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iPad Pro Whats the point of a WiFi Only iPad Pro ?

I also have a pet peeve of the plastic piece they used for an iPad I DID have that was LTE... It got cracked on both sides (and I still don't know how it happened) only that it was annoying. So I have decided I'll use my iPhone for taking notes out in the field and then finalize and edit when I am at home.



Kal.
 
Um… well, I almost only use my iPad Pro at home, and my mind seems okay.

I don't even have phone service with my iPhone and I make do with no serious problems.
 
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There are, clearly, good reasons not to buy LTE (e.g. 90-95% home use, always in range of wifi, etc.) but I didn't read THE reason to buy LTE:

SECURITY.

When banking, receiving confidential email, chatting with clients etc. I don't want to use a wifi I'm not sure I can trust and certainly a free wifi that I absolutely don't trust. So I prefer to have a much more trusted connection with a LTE provider (although stingrays are also possible these days, but that's a much smaller risk and there are also layers of security with VPN, SSL, protonmail etc).
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Kal-037 said:
I also have a pet peeve of the plastic piece they used for an iPad I DID have that was LTE... It got cracked on both sides (and I still don't know how it happened) only that it was annoying. So I have decided I'll use my iPhone for taking notes out in the field and then finalize and edit when I am at home.
Kal.
Click to expand...

the new iPad 9.7" has a much nicer solution! This really annoyes me to no end in my 12.9", even though I know how stupidly irrational that is. :confused:;):rolleyes:
 
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All my iPads have been wifi only. When away from home I use a 4G MiFi mobile router which provides Internet for up to 5 devices. It's smaller than a phone, I throw it in my pocket or in my backpack and I have internet all day on all my (and my wife's) devices.
 
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alecgold said:
There are, clearly, good reasons not to buy LTE (e.g. 90-95% home use, always in range of wifi, etc.) but I didn't read THE reason to buy LTE:

SECURITY.

When banking, receiving confidential email, chatting with clients etc. I don't want to use a wifi I'm not sure I can trust and certainly a free wifi that I absolutely don't trust. So I prefer to have a much more trusted connection with a LTE provider (although stingrays are also possible these days, but that's a much smaller risk and there are also layers of security with VPN, SSL, protonmail etc).
[doublepost=1459837527][/doublepost]

the new iPad 9.7" has a much nicer solution! This really annoyes me to no end in my 12.9", even though I know how stupidly irrational that is. :confused:;):rolleyes:
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Exactly. 3G/LTE connections are vastly more secure, and difficult to intercept than a random WiFi connection (esp. "Free WiFi", "Free Public WiFi", etc.).
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Beavix said:
All my iPads have been wifi only. When away from home I use a 4G MiFi mobile router which provides Internet for up to 5 devices. It's smaller than a phone, I throw it in my pocket or in my backpack and I have internet all day on all my (and my wife's) devices.
Click to expand...
How long does the battery of the 4G router last?
 
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Beavix said:
All my iPads have been wifi only. When away from home I use a 4G MiFi mobile router which provides Internet for up to 5 devices. It's smaller than a phone, I throw it in my pocket or in my backpack and I have internet all day on all my (and my wife's) devices.
Click to expand...

I have an unlocked MiFi for this, it's great for at home use or travelling. Plus if I want I can throw my iPhone sim in if I'm really concerned about battery.
 
TheRealAlex said:
Today I went to Fresh Market sat at their great cafeteria to have a snack. Took out my 9.7 Pro to do some notes and write down some invention ideas as they come to me. Lo and behold No WIFI its 2016 in a posh Fresh Market very upscale I was enraged. No need to fret flipped on LTE cell Data and I am connected at 20-40Mbps.

My question is as wonderful as wifi is, people forget how limited the coverage is and even if you can see a Network in range often and quite appropriately so it is private and secured. Which got me thinking who in their right mind buys a WiFi only iPad Pro model ?

How do you justify a WiFi only purchase ?
Click to expand...


Its easy for me. I have a big, big data plan for my iPhone. If I have no WiFi around me, I create one and share data from my iPhone to my iPad.

Greetings,
Laura
 
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Tethering is free, happens pretty much automatically when I need it, and drains my phone battery at the rate of 10% per hour or less. I'm on my 5th iPad. If I had bought LTE models every time, I'd have spent an extra $650 on hardware plus a similar amount in extra data fees. No thank you.
 
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I don't really need data, so I don't waste my money on it. I use an iPhone 6 Plus and iPad Pro without data.

The amount of times I need Internet and don't have wifi is very limited. There's wifi at home, school, every city center, work, the train, family and friends...
 
Personally, not that I actually have to justify it. But I have a massive data allowance on my iPhone. Far, far more than I'll ever use with the iPhone alone. So I use it as a hotspot.

So it would be silly to buy a cellular iPad and not take advantage of what I already have.

Saying that, my Air 2 was cellular. But I still hooked it up to the iPhones hotspot 99.9% of the time.
 
