Remember the stories at the foot of Grandpa as he regaled us with stories of how one could buy a scoop of data from a carrier to be used over a finite time on one's iPad?

No need for signing up for monthly data plans with contractual obligation, just request data on the fly while out and about.

Buy what you need, wherever you are, when you need it and done.

Those were the days, my friend.

But I'm wondering if there's some enterprising carrier or MVNO that will let one buy a chunk of MBs for a bit, on demand.

There would be times when I'd like to take my iPad mini and have connectivity for nav apps like Maps.

Yes, I know there are others, and that some have offline capability, like the Scenic app.

And any browsing, searching, or surfing I might need is always better on an iPad than a 'Phone.

So, any love on data plans?

---

I am that Masked Man.

All you can do, is all you can do.

There’s trouble — it's time to play the sound of my people.

Your boos mean nothing to me, I've seen what you cheer for.

Insisting on your rights without acknowledging your responsibilities isn’t freedom, it’s adolescence.

I've been to the edge of the map, and there be monsters.

We are a government of laws, not men.

Everybody counts or nobody counts.

When a good man is hurt,
all who would be called good
must suffer with him.

You and I have memories longer than the road that stretches out ahead.

There is no safety for honest men except
by believing all possible evil of evil men.

We don’t do focus groups. They just ensure that you don’t offend anyone, and produce bland inoffensive products. —Sir Jonathan Ive

An armed society is a polite society.
And hope is a lousy defense.

You make me pull, I'll put you down.

I *love* SIGs. It's Glocks I hate.

Honestly the safest way is to connect using your iPhone as a Personal hotspot. It's kind of automagical if you set it up that way. The danger to that is that most iPhone plans throttle after the personal hotspot hits a data cap. And since your iPad thinks it's via Wifi, it will happily try to synch photos, backup to iCloud, and update apps. Which will suck down data like mad. So you have to shut all that off.

Mrs. cbelt3 has a Verizon Sim in her iPad Mini. It's worth it when out power goes out. $20 more per month, and worth it so she can contact me wherever I am.

An alternate solution might be to put your iPhone in Personal Hotspot mode and connect your iPad to it via WiFi.

You might also look into Tello, you can get a low cost data only plan starting at $5/mo for 500MB, and change plans at any time to a higher allocation and then back lower. With a little work you an also rollover the unused data each month and build up a good size reserve for those times when you might use more.

They currently have a 25% off for 6 months special (starting at $3.75 instead of $5), and there's also a referral program where you can get $10 off if you sign up using it. You can PM me for a referral if interested.

This guy does a pretty good review of them.

[www.cranialborborygmus.com]



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/16/2021 03:54PM by GGD.

The phone/hotspot solution works.

A couple of years ago I had the issue of needing a few tablets with LTE for a work project. Net10 has a SIM, and you can buy data plans. They were quite reasonable. The only issue with your idea is that the plans had an 'expiration' rather than a 'use it until its gone' model. But you could buy any amounts and online recharge was trivial.

Here is their link for SIMs (though I see they immediately demand a zip.) They offer VZW/T Mobile/AT&T in the Bay Area.

I also used the same SIM in a hotspot, though I think that is against their Terms. I had to make some settings changes to have the hotspot look for them rather than VZW.

My first iPad (v3) I got with the cellular option. I got one of those "free" T-Mobile sims, where I got 250MB free every month. I honestly barely used it. With my Air, which doesn't have the cellular, if I'm ever not near wifi and I need internet, I just do the phone hotspot thing.

Same here. I find that hotspotting the iPad works not just flawlessly but the iPad speaker sounds much better than does my iPhone speaker (that's what I hear on my end and people on the receiving end tell me)

I've been splurging w/ T-Mo's $10/mo iPad plan.... it has limited GB's of full speed LTE general data, but 480p streaming is unlimited and doesn't count against it, so we watch a lot of stuff on the road. Hotspot is backup option if GB's run out and iPad gets throttled back, but that's only happened a couple of times, and throttling isn't too bad if you're not doing anything intense.

Also, MVNO data can be extremely compromised in many areas--- make sure you know what speeds are really available where you're gonna be using your 'pad. My bro got Visible, because he needed VZW coverage in a couple of places, but the throughput was so compromised, that he dumped Vis and begrudgingly optioned up to real VZW, and just sucks up the added cost to get optimum coverage.

One of these days we'll be able to figure out the what the pecking order is for MVNO's in order to get the right carrier for the job.
Good luck.
==

The danger to that is that most iPhone plans throttle after the personal hotspot hits a data cap. And since your iPad thinks it's via Wifi, it will happily try to synch photos, backup to iCloud, and update apps. Which will suck down data like mad. So you have to shut all that off.


I'm on att (original 2007 plan) and don't think hot-spotting is allowed.

But it would be easy to dedicate on of the minis for hot-spotting by shutting all that off.



My first iPad (v3) I got with the cellular option. I got one of those "free" T-Mobile sims, where I got 250MB free every month. I honestly barely used it. With my Air, which doesn't have the cellular, if I'm ever not near wifi and I need internet, I just do the phone hotspot thing.


None of my iPads do cellular except my minis.

This is so I can mount the mini on my bike and use it as a sat nav, with light browsing.

I've done this with my 'Phones but I'd like to use a larger screen for that.

With offline maps, data usage and cellular access wouldn't be all that critical.

I have the same T-Moblie SIM but these days 250MB wouldn't seem to go far, though it allows me to check coverage without using any data, so there's that.

500MB also seems pretty skimpy for anything but very light surfing, but certainly that has its place.

I'm on att at the moment and think hot-spotting isn't allowed, and getting throttled could be a bit problematic.



The only issue with your idea is that the plans had an 'expiration' rather than a 'use it until its gone' model. But you could buy any amounts and online recharge was trivial.


The original att iPad plans allowed for occasional data usage instead of paying all year long for occasional use, which would fit my use case.

I'll look into Tello and Net10, and the $10/mo T-Mo plan isn't out of the question, but is running in third place at the moment.

Thank you for all it info, everybody.

This gives me some options!

---

I am that Masked Man.

All you can do, is all you can do.

There’s trouble — it's time to play the sound of my people.

Your boos mean nothing to me, I've seen what you cheer for.

Insisting on your rights without acknowledging your responsibilities isn’t freedom, it’s adolescence.

I've been to the edge of the map, and there be monsters.

We are a government of laws, not men.

Everybody counts or nobody counts.

When a good man is hurt,
all who would be called good
must suffer with him.

You and I have memories longer than the road that stretches out ahead.

There is no safety for honest men except
by believing all possible evil of evil men.

We don’t do focus groups. They just ensure that you don’t offend anyone, and produce bland inoffensive products. —Sir Jonathan Ive

An armed society is a polite society.
And hope is a lousy defense.

You make me pull, I'll put you down.

I *love* SIGs. It's Glocks I hate.