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To 3G or not 3G

I

Ice2257

macrumors member
Original poster
Im torn between getting the 3G iPad or WiFi only.


Pay the 130 and get the 3G or

Get a MiFi

Jailbreak my phone (Im a iPhone dev) and MiFi for Iphone

Switch out my grandfathered unlimited plan and get tethering.
 
Easy enough question (at least it was for me).

Think of all the places you visit, can you access wifi? I plan on mainly having this at home and at work, both have wifi. Maybe various family member's homes, but they have wifi. The only place I could think of where I'd use 3g is when I go to a convention and there's either no wifi or they want to charge for it. I go to maybe 3 conferences a year, and one of them was in january. So $130 +$15 or whatever each month I go doesn't make too much sense to me. Plus I can look into jailbreaking my iphone again if needbe.

Now, if you are frequently in areas where you'd like to use the ipad, require internet access, and no wifi available, then 3g may be worth it.
 
everywhere i go has wifi, and otherwise i have my iphone. to me its not worth the extra 130 up front plus however much per month for 3g
 
I've been thinking of the same thing I had a 32GB with 3G that I just sold for the upcoming iPad 2.

I think I'm going to go with a 32GB or 64GB wifi only model this time around.

I was paying $25 a month and will probably just add the tethering plan with at&t for $20/month. I don't use the 3G all the time but with the tethering plan, I can use it with my MBA or iPad. And, my girlfriend can use it with her iPad when we're somewhere with no wifi. Not that it's gonna happen alot but I think this will work out better than getting another 3G iPad.
 
But neither ATT or VZW require data plan contracts so you can use data as you need it. Thus no "monthly" requirement. For this reason, I am leaning toward a 3G version and just turn on data when I am away from wifi. I would have to do the same for my phone's hotspot because I don't use it monthly either.
 
I have the same dilemma.
£500 to spend on either a 32gb wifi or 16gb wifi+3g.

However, I'm beginning to sway towards a 3G model because of the GPS chip to facilitate location services.
Will mostly likely get a car dock and use it as a sat-nav😎

Also, the fact that there are now PAYG data packages available, such as Orange's iPad daily charge of £2 for 200mb, I can pay for data as and when I need it in non-wifi hotspots, rather than get tied down to another monthly plan on top of my iphone.
 
The Mifi costs money monthly too right? And with mediocre reviews + a monthly plan + buying the device which is more than $130, I'm not so sure you same that much money over the 3G. Smallest 3G plan is $15 a month isn't it?
 
joltaxt said:
The Mifi costs money monthly too right? And with mediocre reviews + a monthly plan + buying the device which is more than $130, I'm not so sure you same that much money over the 3G. Smallest 3G plan is $15 a month isn't it?
Click to expand...

Yes
 
I was on the fence with my iPad 1, ended up getting the 3G. I've only activated it once so far, every were I go I've found wifi.

Next iPad for me will be wifi only...
 
Well shoot, I just started reading more about it and I have an unlimited data plan on my iPhone which I'll have to give up.

I think I'm still going non-3G this time around. I can test it all out and see how dependent I really was on the 3G connection until the iPad 3 is released 😀
 
See I'm a dev too and I can't jailbreak and keep updating to the betas every week or too because there wont be a jailbreak. Even tho I'm not developing much it is still a problem. Also I want to keep my unimeted plan so it looks like I'm spending the money for a 3G iPad 2.
 
Until Jobs is able to fulfill his master plan of taking the power away from wireless carriers I won't be getting a 3G or 4G anything.

Wi-Fi for me....for now.
 
Wifi. Unlimited verizon 3g tethering via my rooted android (i know, boooooooo) phone. Dont have to pay a dime per month for the tethering because of the root access. While most of the places i will use it have wifi, my phone is always ready to tether if needed 😀
 
NickDaQuick said:
Wifi. Unlimited verizon 3g tethering via my rooted android (i know, boooooooo) phone. Dont have to pay a dime per month for the tethering because of the root access. While most of the places i will use it have wifi, my phone is always ready to tether if needed 😀
Click to expand...

Awesome. Root away dude!

haxors ftw! 😀
 
I was paying for 3g for my ipad for a few months for emailing and surfing, never went close to going over half gig, maybe half of that.

have wifi work and home.

So i went to the darkside...
 
Jailbreaking and using MyWi is a lot less expensive. If you have an unlimited plan you'll only shell out $30. Even if you're under the tiered 2GB plans you'll pay an extra $10 for every GB you go over.
 
3g

I got the WiFi only with the first iPad and regretted it. There haven't been a lot of times when I wasn't around WiFi, but there were enough that I am definitely getting a 3G iPad 2. I think it's great that you can pay for the 3G service only in the months that you need it.
 
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