iPhone mobile hotspot + iPad review

[rage2]

So I'm writing this up since there's a lot of people looking at getting iPad wifi and using mobile hotspot for data, saving monthly charges as well as data charges.

Did a bit of traveling this week in the US, so got a lot of time with the mobile hotspot feature since I'm using a US SIM card. We brought with us my phone and 2 iPads. I have the AT&T data package with tethering, which enables the mobile hotspot option.

So, the good points:

- 1 data plan shared on 3 devices
- surprisingly, only averaging 150mb a day between all 3 devices
- full gps functionality on both iPad and iPad 2. They function exactly the same as on 3G back home.
- iPad battery seems to last longer.

The bad:

- battery drain. Jesus Christ we can't get the iPhone charged fast enough lol
- mobile hotspot only stays on until the connection is broken, ie when iPad isn't sleeping. When you wake up the iPad it won't reconnect until you turn on the iPhone and go back to the Mobile hotspot screen, at which time your device can connect. Gets really annoying.
- AT&T blows. So slow. Divide your bandwidth by 3 so it was painful sharing that slow connection.

Summary:

While mobile hotspot is great for emergencies or traveling, I would not use it on a day to day basis. The drain on the iPhone is ridiculous. I need a full charge mid day just to keep up with the data demands, and that's without any voice calls, and minimal texting. If you can afford it, each device should have it's own data capabilities.

[Cody D]

Would 'where and how' the phone is plugged in be the problem with your charging? Is it just as bad plugged into a wall socket as a car plug-in?

[rage2]

No, I brought along the iPad 10w charger which charages the iPhone to full power within 1.5 hrs.

[smartcar]

Did you get a prepaid ATT sim card when you got there?

I was thinking of getting one last time but with activation etc it didn't seem worth it so I ended up just getting the travel pack from Rogers. But I blew through the 10mb in 2 days and ended up with a huge bill so I'm thinking about getting a US sim card if it's easy to do. Or a bigger travel pack.

[frozenrice]

It's fuuny that this thread is here. I literally just finished setting up my iphone 3gs as a hotspot for my 1gen iPad. (i'm writing this post with it right now).
It looks like the Apple Store dumbass doesn't know what he is talking about. I went there on Thursday to find out why the Personal Hotspot option wasn't showing up on my phone. I told him what I was planning on doing and he said it couldn't be done unless I had a iPhone 4...blah, blah, blah and that the hotspot won't work with the 1st gen iPad.
I'm tempted to go back there and tell him to stuff his blue t-shirt up his ass - arrogant little punk.

[shakalaka]

Where is this 'hotspot' option on the iPhone 4? I have the 3G iPad but no data plan for it yet. I would like to be able to use my iPhone's data through my iPad. How can I do this? I downloaded this thing called mywifi from Cydia but it didn't really work.

[jsn]

Is the mobile hotspot basically the same thing as the "personal hotspot"? I updated to 4.3.1 recently and it appeared under settings. I used it a few times because the guys working on our house disconnected the internet cable by accident and i was without internet for a few days. Works pretty good and it's fairly fast. The battery does drain fast like rage2 said though. It's good for a back up if you have no other source of internet connection.

[Sdeibert]

Originally posted by shakalaka
Where is this 'hotspot' option on the iPhone 4? I have the 3G iPad but no data plan for it yet. I would like to be able to use my iPhone's data through my iPad. How can I do this? I downloaded this thing called mywifi from Cydia but it didn't really work.

MyWi works amazing if you set it up correctly. It has a On-Demand feature so when nothing is near your phone or pad (depending on which is running the app) it stays dormant.. When another device comes with in range it connects the device automatically.

The battery drain isn't horrible either, it's around 370mA to 160mA depending on use. So at peak use/fully charged you should get roughly 4-5 hours of continuous use.

MyWi and iFile are two of the best J.B. apps to have can turn your iPad into a laptop with USB support.

[rage2]

Originally posted by smartcar
Did you get a prepaid ATT sim card when you got there?

I was thinking of getting one last time but with activation etc it didn't seem worth it so I ended up just getting the travel pack from Rogers. But I blew through the 10mb in 2 days and ended up with a huge bill so I'm thinking about getting a US sim card if it's easy to do. Or a bigger travel pack.

I have a California SIM card for US travels.

There's a new US roaming data plan, basically double the price of your existing data plan and you get roaming for free in US too. It's not available till the summer (according to 3 different Rogers reps) but I've seen ads for it at airports already.

Once that's available, I'll prob get rid of my US #.

[smartcar]

Originally posted by jsn
Is the mobile hotspot basically the same thing as the "personal hotspot"? I updated to 4.3.1 recently and it appeared under settings.

Yes that's the wifi hotspot. It came with the 4.3 update. MyWi was only available if you jailbreak and I never did, although I was considering it.
It does hugely drain the battery but its free and 3G costs $15/mo minimum.