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Any wifi owners who don't tether feel cheated?

Those who can't connect to 3G won't and most likely will not care. They've done just fine with their phones up to now. It's probably a different story for those of us who can connect to 3G. It would be very hard to go back. It's a "You don't know what your missing" kind of thing.

In fact, I'm in Burger King right now and the wifi just crapped out on me. It's nice to switch to 3G and keep on surfing.
 
iPad didn't make sense to me without 3G. I have a computer and a laptop at home. And now I have a laptop and iPad to go (depending on my schedule for that day). The iPad is the only device I own that has 3G (or any cellular data network for that matter).
 
Yes, the iPad is clearly designed to be online at all times, but 3G isn't the way to do it. It's a wifi device. I tethered to my 3GS when out and about a few times, and it reminds me how slow 3G really is...
 
Proud iPad wifi owner.

Did your laptops have 3g connection?


I been an avid user of laptops for the last 10 years. Not one of them had 3g built in.
I travel a lot. Not once was I ever put in a position where i was ripping my hair out because i did not have net connection.

Same thing for the iPad.
If it ever comes down to me desperately needing a link I prefer to find ways to tether with my phone then to pay an additional monthly fee.

I prefer the miwi way. Turn it on when needed. Turn it off and not pay an additional fee. I am almost always within hotspot access anyways.
 
I would hope nobody feels cheated. You should feel cheated when you buy something and it doesn't work as you expected or you were misled in some way. The WiFi iPad works exactly as it was promised to work. Now if you said buyers remorse becuase people didn't have the patience to wait another 4 weeks and buy the model with 3G, that's a different story.
 
I am usually around a wi-fi spot so hasn't been a huge issue. And like some have said sometimes it is nice to take a few minutes to be "offline" :)
 
London is full of wifi, and I'm a Fonera, so I would feel cheated if I were paying yet another bill for Internet access.
 
I'd imagine if people actually feel cheated, then the iPod touch owners would feel even more cheated...it actually in their pocket to carry around.
 
kayloh20 said:
I'd imagine if people actually feel cheated, then the iPod touch owners would feel even more cheated...it actually in their pocket to carry around.
Click to expand...
Touch owners have no alternative, thus reducing the feeling of being cheated to not purchasing an iPhone, which carries with it a binding contract. More binding than $130 that may be blown on a night on the town, or useless apps/accessories. :rolleyes:
 
i've grown less and less happy with the 3G on my iphone. last year, i only had 1.5 DSL at home, so thus, 3G would feel sometimes faster than my home DSL. I've since upgraded to 18mbps u-verse internet. Now, the 3G feels like EDGE speeds, and EDGE now feels untolerable. it's all relative perception. If I really need mobile internet with my ipad, i'd pony up for a Clear 4G hotspot. With 4.0's ability to disable cell data, I might cancel the iphone data plan if AT&T will let me.
 
Well if the 3G version had been available on launch day for sure I would have bought 3G. That is absolutely the one I wanted. But there was no way I was going to wait a month for 3G!

I did take a cross-country trip a few days after the wifi version went on sale and I have to say it was just a fabulous thing to have on an airplane -- I would have felt quite bereft without it. So was it worth it to me to have the wifi versus a month earlier? Absolutely!

That said, sometimes I do have 3G envy. Not because I really need it but mostly because it is out there and it was the one I originally wanted. But truth be told I have had only the rarest of occassions to actually need 3G. Wifi is just about everywhere I go, from the gym to doctors offices to coffee shops etc. I am certainly not one to use the iPad while walking down the street and I do have my tom Tom and phone for gps.

The moral is this: I wanted the 3G but for me the wifi version turns out to be the best choice. Even if I have to pay for a fifteen dollar day pass at a hotel I'd pick wifi over 3G any day of the week! And this way if 4g comes to my area thus year -- as is rumored -- I'll be free ti buy a mobile hot spot device and get the faster speed.

For me it wasn't about the money -- it was about wanting my iPad right away! And yeah I'm glad I'm not still waiting for mine -- even if it is a lowly wifi only version!
 
i wont feel cheated when mine arrives. even if i don't tether. because i know i always can when i want to. so why would i feel cheated for not doing something i could do if i wanted too?


may 28th for me :(
 
Wifi + Tether is by far the best option 30 dollars a month for data when you already pay for it on your phone is ridiculous. I can barely tell a difference between wifi and 3g tethering on t-mobiles network. Can't really comment on ATT as I have never had an account with them but honestly I would feel ripped off if I was forced to use a 3g ipad and pay the extra 30 a month. Glad that is not the case.
 
Agree -

I simply would not own one that did not a 3G option.

