Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Shared plan with AT&T iPad Mini and iP5?

iSingandiDance

iSingandiDance

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Apr 24, 2010
581
0
I placed my order for the AT&T Mini hoping I would be able to go the no-contract route or opt
into a shared plan with my iPhone 5.

Those with shared plans - how does it work? Do I just tell AT&T that I want x amount of data for my Mini and 5? I believe with shared the lowest is 5GB/mo, which is plenty. Am I also charged a shared plan fee on top if the added data?

Is shared data advisable or am I better off paying the $30/mo for non-contract?

Thanks.
 
Shared plan. Did you get a cellular mini?

You order the size data block you want. Use it before 30 days or loose it.
 
iSingandiDance said:
I placed my order for the AT&T Mini hoping I would be able to go the no-contract route or opt
into a shared plan with my iPhone 5.

Those with shared plans - how does it work? Do I just tell AT&T that I want x amount of data for my Mini and 5? I believe with shared the lowest is 5GB/mo, which is plenty. Am I also charged a shared plan fee on top if the added data?

Is shared data advisable or am I better off paying the $30/mo for non-contract?

Thanks.
Click to expand...

You need to go to the AT&T site and see all the plans. 5G is not the lowest. You'll pay $10/month to add your mini. Basically you get one pot of data to use one both devices. If you plan to use your mini a lot and every month it may be worth it depending on what you pay now and your useage.

We have the shared plan but we have 4 phones and 3 iPads on it. Runs us $200/month for a 10G plan (my son gets a discount though). Since we use little data on our phones and a lot on the iPads we're saving about $100/month. Well worth it for us but may not be for others.
 
You have to do the math. Take a look at how much data you use on avg w/ your iPhone. Then do your best guess at how much data you think you'll use w/ your iPad; i.e. will you use it at lot via LTE or mostly WiFi w/ occasional LTE.

Personally I wouldn't give up my "unlimited" phone plan just to share data b/c the beauty of the iPad is that you can buy data only when you need it. Also you'll tend to burn up data on an iPad faster than on an iPhone b/c it's more conducive to watching videos and at higher resolutions.
 
ya... as much as i bitched about the whole shared plan originally (with only 2 phone)... when i was playing with numbers yesterday... if we use out mini's off wifi more than 256mb... we will save money going the shared route! still not changing right off the bat... but it's not out of the realm of possibility eventually....
 
If you're on a mobile shared plan, you may not want to get the LTE version. You're paying 130 upfront plus 10 dollars a month just to use the same pool of data. Since mobile shared plans allow for tethering at no extra cost, you can tether your Mini without paying anymore money.

If you don't have a smartphone that can tether or you don't want to have your phone with you, then you may want to look at getting the LTE version. It just seems silly (for me) since my iPhone 5 can tether its LTE to any of my devices with extremely fast speeds all without paying extra. Plus, my iPad can always have a connection. I don't have to activate it if I feel I'm going to use it. It's always ready to use LTE.

Mobile shared isn't for everyone, but I ended up saving a ton of money, got more features and lost all throttling done by the carriers.
 
Why not just get an iPad Mini WiFi only (saves $130), then get the 5GB per month on your iPhone plan and then tether to your iPad. All this cellular and shared data plan stuff costs too much and is complicated. You don't need separate plans. Just tether.
 
I'm in the same boat, first LTE ipads and I have a grandfathered unlimited data plan on 2 iphones. If I add the mini's to the plan they make you go shared. I am going to open a new account for the ipads only and pay the $60 a month and it should run $10 cheaper then switching to a shared plan. We'll see!
 
HazyCloud said:
If you're on a mobile shared plan, you may not want to get the LTE version. You're paying 130 upfront plus 10 dollars a month just to use the same pool of data. Since mobile shared plans allow for tethering at no extra cost, you can tether your Mini without paying anymore money.

If you don't have a smartphone that can tether or you don't want to have your phone with you, then you may want to look at getting the LTE version. It just seems silly (for me) since my iPhone 5 can tether its LTE to any of my devices with extremely fast speeds all without paying extra. Plus, my iPad can always have a connection. I don't have to activate it if I feel I'm going to use it. It's always ready to use LTE.

Mobile shared isn't for everyone, but I ended up saving a ton of money, got more features and lost all throttling done by the carriers.
Click to expand...
I'm right at 2GB/mo for my iPhone.

While I see the inherent advantage in upgrading to the 5GB plan and tethering the Mini, my iPhone battery will take a hit. And I won't truly be able to take advantage of the 10 hour battery life of the Mini. I guess I could invest in an external battery for the iPhone.

Hmm.
 
iSingandiDance said:
I'm right at 2GB/mo for my iPhone.

While I see the inherent advantage in upgrading to the 5GB plan and tethering the Mini, my iPhone battery will take a hit. And I won't truly be able to take advantage of the 10 hour battery life of the Mini. I guess I could invest in an external battery for the iPhone.

Hmm.
Click to expand...

I have 10GBs with my plan and I haven't even come close to hitting it. As for the battery depletion, it's not as bad as you think. Also, the Mini shouldn't take a hit when tethering. It's usually the hotspot that does, not the device connecting to it. Of course I never looked at any type of battery using in a bad way since chargers are available everywhere. If my device is low, I'll charge it.
 
I don't mean to jack this thread, but my question is applicable to this thread.

