revtothelimit - motorbike forum

Thinking of getting us iPads for when we're away in the campervan. A couple of our regular sites don't have WiFi so a celluar option seems a good way forward? Our iPhones are on giffgaff and we hardly use any data and are only on £6 and £8 goodybags. Can I connect to the phones err data or do i need a separate sim for the ipads? Do I need data only SIMs?

iPads I was thinking of getting us are Apple Refurbished iPad Air Wi-Fi+Cellular 64GB - Space Grey (4th Generation).

Clearly I know jack about these things, so any advice will be greatly received.

TIA

A better idea may be to get a 4/5g router.

I use a Teltonika RUT240 in ours, permanently wired off 12v and has an EE unlimited sim in it. Works really well for phones, 12v smart TV and iPads.

You could 'hot spot' WiFi iPads to your mobiles, if you got cellular iPads you'd need a data SIM for each.

Obviously the cellular ones still do WiFi so you can hot spot them too.

Qs for the techies: would a sim from the phone go into a pad? Is it faff to swap?

Q for TP: depending on answers, is it worth it?

Another for techies: will the pads work as a big phone whilst the sim is in?

I don't think you can make traditional voice calls on an iPad, but you could install a VoIP type app and use that, WhatsApp, etc...

Swapping Sims is easy if you have a SIM tray tool (or a pin), the device should get all the apn information from the network.

Is it worth it?

Depends. If a cellular iPad is £50 more than a WiFi one then no, just use hot spots, imho.

If the price is similar, then it might be a nice option to have 'just in case'.

If this was me I'd buy a couple of iPad 2021s as they're almost £250 cheaper (each) than the re-furb cellular Air 4th Gen:

https://www.argos.co.uk/product/9506165

And an EE 4G router with 120gb that's valid for 12 months for £80. I've had to buy a few of these over the past few years & they work really well. Unless you're going to be absolutely hammering the data that'd likely be enough for trips away.

This is the only place I'm aware of that offers the 120gb / 12 month sim. They seel the sim on its own for £50, too:

https://www.argos.co.uk/product/5662364

ChrisW wrote: Fri Jan 05, 2024 9:05 am If this was me I'd buy a couple of iPad 2021s as they're almost £250 cheaper (each) than the re-furb cellular Air 4th Gen:

https://www.argos.co.uk/product/9506165

And an EE 4G router with 120gb that's valid for 12 months for £80. I've had to buy a few of these over the past few years & they work really well. Unless you're going to be absolutely hammering the data that'd likely be enough for trips away.

This is the only place I'm aware of that offers the 120gb / 12 month sim. They seel the sim on its own for £50, too:

https://www.argos.co.uk/product/5662364

Nice one Chris. Think we'll bag a couple of them and find out more about a router, which makes more sense.

wheelnut wrote: Fri Jan 05, 2024 7:31 am A better idea may be to get a 4/5g router.

I use a Teltonika RUT240 in ours, permanently wired off 12v and has an EE unlimited sim in it. Works really well for phones, 12v smart TV and iPads.

Yup - this is the easiest way to maintain connection to the collective from a 'van.

IIRC I bought mine from MotorHomeWifi, simple for ease of purchase and setup, they bundled it with the power supply and extra aerial kit, but it's a rebranded something else: works perfectly and I just bought a 2nd data-only sim with my EE account (I've been with them so long I get good discounts).
The main difference is the extra aerial: it basically gives you an extra "bar" of connection wherever you are.

Horse wrote: Fri Jan 05, 2024 8:38 am Qs for the techies: would a sim from the phone go into a pad? Is it faff to swap?

Q for TP: depending on answers, is it worth it?

Another for techies: will the pads work as a big phone whilst the sim is in?

When were away we don't take our laptops with us, we use phones to keep in touch, whatsapp, facebook and a bit of web browsing etc. But both of us dislike staring at small screens for any length of time and having previously had iPads it seems a good bridge between the phones and lappys.

I like the idea of WiFi in the camper. On colder evenings we've retreated inside and watched TV, but with WiFi presumably we could use the firestick for films?