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The AT&T rep that (very) recently helped me update from an old family plan to a 15GB Mobile Share Value Plan didn't even mention I now could use my iPhone AND old iPad Mini with LTE as a Personal Hotspot. Discovered that when my wifi only iPad 12.9 stopped playing nice at a friend's house. Went to the settings and BAM! cruising along on the good old AT&T LTE highway. I connected and disconnected to both devices seamlessly. (same Apple ID across the board) When I got home I tested the same with my MacBook Pro: win win win... iPhone SE, 9.3.1, etc...

Do I get banned now for actually saying something nice about AT&T?
 
alecgold said:
There are, clearly, good reasons not to buy LTE (e.g. 90-95% home use, always in range of wifi, etc.) but I didn't read THE reason to buy LTE:

SECURITY.

When banking, receiving confidential email, chatting with clients etc. I don't want to use a wifi I'm not sure I can trust and certainly a free wifi that I absolutely don't trust. So I prefer to have a much more trusted connection with a LTE provider (although stingrays are also possible these days, but that's a much smaller risk and there are also layers of security with VPN, SSL, protonmail etc).
Click to expand...

Nail. On. Head.

Using 'Free wifi' is to give up too much and it's probably no coincidence that many of them, in my experience, do not allow VPN connections. At the very least you're being tracked and quite a few need an email or phone number to gain access.

I'll take my VPN over cellular over what Starbucks or the shopping mall are offering.
 
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My previous iPad mini 2 was wifi-only. This coming from my experience with my earlier iPad 3 with cellular, where I used the 3G network maybe like just 1% of the time. I relied on a mifi router to supply internet connection to my laptop and iPad, while also serving double duty as a wifi connection for Airserver.

However, I have now gone with a 4g iPad Pro 9.7". I am using a multi sim which shares data with my iPhone (12 gb per month data allowance), paying $10 a month for that, in addition to the extra data.

Now, my router's battery life isn't as great as before after 2 years of charging, and I don't like tethering from my phone due to battery drain. I also like the idea of being able to bring my iPad anywhere with me and always be connected to the Internet. Yes, all this costs me extra, so we shall see if the added benefit is worth the money.
 
The IPP is my fifth ipad, all have been wifi only. Getting a separate plan and SIM is a complete waste of money for me. When the ipad is out of the house it's always within range of wifi unless I'm in a very unusual situation - on the beach on holiday or on a plane. Can't use comms on a plane anyway, and in the perhaps two or three times over the last five years that I've wanted internet access I just turn on the phone hotspot. Last time I used it was 18 months ago when I had to wait an hour or so for my son, but even then I was only browsing the news because I could.
 
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spriter said:
Nail. On. Head.

Using 'Free wifi' is to give up too much and it's probably no coincidence that many of them, in my experience, do not allow VPN connections. At the very least you're being tracked and quite a few need an email or phone number to gain access.

I'll take my VPN over cellular over what Starbucks or the shopping mall are offering.
Click to expand...
I fully agree. I have said in threads about the unlimited data plan that one of the reasons I won't sell mine is because I do not like to use public wifi. I have no idea who is on the node/subnet I am on and I want to minimize the risk of packet sniffing/interception. Cellular is much safer.
 
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Cascades42 said:
I have free tethering on the few occasions I need it, but I'm a student - my entire campus (and a large portion of the city due to the number of institutions here) is covered for wifi thanks to eduroam (and I have wifi free anywhere there is eduroam which is useful). Plus it's 12.9", it's not like I'll grab it out of my bag in the 10 minutes I spend on the underground train in the morning. Post-graduation I'll consider going back to cellular devices (I did during my 2 year placement of my last degree and that was useful), but for now I'm 100% fine with wifi only.
Click to expand...

Same for eduroam. Tethering, eduroam, and Starbucks 24-h wifi helps me save one more data plan. Normal iPad plan only gives 5 GB here so can't stream a lot anyways.
 
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Pspressart said:
I fully agree. I have said in threads about the unlimited data plan that one of the reasons I won't sell mine is because I do not like to use public wifi. I have no idea who is on the node/subnet I am on and I want to minimize the risk of packet sniffing/interception. Cellular is much safer.
Click to expand...
Somehow, I'm not worried about browsing MLB.com, baseball blogs, Wikipedia or cat videos in public.
 
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joeblow7777 said:
At home I have wifi. At work I have wifi. In hotels and airports I have wifi. For the rare occasions that I don't have wifi and want to use my tablet, using my phone to create a hotspot suffices. An LTE tablet would be a waste of money for me.
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The last few airports have been at wifi has been an issue.

Jfk - no free wifi
Dubai - 30 min of free wifi
Manila - no free wifi
Heathrow - no free wifi
Amsterdam - 30 min of free wifi
 
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617aircav said:
The last few airports have been at wifi has been an issue.

Jfk - no free wifi
Dubai - 30 min of free wifi
Manila - no free wifi
Heathrow - no free wifi
Amsterdam - 30 min of free wifi
Click to expand...

I was in Heathrow last week and used their free wifi for the entire time I was there. Terminal 3. I've also used it in T5.
 
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