Text 61118, 67 rader
Skriven 2010-06-07 04:41:27 av Alan Zisman (1:123/789.0)
  Kommentar till text 61116 av August Abolins (1:123/789.0)
Ärende: 3G 5GB plan vs 250MB plan
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On 06-06-10 5:25 PM, August Abolins -> Alan Zisman wrote:

 AA>>> Is it just the physical requirement to have a sim
 AA>>> inserted? ..or does the sim have to be registered with
 AA>>> a mobile internet service?

 AZ>> That's just it - the service doesn't need to actually be
 AZ>> enabled; but the SIM card needs to be inserted in order to
 AZ>> sync via USB. The retailer where I bought it hadn't received
 AZ>> any SIM cards - and was getting a steady stream of complaints
 AZ>> from customers. It's an odd one -

 AA> I would find that very annoying too. Most people wouldn't realize that
 AA> they could use a non-activated card, thus guaranteeing AT&T at least one
 AA> month's worth of activation from each and every 3G iPad owner. That's
 AA> multi-millions of dollars. Very suspicious. I would doubt that 3G iPad
 AA> models left the engineering/quality control floor without realizing this
 AA> fact.

The accounts are 'turned on' (and off) in the unit - probably after the first
sync to iTunes (since that's what the iPad wants to do as soon as its turned
on). On the other hand, I'd be surprised if most people would purchase a
3G-capable unit without the intention of actually subscribing to a 3G
service... in most cases, right away.

We're actually lucky in Canada (compared to our American cousins) in this case,
both in having multiple mobile providers offering iPad/iPhone support, and in
the size of the data cap offered: 5 GB for CDN$35 (Bell or Telus) compared to 2
GB for US$25 (AT&T). In Canada, the 3rd major provider, Telus offers 500 MB for
CDN$20, with overage billed at $0.05/MB up to a monthly max of $30 for 5 GB...
which might be worth considering if the Rogers/Bell 250 MB for $15 is too
skimpy.

 AZ>> obviously purchasers of the
 AZ>> WiFi version don't need to insert a SIM card (and have no way
 AZ>> to insert one if they had one)..

 AA> Ah.. so the Wifi vs Wifi+3G are physically different beasts. I didn't
 AA> realize that. From a manufacturing point of view I thought it would make
 AA> more sense to build one "casing" that accommodates a 3G card., and if
 AA> the owner wants 3G at some time in the future, *then* add it in a
 AA> modular way.


You can spot the difference between the two models. Compare:

WiFi only:

http://www.quickpwn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/ipad-wifi.jpg

WiFi + 3G:

http://images.macrumors.com/article/2010/01/29/014449-ipad3g.jpg


 AZ>> .. and without the SIM card, a
 AZ>> new 3G model can go online via WiFi, connect to Apple's online
 AZ>> iTunes Store, download and install new apps, etc - but not
 AZ>> connect to iTunes on their computer via USB to sync contacts,
 AZ>> email, pictures, music, etc.

 AA> Are you the only reviewer that has discovered and reported this fact?

I haven't seen it mentioned elsewhere... I'll be writing about this soon.

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