Ipad use??

[fighterpilota]

Those that use an Ipad how do you get information when traveling down the road and no Wi-Fi? Some have cellular sims in them but what plan do you use? If you want to "suspend" use for a couple of months, like till the next trip, do you have to pay the intervening months charge even though no use? I want to use my cellular capable Ipad2 but have been told I will be charged for months not used unless I deactivate it. Than I have to get a new sim card to activate again, etc. Help.

[JohnnyT]

Moved from class A forum

[rk911]

fighterpilota wrote:
Those that use an Ipad how do you get information when traveling down the road and no Wi-Fi? Some have cellular sims in them but what plan do you use? If you want to "suspend" use for a couple of months, like till the next trip, do you have to pay the intervening months charge even though no use? I want to use my cellular capable Ipad2 but have been told I will be charged for months not used unless I deactivate it. Than I have to get a new sim card to activate again, etc. Help.

we just bought an iPad mini and have added that to our Verizon share everything plan for an extra $10 p/m. I bought the iPad outright so there is no contract period on it and since our iPhones and iPad are on the share everything plan there is no need to suspend the device.

[SCVJeff]

Vulcaneer wrote:

SCVJeff wrote:
Just an FYI on that... If you elect to buy an iPad without the cellular chipset installed, you ALSO lose GPS !

That means obviously no GPS nav, traffic monitoring, follow me weather, Find my iPhone, camera GPS data (if you're into that), location campground finders, DP AR auto setup, astronomy apps, etc.. If you care about any of that stuff, buy the cellular option on your favorite carrier and just don't turn it on.

Not sure that information is correct. I use my Non-wifi I-pad to find dish TV satellites all the time. Works where ever I go. And knows where I am.

I'm sure you mean non-cellular, and THAT is another discussion. It ROUGHLY knows where you are because Apple, and another company I can't remember, keeps a database of the NIC's of each router that an Apple or apparently any GPS enabled device has checked into and that is referenced to the GPS coordinates that the iPhone reported. Sounds a little creepy, but if you don't believe it, look up the specs on your iPad and make sure it doesn't have the chipset. If not, load up any GPS program and slowly drive around any neighborhood and watch the screen. The map display will jump from one house to another... essentially any router that is on this database, SSID encrypted or not, they apparently talk.

I don't claim to understand how all this works and have found very little information about how it works. But I have 2 iPads: one with GPS, cellular turned off, and the other without, and didn't understand how/ why the GPS-less iPad was working.... kinda.

[Meffrig]

USARMYCW wrote:

Big Katuna wrote:
I use my iPhone as a hotspot for our iPads and my laptop.

X2

Works for me as well.

[outdoorlovers]

We bought a new iPad with the cellular feature. We pay $20.00 a month for 1 gigabyte. It's a month to month with Verizon - no contract.

[Modracer]

I have ipad3 with cellular on Verizon. The cellular is turned off because I use my iphone5 as a hotspot on Verizon. GPS works fine on mine.

[Vulcaneer]

SCVJeff wrote:
Just an FYI on that... If you elect to buy an iPad without the cellular chipset installed, you ALSO lose GPS !

That means obviously no GPS nav, traffic monitoring, follow me weather, Find my iPhone, camera GPS data (if you're into that), location campground finders, DP AR auto setup, astronomy apps, etc.. If you care about any of that stuff, buy the cellular option on your favorite carrier and just don't turn it on.

Not sure that information is correct. I use my Non-wifi I-pad to find dish TV satellites all the time. Works where ever I go. And knows where I am.

[SCVJeff]

smlranger wrote:
We are considering getting our first Ipad. One of my employees who is a real Apple fan (has Iphones and Ipads) says he doesn't pay the extra $200 or so for a cellular capable Ipad. He uses Wifi when it is available and, when not, he uses his Iphone as a wifi hot spot.

We use Verizon and have one of their MiFi devices. We might plan to use it to connect but Verizon tells me I would pay $10 per month for the Ipad.

Just an FYI on that... If you elect to buy an iPad without the cellular chipset installed, you ALSO lose GPS !

That means obviously no GPS nav, traffic monitoring, follow me weather, Find my iPhone, camera GPS data (if you're into that), location campground finders, DP AR auto setup, astronomy apps, etc.. If you care about any of that stuff, buy the cellular option on your favorite carrier and just don't turn it on.

[rvten]

VZ USB in a router.

[magik235]

I have AT&T for my Ipad. $15/month and it can be deactivated when not in use.

[tatest]

Mine is on ATT, no contract. I use the 250 MB plan, always use it at least occasionally. It is something like $10 or $15. Any month I'm using more I can upgrade the daya plan that month. Nobody said anything about a new SIM, don't even think it is removable without going into the shop.

You can alway get a phone or cellular device to provide WiFi, but most I've looked at cost more on an"in case I need it" basis but less if you are actually using a lot of data. I typically go through 40 - 100 MB of my 120, places where I wan't to connect and don't have WIFi available. I don't do high volume stuff like software updates, downloading or streaming media, while on cellular.

[RoyB]

We use the tablets and other WIFI read devices with our Verizon MIFI unit. Gives us a WIFI hotspot anywhere Verizon Cell phones works...

Roy Ken

[smlranger]

We are considering getting our first Ipad. One of my employees who is a real Apple fan (has Iphones and Ipads) says he doesn't pay the extra $200 or so for a cellular capable Ipad. He uses Wifi when it is available and, when not, he uses his Iphone as a wifi hot spot.

We use Verizon and have one of their MiFi devices. We might plan to use it to connect but Verizon tells me I would pay $10 per month for the Ipad.

[Bob___Ann]

We have the Verizon MiFi. Great signal in most areas.

[Bob___Ann]

We have the Verizon MiFi. Great signal in most areas.