Tethering - using cell phone as hot spot for IPad

Search

New member
Joined
Sep 19, 2005
Messages
2,131
Tokens
I actually got an ipad2 about a year ago. It has 3G capability as well. Anytime I'm at home, I just use my home wifi so as to not use my limited 3G. I have a contract with AT&T that is $25 a month for 2 gb. If I go over 2gb, it's an additional $10 for every additional gb.

Not sure why but just now looked into tethering using my cell phone as a hot spot. I have a samsung galaxy s3. Surprisingly it only took me about 10 minutes on google to figure out how to do it and am posting this on my iPad via my cell phones hot spot. FYI, my cell phone data plan has unlimited data except that it only allows for 30 minutes of video streaming.

I guess my ultimate question is this: since I always have my phone around, is there any reason in the world to continue my 3G iPad data plan with AT&T? Any drawbacks or limitations to tethering?
 

New member
Joined
Sep 19, 2005
Messages
2,131
Tokens
If they throttle your data, it's slow.

This is the kind if response I was hoping for. I hadn't even thought of that. A quick google search reveals my cell phone provider "saying" that they only throttle about 1% of their customers and states they "allow our customers to go well over the average of 2 gb of data before receiving managed data speeds." That doesn't seem too bad as I usually just barely go over 2 gb for a month's use of data on my iPad.
 

I like money
Handicapper
Joined
Dec 13, 2006
Messages
5,381
Tokens
It's not good for your phone to tether a lot. It's like driving your car 150mph too often. Something's going to crap out
 
Joined
Jan 17, 2007
Messages
99,709
Tokens
agree, it's good to use for an hour+ every so often... but to use it all the time. I think the phone will go bust sooner than later.
 

Member
Joined
May 22, 2005
Messages
31,627
Tokens
sign up for a free tmobile acct and they give u 5gb of data/month free for life for tablets
 

Banned
Joined
Sep 21, 2004
Messages
156
Tokens
I have a similar setup. Ipad2, however when I bought it , I didn't pay the extra $100 to get an AT+T or Verizon
available connector.
Figured I'd almost always have WiFi available as I had just switched from Sprint to T-mobile and bought Samsung Galaxy 3.

i switched to T-Mobile as wanted to go to GSM, and only 2 companies in US offer it, TM and AT+T,
and AT+T will never get another dime from me. gSM also gives u the ability to tether and answer phone
at same time, whereas CDMA cuts off your internet if u answer phone.

heres why u may want to keep the Att $25 plan though. I travel a lot,
and driving north on 95 about an hour north of Jacksonville, no signal, no phone,nada on t-mobile phone.
dead area for like 300 until reach Florence,SC.

Pluckily my $10 throwaway backup works.

i still have kept my Sprint Sierra Wireless connected as contract still had 3 months left on it, but it's
about $65 a month. But it also allows me to connect either if my laptops to Internet,
which I don't think the ipad allows other to connect through. It's a little black box about half the size
of a pack of cigarettes.

so if u go in a phone store, and ask them to see their range of 4G, they always tell you,yup,
you have 4G available in your area. nOT, had this sprint box and t-mobile phone almost 2 years each,
never have gotten a 4 G signal.

I am going to phone store this week also, I want to know what that catch is also.
Good article on GSM and CDMA below

http://www.diffen.com/difference/CDMA_vs_GSM
 
Joined
Jan 17, 2007
Messages
99,709
Tokens
sign up for a free tmobile acct and they give u 5gb of data/month free for life for tablets

I believe this is wrong.... a friend called me from the store and wanted me to talk to the sales guy because I know more than my buddy

it's 200MB a month for the free deal .. which is nothing. unless of course you don't use much data per month
 

Forum statistics

Threads
1,106,766
Messages
13,438,783
Members
99,337
Latest member
hbs_solutions
The RX is the sports betting industry's leading information portal for bonuses, picks, and sportsbook reviews. Find the best deals offered by a sportsbook in your state and browse our free picks section.FacebookTwitterInstagramContact Usforum@therx.com