What's new
Apple iPad Forum 🍎

Welcome to the Apple iPad Forum, your one stop source for all things iPad. Register a free account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!

Why is 3G so expensive?

s2mikey

iPF Novice
Joined
Oct 12, 2011
Messages
1,553
Reaction score
170
Location
Upstate, NY
oberkc said:
Yes, four phones, each with separate numbers, and the ability to take with you and use anywhere in the country is probably going to be SIGNIFICANTLY more costly than a single home phone. When comparing the price of home phone to cell phone, one also has to factor in the increased utility associated with a mobile phone. A more fair comparison would be the price of a home phone versus the price of a single, dumb, cell phone (no texting). I suspect you will find this quite comparible.

Correct - I should have mentioned that we do currently have cell phones but are mostly tracfone/pay as you go phones. The problem isn't me it's the fact that we'd probably have go with large plans to handle everyone's talk and text needs. It just starts adding up and the next thing ya know.... It's like GULP! :D
 

oberkc

iPF Novice
Joined
Jun 26, 2011
Messages
218
Reaction score
12
Location
Springfield OH
It just starts adding up and the next thing ya know.... It's like GULP!

Yes it does. Perhaps an internet phone, such as skype, would work for you in place of the landline. At least save a little bit.
 

mr_president

iPF Noob
Joined
Nov 29, 2011
Messages
51
Reaction score
0
Very good question. If 4 g come out on the ipad3, will the monthly cost come down for 3 g?

Sent from Mr_President's iPad using iPF. 32GB 3g
 

wxman2003

iPF Noob
Joined
Nov 28, 2011
Messages
20
Reaction score
1
Location
Sioux Falls
I doubt the price for 3g will go down with a 4g ipad. More likely than not, they will raise the price for 4g.
 
OP
A

Arthur3000

iPF Noob
Joined
Dec 1, 2011
Messages
9
Reaction score
0
Location
London
well here we are in 2012, no 4g in the UK and nothing has changed.I would like to know more about 'tethering' is there a guide on the forums anywhere? still not rich enough to pay extra for iPad 3G!
 

f4780y

Super Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Sep 11, 2010
Messages
7,113
Reaction score
652
Location
Troon, Scotland
Arthur3000 said:
well here we are in 2012, no 4g in the UK and nothing has changed.I would like to know more about 'tethering' is there a guide on the forums anywhere? still not rich enough to pay extra for iPad 3G!

The guide would really need to be specific to your phone, and we are an iPad site :). You usually just connect the wifi iPad to the phone via normal wifi or a Bluetooth pairing. No special instructions required for the iPad side. Probably worth doing a quick google search for your phone model to research enabling tethering on it.

Hope that helps.
 

AdmiralAdama

iPad Fan
Joined
Oct 14, 2011
Messages
9,554
Reaction score
628
Location
Near the Ionian Nebula, still searching for Earth
f4780y said:
The guide would really need to be specific to your phone, and we are an iPad site :). You usually just connect the wifi iPad to the phone via normal wifi or a Bluetooth pairing. No special instructions required for the iPad side. Probably worth doing a quick google search for your phone model to research enabling tethering on it.

Hope that helps.

Heads up - depending on your carrier, a nominal tethering charge may apply. Most data contracts are device specific.

AA
 

AQ_OC

iPF Novice
Joined
Apr 28, 2011
Messages
6,415
Reaction score
435
Location
SC
I have a 3G iPad. Yes, data plans are pretty expensive. BUT my use of my 3G is 'just in case'. Just in case I'm driving around Indiana, Michigan, or Ohio-->I have GPS and I have a way to find myself if I get lost, or I need a gas station, or a restaurant. There are many companies that offer free wifi, so I don't often use 3g, but when I need it, I'm glad I have it. Here in the United States, I subscribe to 250mg of data services which is $14.95/month. I would not consider using 3G to stream a movie or a TV show-->that is expensive.

