“Engadget has confirmed that AT&T will allow iPad 2 users who purchased an unlimited data plan for the original iPad last year to continue using their plan with the iPad 2,” Jesse David Hollington reports for iLounge.
Hollington reports, “It is not yet known whether existing iPad Wi-Fi + 3G users will need to go through an activation process with AT&T to transfer their plan to the new device or can simply move over their existing micro-SIM card.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: We have those unlimited data plans on our iPad 3G units. Before this news, we were pretty much settled on switching to Wi-Fi-only iPads and using our iPhone 4s with hotspotting enabled – we always have our iPhones with us anyway. Now we’re a tiny bit less sure. What do you think? Should we hang onto those increasingly rare unlimited data plans and get 3G-capable iPad 2s instead?
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Readers “Fred Mertz” and “Andrew W.” for the heads up.]
“Should we hang onto those increasingly rare unlimited data plans and get 3G-capable iPad 2s instead?”
Yes.
The tethering costs money anyway.
@Cubert
Isn’t tethering different then WiFi hotspot?
I’m having the same dilemma but I guess I could always get a 3G enabled iPad and just not activate it right?
I had same question and decided to go for the iPad 2 3G because having that stand-alone capability DOES come in handy. Exactly what I’ll do with the iPad 1 now, not sure; will they only allow a transfer or a duplicate in plans?
Get the 3g model for the GPS. That’s worth the extra $$$$
Hazzah! Unlimited internet tubes forever!!!
“What do you think? Should we hang onto those increasingly rare unlimited data plans and get 3G-capable iPad 2s instead?”
Yes, if you ever use GPS. Everyone always forgets that the WiFi only iPads don’t have a GPS chip. And it works even if 3G isn’t activated.
For sure get the Wi-Fi + 3G because the hotspotting will NOT allow you to use your tPad as a GPS Nav unit in your car.
Does anyone know if the hotspot feature is Ad-Hoc or AP mode?
Just like all corporate America’s agreements with consumers, they can get revoked withdrawn and changed at will.
Insurance policies. Health plan entitlements, fees and rates, ATT and Verizon have yanked their offered plans and changed their terms before, ISPs reinvent terms all the time, banks do it all the time and there’s no consumer protections anywhere in sight.
In other words, today’s agreements aren’t worth the paper they’re written on.
Spot on.
i find tethering to be a real pain. Only if your device doesn’t have 3G is it worthwhile.
2 devices to carry and keep charged, yeah, seems like a pain in the ass to me.
Since I am deaf, I always talk with someone via Facetime and videophone on my iPhone 4. I really want to talk with someone via FT and VP on iPad 2 since I already have an unlimited data plan on iPad 3G. So I don’t need to worry about 2gb.
This was the news I was waiting for!!!
Ok, so I will keep the unlimited plan when I switch to the iPad 2.
MDN, as for your question, I am going with the 3G version for one reason and one reason only, GPS. I have a wifi transmitter, which takes care of data, but the 3G version has a GPS (assisted) where the wifi only model does not have GPS. The iPad simply rocks as a GPS unit. I use Navigon and am having an excellent experience with it. The iPad gives amazing screen real-estate, and just a quick glance at it gives me plenty of information to know where it is I am going, without having to study the screen.
Thanks all! We’re going to get 3G + WiFi iPad 2 models.
They do pack a little more oomph…. 😉
3G wifi model definitely. After a year of instant internet connection at my finger tips it would suck to go to a tethered setup.
Also I think I’ll even lower my data plan on the iPhone.