How many here just tether their ipad to their iphone?

I have a pocket wifi wireless modem with my wifi only iPad in my bag at all times for work. I thought it pointless to pay that extra $150 for ipad with wifi and 3G when you would have to go on a data plan with one of the phone providers and in the end you would be paying twice as much. So I just bought a pocket wifi for $30 and just put $20 in a month that I need it. If I don't need wifi because I'm in the office or at home I won't pay to top it up and I'm not out of pocket each month..

 

Good news. You can add GPS to your wifi only iPad for about $80 via a GPS bluetooth receiver. Just search for "GPS iPad" on Amazon. Bonus is the small GPS receiver is considerably more sensitive and mobile than the receiver in the iPad.

 

Ditto

 

Carriers differ and there are big differences in the policies of carriers in the US versus Europe. But having said that, tethering without paying an additional fee may require one to "root" an Android phone or jailbreak an iPhone. (Not always true.) Once that is done, if required, it's likely (at least in the US) that carriers will "look the other way" if you use approximately the same amount of download per month with your phone + iPad as you used with your phone alone.

Think about it this way. The main concern of cell carriers (apart from extracting as much as they can from your bank account every month) is the demand on their networks. Since the iPad (or a laptop) is a much friendlier content consumption device than a phone, there is a strong likelihood that users will consume much more data if they tether those devices to a phone. (Obviously, though, one is not likely to surf the web on both a phone and a tablet simultaneously.) With that in mind, the carriers (at least in the US) tend to look for "spikes" in usage from month to month. As long as you don't exceed your monthly data download ceiling (or show significant increase in data consumption on an unlimited plan) a carrier is likely to be unaware that you are tethering another device to your phone.

It may be possible (opinions differ) for a carrier to determine whether your phone is being used as a tethering device. But even if that's possible, it's VERY unlikely that a carrier will want to bear the PR problems associated with examining whether another device is consuming the data you've paid for. Thus, they concentrate on the volume of data you're downloading, not the device that is displaying the data.

By the way, this same factor is at work in carriers' charges for tethering. For example, Verizon typically charges $20 per month for tethering. But they provide an additional 2 Gigs of downloads in return for this feature. This is the result of complaints to the FCC in the US that VZW was charging an additional fee to use data consumers had already paid for. Of course, if you have an unlimited data plan, adding 2 gigs to your ceiling is meaningless. But by providing the additional download ceiling, Verizon managed to avoid potential penalties from the FCC.

 

What is the name of your pocket wi-fi,it sounds like the type and plan I would like to use.


Al.

 

Both Virgin Mobile and TruConnect offer such plans. However, the prices of the mifi devices is considerably more than $30 and the data plans may be more expensive than "macdaddio" quotes depending on one's use. Both use Sprint's network.

 

It is a vodafone pocket wifi one. I purchased it online and saved $40...Best thing I ever done was not go out and spend the extra $200 for a 3G model iPad...

 

Unfortunately, this is an example of how much the price of devices and cost/provisions of data plans vary from one country to another. Given the reference to the vodafone pocket wifi I assume you're in Australia. Your deal isn't available in the US for example. On the other hand, the price difference in the wifi and 3G iPad in the US is less than the $200 (AUD) in Australia.

 

Yes I'm from Australia..IPad 2 wifi plus 3G cost $729AU...iPad 2 16gb wifi only cost $579AU...
With 3G you would still need to go on a data plan to use the 3G internet, and for me personaly I am already on a 3G data plan with my iPhone so I would be paying twice as much for both iPad and iPhone.
I feel that the pocket wifi modem is perfect and I am not out of pocket per month as I would be if I went on a 3G data plan...