View Full Version : Ipad mini with cellular questions
I went into a local Apple store to look at iPhones. I told them of my usage and goals and was recommended to get an iPad mini with cellular instead as it would better meet my stated needs. I was told that I could get cellular for a very modest cost as a feature of Apple iPad that was negotiated years ago with the introduction of the iPad.
This was the first I had heard of this feature. Anyone help me understand what this is all about? TIA
I don't understand what you are saying--is there an ipad with a phone function?
No, not a phone. It uses cellular instead of wifi to get data (eg web pages).
Ipads are available in two forms:
- wifi only
- wifi + cellular data : this allows purchasing a data plan from a cell vendor so you can use the tablet when wifi isn't available.
On iPads, the wifi+cellular has far better GPS/location capabilities, so if you wish to use the tablet for navigation, even offline, get the wifi+cellular version.
iris lilies
9-19-17, 4:50pm
Razz,
I use an IPAD mini multiple hours a day. LOve it. While mine is enabled for cellular service, I have never signed up for a cellular plan. So doh, I do not use it in cellular communications.
Do you really want and need voice or texting communications on this device?
I have NOT moved to a smart phone because
1) I do not want/need voice communication
2) I do not care about texting service
3) I do NOT want to use the web on a screen as small as a smart phone.
No, not a phone. It uses cellular instead of wifi to get data (eg web pages).
Apparently, if one has an iPhone and iPad close together, one can use that cellular feature of the iPad Mini on the phone. It was too much for me to take in without doing some research to gain a greater understanding. No other Apple product but the iPad has this unique cellular feature. I am struggling to understand what it all means.
Presently, I use wifi with my MacBook Air and my iPhone at home and wherever free wifi is available. I presently do not have a cellular data plan of any kind and prepay a monthly fee of $10 for my iPhone for just a phone with Bell Mobility. My phone is an emergency use only as well as my camera and texting.
Razz,
I use an IPAD mini multiple hours a day. LOve it. While mine is enabled for cellular service, I have never signed up for a cellular plan. So doh, I do not use it in cellular communications.
Do you really want and need voice or testing communications on this device?
I have NOT moved to a smart phone because
1) I do not want/need voice communication
2) I do not care about texting service
3) I do NOT want to use the web on a screen As small as a smart phone.
How weird. When I hit quick reply, your post is different, IL. I wanted to say, did you mean you DON't have a smart phone you have the ipad mini instead? I have a small iPhone and the screen is too damn small, but my kids text me a lot and send me pictures.
iPhones and iPads, if they have the cellular radio and a data plan, can serve as wifi hotspots for other devices, if the carrier who offers your data plan allows it.
So you can have one device serve basically as your wifi connection for several other of your devices.
iris lilies
9-19-17, 4:58pm
How weird. When I hit quick reply, your post is different, IL. I wanted to say, did you mean you DON't have a smart phone you have the ipad mini instead? I have a small iPhone and the screen is too damn small, but my kids text me a lot and send me pictures.
I edited it to make sense, you arent crazy!
Not sure that I am getting my question properly phrased.
The Apple store staff told me that above and beyond any usual cellular data plans for all other devices, iPads have a special unique cellular data rate that Steve Jobs arranged when iPads were first released. That is what I am querying.
Not sure that I am getting my question properly phrased.
The Apple store staff told me that above and beyond any usual cellular data plans for all other devices, iPads have a special unique cellular data rate that Steve Jobs arranged when iPads were first released. That is what I am querying.
I suspect the staff is confused:
Ipads upon their initial release had an unlimited data plan through AT&T. They stopped offering this plan to new purchasers after just a couple of months. They are grandfathered and transferable, so if you purchased an iPad in the first month or so of their release, you could move this to your future iPads. Recently, AT&T began throttling the speeds of this plan if you used "too much". For new purchasers, this is just history, as there is no way you can get your hands on the ancestral unlimited plan.
I abandoned my grandfathered iPad plan last week for an "unlimited" plan from T-mobile, which has much better coverage in my area, higher speeds, and is more "unlimited" than the AT&T version, and provides better for international travel.
Thanks, Bae, that ties in with what staff were telling me including the AT&T aspect but they could not give me more details on the amount of actual data per month for $?. It started at $10/month which would then be banked if unused. I thanked them for the info and said I needed to think it all through first.
I suspect the staff is confused:
Ipads upon their initial release had an unlimited data plan through AT&T. They stopped offering this plan to new purchasers after just a couple of months. They are grandfathered and transferable, so if you purchased an iPad in the first month or so of their release, you could move this to your future iPads. Recently, AT&T began throttling the speeds of this plan if you used "too much". For new purchasers, this is just history, as there is no way you can get your hands on the ancestral unlimited plan.
I abandoned my grandfathered iPad plan last week for an "unlimited" plan from T-mobile, which has much better coverage in my area, higher speeds, and is more "unlimited" than the AT&T version, and provides better for international travel.
I have an iPad mini without cellular data. When I want to connect to the internet and wifi isn't around, I tether to my iPhone. I love the mini, btw. It's such a nice size.
