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Any reasons to get LTE iPad mini if I already have Personal Hotspot from Verizon?
- Thread starter nlkccom
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The LTE models have GPS, which to me, is worth the price by itself. Just don't activate the LTE Portion and use the wifi. But without GPS, so many apps lose their spice. I have never bought an iPad without it.
It uses wifi triangulation and is not accurate accurate enough for any kind of navigation. I use my ipads extensively for offline GPS topo work outside of cell service or wifi. The GPS is a requirement.
The Verizon hotspot on my iphone 5 is free on the Share Everything plan. Once turned on, the phone becomes a wireless router and I can hook my MacBook to it.
I'm not on Share Everything, still on the old plans. When I checked I believe it was $50 for 4GB of data.
But it works pretty easily? Not really familiar with the hotspot stuff.
Personal Hotspot burns through battery very very fast. I've always got iPads with 3G/LTE, because what's the point of having 10+ hours of battery life, if you're limited by the 0.5-2 hours that your phone battery will last while tethering?
Oh, and then you'll be left with a dead cell phone
With AT&T's mobile share data plan, it only costs $10 to add a tablet to the account, and then you can use that line to upgrade to a new iPhone at the fully subsidized price next year when the iPhone 6 is released
Lastly, as others have said, you won't have GPS if you don't get the 3G/LTE version, that alone is worth it.
Having a Share Everything plan with VZW I decided to just grab a wifi model and possibly increase my data cap 2gb. Why spend $130 extra and then have to play an extra $10 access charge when Im going to still be using my chunk of data anyway. This way I saved money on the iPad itself and the $10 I was going to pay a month to add the iPad to my account Ill use to increase my cap.
Personal Hotspot burns through battery very very fast. I've always got iPads with 3G/LTE, because what's the point of having 10+ hours of battery life, if you're limited by the 0.5-2 hours that your phone battery will last while tethering?
Oh, and then you'll be left with a dead cell phone
Lastly, as others have said, you won't have GPS if you don't get the 3G/LTE version, that alone is worth it.
Plus the fact that you have to mess around with creating a hotspot and waiting for the it to join etc. Whereas, with a Cellular mini, the data is there the second you turn the screen on.
Cellular data on the mini is a must, as the device is very likely to leave the house/office.
I find it inconvenient to turn on the hotspot on the go when I need access, not to mention I'd rather not drain my iPhone battery as I'd rather use the phone to... talk. I also have an unlimited data plan on my iPad from the iPad 1 days I don't want to let go of...
Inconvenient? Settings>Hotspot, flip to on. You don't even have to go deep in the settings. Devices also auto-connect if they've connected before. It's actually quite easy and convenient. It also doesn't drain the battery near as bad as I expected. Plus, I'm saving a ton of money by not having an LTE plan for my iPad.
I recently just changed to the share everything plan with VZW and the personal hotspot works great with my iphone 5. I've never had a reason to get a cellular ipad because I'm usually connected to wifi anyway. This way, I don't have to fork over $50 or so for a separate plan. If I'm not near wifi, I'll just use my iphone...simple as that
I concur. iPhone 5 does a nice job with battery when the Hotspot is on. Bluetooth tethering is even better battery for an obvious trade off in speed.
Just don't try to make a call...
True that and it drives me crazy. When I got the iphone 5 I ASSumed you could do talk and data simultaneously like ALL of Verizon's other 4G phones. But that's for another thread...
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Yes you pay for your data plan but use of the hotspot is no additional charge. It simply turns your phone into a wireless router. Piece of cake.
I had a Nexus 7 that I tethered to my phone, I just always found it to be a pain, and many times didnt want to carry my phone with me. Once the Mini was announced with LTE, I jumped all over it. Just convenient and for $10 on the Share Everything plan, its completely worth it in my opinion.
Just out of curiosity, what do you need GPS for on a wifi tablet? I currently have a N7 and I never use the GPS.