Jeff Haywood asks for The Grand Rapids Press, “Can Apple’s iPad revolutionize the wireless industry?”
“While much of the buzz around Apple’s iPad is how the device may changing the publishing industry, there is a chance it could change the wireless industry,” Haywood reports.
Typically data offered by wireless companies comes in one of two ways:
• The wireless carriers offers subsidized smartphones at a discount that require a two-year contract.
• A customer can buy a wireless data device for laptops and other gadgets for $60 a month on a two-year contract.
Haywood reports, “But since the iPad is not subsidized by AT&T, there is no contract. For $15 a month, iPad users can have 250 MB of 3G data via AT&T. The ‘unlimited’ data plan (though most ‘unlimited’ plans have 5 GB limits) is available for $30.
“Users can turn on and off the wireless service from the iPad. So if someone needed the service during a vacation, they could pay $30 for the month and then turn the service off for the rest of the year and rely on Wi-Fi to connect,” Haywood reports. “The arrangement could be a game changer.”
Full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Lynn W.” for the heads up.]
Users in Europe report that some ISPs there offer tethering and that their i iPhone has tethering preferences…Inevitably that would mean that they are able to tether their iPads to their iPhones for a wireless 3G connection…
Does anyone really think that tethering will be withheld for much longer, or will not be forthcoming from ATT?
I haven’t read the contract. So the iPad service is “pay-as-you-go” (so 250 MB could last a year)? Or is it service for a month, data up to the limit.
Unlimited is not unlimited if you put a cap of 5 gb a month. Am I they only one who watches live tv and downloads huge game apps while streaming olt time radio, I get my money out of my data plan as I use over a gb a day, please tell me how to enjoy all that is available with a limit of 5 gb a month? I would pass on the ipad at that point and do what I am doing now video out to my 60＂ plasma
where are the suck-ass verizon lovers who’ll claim verizon will do the same when they finally get the ipad? ATT is with Apple, cause they will do as needed, that’s why theyre there.
What Verizon WOULD do is speculation, ATT is doing it.
@Powers
I think you may have missed the point. You are voicing your disappointment with the service that ATT is offering, not Apple. If you don’t like the service, don’t subscribe to it. iPad is unlocked and unsubsidised. You can use other services if they are available and meets your demand, Apple is not restricting you. These iPads are not CDMA compliant, if that’s your goat. But other than that, you can just opt out and only get the wi-fi version only.
Apple is mainly trying to offer you an unheard of deal which is a game changer, which is also the point of the article. But I have a suspicion you only wanted to post a ultimatum against iPad.
MDN MW: done.
What does “250mg” mean. How many pages can you download to stay within that number.
If AT&T;really wanted to be on the cutting edge then they would only offer 500MB for $15 and then charge you a flat additional $15 if you went over the 500 up to a max of 5GB. No more guessing what you need.
@Powers
While we’re all impressed by your 60″ plasma and your gargantuan appetite for data, the iPad isn’t aimed at Powers users like you. Right now, it’s the perfect machine for lots of moms, grandmoms, and others who want to read some books, do a few emails a day, and look up something on the web while watching TV in the den. I’m sure there will be many new apps that provide functionality for many businesses, but this may never be a Powers user’s friend.
@ Breeze
“Steve Jobs: The iPad Will Not Tether To The iPhone” http://appadvice.com/appnn/2010/03/steve-jobs-the-ipad-will-not-tether-to-the-iphone/
Also note: Most of the European wireless companies allow tethering you computer to you iPhone. However, data is limited, i.e., unlimited data plans are non-existant. They are all limited and expensive. http://wiki.maemo.org/Data_plans
No kidding the iPad is a game changer!!!!
Since the announcement and reading up on it plus the price point and no ATT contract, it has been already a Game Changer!!!!!
Ordered two plus more later:-)
AAPL stock will just keep goin’ UP:-)
MDmac:
we’re aware of a huge to do over a reported, supposed, Steve Jobs one word answer to an email : “NO” is what generated the following headline : “Steve Jobs: The iPad Will Not Tether To The iPhone”
Even if that was truly Jobs’ reply, it probably was true as to the immediate present, but even ATT has said that it will allow tethering when it’s ready.
iPad will NOT be excluded when this happens.
