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Verizon iPad

I

iMule

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Feb 11, 2009
309
8
Greenville, SC
Guys, I rarely post, but I'm on this site 24/7 (and I'm not trolling, because I've been a member since 08! :D).

Anyways, I travel the southeast US for work. I currently have the iPhone 4 and although I love the device, AT&T's network has been nothing short of a pain. It's basically like hopping from 3G island to 3G island and you can tell when you're approaching a large city as soon as you see the EDGE indicator switch to 3G.

I used to live in Greenville SC and AT&T 3G was incredible. Rarely did I leave the city, so rarely did I find any flaws in the network. Honestly, I think that many people rarely travel outside their city, so they don't experience the AT&T's subpar network as a whole.

I've dropped call after call so many times, that my family and work are so used to it. Plenty of times, AT&T 3G is useless. I try and plan a hotel in a 3G area and still have problems with reception and data. I work in IT and so I need connectivity at all times.

One more coincidence that I've encountered after being on the road for a year: Where there's no 3G, there's little or no WiFi at the hotel. That's a guarantee.

So, to some of you who may be familiar with Verizon, I'd like to ask you a few questions.

1. I've seen the coverage maps. If correct, I'd be covered pretty much everywhere I traveled. Is Verizon's network speed decent enough to do simple tasks such as web browsing and checking emails?

2. Sure AT&T is fast, if and only if you are in a dominant 3G area. I've averaged around 2 Mbps as I do speed tests quite often. What is Verizon's average speed?

I want and iPad, but I feel that I can't go with AT&T, because if it's anything like my iPhone 4 I'm doomed and vulnerable to a horrible network.
 
Is there an Apple store near you? If so, get Verizon iPad, sign up for data, and see what kind of speed / connection you get. You have 14 days to return it if things don't work out. The data plan should be easy to cancel, too, so you'll just be out one month of data fee.
 
Cool, although those tests all appear to be done in bigger cities.

Personally, I've had to lug my work-issued Verizon BB along with me on Jeeping trips in some rural areas of VA/NC/PA and have experience situations where the screen indicates 3G coverage area, but the speeds were slower than 100kbps. It's almost like (in those areas) they upgraded their towers to provide a 3G signal, but did nothing to upgrade the Internet backhaul speed at the tower. Kind of like using a 300mpbs 802.11n-wireless router connected to a 768kbps DSL connection. :confused:

Hopefully you won't run into areas like that. You might, as suggested, from a retailer that allows free returns (just in case). :)
 
Night Spring said:
Is there an Apple store near you? If so, get Verizon iPad, sign up for data, and see what kind of speed / connection you get. You have 14 days to return it if things don't work out. The data plan should be easy to cancel, too, so you'll just be out one month of data fee.
Click to expand...

this.

try one out. that's the only way you're going to find out if it's actually going to work for you.

EVDO has a theoretical max of 3Mbps. (yes, i meant "b," and not "B" so u know what i'm talkin about). i've gotten as high as 1.4Mbps using the speedtest app with full reception on the UW Seattle campus, but tended to average around 700-900Kbps. tried it out for 2 weeks and went back to my AT&T iPhone since, unlike you, my locale has good coverage and speed... no worse than VzW, but much faster on average.
 
Thanks aristobrat! Very good analogy... all of the stores in my area are pretty rural, but I stay in towns around the area. If all fails, I could rely on WiFi in hotels. However, I haven't been impressed with AT&T. I've found that their EDGE is useless in a lot of places.
 
iMule: if just for web browsing and e-mail, even if the speeds are slow, you should be fine. I had AT&T and also had to deal with so much inconsistency. Verizon service is very good in my area, and I usually get 1.6-2.1Mbps down, and usually 0.8-1.1Mbps up. But again, that's my area. Even if you were getting about 1Mbps down, it isn't slow as molasses or anything, just maybe a few extra seconds of loading, which really is not that big.

I would echo others responses and say give it a try and if you don't like it return it, but due to your problems with AT&T, I would guess they weren't an option at this time.
 
Thanks dude... that's exactly right. Traveling the southeast, I have had MAJOR issues with AT&T. To be in a town for a week that has perfect Verizon 3G and no AT&T 3G at all, I feel disconnected from the world. MacRumors mobile wouldn't even open on full EDGE.

There's an Apple Store 45 mins away and there's a Verizon store a couple miles up the road. I'm planning on going to the VZW store due to the locality of it.
 
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