You do realize that you can get an $89 GPS receiver that connects to a WIFI iPad via blue-tooth, right? Then you buy a $50 program like Navigon and you are free forever from data plans...and the GPS receiver works better than the one in your iPad since you can position it for optimal vie os the screen.

Oh...I'm replying to an OLD post! Crap.
 

Seadog

iPF Noob
Joined
Mar 25, 2010
Messages
2,518
Reaction score
52
Location
Oklahoma
We are talking about mega-corporations that are scared to make anything but a safe call about change. any service competes on three levels. Features, price, and service. Making the wrong call on any of these can take a major company out. Look at how the HP and RIM reaction to the iPad has hurt those companies. Rim was already hurting from its failure to counter the iPhone, and now they are almost irrelevant.

There is a lot of difference between the iPhone and iPad as far as the carriers are concerned. With the iPhones, they cover most of the cost, but get at least $80/mo from the buyers, and it is locked in for two years. Plus the majority are not going to leave those plans. Then you have the iPad. A lot less of them are sold than iPhones, and only about a tenth are sold with 3G/4G. Plus they are non-contract which means there is no sure income for a long period. If they have tethering on the iPad, there is a limited number of devices that can use the tether. The iPod Touch, and laptops. Laptops are big users of data, so they can make a large profit on tethering when peope go over their plan, or buy enough data to be certain. And having the free tethering is an encentive to buy a 3G/4G iPad. On the iPhone, if they have tethering, then the customer is less likely to buy a 3G/4G iPad and would buy the wifi model instead. Data use on the iPhone is relatively limited compared to a larger device, and a person could do a 2-3 Gb plan on the iPhone without issue even with tethering. If they charge $20 for tethering on the iPhone, people are more likely to buy the data plan for their iPad at $30. And the more complex the options, the more likely that customers will just pick a package and stick with it.

A lot of demographics and psychology is used to put these options together. And a lot at risk if someone upsets the apple cart. As a customer, I want more at less cost. However, I have enough of a background in such things as to know some of the headaches involved. Right now, the big issue that few are aware about, is the lack of adequate backbone. The growth rate of data usage is outgrowing the existing infrastructure. We need thousands of miles of new fiber-optic cable laid, hundreds of new server farms, and then we have to deal with individual server bottlenecks. Part of the issue is political and part technological. The government is going to have to create and spend money to develop a semi-secure web that services only government. Probably several layers of security that are not intertwined. For example level one would connect all of the local police and other agencies to data services nationwide, while another level is strictly for military command staff.

The majority of use would need a lot more throughput, and it may require that we move up a technological step in how information is transmitted point to point. Look at a train system. You have one track and you are handling five trains on that track and it is in constant use. You need to handle fifty trains because of demand. You either run ten new tracks, or you find a way to speed up the train traffic on the line until it handles the demand. The cost of new tracks and the time needed to install them is going to limit that. New trains that handle more is a solution, but it takes time to replace all the trains, and there are limits to how much you can squeeze things and how fast the trains go.
 
Last edited:

twerppoet

iPad Fan
Joined
Jan 8, 2011
Messages
24,152
Reaction score
15,404
Location
Milton-Freewater, OR
Actually the secure military network already exists, at least for classified info.

For unclassified day-to-day work and info the military depend on the same VPN and encryption technologies as big business.
 

harveyronn

iPF Noob
Joined
Mar 22, 2012
Messages
4
Reaction score
0
Location
United Kingdom
Website
www.ipadhut.co.uk
Actually, I also want to buy an Apple ipad in 3rd generation, but its more costly to staying with its data plans. I think 3G has so many advanced spectrum which are attracted by peoples for better purpose as well as getting more speed. 3G technologies has high auction with having cost new machinery.

At the end of this 3G is more better than 2G in every manner, so cost of these both generation is not affected to particular 3G lover peoples.
 
