I’ve never bought a cellular tablet. Just about everywhere I’ve ever needed to use my tablet has wifi. In the rare situations where this isn’t the case, I just use my phone to make a hotspot.
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All iPads Do you go for Wi-Fi only or cellular for your iPad
- Thread starter Adeapplephone
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Because tethering eats through my phone battery like crazy…
I just don't find WiFi based geolocation useful for my purposes due to its inaccuracy.
Just don’t wait too long in case there’s a SNAFU. If you don’t need a ton of data, keeping the T-Mo 5G/150 days/$10 active is a nice option. Unfortunately, T-Mo doesn’t have service at our camp, or I’d be using that instead of the much pricier AT&T plans.
I'm really surprised that pre-paid plan isn't known by more people. I've been using it for forever.
I try to keep that T-Mo plan active. Unfortunately, it usually doesn’t provide service in the areas where I most need cellular (while traveling Interstate routes within a couple of hours of home and our camp) and it went down during Ida. If you have good T-Mo service, it’s a steal of a deal for casual use.
I just wish there were service at our camp. I’d probably spend $10 every month or two for each iPad, where I spend $35/month for AT&T unlimited for each now and seldom use more than maybe 2-5G.
Cell service is also constantly shifting. I have T-Mobile and have been with them for over a decade now. I’m surprised lately in the coverage expansion honestly. I’m in a major US city so T-Mobile has always been fine, but even trips out to rural parts of PA like Cherry Springs I have had 5G coverage while my AT&T friends are at zero signal.
I expect this to continue as T-Mobile is in the best position currently with spectrum so their spreading 5G at a rate that’s the fastest globally. I’m even surprised that I get 5G UC in my house at fast speeds. When I originally joined T-Mobile a decade ago I needed to leverage WiFi calling inside my house as it as pretty poor indoors, but fine outside.
Our camp is 3 miles back on a forestry road in a county with 8K people. We don’t even have electricity or any utilities there. Verizon signal is poor, AT&T is a little better. We’re completely surrounded by national forest. The T-Mo coverage map shows nothing anywhere near and I don’t expect that to change.
I think a lot of people would be surprised how much of the US is like this - extremely poor or non-existent WiFi or cellular coverage. Why I never depend on cloud services for traveling.
Depends what they are. Videos I maintain in nPlayer. Music in the Music app via iTunes download. General files - docs, PDFs, spreadsheets, etc. - on FileBrowser Pro in appropriately-named folders. Photos in Photo Manager Pro. It all works quite well, no problems with about 300GB worth of data on my 12.9 Pro. FB Pro, nPlayer, and Photo Mgr Pro all support SMB connections to my laptop, desktop, & NAS for file transfers.
Should be manageable with external USB-C SSD storage if used.
I'll use it off and on for photo transfer and for storage of video for my smaller Mini 6.
Yeah I wasn’t aiming to say coverage is perfect everywhere, but more to just highlight how much it is changing. I was truly surprised to get cell service at all at Cherry Springs and even more shocked it was 5G. Cherry Springs is extremely rural PA in a town with a population of 2500 people and is so rural it has some of the best stargazing on the east coast.
My layman’s opinion is that carriers like T-Mobile are bringing 5G rural to allow these places to have true broadband. Whatever the reason I was very impressed.
There’s a little community about a mile and a half SE of us and I bet there aren’t 20 houses/mobile homes in it. Bet there aren’t even close to 100 people there, even during hunting season. Even if they get coverage, we won’t since there’s nothing but forest between them and us.
Argh. I’m still adding configurations into the cart, but every time I see the price, I’m like, nah. That’s iPad Pro territory. Hoping for a decent sale once the hype dies down. Or a refresh next year for 128 gbs…I don’t know. It’s not like at can’t afford it, it’s just the principle of 650-800 for a mini, why? Inflation? 64 gigs in 2021 is just plain dumb.
iPad storage and cellular upgrades have always been expensive.
2015 iPad mini 4
16GB $399 WiFi, $529 LTE
64GB $499 WiFi, $629 LTE
128GB $599 WiFi, $729 LTE
I find 64GB base in 2021 is far more usable than 16GB base was even back in 2015.
With that said, a mid-tier 128GB option for $549 WiFi, $699 5G would've been very welcome.
I've had both but I keep mine for a very long time, so I prefer cellular + Wi-fi. Though I rarely use cellular on my current tablet, it's unlocked. Better to have the option and not need it...
Gone cellular since iPad Pro 2017 model. I got cellular for GPS and freedom to use it anywhere. I could tether from my iPhone, but then the iPhone battery will die sooner.
The other nice thing about going cellular, is I can have the option of double cellular coverage. iPhone on AT&T and iPad on Verizon, so if either device can’t get service, I can tether it to the other device.
iPhone 12 Pro Max:
eSIM AT&T
SIM T-Mobile
iPad Pro:
SIM Verizon
The other nice thing about going cellular, is I can have the option of double cellular coverage. iPhone on AT&T and iPad on Verizon, so if either device can’t get service, I can tether it to the other device.
iPhone 12 Pro Max:
eSIM AT&T
SIM T-Mobile
iPad Pro:
SIM Verizon
Everybody has different use cases and needs. It’s better not to buy a cellular model if that individual is never going to use it as that would be a complete waste of their money. If they are going to use it, get it, but I won’t be buying something for the sake of it. There’s no right or wrong answer to this for everybody and if there was, Apple would only sell one type of iPad.
I finally treated myself when I got the 2021 iPad Pro and upgraded to a cellular model. I have an unlimited plan through Verizon that, if I’m being honest, I don’t always use enough to justify the cost, but I like having it. Tethering from an iPhone is easy enough in recent years, although sometimes it will still fail and require two or three attempts.
For me, I did not like killing my phone’s battery to use my iPad. Further, we have had issues with power outages here when we have bad weather where I lose Wi-Fi. I love having the cellular on the iPad as a back up. The iPad now feels like a complete standalone package for me that I can grab and leave the house.
For me, I did not like killing my phone’s battery to use my iPad. Further, we have had issues with power outages here when we have bad weather where I lose Wi-Fi. I love having the cellular on the iPad as a back up. The iPad now feels like a complete standalone package for me that I can grab and leave the house.