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Dallas Morning News: 3G iPad makes you appreciate Wi-Fi

Don't compare 3G in USA with 3G in the rest of the world...

I've ordered the 3G model, I think that the 3G networks in the US are lightyears from the 3G networks that we have here in Europe. I usually get a bandwith of 6 mbit/s (measured on my iPhone) from my country house (which is in the middle of the woods in the middle of nowhere). When I use 3G networks in the city it isn't uncommon that I get bandwith over 10 mbit/s with a Turbo 3G+ usb modem (on my MacBook Pro).

The use of WiFi hotspots isn't that common in Europe, so the iPad with 3G is definetly worth it :) The GPS makes it eaven more worth it...

I want to use my iPad everywhere... and BTW my Porsche 911 Carrera 4S will eat all of your BMW's ;)
 
random person said:
Of course, all that said I bought a 64 3G model as a gift for a friend and I have now decided to keep it! Had this model been available at launch day for sure I would have bought it.
Click to expand...

And so, now you are our newest member. Congratulations, and please add this to your sig so that all know the real reason you dumped your wi-fi:

iPad 3G Elitist Club® Member

Welcome aboard.

BJ

Posted from my McMansion
 
boltjames said:
And so, now you are our newest member. Congratulations, and please add this to your sig so that all know the real reason you dumped your wi-fi:

iPad 3G Elitist Club® Member

Welcome aboard.

BJ

Posted from my McMansion
Click to expand...

I thought you would never ask! :eek: But yikes -- that car that you drive . . . ;)

(My best friends drive Hondas!)
 
random person said:
I thought you would never ask! But yikes -- that car that you drive . . .

(My best friends drive Hondas!)
Click to expand...

It is highly recommended by the 3G Elitist Club® to have best friends that are beneath you. This way, you always feel above them and it makes you feel like you're being charitable with your time. Besides, who else is going to open our Chateau Lafite and clean the empty bottles?

BJ

Posted from my Rolexed-wrist
 
The iPad's 3G isn't too bad over here.
It's a whole lot better than T-Mobile's no-G internet on my cellphone.

For sending emails, online auctions or regular browsing it's just fine.
Using 250mb/month could be a challenge..... It's just a bit slow for streaming.

Just wait till the G2 iPad Pro comes out! :D

That's bound to have all kinds of improved goodness.

4G? Maybe better! Who knows?

Have Fun,
Keri

PS. I only have a 16gb 3G iPad. And a Toyota Tercel car. Getting a Trophy Wife might be a little tricky too. Does that mean I can't join your elitist club?
 
KeriJane said:
Have Fun,
Keri

PS. I only have a 16gb 3G iPad. And a Toyota Tercel car. Getting a Trophy Wife might be a little tricky too. Does that mean I can't join your elitist club?
Click to expand...

No matter how hot you are, no Toyota Tercel owner can be in the Elitist Club. I would like to see a pic of your feet, though.

BJ

Posted from my Tempurpedic bed
 
I am on 6th Avenue in Manhattan posting to MacRumors in a shop window with hundreds of foreign tourists gawking at me. I'm freaking Ashton Kutcher, a celebrity.

Not possible with wi-fi.

BJ

Posted from my iPad 3G/64GB/$829
 
Oh, hi Ashton.

I was thinking of maybe starting my own ANTI-elitist club.

No 64GB iPads.

No cars with power windows. Air Conditioning is OK.

Casio watches only. Well, OK, Swatch and Timex too.

No Trophy Spouses. Only the regular kind.

A limit of 1 boat, plane or other extravagant conveyance.

No limits to bathtubs, whirlpools, bicycles, Tempurpedic beds, swimming pools or expensive figurines because I like them a lot. Just to be fair, I suppose sporting goods, motorcycles and outdoor grills should be permitted too.


Any Apple products are OK so long as they're not on the iPad 3G Elitist Club's "approved status symbol" list. Actually, anything looked down upon by the iPad 3G Elitist Club is probably OK.

Have Fun
Keri.

PS. oh, and no Movie Stars, Politicians or other Elitist riffraff permitted either!
You know who you are!
 
KeriJane said:
Oh, hi Ashton.

I was thinking of maybe starting my own ANTI-elitist club.

No 64GB iPads.
No cars with power windows. Air Conditioning is OK.
Casio watches only. Well, OK, Swatch and Timex too.
No Trophy Spouses. Only the regular kind.
Click to expand...

