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anyone using Sprint 4g/3G card with iPad?
- Thread starter gcmexico
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What do you mean by a card?
Depending on what phone you have you can tether it.
If you have a Palm Pre try My Tether, it is only $15.00 and works very well.
*Are you talking about this?
yep I'm talking about this, I have an iphone, not looking to tether it, and not looking to get a sprint phone, just want the overdrive card, to connect my ipad and iphone...anyone have experience with this in the NYC?
*
thats all I needed to read, thanks!!! getting it this Friday
Glade I could help!
I am currently testing out the Overdrive with my iPad, on Sprint's 30 day try out offer, which was the only reason I picked it over the Verizon offer.
I had a ton of dropped-wifi issues between my Overdrive and my iPad, until I changed the security to WPA2. After that, and only that, I've not had any issues.
I would love the Overdrive if I was in a 4G zone (fast speeds + no bandwidth cap!). But, I'm in a 3G area, and it turns out I need more than 5gb per month.
It works great though, battery life is decent (beats tethering an iPhone), and connecting multiple devices is nice.
I had a ton of dropped-wifi issues between my Overdrive and my iPad, until I changed the security to WPA2. After that, and only that, I've not had any issues.
I would love the Overdrive if I was in a 4G zone (fast speeds + no bandwidth cap!). But, I'm in a 3G area, and it turns out I need more than 5gb per month.
It works great though, battery life is decent (beats tethering an iPhone), and connecting multiple devices is nice.
I have never heard of a case of sprint actually enforcing the cap on 3G. Did you have an issue with this?
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really you need more than 5gbs a month? I stream everything to my iphone, and I've never hit the 5gbs a months...what are you streaming?
I only use about 2gb per month on my iPhone, but scale that usage up to all the things I can do on my iPad. Lots more browsing of full-sized sites, larger app downloads, more and higher bandwidth video streaming. More Podcast downloads, etc. That combined with the fact that I tether my iPhone, MBP, and iPad to the Overdrive, and I can go through a GB in a couple days, no problem. Not all months are the same though. While I use a lot some months, sometimes I'll be on WiFi most of the time, so I would not need very much.
I was suprised to see it go that fast too.
Not a knock against the Overdrive my any means though. Nobody provides unlimited, only an unnofficial "we'll look the other way if you go over" kind of attitude.
I was suprised to see it go that fast too.
Not a knock against the Overdrive my any means though. Nobody provides unlimited, only an unnofficial "we'll look the other way if you go over" kind of attitude.
*I only use about 2gb per month on my iPhone, but scale that usage up to all the things I can do on my iPad. Lots more browsing of full-sized sites, larger app downloads, more and higher bandwidth video streaming. More Podcast downloads, etc. That combined with the fact that I tether my iPhone, MBP, and iPad to the Overdrive, and I can go through a GB in a couple days, no problem. Not all months are the same though. While I use a lot some months, sometimes I'll be on WiFi most of the time, so I would not need very much.
I was suprised to see it go that fast too.
Not a knock against the Overdrive my any means though. Nobody provides unlimited, only an unnofficial "we'll look the other way if you go over" kind of attitude.
thanks for the details...really appreciate it!! Not looking to tether anything else to it, just iphone and ipad...tethering 3 or more device, I could definitely see hitting 5gb...I should be alright
You should be fine... Like someone mentioned earlier once 4g goes live there is no cap on the 4g usage. One of the financial news sites did a cool video on just how much more efficient 4g is than 3G.
Edit: http://money.cnn.com/video/technology/2010/04/19/t_tt_4g_sprint_evo.cnnmoney/
Take a look at this video.... Pretty interesting.
Don't have an iPad yet, but I use the Overdrive on my MacBook Pro and iPhone and the performance is great (I'm in a 4G area) and the portability, too. The one thing I hate is how the battery life lasts like an hour or so (that just might be my battery though).
I have this arrangement... It actually ended up being cheaper than the setup it's replacing...
I was using an AT&T 3G USB dongle to connect my MacBook... I was paying $40/month for that, and the iPad would have been another $30. Plus the AT&T coverage here in my office is terrible.
I have both my iPhone and iPad set up to use the overdrive. It works fantastic most of the time. I still get the connection dropout issues with my iPad, even with using wpa2, so keep that in mind. I'm convinced the wifi issue is being caused by a memory leak somewhere in the software stack as it works fine some days, and others it drops every 2 minutes...
