You didn't purchase the Wi-Fi + 3G iPad and now you're regretting it. What exactly do you do - slap the Wi-Fi iPad up on eBay and use the proceeds for your Wi-Fi + 3G iPad Upgrade Fund? Lurch from spot to hot spot throughout town? Sit on the couch and complain?
If trading up to and including 3G model isn't in your future, you have another option: a special broadband hot spot device. This portable hot spot pulls down a cellular- data network signal from a carrier - probably Verizon or Sprint here in the U.S. - and divvies it up into a mini Wi-Fi network so that four to five wireless devices can get onto the Internet.
Novatel's MiFi and the Overdrive from Sierra Wireless are two models. Sounds great, right? Having a Wi-Fi network wherever you go has its advantages, but there's a downside: cost. First, you have to pay for the hardware itself, which costs around $100 to $250. Then you have to sign up for a service plan, which adds at least $40 a month and involves a contract.
If you do math, this really is obviously more than the $15 or $30 you'd shell out for 3G service from AT&T. And also the Wi-Fi + 3G iPad doesn't require any additional hardware, though the 3G capability itself adds $130 towards the iPad's cost.
But here's where the pocket network does make sense: using it to get multiple devices online anywhere you go. This could be a family of three Wi-Fi iPad owners, an iPad and a couple of laptops, and so forth. The $40 monthly service charge covers everyone and it is cheaper than buying individual 3Gs and 3G service plans. If this sort of thing suits your personal picture, you can investigate the mobile 3G broadband spot option further at Verizon wireless carrier or Sprint.
The iPad is not an iPhone, but that doesn't mean you can't make telephone calls by using it. Well, certain kinds of calls, specifically VoIP calls. VoIP means Voice over Internet Protocol. It's a technology that basically turns Internet wires into telephone wires.
With special software and a microphone, VoIP enables you to place calls from computer-to-computer or even from computer-to-regular-phone. And with programs like Skype, you can place calls from iPad-to-iPad, iPad-to-computer, or iPad-to-phone. On top of that, you can get Skype for free in the App Store.
To use Skype, you need to set up a merchant account with the service. It's sort of like setting up an instant-messaging program. Along the way, you pick a user name and password that appears in the Contacts list of people you make Skype calls with.
To make a call from Skype, just tap the name of the person in your Contacts list. To call a regular phone line, tap the little blue phone icon, go into the number on the keypad, and hit the green Call button.
Skype calls themselves - which currently only work over Wi-Fi - could be free if they're going from computer or iPad to computer or iPad, but Skype charges a little bit of coin to jump from the Internet and call real phone numbers. The rates are low compared to standard phone services, and it's a popular way to make cheap overseas calls.
For $6 a month you can make unlimited calls to landlines in the country of your choice. You can find prices for Skype's various calling plans. Skype can be a great way to keep up with the people back in the Old Country on the cheap, but call quality can differ. The Internet can be a very busy network, which could affect the fidelity from the voice signals traveling across it.
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