Last edited:

tlbaker

iPF Novice
Joined
Aug 23, 2011
Messages
2,482
Reaction score
113
Seadog said:
We are talking about mega-corporations that are scared to make anything but a safe call about change. any service competes on three levels. Features, price, and service. Making the wrong call on any of these can take a major company out. Look at how the HP and RIM reaction to the iPad has hurt those companies. Rim was already hurting from its failure to counter the iPhone, and now they are almost irrelevant.

There is a lot of difference between the iPhone and iPad as far as the carriers are concerned. With the iPhones, they cover most of the cost, but get at least $80/mo from the buyers, and it is locked in for two years. Plus the majority are not going to leave those plans. Then you have the iPad. A lot less of them are sold than iPhones, and only about a tenth are sold with 3G/4G. Plus they are non-contract which means there is no sure income for a long period. If they have tethering on the iPad, there is a limited number of devices that can use the tether. The iPod Touch, and laptops. Laptops are big users of data, so they can make a large profit on tethering when peope go over their plan, or buy enough data to be certain. And having the free tethering is an encentive to buy a 3G/4G iPad. On the iPhone, if they have tethering, then the customer is less likely to buy a 3G/4G iPad and would buy the wifi model instead. Data use on the iPhone is relatively limited compared to a larger device, and a person could do a 2-3 Gb plan on the iPhone without issue even with tethering. If they charge $20 for tethering on the iPhone, people are more likely to buy the data plan for their iPad at $30. And the more complex the options, the more likely that customers will just pick a package and stick with it.

A lot of demographics and psychology is used to put these options together. And a lot at risk if someone upsets the apple cart. As a customer, I want more at less cost. However, I have enough of a background in such things as to know some of the headaches involved. Right now, the big issue that few are aware about, is the lack of adequate backbone. The growth rate of data usage is outgrowing the existing infrastructure. We need thousands of miles of new fiber-optic cable laid, hundreds of new server farms, and then we have to deal with individual server bottlenecks. Part of the issue is political and part technological. The government is going to have to create and spend money to develop a semi-secure web that services only government. Probably several layers of security that are not intertwined. For example level one would connect all of the local police and other agencies to data services nationwide, while another level is strictly for military command staff.

The majority of use would need a lot more throughput, and it may require that we move up a technological step in how information is transmitted point to point. Look at a train system. You have one track and you are handling five trains on that track and it is in constant use. You need to handle fifty trains because of demand. You either run ten new tracks, or you find a way to speed up the train traffic on the line until it handles the demand. The cost of new tracks and the time needed to install them is going to limit that. New trains that handle more is a solution, but it takes time to replace all the trains, and there are limits to how much you can squeeze things and how fast the trains go.

I guess I am one if the few that use tethered iPhone data for my iPad. I'd rather spend 20.00 than 30.00 for a separate iPad plan. I am on wifi most of the time and use the tethered data as a back up when I am not home. I wish I got this bright idea to tether sooner as my iPad 2 would have costs less money. Didn't know much about that stuff last year. Oh well, if for some reason I didn't want to tether anymore, I can always go back to my separate 3G plan.

Do you think they will discontinue 3G at some point?

Sent from my Verizon Black 64GB iPad 2 w IOS 5.1 Update From NYC!!! using iPF.net
 

AdmiralAdama

iPad Fan
Joined
Oct 14, 2011
Messages
9,554
Reaction score
628
Location
Near the Ionian Nebula, still searching for Earth
I think the telecom companies will have to re-thunk their data rates - especially until they improve capacity.
I've read news reports this week that some new iPad owners using 4G LTE are watching their monthly maximums vaporize because of
the bandwidth being used for HD downloads.
AA
 

Seadog

iPF Noob
Joined
Mar 25, 2010
Messages
2,518
Reaction score
52
Location
Oklahoma
It is a long time before 3G systems are gone, but the EDGE systems are being looked at by AT&T on a sector by sector basis. Every situation is different. I do not have an iPhone because of the costs, and because of that my unlimited plan will do me good. Luckily, I am not a major user, and I am not in areas that has problems with high demands.
 

Most reactions

Latest posts

Top