Why you don’t need more than 250MB on an iPad 3G
You open up your brand new iPad 3G from the box. The screen glistens, the Apple logo shines, and you’re left in awe as the glowing slate of glass pulls you in. You play with it at home for a day or so, not quite ready to expose it to the world, before deciding you should take it out on a field test; take it for a spin around town and let it see the sights.
But first, you have to make a decision: “Do I just buy 250MB of wireless data this month and see what happens, or an unlimited supply of data that I can suck from AT&T’s towers as much as I please?”
Let me set this up by saying that this completely assumes you have a cellphone that you live on. And you know what I mean by this; it’s in your hand constantly, it’s always within a comfortable distance, and you can freely check your favorite websites and more with an unrestricted data plan. Or you just have an iPhone. This article also assumes you’re an average Joe, you don’t have to download a large amount of data for work or travel, and you’re just using this for daily tasks.
Now, assuming this all, here’s my point: you really don’t need more than 250MB/month on an iPad. 3G just isn’t meant for streaming large amounts of data.
“BUT CHASE,” you’ll scream, “I USE LIKE 600MB/MONTH ON MY iPHONE!”
In this case, I’ll need to give you four more paragraphs. So, let’s go through what could possibly eat up this bandwidth:
1. Internet Video - Let’s face it, internet video takes a ton of data to stream. But in all reality, you’re not going to want to stream a movie or tv show over 3G. If you’ve ever tried this just on your cellphone, it’s slow and low-quality. Now expand that screen to 9.7 inches and you’ve got a hell of a problem. The issue is within the video quality: in order for video to look good on the iPad’s screen (in full-screen) it’s going to have to be fairly decent. On an iPhone, this isn’t an issue. Video can be low quality because it’s a tiny screen. But watching just 480p video on a 3G connection is either going to be slow or low quality, and will definitely show. And if you’re on-the-go without wifi anyway, who wants to sit and wait for a video to load?
2. Internet Radio - Where? When? Why? If this isn’t the most inconvenient use of an iPad I’ve heard, then I don’t know what is. Period. Even if your office restricts these kinds of sites on your computer, then use your cellphone. Most major smartphones, and even a fair amount of average phones, have apps for streaming sites like Pandora.
3. Your Ridiculousness - You’re consuming too much data on the go. At least go home to watch a movie or TV–show, or somewhere with wifi where you can sit down, relax, and there’s a reliable connection. There’s no reason you should be anywhere that you’re watching high-bandwidth videos unless you’re on a wifi network. Other than that, unless you need to immediately download those 100 high-quality photos of cats wearing hats of glitter, you just shouldn’t be using that much data. Even on an iPhone, unless you stream internet radio, you shouldn’t be hitting 250MB. If you are, then consider it an addiction. Consider what you can wait to get home or to a hotspot to do, and evaluate the data you should be using. Remember, light data usage is key.
If there’s any doubts, remember: Download data when you’re in a wifi hotspot. Many iPad apps allow you to store info right inside the app for offline viewing. And for video, you can wait until you’re in a hotspot or download and store it, even if it’s temporary. If you use this to your advantage, you’ll find yourself being well under 250MB. If you really, seriously can’t handle just 250MB/month, then buy yourself an unlimited plan to make you happy and then reread #3.
If you have any arguments, look to the third paragraph of this post.
