iPad question.

I use a MIFI card with my iPad instead - it gives me the most flexibility. In the car the kids and wife can use it while I'm driving.

I don't know where these airports everyone finds with free wifi are, but I can count them on one hand. The others charge $9-10 a pop. Some hotels charge for wifi, too.

With my MIFI 4G card I'm good to go on trains, at airports or anywhere else with my MacBook or iPad, and anything else I have laying around that needs to be on-line.
 
Admirals Club is free at airport, I seen a lot of them being used in the trains in Europe, and China, Many fast Food places have Wi Fi in the US. as well as most hotels.

Ordered a new one will not have 4g, also order 7 new 2s, have a 1 now, 64 never have turned the 3g on. but that's me. the touch is great also. use it for pictures.
 
Another thing to keep in mind is that the 3g/4g iPad has stand alone GPS abilities built in as part of the 3g/4g chipset. The Wifi models do not have real GPS built in.

Also, on AT&T the cheapest fee is the $15 250Mb/mo that you can subscribe to or not at will. I have an unlimited plan grandfathered in from before June 2010 but I've gotta tell you, I rarely, if ever exceed 250Mb on it. And I also gotta tell you that having 3G has saved my butt even when wifi was "available". Shoddy wifi, and everybody else is looking at each other, "hey what do I do now?" Not me, got my 3G. :D Also, I'm finding more and more hotels that aren't including the wifi for free. I'm not about to pay a hotel extra for what usually turns out to be an under-provisioned service. Considering what we used to spend on computer equipment and peripherals 10, 15 years ago, the $129 hardware cost for the cellular radio is nuttin'. It's not like you can add it later unless you are willing to get a whole new iPad and either keep or sell the old one.


-Rick
 
nihoole said:
Now the question is should I Opti-Seal it before I use my new Ipad3? Should I seal the glass too?
Click to expand...
No. The glass is already sealed with the oleophobic coating. My iPad 1 is almost 2 years old and my wife's iPad 1 *is* 2 years old. They get very heavy use and the coatings on both very much works great. Also, it is next to impossible to scratch the gorilla glass. No matter what has settled on the screen, a cheap microfiber cloth moistened with water takes it right off without even a hint of scratching.

They are tough too. Our 2 year old, when he was going through his throwing phase, has thrown both iPads down on the ground (especially my wife's). He *still* on occasion will stand on them, in spite of our protests. These things are more or less baby proof. I can't say that for any other consumer electronic device I have ever owned.


-Rick
 
Ok, I think I'll go with the 3-4G option as an insurance policy I already have an iPhone and I got in when AT&T offered unlimited access for $25. But that doesn't include the iPad. I don't do video on my iPhone either. I use it all the time day and night on the web and have barely broken over 1.25GB of usage per month. I'm up almost all night with pain and insomnia. But in the house I'm using wifi. When I get the iPad it will be my goto device. I use the phone now because the keys on the laptop keeps my wife up.

IfAyou by direct from apple website do you pay tax?

My friends advised me to buy wifi only because I do have the phone. I have a gps in the car and iPhone. And most Places I go do have wifi, hospitals, mcdees, dunkin donuts. I don't travel much. The only places we've been caught is when we stay at bed and breakfasts. The seem to never have wifi.

I want to pre-order from Apple but I have $70 of Best Buy gift cards. And best buy Apple guy assured me they will have enough.
And their break it warranty is better than AppleCare.

But if no taxes direct from apple I'll go that way. Thanks for all the replies. Spiney-Dave
 
Hmm I don't know anything about taxes up in the states (Canadian), but really, if you already have an iphone WITH a data plan, you really don't need it. Tethering to your phone works just fine, and when you tether with your iphone's GPS also on (lcoation services) using apple's built-in tethering (instead of MyWi; jailbreak required), your GPS signal actually shows up on the ipad as well, so if you prefer larger screens, you can use it as nav.

Personally I have the ipad 2 64gb 3g, and as much as I absolutely love using it as a GPS (definitely take a look at Navigon; easily the best GPS I've ever used, and I've had some pretty high end garmin stuff before; it has active lane assistance, live traffic + rerouting, and best of all, you can choose the states/provinces of maps you want to download, saving you space) and using 3G, it is mainly because I don't have 3G on my phone (bought it off contract). Along with the fact that I'm not required to pay monthly for data; I can literally activate it & pay on the spot and use it within less than a minute of activation (activating only takes about 30 seconds on its own), and cancel without any penalties.

Personally, if my phone WERE to have a forced 3G plan, I wouldn't buy the 3G version of the ipad UNLESS I just wanted to use it as a dedicated nav, which is nice and definitely worth the price of $130, but if I can get the signal straight from my phone, there's no need for the ipad's internal GPS.

P.S. unless you plan on first dropping your ipad and then jumping on it, you won't break it. It's pretty damn difficult, and apple's stock warrenty is pretty amazing. So no need for the extended warrenty.
 
Spiney said:
Ok, I think I'll go with the 3-4G option as an insurance policy I already have an iPhone and I got in when AT&T offered unlimited access for $25. But that doesn't include the iPad. I don't do video on my iPhone either. I use it all the time day and night on the web and have barely broken over 1.25GB of usage per month. I'm up almost all night with pain and insomnia. But in the house I'm using wifi. When I get the iPad it will be my goto device. I use the phone now because the keys on the laptop keeps my wife up.

