Good morning friends,
I have just read the new members introduction page and already have found answers to some of my thoughts. I have a question regarding more opinion than a problem, I have just purchased a ipad 3 with wifi only i have not opened the box, my question is; do many people have regrets not having purchased the 3g models when they have wifi only? Most of the time I am near wifi but i have a 10 year old son that would love to use it plus I have a heating and air business and I imagine the pad would allow me to show home owners things on the internet when I am talking with them. I do not like the idea of another phone bill and i do not understand the data plans. I am in Charlotte NC and I am 50 years old I am ok with computers but I did not grow up with them, any info will be helpful and thank you.

Hi Granitetop and welcome to our Forum!

I thought your question a good one and as you posted in an ongoing thread I thought it best to give your post it's own thread so members may answer your question. We can even make this a Poll if you like?

I myself purchased a 3G and am so glad I did. The kids have finally grown up so we are traveling more and I have to say that the 3G has saved me so much more than its price in saved Hotel Wifi daily fees and I only top up my sim when I know I'm going to need it. A big plus with the 3G is the full feature GPS navigation and you don't even need the sim charged for this at all.

I have made this a Poll, so please remember to cast your votes!

There should be a 'sometimes i regret no buy 3g', i fall in that category.

Thank you leelai, very helpful.

According to a report, only about 1.5% of new iPads are on a data plan. I doubt the accuracy of this report, but to me, 3G/4G service is essential. I am on the road too much to function on wifi only. Without cell service, I may be more inclined to go with a MacBook Air. I love my iPad, but cell service make it whole.

I bought my iPad 3 wifi yesterday. I don't ever regret not buying a 3G/4G because I have the ability to tether from my iPhone 4s. So I can still browse the web anywhere anyway and saved myself a few quid.

Sent from my iPad 3

Originally Posted by Granitetop

Good morning friends, [...snipped a whole bunch to bring attention to this sentence...]
I do not understand the data plans.

Hi, and welcome to the forum. Good to "see" you and I hope you enjoy your visits here.

I am one of the people who buys "just in case." So, I have a 64GB new iPad with the 4G. I don't really know if I'll ever use it as the iPad isn't leaving the house (I have an iPhone for that). But, you never know... Plus, you can't change your mind and upgrade the innards of the iPad you do have, which is why I got the biggest memory one with the 4G. Changing your mind means you'd have to get a whole new unit...

That said, I wanted to talk more about what you mentioned above. If you pay the $130 extra to buy the 4G iPad, you don't ever have to pay any more. The data plans are pay-as-you go and you buy them in 30-day pieces. Here's a handy chart for the two US companies (sorry, but I can't talk about any other countries than the US):

Attachment 12185

The key to remember is that you don't have to activate the 4G. Then, if you do, you only have to buy a 30-day chunk. As long as you cancel the plan before the 30 days is over, you won't get charges any more time. I know people who buy a 30 day piece and then cancel it right away. The 30 days is yours even if you cancel it right away. So, it's very handy to use if you are going on a vacation.

The hardest part is deciding which iPad to get (again, in the USA), the Verizon or the AT&T one. But, usually, people just pick the one that works best in their area.

Again, speaking as me, I would regret not getting a 4G version (or a 3G version of the iPad2). Cause I just never know what the future holds. But, that's just me and YMMV.

Marilyn

I have to admit that I was very anti 3G when I bought my iPad 2...so I got the Wifi only. But now that there is 4G...and it is FAST where I live, my only regret is I actually want it. Sometimes being ignorant is good for you.

If I do managed to turn off my 4G after a month or two, I will still be happy I paid extra because I like having a GPS chip in my iPad. It can be used for a lot of things when on travel. The combination of 4G and GPS on an iPad is a powerful spoiler.

If you have a business, then it seems like you can make your 4G iPad a business tool and write these expenses off. Showing customers stuff when out and about will probably be good for business. It might pay for itself. Only you can judge. I wish I had that excuse.

I have the 4G from Verizon. I bought the 5GB plan. For me, it has been indispensable thus far. I do plan to monitor my usage with the possible intent of going down to the 2GB plan to save $20...so we'll see.

WIFI is great and covers 90% of my usage, but really, for that remaining 10%, there's simply no way could I sacrifice connectivity on my iPad because I've already been able to remotely (away from home) check email, google for stuff, show people driving directions, and so forth...all from this nice big screen, which is huge compared even to my Droid X, which has a pretty big screen for a phone.

The Droid X could do hotspot tethering via 3G but I didn't activate that on the phone, and now the phone is nearly 2 years old. Anyhow, for the phone, the 3G has been fine for some time now.

When the next iPhone comes out, I plan to re-assess and decide on a new phone, possibly iPhone. At that time, I will decide what to do as far as my data plan .. keep it on the iPad, activate it on the phone, keep 3G on the phone for occasional web use, or whatever. I'll figure all that out when I get to that bridge, but for now I could not do without 4G on my iPad and I could not do without at least 3G on my phone for the occasional Google search or turn-by-turn directions when the iPad would be too cumbersome to deal with from the driver's seat.