Anyhow... If you are in a 4G area, it's fantastic. WAY faster than AT&T 3G. When it drops down to 3G it works fine, but be aware that you only get 5gb data on that. That sounds like a lot, but if you start streaming video, you'll eat that up quickly (remember, Ipad uses higher video than iPhone due to the higher res screen size, so it's not a good comparison)
I can usually get about 3-4 hours on battery with the overdrive, but I usually have it just plugged into the wall while here at the office all day and only unplug it when I want to use the connection while out and about where there isn't wifi already...
Plus, it gets me away from AT&T!!!! That's a plus in itself.
I was using an AT&T 3G USB dongle to connect my MacBook... I was paying $40/month for that, and the iPad would have been another $30. Plus the AT&T coverage here in my office is terrible.
I have both my iPhone and iPad set up to use the overdrive. It works fantastic most of the time. I still get the connection dropout issues with my iPad, even with using wpa2, so keep that in mind. I'm convinced the wifi issue is being caused by a memory leak somewhere in the software stack as it works fine some days, and others it drops every 2 minutes...
Anyhow... If you are in a 4G area, it's fantastic. WAY faster than AT&T 3G. When it drops down to 3G it works fine, but be aware that you only get 5gb data on that. That sounds like a lot, but if you start streaming video, you'll eat that up quickly (remember, Ipad uses higher video than iPhone due to the higher res screen size, so it's not a good comparison)
I can usually get about 3-4 hours on battery with the overdrive, but I usually have it just plugged into the wall while here at the office all day and only unplug it when I want to use the connection while out and about where there isn't wifi already...
Plus, it gets me away from AT&T!!!! That's a plus in itself.
*
that's my main reason for going to overdrive...I want nothing to do with AT&T anymore!
I have my Iphone jailbroken, and make skype calls over 3g or wifi, works perfectly...most of the time I'm in wifi spots, so I still don't think I'll hit the 5gb...looking forward to trying this out...60 a month is sweet
The Overdrive is cool. I have one that my wife and I share between our two "WiFi only" iPads. The only problem is that sometimes it won't turn off, which I do to conserve the battery. I have to remove the battery to force it off.
It's fast -- as much as 4500kbps on a good day. But there is potential for even more speed. I recently used a Clear USB modem on my MBP that got 9500kbps.
The future is bright for portable hotspot users.
It's fast -- as much as 4500kbps on a good day. But there is potential for even more speed. I recently used a Clear USB modem on my MBP that got 9500kbps.
The future is bright for portable hotspot users.
Worst mistake I ever made!!
The overdrive card is a piece of crap!!! I live in manhattan, I was under the impression that Sprints 3G network was as good or better than At&t, boy was I wrong! My overdrive card can't stream any video, I had no problem streaming video with at&t, all I can do with the overdrive is surf the net and get emails, any streaming takes FOREVER! I'm returning my overdrive card, asap....for what it's worth at&t was the best out there, even though I had some drop calls, I was able to do so much on their network, didn't realize this till I left...think twice before leaving at&t, u just don't know what's out there
I've never tried verizon, maybe that's better?
update:
forgot to mention that battery life on the overdrive was 2hrs!!! you have to be kidding me!!!
The overdrive card is a piece of crap!!! I live in manhattan, I was under the impression that Sprints 3G network was as good or better than At&t, boy was I wrong!
My overdrive card can't stream any video, I had no problem streaming video with at&t, all I can do with the overdrive is surf the net and get emails, any streaming takes FOREVER! I'm returning my overdrive card, asap....for what it's worth at&t was the best out there, even though I had some drop calls, I was able to do so much on their network, didn't realize this till I left...think twice before leaving at&t, u just don't know what's out thereI've never tried verizon, maybe that's better?
update:
forgot to mention that battery life on the overdrive was 2hrs!!! you have to be kidding me!!!
my experience with the overdrive unit was not good at all. i use a verizon usb card today with my macbook. was hoping to use the overdrive for my macbook and ipad. here's what i found. first, the overdrive takes a good 2 minutes to boot up. not really helpful when i need access quickly to check something (i use this for work and often am with customers while doing this so waiting 2 mins is not acceptable). my verizon card can be online in ~10 secs. second, the overdrive rarely would shutdown correctly requiring me to pull the battery. this happened on two units and radioshack employees witnessed this. third, and most importantly the performance sucked. i tried it at home (30 miles ne of seattle), in various spots in seattle, and various spots in portland. seattle and portland are supposed to have pervasive 4g coverage and while the overdrive said it was connected at 4g the speeds were almost always worse than what i got on verizon or att by tethering via my iphone. and when the overdrive was connected to 3g i never saw more than 200k while my verizon and att options in the same location would see 1-2Mb.
i returned it and just stuck with the verizon card for my macbook and i tether to my iphone for ipad cell access.
i returned it and just stuck with the verizon card for my macbook and i tether to my iphone for ipad cell access.