IfAyou by direct from apple website do you pay tax?

My friends advised me to buy wifi only because I do have the phone. I have a gps in the car and iPhone. And most Places I go do have wifi, hospitals, mcdees, dunkin donuts. I don't travel much. The only places we've been caught is when we stay at bed and breakfasts. The seem to never have wifi.

I want to pre-order from Apple but I have $70 of Best Buy gift cards. And best buy Apple guy assured me they will have enough.
And their break it warranty is better than AppleCare.

But if no taxes direct from apple I'll go that way. Thanks for all the replies. Spiney-Dave
Click to expand...

I pay tax from the apple store because I live in California. I'm have no idea if Apple will charge you tax where you live. Amazon for me has no tax but they probably won't have the iPad 3 right away. If you get your iPad from Apple you can use your Best Buy gift cards for a case and an apple camera connection kit. Also applecare+ for iPad 3 is different than for previous iPads....more coverage I believe, but not positive on that.
 
Spiney said:
Ok, I think I'll go with the 3-4G option as an insurance policy I already have an iPhone and I got in when AT&T offered unlimited access for $25. But that doesn't include the iPad. I don't do video on my iPhone either. I use it all the time day and night on the web and have barely broken over 1.25GB of usage per month. I'm up almost all night with pain and insomnia. But in the house I'm using wifi. When I get the iPad it will be my goto device. I use the phone now because the keys on the laptop keeps my wife up.

IfAyou by direct from apple website do you pay tax?

My friends advised me to buy wifi only because I do have the phone. I have a gps in the car and iPhone. And most Places I go do have wifi, hospitals, mcdees, dunkin donuts. I don't travel much. The only places we've been caught is when we stay at bed and breakfasts. The seem to never have wifi.

And their break it warranty is better than AppleCare.
Click to expand...

If there is an Apple store in your state you will pay taxes when ordering online. I wouldn't get either the BestBuy or Apple Care warranty...Just my opinion. Save your money and buy a nice case/cover for it.
 
Ready to pull the switch, Last Question: Opinion on Extended Warranty?
Applecare + Now includes 2 incidents of breakage for $99 2 years

Best Buys Warranty is Approx $129 for 1 year. But I hear they are better at any repair needed: Water, Broke Glass. Drop, Folded, Spindled, Mutilated Etc.

But to me the AppleCare+ seems the Better Deal. You have 3 months to decide to buy it.

I'm very careful with all of my things and no little kids in the house. I've had a laptop for 3-4 years with Very heavy use, transported a lot, No issues. Same for my iPhone though thats in a heavily padded case.

My wife says see how it seems over the 3 months, then buy Applecare+ if we think it's warranted. What say you? Thanks, Spiney

Also good case recommendation. I don't like the Apple Case, seems pretty cheesy for $36-39 whatever it is. I'm thinking leather portfolio or something like that. Or a padded slipcase. Tell me what you have and like. Sorry for all the questions but approaching the $900 mark with Tax and thats the most I EVER spent on a computer.
 
You spent all that money, and the if your iPad stops working or breaks and you can't do ish about it....you'll be PISSED. Get the Apple Care.
 
Spiney said:
Also good case recommendation. I don't like the Apple Case, seems pretty cheesy for $36-39 whatever it is. I'm thinking leather portfolio or something like that. Or a padded slipcase. Tell me what you have and like.
Click to expand...

I have 2 different cases for my iPad, The one I use the most is an InCase briefcase style. The only thing it lacks is closure for the outside pocket. My wife found it at Target on closeout for $10. Amazon has it:

Amazon.com: Incase Nylon Sleeve w/ handles for iPad (Black): Computers & Accessories

sfbag.com has a great line of cases - US made and super quality. I have this one:

iPad Travel Express - new iPad Case, iPad 2 Case - SFBags - WaterField Designs

with a shoulder strap. It has room for everything you'll need.
 
I thought about getting a WIFI hotspot too, like the MIFI. It certainly sounds appealing and a lot of carriers provide the hardware for free but you have to sign up for a two year contract. 4G on the Ipad can be used for as little as one month with no contract. This is more what I need.

Also, a WIFI hotspot is yet another thing to keep charged and have to carry around with you.

OK - I will skip the glass when I Opti-Seal my new Ipad.
 
The best thing about having the 3g/4g one is you don't have to pay the monthly fee if you don't want to. So if your on vacation for a week or two you can activate it for one month and have the internet when you want and then deactivate it after.
 
SkateForGirl said:
The best thing about having the 3g/4g one is you don't have to pay the monthly fee if you don't want to. So if your on vacation for a week or two you can activate it for one month and have the internet when you want and then deactivate it after.
Click to expand...

Exactly. If I feel like paying $20/month (and, btw, I never exceed 1GB/month)...no prob. Then, if I want to cancel for a couple of months..no prob there either.

I am happy with 3G and am not on the edge of my seat for 4G. Also, I prefer to save $30/month versus having a MiFi card.
 
Get the apple care. For $99 its worth it. I know amazon offers an insurance program too which you might wanna check out. I have used that applecare progam and it was fairly painless. The hardest thing with it is waiting in the store for help. I always make an appt online which cuts down on the wait time a lot, but I am still standing around for around 30-45 mins. I can't imagine not having an appt and going in there, my dad did it once because his phone was going to be out of warranty that day and he waited 6 hours lol.
 
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