I just hotspot my ipad from my phone if I'm not in an area with wifi which is rare. Do people still buy a lot of LTE pads? Any stats anywhere on this?
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iPad Do people even need LTE on ipads?
- Thread starter Mac'nCheese
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In fairness, I don't *need* an iPad either.
Yes given my wifi at work is shocking. I will use it daily at work data wise
Yes LTE is an absolute necessity for me. Public WIFI is too vulnerable now not to mention unreliable.
I think he’s assuming most people can just use their phones as hotspots.
I guess is depends on your plan. Pretty sure on mine anything attached is part of my hotspot data limitations of 15 GB not the phones unlimited data.
I have the original ipad data service for 29.99 a month unlimited... I use it everyday. I travel a lot around the country and it surprises me how slow the internet is in many of these places.
Isn’t that high. My iPad used to be $10 a month but that was with a family phone plan.
$29.99 is a standalone prepaid plan, handy for those who don’t have AT&T cell phone service (like me).
I wanted GPS and LTE has been handy - first on an Air 2, then on my 10.5.
I don’t use LTE on my iPad very often, but it does come in handy:
- LTE iPad makes a great hotspot for my kids while we’re traveling, I don’t worry about them sucking up my iPhone’s battery
- Great for airports, etc. where you just want to answer a few quick emails (with Apple Smart Keyboard), and you save a bit of time not pairing to iPhone.
- Sometimes the iPad gets better LTE reception than an iPhone... I dunno if it’s bigger antennas or what.
LTE is a must for me. The wife and I are still on the original grandfathered unlimited data so we don't have hotspot. Plus I work from the field and in areas where I can't count on Wifi. I love having the LTE. Just another thing I don't have to think about. We still have the original unlimited data on our iPads too.
My work restricts WiFi. If my iPad would automatically reconnect to my iPhone’s hotspot, I wouldn’t need an LTE iPad... but I def don’t have the patience to manually reconnect to the hotspot 20x throughout the day. 
When you travel LTE is safer than WIFI. No Need to pay for WIFI when you hav to pay for it.
Funnily enough, it keeps the connection when using hotspot from Android phone since it has no concept of power saving then.My work restricts WiFi. If my iPad would automatically reconnect to my iPhone’s hotspot, I wouldn’t need an LTE iPad... but I def don’t have the patience to manually reconnect to the hotspot 20x throughout the day.
iPhone to iPad, the tether gets disconnected when idle too quickly.
I travel over 200 days a year and find that wifi reliability is extremely varied from place to place. There are a few hotels we’re assigned that frequently have top speeds in the kbps range.
Not to mention that every wifi hotspot has their own way of authenticating. Some you can just join, some you have to type in a special code, some require you to watch an ad and then it kicks you off every 30 minutes to watch another ad when you reconnect... etc, etc. It gets tiring after awhile. Since going with an unlimited plan, I rarely have to connect to wifi and it saves me so much stress. Unless I have to download an app over 150mb haha.
Not to mention that every wifi hotspot has their own way of authenticating. Some you can just join, some you have to type in a special code, some require you to watch an ad and then it kicks you off every 30 minutes to watch another ad when you reconnect... etc, etc. It gets tiring after awhile. Since going with an unlimited plan, I rarely have to connect to wifi and it saves me so much stress. Unless I have to download an app over 150mb haha.
Absolutely. My LTE iPad has been a lifesaver on the bus to and from work.
Exactly. Even high-end hotels can have terrible and/or pricey WiFi service; even when a decent signal is available, their in-house networks must be getting overloaded. The last thing I want to do at night in a hotel is to have to go out somewhere to find adequate WiFi service.
I'll throw my experience out there and why I typically go for the LTE-equipped iPads - it's diversity/options that don't tie me to my phone and generally there are some pretty good and inexpensive options.
