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AT&T's 3G can kiss my...

Rob.G

Rob.G

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jan 17, 2010
530
85
Arizona
I have an iPad 3G. While it's nice to have, the service itself borders on worthless. It's SLOW, even in metro areas, and even slower in outlying areas. And there's that bait-n-switch bit that AT&T pulled on us right after the 3G came out, so I jumped on and subbed to the Unlimited plan while I could... so much for being able to go on and off of it and save some money.

Then two days ago, I got a new Droid X to replace my worthless POS Blackberry Storm. I enabled the $20/mo wifi hotspot feature and tried it out on my iPad. With 3.2 no go. With 3.2.1, it works great!

Granted there's a 2GB cap, but on the iPad, I don't really see exceeding that. Heck last month I used a whopping 350 MB on AT&T.

So... now I have the best 3G network (Verizon) at a much lower price than AT&T, and cheaper still than their "new" revised plan after the bait-n-switch. And I'm still glad I have the iPad 3G because I also wanted it for the GPS.

So as long as my phone is nearby (and it always is), I have good, fast 3G for my iPad. I'll test it out the rest of this month, and if it continues to work well, I will cancel the AT&T service for good.

AT&T, you suck, we hate you, and wish you would die. Or at least I do. :)

Rob
 
Rob.G said:
I have an iPad 3G. While it's nice to have, the service itself borders on worthless. It's SLOW, even in metro areas, and even slower in outlying areas. And there's that bait-n-switch bit that AT&T pulled on us right after the 3G came out, so I jumped on and subbed to the Unlimited plan while I could... so much for being able to go on and off of it and save some money.

Then two days ago, I got a new Droid X to replace my worthless POS Blackberry Storm. I enabled the $20/mo wifi hotspot feature and tried it out on my iPad. With 3.2 no go. With 3.2.1, it works great!

Granted there's a 2GB cap, but on the iPad, I don't really see exceeding that. Heck last month I used a whopping 350 MB on AT&T.

So... now I have the best 3G network (Verizon) at a much lower price than AT&T, and cheaper still than their "new" revised plan after the bait-n-switch. And I'm still glad I have the iPad 3G because I also wanted it for the GPS.

So as long as my phone is nearby (and it always is), I have good, fast 3G for my iPad. I'll test it out the rest of this month, and if it continues to work well, I will cancel the AT&T service for good.

AT&T, you suck, we hate you, and wish you would die. Or at least I do. :)

Rob
Click to expand...

My first post in a while. :)

I never ever thought of replacing my wifi only iPad. It works perfectly with MiWi and I'm happy using my exsiting 6GB data plan with it. Speed here with Rogers is decent and most of the time it feels as fast as wifi.

My friend who has a 3G turns hers off most of time afraid of going over her paltry 500mb plan...I say what's the use then. I always have my iPhone plugged in while using MiWi so it's always juiced up. And even on a 40 min bus ride, my battery lasts enough to have wifi on the go.

I sympathize with you and your dilema. :eek:
 
I am willing to believe the reports about problems with AT&T.

However, for me AT&T has been very fast and reliable on both my iPhone and iPad. I made a trip to NYC recently and didn't even bother to connect to the hotel's free WIFI, because the 3G was so fast and reliable. No one that I have talked to in real life has any complaints about AT&T (coincidence, probably), although I have seen many complaints online.

So I feel sorry for those who have problems, but apparently the service works fine for some people. I don't know why.
 
Rob.G said:
I have an iPad 3G. While it's nice to have, the service itself borders on worthless. It's SLOW, even in metro areas, and even slower in outlying areas. And there's that bait-n-switch bit that AT&T pulled on us right after the 3G came out, so I jumped on and subbed to the Unlimited plan while I could... so much for being able to go on and off of it and save some money.

Then two days ago, I got a new Droid X to replace my worthless POS Blackberry Storm. I enabled the $20/mo wifi hotspot feature and tried it out on my iPad. With 3.2 no go. With 3.2.1, it works great!

Granted there's a 2GB cap, but on the iPad, I don't really see exceeding that. Heck last month I used a whopping 350 MB on AT&T.

So... now I have the best 3G network (Verizon) at a much lower price than AT&T, and cheaper still than their "new" revised plan after the bait-n-switch. And I'm still glad I have the iPad 3G because I also wanted it for the GPS.

So as long as my phone is nearby (and it always is), I have good, fast 3G for my iPad. I'll test it out the rest of this month, and if it continues to work well, I will cancel the AT&T service for good.

AT&T, you suck, we hate you, and wish you would die. Or at least I do. :)

Rob
Click to expand...

Since you have the Droid X, why don't you use that for GPS instead of keeping the 3G version of the iPad? you could save $130 by getting the wifi iPad. just curious....
 
Rob.G said:
I have an iPad 3G. While it's nice to have, the service itself borders on worthless. It's SLOW, even in metro areas, and even slower in outlying areas. And there's that bait-n-switch bit that AT&T pulled on us right after the 3G came out, so I jumped on and subbed to the Unlimited plan while I could... so much for being able to go on and off of it and save some money.

