limited on what I can do so for me it's ether paying more and tether or paying less and tether.
 
Davidkoh said:
I would need to tether either way since I hate the feeling of being limited on what I can do so for me it's ether paying more and tether or paying less and tether.
Click to expand...

That is a good point Apple tries to limit you but you can get around it so easily. They need to just not limit people in that way and the phone companies need to collect the money and upgrade their networks with some of the extra cash instead of buying all that advertising.
 
AdonisSMU said:
I prefer my mobile devices to be independent if they need to be so I have mobile share across all my devices.
Click to expand...

I agree. At only $10/month to add an iPad to my Mobile Share plan... it is a no-brainer. When I am at home or work, the iPad is using WiFi. Everywhere else it is using LTE. Seamlessly connected 24/7.

If I was on a traditional plan, then it might be different... but $10/month is very much worth the convenience.

/Jim
 
I found out from AT&T that I am grandfathered on an old unlimited data plan that they don't offer anymore and the rep recommended I keep it. I still went with the wifi partially due to price and partially because I can count on one hand how many times I needed LTE on my 3rd gen.
 
davecnet said:
If you tether using bluetooth between your iPad and iPhone, the iPad can initiate the connection.
Click to expand...

Bluetooth tethering is slow though.

My personal reasons for having a cellular iPad:

1. Tethering to phone is a hassle.
2. Phone isn't always available (iPad may be borrowed by my other half)
3. Eats into my phone data plan
4. Eats into my phone's battery.
5. I have each on different networks for better coverage (if iPad doesn't have any, I can fall back to tether if I need to but this is rare).
 
I already had a Motorola Xoom on my account that has about 8 months left on its contract so to replace it with a iPad Air was a no brainier. Like the others I feel like it's just a hassle to tether from my phone especially when I'm in the car and the kids want internet on their devices. The iPad will be much better to use for tethering instead of my phone. I can leave it in the car with tethering enabled then when we return I don't have to play around with my phone their devices will just reconnect. It's like a mobile router or hot spot.
 
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