My phone has unlimited data (promotion through a carrier made it cheaper than the capped data plan with other family members), but hotspot feature is disabled. When I travel, I rarely connect to any public Wi-Fi—it's just not consistent everywhere and each place tends to have their own crap that gets tacked on with the authentication experience.
My iPad is rocking the $10 5GB/150 day T-Mobile promo plan that seems to be renewable as long as you don't let it completely run out. I don't use that much data on mobile, but it's great to have when traveling. In the past, I went on a trip to an area that wasn't very good for AT&T coverage and had a prepaid Verizon SIM in my iPad, so I mostly lived off of the iPad in the hotel and hotspotted my phone off of it (complete with Wi-Fi calling).
I wish that AT&T and Verizon played nicely with the Apple SIM because it's really a great idea, but I don't mind carrying extra SIM cards around either, depending on where the trip takes me.
My phone has unlimited data (promotion through a carrier made it cheaper than the capped data plan with other family members), but hotspot feature is disabled. When I travel, I rarely connect to any public Wi-Fi—it's just not consistent everywhere and each place tends to have their own crap that gets tacked on with the authentication experience.
My iPad is rocking the $10 5GB/150 day T-Mobile promo plan that seems to be renewable as long as you don't let it completely run out. I don't use that much data on mobile, but it's great to have when traveling. In the past, I went on a trip to an area that wasn't very good for AT&T coverage and had a prepaid Verizon SIM in my iPad, so I mostly lived off of the iPad in the hotel and hotspotted my phone off of it (complete with Wi-Fi calling).
I wish that AT&T and Verizon played nicely with the Apple SIM because it's really a great idea, but I don't mind carrying extra SIM cards around either, depending on where the trip takes me.
Using your phone as a hot spot is a big battery drain. For the $10 a month I pay on Verizon for my iPad, it's just not worth it to use my phone as a hot spot.
Same thinking here . . Why tie my tablet to my phone or anything else? Freedom of choice. Do I NEED LTE on my tablet? Maybe not, but I PREFER it and I can afford it so I have it.
I’ll throw my experience in also.
I have always wanted to go with the LTE models, the added bonus of a GPS chip is there too, but I have found pricing to be a road block. Over the years the added cost (in Australia) has been around A$150 to A$200, model dependant.
So instead I went with a pocket 4g wifi router. Yes, it’s one more thing to charge, but it cost me a one time price of A$29 (including a 4gb prepaid sim). Through the years of upgrading iPads and trying different models I have saved at least A$600, or about the cost of one whole iPad.
Just my 2c.
I have always wanted to go with the LTE models, the added bonus of a GPS chip is there too, but I have found pricing to be a road block. Over the years the added cost (in Australia) has been around A$150 to A$200, model dependant.
So instead I went with a pocket 4g wifi router. Yes, it’s one more thing to charge, but it cost me a one time price of A$29 (including a 4gb prepaid sim). Through the years of upgrading iPads and trying different models I have saved at least A$600, or about the cost of one whole iPad.
Just my 2c.
One reason I went iPad instead of hotspot was carriers in US charging $100-200 for device and $20-30/mo for personal hotspot service while it was only $10/mo for the tablet. Didn't make much sense to me considering one can use the tablet as hotspot, too, but whatever.
Also, unlike in other countries, hotspots here are tied to carriers whereas you can just swap SIM cards on an iPad.
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I can go either with or without LTE since thankfully Singapore telcos do not differentiate tethered data and non-tethered data
But the option of being able to find your iPad back when it is always connected to the Internet with LTE is something I wanted all along. Being able to just switch on my iPad and then use its Internet is a nice bonus
But theives can just simply remove the SIM card and if the iPad runs out of power, "Find my iPad" features will not work too.
Choice choices...
But the option of being able to find your iPad back when it is always connected to the Internet with LTE is something I wanted all along. Being able to just switch on my iPad and then use its Internet is a nice bonus
But theives can just simply remove the SIM card and if the iPad runs out of power, "Find my iPad" features will not work too.
Choice choices...