iPad: wifi or wifi+cellular?

[FlamingGallah]

Hi, I'm finally thinking of taking the plunge and getting an iPad, but getting a bit flummoxed by all the options.

Should I get just wifi or a cellular one too? Will be mostly used at home but also on holidays.

I have an iPhone, how does tethering work? Do I need a cellular iPad for that?

Memory wise I was thinking of 32GB as heard 16 not enough?

Thank you for any advice!

[nannynick]

How much travelling would you do? Having got an iPad at Xmas (nice present to get) I have found that it does come with me more than I expected, certainly more than my laptop ever did.

I have used it to watch iPlayer whilst at a motorway service station for example. However iPlayer lets you download to watch offline, so you do not need WiFi or Cellular access at the time to view, as long as you have remembered to download some things for your trip.

Tethering works using Bluetooth I think. I do not use that myself. Tethering requires a mobile contract plan that permits it. On Three, the One Plan permits it but I do not think that other plans permit it. So check your existing mobile contract plan.

I would go for as large a memory as possible and have just WiFi model. You can then download things to watch such as on iPlayer and store things on the device, such as tvshows/movies from iTunes. Many games will play without a net connection, though increasingly many do now want that but if places you are likely to visit have WiFi then that will not be an issue.

[Dillydollydaydream]

I just have the wifi version and that's been fine so far. Most places have wifi hotspots now I've found.

[daisychicken]

I have a wifi & cellular iPad - it was a gift, if I'd chosen it myself I would have just bought the wifi version. I use it mainly at home where I have wifi and when out I can tether it by wifi or Bluetooth to my phone (have used both htc and iPhone for this - just make sure you have a big enough allowance on your phone) or to the free wifi when available. As nannynick says, you can download straight to iPad so you may not always need Internet access anyway.

[prism]

i don't think tethering necessarily needs a particular plan if you have the right kind of phone- I've tethered an iPad on my very normal contract, thanks to the phones I've used, though I do know that if I wanted to do it with a BlackBerry or iPhone I'd have to modify the plan. So I wouldn't buy a cellular iPad, on the basis that I could hook it up to my phone.

But then I wouldn't buy an iPad anyway.

[FlamingGallah]

Brilliant thank you all, that's extremely helpful!

Now just got to decide which one- I'm thinking the retina one, is that the 4? Or whether to wait for the 5...

Was thinking maybe getting from John Lewis due to customer service?

[ICantRememberWhatSheSaid]

I use tethering all the time. I have the three mobile 'one plan' and an IPad mini that I keep in my handbag. I also have an ipad for when I am at home.
Even if you don't tether there are hot spots all over the place so you rarely get stuck.
I download BBC program's to watch when I am travelling so I like to have a big memory.
Definitely get it from John Lewis. I bought extended warranties for all our iPads but have never needed to use them.

[NetworkGuy]

prism - re tethering - it's far less likely to be allowed/ supported on most networks than you think and many either state it is not permitted, or that if detectedthey can disable access (until you've turned your mobile off and back on, or as I found with Three on my Huawei, reset it to manufacturer defaults and then had to reinstall my Android apps again).

Virgin, T-Mobile etc may have 'fair use policy' soonce you've downloaded some arbitrary level of data, you would have streaming services blocked... currently one has a 3.5 GB limit before you start being speed limited and only web browsing is usable after that.

Three has various plans with unlimited data (I use 1 to 2 GB a day) but charge 5 quid for 1 GB of extra data with tethering allowed (One Plan allows unlimited tethering but costs 25 quid, though can be had on rolling 1 month contract).

Cost of international data still very high so if "away on holiday/ with work" takes you outside UK (even Channel Islands/ IoM) then I'd suggest turning off 3G roaming to protect against bill of hundreds or thousands!

[NetworkGuy]

(I was using tethering in 2012 on Three plan costing about 15 quid, but did so infrequently... when network detected it, screwed settings in mobile so power off not enough to get internet usable again... just a gentle warning they can detect it and if not permitted... you have been warned!)

[PearlyWhites]

T mobile unlimited data is £26 a month iPhone 4 or £36 4s or 5 and you can tether it for your iPad. I would only get a wifi one.

[PearlyWhites]

Also I have used t mobile for constantly watching tv via 3G in hospital no fair usage policy.

[FlamingGallah]

Thank you, wifi only it is.

I've got an iphone5 with O2, currently only on 750MB a month, but I've already chewed through that in a fortnight which is crazy as I'm on wifi most of time.

Never had a problem with my previous iphone but that's a whole other thread I think!

[ICantRememberWhatSheSaid]

Have you checked your settings to reduce data usage?
Eg
Turn off apps with push notifications
Turn off iCloud
Select to 'fetch' your mail rather than have it 'pushed'
Turn off any 'auto updates'
Turn off location services when you are not using it.


There may be more

[NetworkGuy]

PearlyWhites - be aware they're messing about with the number of masts (to reduce duplication from both Orange and T-Mobile) - it's probably the reason why I can no longer stream anything reliably on T-Mobile and I'm on the unlimited (SIM Only) deal that has been at 16 quid in the shops at different times (I got 101 quid as well, signing up on T-Mob via TopCashback.co.uk).

[NetworkGuy]

OP It really will depend on what networks give best coverage in the places the tablet is going to be used - so question is whether the holidays will be in UK or abroad :) if abroad see if they have free wi-fi, and if not, either fill iPad with films/etc before going or don't take it.

When the volcanic dust stranded people they returned to bills of hundreds and thousands, just from listening to BBC radio while they were stuck in hotels waiting to get back.

There are proposals to cap the cost of data (like mobile calls when abroad) in EU but don't think they will be in place before 2015.