Can someone clarify something for me? With the WiFi+cellular version, am I able to just use the data when I want? Or do I have to sign up with AT&T for iPad data? I was under the assumption that the former was the case.

I have an unlimited iPhone data plan but don't want to lose it if I have to sign up for some type of iPad data service. I would just like to use the cellular service when needed.
 
frozencarbonite said:
I don't mean to jack this thread, but my question is applicable to this thread.

Can someone clarify something for me? With the WiFi+cellular version, am I able to just use the data when I want? Or do I have to sign up with AT&T for iPad data? I was under the assumption that the former was the case.

I have an unlimited iPhone data plan but don't want to lose it if I have to sign up for some type of iPad data service. I would just like to use the cellular service when needed.
Click to expand...

Yes, you can sign up a month at a time. No contract at all. You will however need to pay for a full month even if you don't plan on using it for the entire month.

Your best bet is to call AT&T and get plans and rates from them.
 
HazyCloud said:
I have 10GBs with my plan and I haven't even come close to hitting it. As for the battery depletion, it's not as bad as you think. Also, the Mini shouldn't take a hit when tethering. It's usually the hotspot that does, not the device connecting to it. Of course I never looked at any type of battery using in a bad way since chargers are available everywhere. If my device is low, I'll charge it.
Click to expand...
I meant that with a depleted iPhone 5 I won't be able to take advantage of the full ten hours online with the iPad Mini.

I don't like carrying extra cords or cables - I'm just a stickler like that.

I'll purchase the wifi only to see how it goes (while keeping my AT&T preorder) and go from there.
 
HazyCloud said:
If you're on a mobile shared plan, you may not want to get the LTE version. You're paying 130 upfront plus 10 dollars a month just to use the same pool of data. Since mobile shared plans allow for tethering at no extra cost, you can tether your Mini without paying anymore money.

If you don't have a smartphone that can tether or you don't want to have your phone with you, then you may want to look at getting the LTE version. It just seems silly (for me) since my iPhone 5 can tether its LTE to any of my devices with extremely fast speeds all without paying extra. Plus, my iPad can always have a connection. I don't have to activate it if I feel I'm going to use it. It's always ready to use LTE.

Mobile shared isn't for everyone, but I ended up saving a ton of money, got more features and lost all throttling done by the carriers.
Click to expand...


This is the route i'm taking. I debated many time to wehther so lte or just turn on terher on my ip5 like how im doing it jow. In the end i couldnt justify paying $130 + $10 a month for the same data i already paid so widi mini in the end.
 
I tried the tethering route but it was too much trouble. I like the ability to turn on the iPad and have data connectivity no matter what (well mostly). The extra steps of turning on/off tethering gave a productivity hit and limited how much I used my iPad. For example, I have Omnifocus on the iPad and I like opening it, entering a few things and closing it. The whole process takes less than 30 seconds. Having to fumble with tethering would mean I would not use the iPad like that at all.

My usage was such that the shared data plan also made more sense. Some devices use little data while others (i.e. iPad, use way more than their share). The shared plan gives me more flexibility in managing data usage across my constellation of communication devices!
 
ill probably save 100 dollars for ipad mini wifi over cellular and use my iphone 5 as a personal hotspot and stream wifi signal to ipad mini.
 
my concern about using the tethering is if you have a 4S or iphone without LTE and the battery drainage of the iPhone for all that tethering
 
Is it even possible to tether a unjailbroken iPhone to the mini? I thought iphones could only tether via bluetooth and the ipads couldn't connect through bluetooth?
 
I have unlimited on verizon and use it for my ipad and phone. I would never go to shared data its a huge ripoff on verizon. On att the prices seem a bit more fair but im still skeptical since i use a lot of data
 
magbarn said:
Is it even possible to tether a unjailbroken iPhone to the mini? I thought iphones could only tether via bluetooth and the ipads couldn't connect through bluetooth?
Click to expand...

iPhones can tether via USB, Bluetooth, or Wi-Fi. I tether my 3rd iPad via Wi-Fi all the time.
 
HazyCloud said:
iPhones can tether via USB, Bluetooth, or Wi-Fi. I tether my 3rd iPad via Wi-Fi all the time.
Click to expand...
So, does the iPad tether to the iPhone via Bluetooth or Wifi with AT&T's tethering?

If it's Bluetooth I would be more inclined to cancel my AT&T preorder and opt instead for wifi and just pay the extra $20/mo for the 5GBs of data. Hopefully I can still get stellar battery life on the iPhone by using Bluetooth.
 
iSingandiDance said:
So, does the iPad tether to the iPhone via Bluetooth or Wifi with AT&T's tethering?

If it's Bluetooth I would be more inclined to cancel my AT&T preorder and opt instead for wifi and just pay the extra $20/mo for the 5GBs of data. Hopefully I can still get stellar battery life on the iPhone by using Bluetooth.
Click to expand...

The iPad tethers to both. I've noticed faster speeds with Wi-Fi, but I'm posting this from my iPad via Bluetooth.
 
HazyCloud said:
That's awesome. Tethering has changed my life. Don't forget, you can tether to any device that has Wi-Fi, not just an iPad.
Click to expand...
Absolutely.

I'm going to test drive the wifi only Mini for a week or so before making my final decision. Both options are equally enticing - 5GB to tether or chosing to turn on the cellular Mini's data.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back