Cellular or Wi-Fi only?

[rui no onna]

I'm sorry if I'm missing something here. What's so bothersome about using your iPhone to tether to the iPad again?

Takes quite a while to connect and sometimes it even fails to connect. Not an issue if you don't use it often. For me, the convenience of LTE is worth the extra $0.50 per day.

 

[Booji]

I'm sorry if I'm missing something here. What's so bothersome about using your iPhone to tether to the iPad again?

Not always reliable, sucks down your phone battery in no time, and when you travel to other countries and use a local prepaid SIM, most often tethering is not allowed.

 

[Ghost31]

Cellular for one big reason for me: so when I'm out I don't have to connect to sketchy wifi networks. After taking a course on cyber security, I'm a lot more suspicious than I used to be about public free wifi. I think people are a lot more trusting than they should be

 

[Nick Milner]

I have no problem tethering my iPad to my Galaxy S8, of which I have 30GB of monthly data and a roaming plan. Works fine.

/edit - I also have NordVPN installed for security.

 

[masotime]

Yes tethering is surprisingly unreliable. I've often had to restart my iPad / iPhone just to re-establish a reliable tether. If you haven't experienced it, you're probably not using your wifi iPad as much as those who use the cellular variants.

 

[Nick Milner]

Yes tethering is surprisingly unreliable. I've often had to restart my iPad / iPhone just to re-establish a reliable tether. If you haven't experienced it, you're probably not using your wifi iPad as much as those who use the cellular variants.

No offence, but I regularly travel all over the world with my iPad tethered to my Galaxy S8 with no issues whatsoever. Maybe the problem is on the iPhone side? I'm not trying to troll here - I genuinely don't have any problems with tethering!

The only tethering screw-up I've ever had was one of my own making. After moving 600GB of stuff from my old Surface to my new MBP I set up Backblaze to do its initial backup. After a few days I completely forgot it was there, did a couple of days in Norway and chewed up all 30 gigs of my data plan in one day! Now I have TripMode installed to prevent that happening in future.

 

[rui no onna]

No offence, but I regularly travel all over the world with my iPad tethered to my Galaxy S8 with no issues whatsoever. Maybe the problem is on the iPhone side? I'm not trying to troll here - I genuinely don't have any problems with tethering!

With iPhone+iPad, you can set up the connection entirely/directly from the iPad as long as both are signed in to the same iCloud account. No need to take the iPhone out of your pocket/bag or anything to enable hotspot. Caveat, sometimes it fails to connect and you'd have to reset one or both devices to get it working again (although it works more often than not).

 

[bopajuice]

It kills me when someone asks a question and then disappears. It would be nice to know your intended use. If it stays at home you do not need cellular. If you plan on loading it up with music, movies, photos, and games, then memory would be more important. If you travel, cellular models are invaluable. I sometimes use cellular instead of the hotel WiFi because the cellular is faster. All depends on intended use.

 

[Shadowbech]

For me, I always go with the wifi only models. I do carry my iPad pro 10.5 with me everywhere I go but most places I go have wifi. But I barely use my iPad in public. I can't justify paying extra $$$ for cellular.

 

[Rocko99991]

Five years ago, I would have opted for cellular/Wi-Fi. Now, today, Wi-Fi is so widespread and free, it's widely available. It seems no matter where I go, there are even signs on businesses suggesting to use their free Wi-Fi. Years ago, I felt like businesses were so secretive about their Wi-Fi and not advertising it, but it's completely changed since then. It's almost a rarity to find a business or establishment that does not have Wi-Fi today.

But does the unsecure wifi pose a threat?

 

[44267547]

But does the unsecure wifi pose a threat?

That would be depending on what content you are viewing. If you were concerned about something that would be private of nature or sensitive information that you're using unsecured Wi-Fi, then I would suggest not using it. It's discretionary.