Then two days ago, I got a new Droid X to replace my worthless POS Blackberry Storm. I enabled the $20/mo wifi hotspot feature and tried it out on my iPad. With 3.2 no go. With 3.2.1, it works great!

Granted there's a 2GB cap, but on the iPad, I don't really see exceeding that. Heck last month I used a whopping 350 MB on AT&T.

So... now I have the best 3G network (Verizon) at a much lower price than AT&T, and cheaper still than their "new" revised plan after the bait-n-switch. And I'm still glad I have the iPad 3G because I also wanted it for the GPS.

So as long as my phone is nearby (and it always is), I have good, fast 3G for my iPad. I'll test it out the rest of this month, and if it continues to work well, I will cancel the AT&T service for good.

AT&T, you suck, we hate you, and wish you would die. Or at least I do. :)

Rob
Click to expand...

So you went from paying $25 per month for 2gigs on AT&T to paying $20 per month and running your phone battery down. Sounds like you're really saving ALOT of money.
 
ATT for my iPad 3G and iPhone 4 is just fine. DL speeds are good and much improved over just a few months ago. Guess I'm just one of the few lucky ones. I don't travel so in my world ATT is just fine.
 
Yup, I'm with the OP on this... I am SOOO much happier using the Sprint Overdrive 4G unit...

I live in Atlanta, where there is really good 4G coverage. The overdrive is costing me $60/month, for unlimited 4G, 5GB/mo if it drops down to 3G.

Thing is, before all this, I was dropping $40 a month for an AT&T 3G dongle for my macbook, another $40/month (or whatever it was) for the data plan on my iPhone 3G, and I'd be looking at another, what $30? $40? for the iPad's 3G...

Now I have the overdrive for $60, and dropped the iPhone to the lowest plan, and save money, have a faster connection, can hook all my devices through the overdrive, and I don't have to deal with AT&T's network! Plus, the Overdrive works great at my office, where AT&T's coverage is TERRIBLE, and effectively useless.

I bought the 3G iPad, mostly so I had a backup just in case, but I have yet to turn it on a single time.
 
Just tested 3G speeds at my house 3800 down, 1200 up. Better than most DSL. It's all about personal needs, 3G made sense for me as i do 3000+ talk minutes a month and cant really have my phone tied up as a modem. Battery life is terrible in myfi mode and almost everywhere i can think that i could plug my phone in, has free wifi.

I generally do more than $25 a month in wifi from hotels/airports, etc. So 3G was a no brainer.



Ash
 
If you have a Droid/Incredible/G1, you can "root" it and wifi tether to your iPad wihout paying anything extra (there are plently of youtube videos that walk you through this). I share my Verizon 3G this way with my iPad all the time. And since the 3G on the phone is unlimited, there's no data cap on the iPad either :)
 
I bought a 3G iPad primarily because it was unlocked and I'll be spending a bit of time in Europe the next 18 months. Just last month twas the first time I turned on the 3G service -- was doing some traveling where I didn't know what the WiFi availability would be plus I wanted to get in "under the wire" before the canceled the unlimited option. In LA, Atlanta, Nashville (plus Imperial Valley, CA -- which is the definition of middle of nowhere so I didn't expect anything) service and speed basically sucked.

We have 5 Macs in a two person household. I've owned 2 iPhone (plus a number of iPods) in addition to the iPad. I was offered the upgrade to the iPhone 4 but I decided I will not purchase another iPhone until a carrier other than AT&T is available. When my iPhone contract is up next year, I am seriously considering canceling and moving to whatever Verizon Android phone is available at the time. At this point, I think I'd even consider Windows Mobile 7 to get away from AT&T -- friends and family would probably have me committed thinking aliens had take over my body :)

I love my iPhone, but an iPad and a smartphone with decent email would let me get by. I just boils my blood for what I pay compared to the level of service I get.

So to quote what a wise man once said... "A&T's 3G can kiss my ..."
 
I had enough good experiences with AT&T's 3G network (where I live) from having had the iPhone 3G and 3GS. Getting an iPad 3G was a no-brainer.

Zero problems with AT&Ts 3G service. I hope they can quickly upgrade the other parts of their network to be as issue free as were I live.
 
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ATT works great here. Only time it doesn't is at football games. I will keep GSM.
 
3G in Seattle was horrible

Got the month 3G AT&T plan for a trip to Seattle. The 3G was so slow I just gave up on it. Terrible terrible terrible. If this is the best AT&T can do, 3G is worthless.
 
macpluslaptop said:
Got the month 3G AT&T plan for a trip to Seattle. The 3G was so slow I just gave up on it. Terrible terrible terrible. If this is the best AT&T can do, 3G is worthless.
Click to expand...

In Chicago it's been excellent. Same for my periodic trips to NY. Can't comment on Seattle but it's a bit of a stretch to say "AT&T" sucks across the board.
 
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ATT is blazing fast here in the Baltimore area, but I've travelled to places where Baltimore's EDGE was faster than that location's 3G. All depends on location for what works best for you.
 
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