Taipan wrote: Fri Jan 05, 2024 10:09 am ...with WiFi presumably we could use the firestick for films?

Absolutely. I'm sure you know but video chews through data quite quickly, (roughly 2gb / hour) so, if you can be bothered, maybe download a few films to the tablets before you leave & cast to the Firestick. It's what I do if I'm going to be without Wifi, or dependant on limited data, for a while.

This is almost certainly not relevant, but as an aside, there's a not-very-well-documented extra feature of the cellular models in that they have full GPS hardware in them, which the wi-fi models do not.

GPS still works through various methods in the standard model, mainly by accessing/mapping wi-fi networks, but if for any reason you wanted 'real' GPS then the cellular model is the way to go.

I know this as an (amateur and lapsed) private pilot – almost all pilots buy cellular iPads for this reason.

Slenver wrote: Fri Jan 05, 2024 3:44 pm This is almost certainly not relevant, but as an aside, there's a not-very-well-documented extra feature of the cellular models in that they have full GPS hardware in them, which the wi-fi models do not.

GPS still works through various methods in the standard model, mainly by accessing/mapping wi-fi networks, but if for any reason you wanted 'real' GPS then the cellular model is the way to go.

I know this as an (amateur and lapsed) private pilot – almost all pilots buy cellular iPads for this reason.

I like the idea of a big old iPad on my camper dash as a satnav, so that's valuable info! Many thanks.

Taipan wrote: Fri Jan 05, 2024 4:15 pm

Slenver wrote: Fri Jan 05, 2024 3:44 pm This is almost certainly not relevant, but as an aside, there's a not-very-well-documented extra feature of the cellular models in that they have full GPS hardware in them, which the wi-fi models do not.

GPS still works through various methods in the standard model, mainly by accessing/mapping wi-fi networks, but if for any reason you wanted 'real' GPS then the cellular model is the way to go.

I know this as an (amateur and lapsed) private pilot – almost all pilots buy cellular iPads for this reason.

I like the idea of a big old iPad on my camper dash as a satnav, so that's valuable info! Many thanks.

Yeah, I've used one before as combined satnav and speedo on my old Landy before.

We’ve not had Wi-Fi for a couple of weeks as we have moved and BT couldn’t come for a bit - I bought unlimited data for a month on smarty for 17 quid and all three of us piggybacked off that.
It was ok but you want a semi permanent solution so that’s no good .

Oh, one thing about 4G data that is probably irrelevant to you, but is worth mentioning: the ping speeds are a lot slower than "normal" internet connections (eg fttc/fttp).

The practical upshot is that gaming isn't doable, but most other things are ok. Video calling might be a bit stuttery.

Rockburner wrote: Fri Jan 05, 2024 6:49 pm Oh, one thing about 4G data that is probably irrelevant to you, but is worth mentioning: the ping speeds are a lot slower than "normal" internet connections (eg fttc/fttp).

The practical upshot is that gaming isn't doable, but most other things are ok. Video calling might be a bit stuttery.

Depends on your local signal I suppose, but have only had a 4G router for the last couple of years at home and it's coped fine, I don't game though and I think that's probably why it's fine. Download speeds vary between 50-80 and ping is around 29, I live in a smallish village though with a local mast and probably not much load on it ...

Zimbo wrote: Sat Jan 06, 2024 10:21 pm

Rockburner wrote: Fri Jan 05, 2024 6:49 pm Oh, one thing about 4G data that is probably irrelevant to you, but is worth mentioning: the ping speeds are a lot slower than "normal" internet connections (eg fttc/fttp).

The practical upshot is that gaming isn't doable, but most other things are ok. Video calling might be a bit stuttery.

Depends on your local signal I suppose, but have only had a 4G router for the last couple of years at home and it's coped fine, I don't game though and I think that's probably why it's fine. Download speeds vary between 50-80 and ping is around 29, I live in a smallish village though with a local mast and probably not much load on it ...

Yeah, double-digit ping rates are what I'm getting too.

Ok for most stuff, but for gaming online you need single digit rates (as I understand it)