 

[akash.nu]

That would be depending on what content you are viewing. If you were concerned about something that would be private of nature or sensitive information that you're using unsecured Wi-Fi, then I would suggest not using it. It's discretionary.

In such situations I just connect to my phone. Problem solved.

 

[Nick Milner]

But does the unsecure wifi pose a threat?

Use a VPN service like NordVPN.

 

[Stealthdiggers]

I went cellular with the IPP this time around because the service is about 50 times faster than my home wifi network. Worth adding the iPad to my Att plan for $10 a month

 

[Newtons Apple]

Glad I always got cellular as Irma is going to cut my power very soon and the cellular will stream all my news and moving for days like it did when Mathew visited.

 

[WorldIRC]

Never had any issues tethering my laptop or tablets to my Samsung phones. I'm also never in a position where I'm without my phone. Phone battery is large enough these days to support the tethering / hotspot usage for the 1-2 hour duration that I'd use it (typically in meetings with clients).

 

[one more]

If you already have a phone and can share your cellular internet connection from it, go with Wi-Fi only. Will save you from having to fiddle with another SIM and possible extra line costs too.

 

[s2mikey]

The price difference between the two always made me go with the WiFi only model. Spending $200-$300 more on the LTE edition isn't worth it ..... mainly because I never if ever use it. I have strong WiFi at work, home, college, church, hotels, parent's house, friend's houses, starbucks, etc..... If I ever did need WiFi I just spend 5 seconds turning on a hotspot on my iPhone and bam, good to go. I'll maybe do this 2-3 times out of the year.

I was given an LTE iPad Mini 2 from Amazon by accident (they told me to keep it) for the price of WiFi. In the end it became more of a hassle because it was eating data from my family plan and spending $10/mo + tax just didn't seem worth it for something I didn't use.

I believe the actual upcharge is $130, not $200 or $300. It's still a lot for what probably doesn't cost Apple much but it's not quite that bad lol.

To the OP: I always go with cellular support. It's great to have and like insurance you're very happy when you have it and need it.

 

[ABC5S]

Glad I always got cellular as Irma is going to cut my power very soon and the cellular will stream all my news and moving for days like it did when Mathew visited.

Ditto.... I am in Florida as well, and watching the hurricane wiz’s by and without cellular on my iPad, no power, I would be very much in the dark

Edit: However, after a major storm with power outages the download speed is incredibly slow.

 

[burgman]

If you already have a phone and can share your cellular internet connection from it, go with Wi-Fi only. Will save you from having to fiddle with another SIM and possible extra line costs too.

Or use the embedded sim except on Verizon.

 

[Booji]

seems a pretty clear conclusion to me: if you are high mobility and desire security and an "always on" seemlsss connectivity experience, go for the cellular model. If you don't move around a lot and tend to always have a good secure wifi connection, save a few bucks and get the wifi only model.

 

[Pspressart]

I know this is a unique situation, but Hurricane Irma passed through my region. I lost power in my home, which lost my Wifi, but with the cellular connection, I was able to maintain my connection to the internet

 

[Ollé]

My last 2 iPads were WiFi only this time round I got the 10.5 with cellular. So much more convienent, just pull it out and away you go, no more stuffing around with tethering to your phone then using the iPad and draining your phone's battery in the process.

 

[44267547]

I know this is a unique situation, but Hurricane Irma passed through my region. I lost power in my home, which lost my Wifi, but with the cellular connection, I was able to maintain my connection to the internet

But still interesting scenario to be put in. And that's the benefit of having LTE when Wi-Fi is not available. So I completely agree in situations like that, it's nice to have LTE.

 

[rui no onna]

But still interesting scenario to be put in. And that's the benefit of having LTE when Wi-Fi is not available. So I completely agree in situations like that, it's nice to have LTE.

The long battery life on the iPad is really helpful in cases like this. With just the iPhone, I'd be pretty concerned with how long the battery might last. The iPad can literally go weeks on standby. My iPhone needs to be charged at least every 3 days even with very minimal usage.