Another iPad Question - WiFi or 3G?

[dalip]

Originally Posted by kcmo

Hmmmm, wonder if it's faster to order online via Apple or AT&T....anyone know?

I've called around and no one has one in stock....not surprising.

Order from Apple directly Karis

...and go with the 64....then you have all possibilities covered.

[DoxaDavid]

I have the 32G with 3G. If you are going to use it away from home, get the 3G. When I travel, I can use it as my nav unit as well which will require the 3G and while there are plenty of wifi spots, not all are free such as most airports which charge you $7.95 a day to use. Movies take up a lot of room in the 2+gig range a piece. The guy at the Apple store summed it up by asking me how many I would STORE on my iPad and the answer was 1-2 at a time. He said most people if they buy a movie can keep them on their home computer with a large hard drive then transfer what they want if say going on a trip but remove when not needed. Made sense to me so went with the middle option which has been fine. What they don't tell you is the operating system takes up a few gig of space so if you get the 16 gig, you only get about 14 gig of free space so I would suggest the 32 gig. You will love it!

[CashGap]

Originally Posted by DoxaDavid

When I travel, I can use it as my nav unit as well which will require the 3G and while there are plenty of wifi spots, not all are free such as most airports which charge you $7.95 a day to use.

Two good points, the Nav is great when traveling (although the phone has it too), and it only takes one or two airport or "premium" hotel wifi charges to cover the difference.

Resale on the 3G unit (see Nextworth.com, Gazelle.com, etc.) is correspondingly higher, so you get some of the premium back. When it's time to upgrade, folks are pleasantly surprised to learn that the products actually HAVE a resale value, not common in consumer electronics.

[sherwin]

another vote for 3G. even if you dont have a 3G account, the GPS comes in handy. currently i have native 3G capabilities in my laptop, works a dream.

[hsfrank]

Originally Posted by kcmo

Thanks for your feedback everyone! Sounds like it might be better to be safe and go 3G. Nice to know that I can activate/deactivate the 3G at will, so that I DON'T have to pay for data every month. That's appealing of course.

I have had and iPad and ipad2 since the beginning. I am also an apple user since 1976.
There are so many wifi spots that are free around the world ( yes I have traveled) that I hardly think it is worth the cost and the plan. Sure if you are frequently in rural areas with no Starbucks, McDonalds or malls it might be worth it. Personally, I can't think of a time when I had my iPad and I wasn't within a few minutes from a free hotspot.

[Lion]

Karis, I bought the 64 GB iPad with WiFi and 3G...might as well have all the options and whistles and bells. Who knows when you might need all of them. As for 3G I plan to activate it when we go on vacation in June. And I also bought Airport Express from the Apple store(cheaper than Best Buy) for the home so we have WiFi everywhere in the house. It cost more than buying a wireless router at Best Buy but it took less then 10 minutes to set up and it was very easy!!!

[kcmo]

Thanks again everyone! I'm going 3G...likely 32GB. I know logic says to just order online from Apple, but I'm contemplating getting up early to hit the Apple store too. Yikes, not at all easy to get ahold of one.

While the Apple site says 'ships within 1-2 weeks', it looks like many folks are waiting in excess of a month to receive theirs....

Hmmm.....now this is getting exciting!

[East Bay Rider]

My bride bought me a 16gb 3G for Christmas with the expectation of activating the 3G part later when things get better. We already pay for 3 cell phones + ins. so we didn't want to add the expense of a Verizon data plan to our monthly bill. Luckily the wifi works just fine for most of the time if i'm home but there are times I wish I was always connected like if I'm out or if wifi isn't available. Are there any cheap stand alone 3G plans out there for folks like me?

[sherwin]

if you are currently using an iphone, you can use "hot spot". basically, it gives you a wifi connection using your 3G data plan so that your ipad can access the internet.