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iPad with cellular: why?
- Thread starter clunkmess
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The difference between always-on(line) and sometimes-on is quite significant. It’s hard to put into specifics, but knowing it is always connected genuinely changes the way you approach and utilise it. You simply don’t get this with tethering, or relying on spotty, random WiFi. Plus, public WiFi is ghastly for numerous reasons.
Of course, if you rarely use your iPad away from reliable wifi, it’s not a big deal.
But I do.
Of course, if you rarely use your iPad away from reliable wifi, it’s not a big deal.
But I do.
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I know this sounds terrible and first world problems but my 1st Gen iPad Pro is cellular and I love it just so I don't have to go through the settings on my phone to tether it.
If you’re asking why then you’re not the audience for it. Which is fine until they stop offering WiFi only.
When I took my iPad with LTE with me on the road, my phone was never far behind. I eventually canceled the LTE service on the iPad and just use Personal Hotspot sharing on my phone. The extra 20 seconds it took me to connect was not a big deal.
On the other hand I just purchased the Apple Watch 4 with LTE. That to me is worth it. I don't even need to bring my phone with me to make calls and receive messages and emails.
On the other hand I just purchased the Apple Watch 4 with LTE. That to me is worth it. I don't even need to bring my phone with me to make calls and receive messages and emails.
I do the majority of my work in the car, or in some random building. I don’t trust public WiFi either.
I tend to go to places where my phone doesn't get service but my iPad does, so I keep the LTE on mine.
You're using a company-owned asset so just like with your company computer, they can.
One of the big problems of using Personal Hotspot from iPhone is the tethered device acts as if it is on WiFi and can start making large downloads of data, quickly using up the iPhone data allowance.
Plus it is annoying to have to connect every time I want to use iPad - which is a lot, lot more than I use the iPhone. I would not consider getting an iPad without LTE.
Plus mobile signal I find more reliable on the iPad than on the iPhone.
Plus it is annoying to have to connect every time I want to use iPad - which is a lot, lot more than I use the iPhone. I would not consider getting an iPad without LTE.
Plus mobile signal I find more reliable on the iPad than on the iPhone.
WiFi is off at my house right now. I love my iPad with LTE!
I use cell data throughout the day on the iPad. To continuously use the hotspot to my phone would be an hourly annoyance that would also cause my phone's battery to drain faster. I've also had had an iPad have cell reception in area where my phone did not. They are both on the same carrier now (happened more when they were not) so maybe the iPads antenna is better? Who knows.
Not all hotels have free wifi and the ones that do are slower than LTE, I'm mobile most of the day, and for as often as I use it the $10 a fee month to have the iPad connected over cellular is more than worth it.
Not all hotels have free wifi and the ones that do are slower than LTE, I'm mobile most of the day, and for as often as I use it the $10 a fee month to have the iPad connected over cellular is more than worth it.
Got a pleasant surprise today - my Sprint phone plan did not have free hotspot but got a flyer in the mail saying that I now have free 50GB/month on all of the phones on my plan.
As others have said, of course the company has every right to monitor what is being served over the wifi, it is theirs. The question you should be asking is can they track it to *YOU* if you use a personal device. If this is an open wifi, or even one secured with a password known by all, and you are using a personal device they don't know the mac address for, and your traffic doesn't ever identify you (going to your facebook page, logging in with unencrypted credentials, you are the only one there at 6 a.m. so they know it is your device, etc.) then I guess you may get away with whatever it is you are trying to get away with, lol. Using a VPN may help too I guess.
And I am not suggesting you or anyone else do this, in a way your IT security folk should be all over these scenarios and only allow trusted machines on the wifi, etc. but maybe it is for public use. And if such, it better not have access to any of your company's internal network resources.
You're an idiot if you do something at work on a work connection that you don't want them to know about. Is it really worth it?
Of course not but unless they catch you on it I’m not sure it’s even possible to track anything when it’s somebody else’s device.
I imagine it depends on how you have to authenticate to get on the wifi. Some companies have very strict security and firewalls.
When I was in India I couldn’t get my employee to accept a Wi-Fi-only iPad for a viable device. He told me that Wi-Fi is very spotty and LTE is more practical, vs. in the US. I wonder if it’s still that way as the last time I was there was about five years ago?
Many placed I go, LTE is much better than the available WiFi - and when in China (which I am there a couple months each year), LTE with UK SIM provides access to a number of sites, which it would be difficult to reach otherwise, such as Facebook and YouTube
Bringing this topic back because even though I’m not likely to buy another ipad anytime soon I was thinking about getting cellular in the next iPad I buy. In part because my data plan is unlimited and I can have a couple of data enabled accessories (like my watch) for $10 a month - and since I already pay it I may as well use a cellular ipad in the future since it doesn’t cost me more per month.
