Question about 3G usage

Hello! I have a 64GB 3G iPad, but I have never signed up for 3G service. I have to travel to the Mayo clinic in a couple of weeks and was planning on signing up for a months worth of service to have for the trip. I plan on using it to watch movies on netflix between testing & at night, surf the net, and maybe the maps (although I have a droid for this use...I might still use it)

I have no idea how much data I will use...so will I get some sort of warning if I am going to exceed my limit? Or is there a way to check to see what I am using?

Sorry if this is a dumb question....I'm a little scatterbrained trying to get all my ducks in a row before I leave.

Wendy

Yes, the iPad will give you a warning once you have 5-10% remaining and then warn you again once you have 0% remaining. Once you run out, it will give you the option to purchase more data.

I believe you can check usage under Settings instead of waiting for the warnings.

Yes. You can check your data usage under settings. General tab. Usage bar. Add sent + received = total data.

If you are going to stream the videos from iTunes, recommend downloading them BEFORE you use the 3G. Unless you have an unlimited iPad (like me).

Thank you

I will be streaming the movies off of Netflix, but from what I understand Mayo has wifi and the long term hotel we picked is giving us free wifi since I'm a patient, so I could use wifi when in those places. I'm assuming there is a way to turn on the 3G........


Wendy

The iPad will default to Wifi when an open or "known" (previously connected) secure connection is available.

3G is used when no Wifi is available.

wsd73 said:

Thank you

I will be streaming the movies off of Netflix...

Click to expand...

Just a word of warning. If you're going to be streaming movies while connected via 3G...you will eat through your data plan very very quickly. Leave the movies for WiFi if you can.

- Nick

Thanks for the warning....I'll try to only do movies when I have wifi. I just won't watch any movies on the car ride.

wsd73 said:

Thanks for the warning....I'll try to only do movies when I have wifi. I just won't watch any movies on the car ride.

Click to expand...

Here's a chart that estimates how many minutes you get from a 3G plan depending on the type of activity:

Data Plans with Wi-Fi - DataPlus & DataPro Plan - Wireless from AT&T

As you can see...streaming a 1 minute Youtube video (standard quality)...you would only get approx. 200 minutes of 3G usage (3 hours, 20 minutes)...with the 2 gigabyte/month data plan. Only 20 minutes with the 200 meg/month plan.

Streaming Netflix movies may be better...but you can get an idea of how quickly you could eat up a monthly 3G data plan.

- Nick

Ouch! Thanks for the info!! I would have run out quickly for sure. I wish they still had unlimited

Wendy

wsd73 said:

I wish they still had unlimited

Click to expand...

Get in line...a lot of other folks feel the same way!!!

On the other hand...the current AT&T data plan allows you to subscribe month to month...and cancel at any time.

- Nick

Going month to month IS a nice feature. I don't want to sign up for it every month since I already have a data plan on my Verizon Droid, but having the option to do it every now and again is nice.

I just found out that my hotel doesn't have wifi, just wired internet

Ugh!!! They said I'd need to bring an ethernet cable to hook up my computer...but I wasn't planning on bring the laptop, just the iPad. If I take my a router, would I be able to plug that in and just use that for wifi, or do I need a computer to set up the router? I've never tried to use a router w/out a computer.

Thanks....

Wendy