iPad abroad?
- Thread starter Dylan33
- Start date
It depends on the availability of wifi. If you have good wifi in the place you are going, you may not need a sim at all. If you're only going to use a little bit, check with your provider on global roaming. It's not always the nightmare it was, and with low usage and arranged in advance, may be a viable option.
Not sure about South Pacific, but I used an Aussie purchased iPad 2 in Europe (Italy, Austria) and it was much, much better experience than we had with phones.
Walk into store, buy iPad sim for E29 with 3GB for 30 days, install it, reboot iPad, back on-line before getting out the door.
Of course, it stops working once you go over the border into another country (could just be 30 minute drive!) but that's another issue.
If you get an iPad, make sure you pay extra and get the model with 3G/4G. Money. Well. Spent. Not only does it have the internet always with you, it has full GPS as well (the wifi-only models don't have GPS receivers in them).
Given that they don't work here, why would they work elsewhere?
Such a drag on the forum mate, give it up. They do work here and everywhere.
Why be so insolent about Apple products mate, really?
Just because you are some hi flying bisso with gold plated technology does not mean you can come on here and put down a product that is very popular among the masses and bogans like us.
Give it a rest mate. please?
get over it.
+++ to this ^^^^
Problem was that the phone sims had really measly data allowances -- like a couple of dozen megabytes.
Roaming is much better than it was. You can buy prepaid packs- all telcos have them now. Data allowance is not huge but enough to check emails and Somersoft. For instance Telstra which covers New Caledonia, Vanuatu and Fiji amongst others. Google Global Roaming.
If you are planning on using your Ipad for a decent amount of time, don't bother trying to hotspot it. Just get a dedicated Sim. I've just come back from overseas, did the cheaper option & just got a Sim for the phone. Well, it didn't take long for me to get another for the Ipad as well. Much, much better.
Just get yourself an Iridium Go! ... global wifi hotspot, usable anywhere on the planet.
Not available yet (2Q2014), and price will probably be $$$$$$$, but hey, it's probably a heap cheaper than Telco global roaming rates!
Do you seriously think speeds of "up to 2.4 kbps" is worth paying for? Look at the Globalstar SatFi. About $100, 256k up, 1mb down. Iridium satellites are close to end of useful life but Globalstar has launched all new 2nd generation sat constellation. My money is on Globalstar.
Sim
Administrator
It was a joke.
There are almost always cheaper options than mobile satellite services available unless you are completely away from any form of civilisation. The target market for these non-fixed satellite services are not typically private/domestic users.
Even in much of the developing world, mobile networks are popping up everywhere.
A travelling companion burned through $500 of roaming data using Google Maps in less than an hour. We went straight into a phone shop and bought a local sim.
Yes. I did mention in the post that you quoted that it's enough to check emails and Somersoft.
But it isn't quite as bad as it once was. I think that these roaming packs have only become available quite recently, and although it's possible to burn up data quickly, it's still a lot cheaper than what it was.
You do have the option in some plans to get an SMS for every x MB of data used.
Several years ago my daughter used up $2.5K in data roaming. We only found out when we received her bill- so there were still charges in the next bill. This was before some of the telcos started to be a bit nice about excess charges. Many people since have been able to get excess roaming charges reduced.
