Hi everybody! So nice to be here talking with people who have the same passion I do ... the iPad.

My question is that my friend has had her iPad for two weeks and has already needed to up date Data time with AT&T. She had Two Gigs of data ... what could she have done wrong? She was not computer savvy when she started with her new iPad - that's why we recommended it, it's so user friendly. BTW ... She LOVES IT! (so do I

Thanks . . . Cam

I don't think she's done anything wrong! If she's like me and uses her iPad a lot on 3G that's perfectly normal. I use about 10 GB a month!

Welcome to the Forum!

Tim

Thanks Tim, i've told her your reply. Do you have any suggestions for her? I've got Wifi in our house and seldom take the iPad out. When I do I buy a months service and never use it all. Would she be better off going with a slow dial-up (no high speed in her area) and installing a wyfi in her house? I have a Cisco router she can use.

Sure appreciate your help. Cam

OK - if there's no broadband in her area then there's a definite problem. How does she manage downloading big apps and movies and music? Apple have a 20MB limit on 3G downloads.

Is there no service provider in her area that offers an unlimited data plan for 3G? In the UK they're very common. If she's on a limited plan it's going to be difficult.

With dial-up the data rate will be so slow as to be virtually unusable, so I don't really think that's going to be a viable option.

Tim

Thank you again Tim. I think both our problems are we don't know how much data it takes to "surf" the Internet. Reading an article takes less than streaming a video or a movie or even Pandora music. Like making a local cellphone call vs a long distance one. We'll figure it out. Thanks again, Cam

It all depends on what you're viewing. If the page is mainly text, surfing takes very little. If there are lots of high resolution pictures - quite a lot.

But your friend can keep track of what she's using under 'Settings', 'General', 'Usage', 'Cellular data usage' - where it lists the data that she's currently used.

Tim

In some areas where you can not get the usual broadband services throughout he telephone lines or CATV, there may be options.

In my rural area you can get a Wi-Fi link though the power company's towers. There are also satellite internet providers like Blue Sky Satellite. They are not cheap, but depending on your needs they may be cheaper (and more convenient) than paying $30 two or three times a months to keep extending your 3G data limit.

We'll check with the power company. I think our iPads are dedicated to AT&T service so I'm guessing Blue sky would be out. But is it? I'm fairly new at this too. The "jailbreak" question is for another day. That totally scares me. Don't want to tinker with it too much.

Thank you twerppoet for helping us, Cam

Blue Sky does not connect directly to the iPad. It puts up a dish and router so that you can have a local Wi-Fi network with internet access.

It just like any another ISP, except it uses satellites instead of telephone lines or CATV; and being more expensive, a bit slower, and having delays that make intense online games like WOW a bit laggy.

Thanks again. I think my friend had "sticker shock" when it came to the Data service but I think she's coming to terms with it now. I don't hear her threatening to return her iPad anymore - she's hooked. We knew she'd love it!

Thanks everybody, Cam