Hey, Apple Here's why I am not buying more iPads | Hacker News Reader

Hey, Apple Here's why I am not buying more iPads

5 pointsrobomartin9 comments

  TL;DR: 

  Data Plans and Carrier Tethering.

  Data Plans: Too expensive and unfair.  Should be like DSL.
  
  Carrier Tethering: I want to buy an iPad, not a life-long hardware dependency to a carrier.

Here's the long version:

We have one iPad 2, two iPhone 4's, two iPhone 3GS's and three iPod Touch's (and a bunch of Mac stuff). I'd like to buy iPads for the kids. Three of them. Ain't doing it. Why?

Data plans are really unfair. Why should I pay for separate data plans? Why can't I buy a family plan of some sort that is based on bandwidth used or some other metric. First of all, most of our devices are operating out of WiFi most of the time. Which means that the carrier is charging me not to consume bandwidth. And, in fact, I am already paying the same carrier (AT&T) for my DSL connectivity! Double charging for the same bytes shuffling about?

If my family had four iPads we'd have to spend a minimum of $100 per month on connectivity. Again, most of the time we are all on WiFi. But, at times, we are not. And, in general terms, only one or two devices would be away from WiFi at any given time. Yet, we have to pay to not consumer carrier bandwidth.

You could easily find yourself spending hundreds of dollars a month only because you have multiple devices. If DSL where priced this way most homes would have to pay several times more what they pay today as it isn't uncommon to find multiple devices using the connection at all times.

You'd probably sell more devices if data plans were closer to the way DSL is priced: Charge me a fixed amount per month for a given SLA, no matter how many devices my family owns.

Secondly, there's the issue of carrier tethering. Stop it! Please! I want to buy an iPad or iPhone. That's what I am buying. I couldn't care less who the carrier is as long as the service level is good. And, I should be able to instantly switch to another carrier if the one I am with stops servicing me well. I should not have to spend hundreds of dollars to buy the same device with a different RF section so that I can switch carriers.

Anyhow, as I said, I am not buying more devices because of at least these reasons. I would imagine there are lots of other folks who are on the same boat.

You're blaming Apple because the different carriers all decided on incompatible RF standards? You're blaming Apple because your carrier doesn't offer a family data plan, and you refuse to consider a wifi-only iPad? I think you're ranting in the wrong direction, and in the wrong place.

I agree. I wonder what kind of telecom market entrance Apple could make with $100 Billion?

Seeing as how Verizon's operating revenue is over $100 Billion a year (it's about the same as Apples). They'd have 1 year to make it work before it sunk the company. while I agree the mobile carrier biz is all sorts of mal-adjusted to market demands insufferably dis-jointed, the technology and it's robustness they bring to the table is really quite remarkable.

I know how you feel, it seems like a big waste. Why wouldn't you just buy them and not get data plans? It's not like you're forced to get ipads with the data plan. Especially if they'll be on wifi most of the time. And if it's for you kids, lets be honest, most of their time will be spent playing games, which a data plan is not necessary for once, they've got the app.

As far as different carriers using different technology, haha, good luck with that. The difference between Verizon or AT&T's cellular technology goes a little bit beyond "a different RF section" But the whole point of LTE is that eventually everybody will be on that standard, then you really shouldn't have to worry much.

While I agree with your complaint, it's not Apple's fault, and more importantly, I don't think this would work as DSL is tied to a physical location (your house).

If mobile data was charged the same way, what's to stop you and 49 of your friends each chipping in 0.50 a month and sharing the data plan?

Of course fair use would come in to play, but the system would be so open to abuse that the fair usage policy would end up being very low and ruthlessly enforced.

@ the mobile data thing : data caps. I pay for 2 GB of data usage a month. I don't see anything wrong with my friend tossing me $15 and using 1 GB. If 50 people want to split it, I don't see a problem with it (though they probably will).

Very strange! You should only need to change the microSIM to change carriers. The RF is the same for all iPads.

In Australia you can buy pre-paid SIMs. That is, you get a chunk of data which you have a certain time to use. Some options are as long as 12 months. Different carriers have different plans but it is not hard to find a plan that suits your usage pattern. And you can switch the SIMs between devices in your family.

Why do you need an iPad with data? Not good enough just to have wifi?

Definitely a first world problem. Is wifi connection not enough? Are you just reading/surfing or are you developing complex apps that you need a lot of bandwidth?

That's why I don't have an iPad. My only 1 Mac keeps me busy enough. Or have we run out of more fun things to do?

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