Maybe ATT is waiting to allow tethering once other telcos offer iPhone/iPad options?
The Grand Rapids Press? Who the fsck is that?
I don’t think people will be using much mobile data, I see the iPad as being much more of an internal device. People will use it at home, at work, or in areas where there is wifi. If people really need some info when out and about and didn’t have the mobile data they could use their iPhone or just go without. I just don’t see people needing to use large amounts of data through 3G, certainly not en masse.
I always turn to the Grand Rapids Press when I want the real facts.
@Mark
There is NO contract for the 3G service from ATT. That’s the point. Pay as you go.
@ Powers
Are you telling us that you do all that stuff on your cellular service now? I don’t think so. Do you not have the typical wired broadband access so as DSL or Cable? What “huge game apps” are you currently downloading via your cellular plan?
The subject here is CELLULAR data plans, not general internet connection. All iPads will connect to wi-fi at home and on the road at hot spots, with no extra data plan needed. Jeez, do you think you can wait until you’re connected this way to do your GB of downloads?
Dear Mr. Jobs and AT&T;,
Stop giving me internet everywhere-lite…I want to tether my MBP to my iPhone so I can do real internet computing from anywhere with a real computer..
just my $0.02
@ Breeze
The iPad Wi-Fi + 3G doesn’t need tethering to get online.
Apple got the first wireless company to do another thing that nobody has gotten them to do before. Why the hell would they destroy the new paradigm?
“Haywood reports, “But since the iPad is not subsidized by AT&T;, there is no contract. For $15 a month, iPad users can have 250 MB of 3G data via AT&T;. The ‘unlimited’ data plan (though most ‘unlimited’ plans have 5 GB limits) is available for $30.”
$15 a month for up to 250 MB of 3G data.
$30 a month for Unlimited 3G data. No cap, e.g., 5 GBs, as other companies, particularly in the so-called unlimited European Plans.
There is no contract, it is a prepaid plan. On the lower $15 plan, you go over, you get notified (all along) and you will be charged extra.
The iPad will not tether to any phone.
Watch the keynote. It tell you a lont.
@ Powers,
Your post was definitely a case of “think before you post”.
Given that most of your downloading is done at home then you can use the iPads wifi connection to access the net.
The mobile access is primarily for when you are on the go. If you are about to buy an iPad chances are you already have a wireless connection at home.
So stop spreading FUD and please think next time.
Turn it on or off for a month at a time? Or even better, buy one 15/30 data pack at a time? Either way, I’m there.
There are something like 50 iPad killers preparing to launch. Suggest they read the history of iPod and iPhone killers.
I can certainly see travelers using the 3G if they’re stuck in a hotel that charges $10+/night for Internet. And the iPad will make it possible for those who are stuck with other carriers to access the beauty of the iPhone OS.
@Powers
Do you also have a 60″ thing… you know… er … schwanstucker?
I just gotta know bayyyby!
Or maybe you’ve been wearing your telescopic specs again?
MDmac:
Nobody said it does need tethering to get online…
The point was, that “in time”, tethering will make the Wi Fi be able to join 3G networks by tethering…I wouldn’t call ATT’s great and unprecedented offering a paradigm though…
For now it’s the play, with time other carriers may enter Apple’s distribution channel in the US and that might cut into ATT’s exclusivity. That would be a perfect time for ATT to allow tethering for all it’s iPhone customers…If that were the case, it would also save Apple some production costs by eliminating the need for a separate WI Fi+3G model…
A real win win situation for both companies and Apple users.
@Ray
Tethering is supported in Europe. Go move to Europe, not that big of a problem.
If I were AT&T;, I would not support tethering until they have implemented pay-by-usage. Otherwise the first thing everybody will do is cut their wired internet service and tether *everything* to their iPad. Yup, tether all three computers, all my netflicks downloads, my pandora that runs practically 24 hours a day, heck, tether my entire web site at gigabytes a day, and since it’s all just $30, make some deals with all my neighbors as well over the wireless — half the block, each chip in $2 a month and we all get unlimited data!
Yeah, right!
Once they have metered usage in place, AT&T;won’t care if you tether or not — just pay by the megabyte, just like your electricity, water, gas…. pretty much everything….