Verizon Mifi here.

iSingandiDance said:
Seriously, this device is meant to have a constant available connection. I don't see how those who purchased the wifi and don't tether or use some mobile hotspot can feel 100% sure they made the right decision.

It's damn near hard for me to leave the room without it, let alone confine myself to only home usage.

I don't know how you guys do it.

Starting to think I need to enroll myself in IA. :rolleyes:

(I wrote this while walking down the street, btw.)
Click to expand...
 
I do not have data plan on my phone to tether my iPad to even if I wanted.
I spend most my time on University campus where I get 40MB up And down so for now I do not need to tether .
 
I've "lugged my iPad out" an average of probably 3 hours a day for the past week. I don't know how many posts I've made since 7:30 p.m., but all of them until this one were via iPad away from my house. Some were 3g, some were wifi. One was done while walking down the street, the rest while sitting at a quiet neighborhood bar.

I don't think "lug" is the right verb for anyone bigger than a toddler, btw.
 
I am getting a wi-fi only 32gb, and really feel I won't regret the decision.

Seriously who needs 3G access on an ipad when it is on their phone? Surely it is easier to carry, and check emails, view important sites etc on the phone, and not worry about carrying / accessing the ipad.

I can see the benefits of 3G, but unless I was a big traveller around the country, why bother? Nothing is urgent enough in my life to require an constant connection to the world with a big screen, and I run 2 business's.

Phone + wifi tether will do me fine and probably most people who have the 3G ipad. Obviously some people have lots of cash to burn for un-required convenience

Its just another service that is nice to have.......... I just couldn't justify the extra expense [and I am the king of gadgets], but each to their own!!!
 
I will only be using mine at home or at college.

Both of which have WiFi.

Dont need 3G, as I dont think anyone could use an ipad in public without looking like a spanner. :apple:
 
Mshilling said:
I use it at home, I take it to work, I would take it to panera or a coffee shop or whatever but I just dont know where people are going that wifi is not available that I would want to bring my ipad anyway.
Click to expand...

Well, later today I will drive 45 minutes to the speech therapists office for language therapy for 3 kids. Two are seen at the same time, so I only have two spend 2 hours in the waiting room. Mondays I spend an hour there. Then later I will be at the Civil Air Patrol Squadron building for 3 hours, needing to be online for various things, but we can't get Internet in the building.

Yesterday I was there doing paperwork online for almost 3 hours, but that project is now done.

So just on Tuesdays I'm not around wifi for 5 hours, and last week with my 3G I actually got something productive done. It was nice.

I won't bore you with my other days schedule, but they have similar outings.
 
Everywhere I go has WiFi. Home, girlfriends, school, coffe shops, the "yard" between my apartment buildings, of the 15 networks I find anywhere in my neighborhood one is typically open, god forbid: work. So... no...
 
I think many of the people getting the 3G iPad are not college students. I know so many people who do not have a data plan or hardly use data on their iPhone that go to my college. When you spend a big chunk of your day on campus with wifi everywhere 3G starts to look like a waste of money. Most students commute back home at the end of the day (big city college campus) where they also have wifi. I would feel cheated spending $130 for 3G in my situation.
 
I made the concious decision to skip on the 3G. I could have afforded either, and being in the UK I could have had either on the same launch day, but I chose to go for the 3G.

Primarily, my iPad will be used at home, where I already have WiFi. It's use outside of home will be limited, but other than work everywhere I go has WiFi anyway.

For me, a £100 premium plus the cost of another data plan (which aren't exactly generous in the UK) is totally out of the question. I'd sooner spend that £100 difference between WiFi/3G on accessories and/or apps, and I'd sooner tether than effectivley double my monthly data plans.
 
My buddy and I walked 18 blocks last night to a baseball game at Fenway. I'm not from Boston so don't know the area all that well. We both had iPhones and used the GPS to navigate a little. About 1/2 of the way there, we saw a college student (I assume so...we were close to Harvard Medical) walking while using an iPad. He drew a LOT of attention to himself with it, holding it out in front of him. While I'm sure a lot of that was just interested passers-by, no way would I want to be lost in a town using an iPad as my GPS device. Nothing screams "HEY IM LOST AND HAVE AN EXPENSIVE GADGET, MUG ME!" quite like that.

So that leaves me with web browsing and email as the only things I can't do without a WiFi connection. And even though I'm a businessman, I shed my electronic leash over a decade ago and no longer have to jump anytime someone emails me.
 
If you have wifi everywhere you may want to use the device, then the 3g version is a waste of money for you.

However, if you approach it thinknig that you have to "lug" the iPad around and look like a "spanner" if you use it outside of your house, I wonder why you'd want an iPad to begin with.

The point of the iPad is mobility. I use mine around the house sometimes, but not most of the time.
 
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