My ipad (work provided) does not have cellular, and I just tether it to my iPhone if I want to use the internet when I'm not in the office or at home, so I'm not in the market for new cellular plans. But a quick google search turned up this article from June. Apparently AT&T is currently offering a $30 unlimited data for tablets plan, but they reserve the right to cancel it at any point in the future, so you could end up 2 or 3 or 6 months from now losing the awesome deal.
http://www.prepaidphonenews.com/2013/01/prepaid-tablet-data-plans-compared.html
I am like the person who walks into the store and sees 10 styles of jeans on display and walks away buying nothing.
Give me clear options with clear directions for use and not too many and I will choose.
Apparently that is a common problem with humans as some research has shown.
I will stick with my 5S iPhone for what I need and use for now.
My digital phone service is working out well after the wrinkles were ironed out.
I have unlimited wifi and unlimited long distance phone calls across Canada 24/7 and .015 cents a minute for calling the US which it turns out are almost all 1-800 numbers anyway. Once or twice a month calling family in US for about .90 cents each time.
When I posted the OP, it sounded as though the monthly cellular for a mini-iPad was the same as my present monthly prepaid emergency-use iPhone. It sounded too good to be true.
I am like the person who walks into the store and sees 10 styles of jeans on display and walks away buying nothing.
I understand this failing well :-) I just now ordered a bed frame that my wife and I have been trying to order for a year. The problem is the vendor has too many options. I solved it by calling them up today, sending them a couple photos of the destination room, and saying "just make it so it looks nice in here, and gets here by Christmas, and please don't ask me to pick which *shade* of the color, just go for it!"
I think research has shown that if you are given more than 6 choices, you glaze over. There was a study I was just reading about where they watched people in a store examining different jams. If there were more than six (I believe) they didn't purchase any. Six or fewer, they were able to decide.
That's why I love small boutiques over department stores.
That's why I love small boutiques over department stores.
I got a call from my friend who has been raising a pig for us, asking for some cutting instructions/details:
Her: How much ground pork, and how much sausage?
Me: 75/25%. What kind of sausages?
Her: Pork.
Problem solved.
I think research has shown that if you are given more than 6 choices, you glaze over. There was a study I was just reading about where they watched people in a store examining different jams. If there were more than six (I believe) they didn't purchase any. Six or fewer, they were able to decide.
I read a book a while back that basically said that too many choices are bad for people. They showed examples of things where if there were a few options people would buy something but if there were 50 options people left without making a decision. If I recall correctly your jams example was one of the ones in this book. Tying this in to the costco thread, that's one of the things I like about costco. You either buy toilet paper or you don't. At most maybe there's two or three choices. You don't have to agonize over 50 different kinds of toilet paper. And frankly, at the end of the day, my butt doesn't notice the difference...
I read a book a while back that basically said that too many choices are bad for people. They showed examples of things where if there were a few options people would buy something but if there were 50 options people left without making a decision. If I recall correctly your jams example was one of the ones in this book. Tying this in to the costco thread, that's one of the things I like about costco. You either buy toilet paper or you don't. At most maybe there's two or three choices. You don't have to agonize over 50 different kinds of toilet paper. And frankly, at the end of the day, my butt doesn't notice the difference...
We must have read the same book. I think the book might have been "How we Decide" by Jonah Lehrer.
razz, as bae inferred, whoever told you that is confused -- or confusing.
DW has a cellular-enabled iPad mini. There are some options for data service which are less expensive than a regular cellular-phone plan with data. Hers has an AT&T plan that provides 1 GB of data over 90 days for, I think, $25. It can be renewed or discontinued at any time. It's not the cheapest data around, but DW lives with it comfortably and "fixing" that expense is far down my to-do list.
iPads are sold "unlocked" -- the device is not tied to a particular carrier, the way phones often are. We could pop a T-Mobile SIM into DW's iPad tomorrow and be just fine. There are some technical issues which muddy this a bit, but for your purposes, consider them unlocked.
I do know that there are less expensive cellular-data providers than AT&T. The phone service reseller H2O, IIRC, is one. T-Mobile had a deal in which you got a SIM from them and you got 200 MB a month for free; you didn't even have to be a T-Mo customer. Some carriers may let you add the tablet to the "bucket o' data" you share on other devices on your plan. The best way to find out what kind of deal you can get is to ask your cellular provider.
Others suggest that using your smartphone as a hotspot will work, and it will. It's a bit putzy to set up, though, and some plans (primarily prepaid/MVNOs) do not allow hotspots. If you are the kind of person who will resell your tablet sometime in the next couple of years (to upgrade or whatever), tablets with cellular-data capability do fetch more on the market. If we had to replace DW's iPad tomorrow, we'd buy another cell-data-enabled one. It's convenient and it's not anything you can add after the purchase. And we can keep an eye on the data enough to not be surprised by a huge bill. It's a nice "add".
Thanks, Steve. Did a thorough check and did not find any dealer in Ontario that offers what the staff said was available. If I had an existing phone plan and someone to share it with, only then was a $10 options available for the other subscriber of 1GB of shareable data.
Not what the store suggested at all. Twas too good to be true. I like simple and doable without stress. My 5S iPhone and my MacBook Air will do just fine.
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