Kerri babe, that club already exists, no need to create it. It's called The Salvation Army. I send my soiled jeans and dirty sneakers there all the time.

BJ
 
boltjames said:
Kerri babe, that club already exists, no need to create it. It's called The Salvation Army. I send my soiled jeans and dirty sneakers there all the time.

BJ
Click to expand...

Nah, the Salvation Army just won't do. I see Elitist Snobs like yourself there all the time.
You'd think that Elitist Snobs like you would be embarrassed to be seen at cheap places like Salvation Army, Wal-Mart and Dollar Stores, but amongst the beat-up Chevys and Fords with ridiculous-looking chrome wheels that spin after the car stops is the occasional BMW complete with Rolex-encumbered occupant.
Not at the "Donations" drop off area either.

I need a club that's a little more fussy about just who we'll let in.


Have Fun,
Keri

PS. I got friends in high (or at least FAR NORTH) places. Like the Wisconsin Northwoods. Where the 75 year old grandmothers sleep with tennis rackets for killing the bats. I'm sure we'll come up with something.
PPS. I'm not kidding about the tennis rackets! They work just as well on Elitists. :)
 
I see the 3G data option as insurance when WiFi is not an option. What can be maddening is when you don't have WiFi and get to experience AT&T wireless broadband at its worst.

The other day I was having lunch at a downtown hotel. You had to be a registered guest to use their WiFi network. No problem. Use 3G. But even with four bars, nothing was happening. Tested download speed. It was 2 kbps.

I have a dream. I dream of the day when AT&T has 4G coverage and gobs of bandwidth to every corner of the continent. Meanwhile, I could be satisfied if AT&T lost their exclusive and the iPad (and iPhone) was compatible with whatever wireless provider had the best broadband data network in my town.

Come to think of it, thanks to products like Verizon MiFi, Sprint Overdrive, and various tetherable Android phones, I could be very satisfied with a "WiFi only" iPad.
 
Being downtown with an iPod touch, not remembering where a place was and not having -any- wifi networks to connect to so I can use google maps made me buy an iPhone - I don't care how fast wifi is, 3G, heck, even using GPRS/Edge is more important to me
 
The article totally misses the point of having 3G. Since the 3G pad can connect to every single wifi spot that the wifi version can a comparison of wifi v 3G speed is totally meaningless. As far as an iPad goes 3G speed needs to be compared to no connectivity at all which is what the wifi only iPad has whenever you take it away from a hot spot. 3G isn't the fastest network on the block but its a damn site faster than no connectivity at all.
 
I posted this before and some seemingly embittered person (I think the name was Jessica) freaked out, but the simple fact is - most people are going to make much heavier use of the device if they can use it on a cell network. It doesn't have to be the 3g model, but the point is portability. That is why you need tons of battery life, so you're not trapped near an outlet. That is why you need cell data access, so you're not stranded at spots with public wifi. Minus those two tihngs and you're going to use the iPad only in certain scenarios, which means you won't use it enough for it to be a big part of your life, and pretty soon you'll decide it's not a very valuable product for you.

There are exceptions to everything, but I honestly think this is going to be the experience for the majority of people who use iPads only on wifi (note, this is not the same as buying the wifi-only model).

Incidentally, my 3g slowed to a crawl tonight. I rebooted and it was fine. Not sure what happened, but it wasn't AT&T's fault.
 
jburns, I'll go one better. I have gotten faster speeds on 3g than on wifi at the same locations, testing one after the other, half a dozen times. I use Speedtest X to check.

Wifi at home blows 3g away - about 10x the speed.

Wifi at my office is easily faster than 3g - about 5x the speed.

Wifi at other places I go, including Starbucks, is often slower than 3g.
 
wombat888 said:
jburns, I'll go one better. I have gotten faster speeds on 3g than on wifi at the same locations, testing one after the other, half a dozen times. I use Speedtest X to check.

Wifi at home blows 3g away - about 10x the speed.

Wifi at my office is easily faster than 3g - about 5x the speed.

Wifi at other places I go, including Starbucks, is often slower than 3g.
Click to expand...

I've experienced the same thing a few times. To me its all about flexibility.
 
wombat888 said:
I posted this before and some seemingly embittered person (I think the name was Jessica) freaked out, but the simple fact is - most people are going to make much heavier use of the device if they can use it on a cell network. It doesn't have to be the 3g model, but the point is portability. That is why you need tons of battery life, so you're not trapped near an outlet. That is why you need cell data access, so you're not stranded at spots with public wifi. Minus those two tihngs and you're going to use the iPad only in certain scenarios, which means you won't use it enough for it to be a big part of your life, and pretty soon you'll decide it's not a very valuable product for you.

There are exceptions to everything, but I honestly think this is going to be the experience for the majority of people who use iPads only on wifi (note, this is not the same as buying the wifi-only model).

Incidentally, my 3g slowed to a crawl tonight. I rebooted and it was fine. Not sure what happened, but it wasn't AT&T's fault.
Click to expand...

wombat888 said:
jburns, I'll go one better. I have gotten faster speeds on 3g than on wifi at the same locations, testing one after the other, half a dozen times. I use Speedtest X to check.

Wifi at home blows 3g away - about 10x the speed.

Wifi at my office is easily faster than 3g - about 5x the speed.

Wifi at other places I go, including Starbucks, is often slower than 3g.
Click to expand...

Yep. I believe it when some people claim that most or all of their needs seem to be satisfied with WIFI alone. But I also think that they will probably use it in other places if they have 3G built-in.

And to speak as if having 3G on the device somehow makes it worse, "makes you appreciate WIFI", or "I am glad I got the WIFI only" is just silly. Even if you have it and never use it, it does not make the device worse, as if it is a punishment to have the 3G option. For one to claim that he does not need it is one thing, but to add to that an attitude that goes beyond this is strange and suspicious.
 
O2 Performance

I guess this is a fluke. But this is my 3G performance test using MyWi.
2z65q4j.jpg

The previous test was WiFi on my home network.

C.
 
Id just like to chime in with that my main reason for going 3G was the GPS, something not even mentioned in the original review.
 
kaelell said:
Id just like to chime in with that my main reason for going 3G was the GPS, something not even mentioned in the original review.
Click to expand...

That's part of the reason that I like the 3G model too. Without GPS in my car it's a really nice thing to have in my iPad.

The 3G around here isn't the greatest but it sure beats having to find a wifi hotspot.

Love my 3G so far....
Keri
 
KeriJane said:
I need a club that's a little more fussy about just who we'll let in.

Have Fun,
Keri

PS. I got friends in high (or at least FAR NORTH) places. Like the Wisconsin Northwoods. Where the 75 year old grandmothers sleep with tennis rackets for killing the bats. I'm sure we'll come up with something.
PPS. I'm not kidding about the tennis rackets! They work just as well on Elitists.
Click to expand...

Keri, I am so attracted to you it isn't funny. When can we hook up, get together and bump iPads? I may not be the second-coming of Leo DiCaprio, but I've got wads and wads of my wife's money to spend and I'd love to spend it on you.

BJ

Posted from my BMW
 
boltjames said:
Keri, I am so attracted to you it isn't funny. When can we hook up, get together and bump iPads? I may not be the second-coming of Leo DiCaprio, but I've got wads and wads of my wife's money to spend and I'd love to spend it on you.

BJ

Posted from my BMW
Click to expand...


!!!!!

What's this about "my Wife's money" ????

Just who is the Trophy Spouse over there anyhow? :eek:

No Trophy Mistresses in sight. :p
BoltJames needs to look in more pretentious places.

Posted from my Tercel with the Apple Sticker,
Keri
 
KeriJane said:
!!!!!

What's this about "my Wife's money" ????

Just who is the Trophy Spouse over there anyhow?

No Trophy Mistresses in sight.
BoltJames needs to look in more pretentious places.

Posted from my Tercel with the Apple Sticker,
Keri
Click to expand...

Keri:

First off, it's lovely to hear from you. As soon as I saw this thread bumped and your userid in the column, my heart skipped several beats and I became flushed with adrenalin.

My spouse is a "trophy wife" not because of her looks but rather her earnings potential. We don't have an open marriage, but I use her money on hourly rentals quite often. You shouldn't feel guilty about me wining and dining you on her dime. What she doesn't know can't hurt her. "Mistress" is such a bad word. I'd like to think of you as a "technical adviser on a strategic initiative".

I look forward to taking our relationship to the next level.

BJ

Posted from my beach house.
 
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