ThisIsLeon.co.uk

If you’re in two minds whether to get an iPad – don’t be!

The only question you really need to answer is 3G or not 3G.

I opted for the non 3G version – my logic was this:

The iPad whilst compact and portable is not truly portable – it’s not the kind of thing you can fit in your pocket and i’d feel less than comfortable using it on public transport. For that reason my use would mainly be restricted to home, work and family where Wi-Fi is available. For these reasons I opted for the cheaper WiFi only model.

Whilst this was more than fine at home, I decided to take the iPad out to the pub (there was quite a lot of family there, so thought it would be a good opportunity to go through some photos) and for the first time realised how dependant the iPad was on the internet. Apart from showing photos, a few videos and Pages most of the other apps I had installed required an internet connection.

Normally this wouldn’t be an issue as I would always have my iPhone with me and thus an internet connection, however I felt that I was missing out on something.

I had been contemplating getting a Three MiFi dongle for a while for use with my MacBook Air, and now seemed like the perfect time. £69.99 gets you a dongle on Pay as you go and 3GB or 3months of data, whichever gets used first.

Set up was a breeze and it worked out of the box – the credit was pre applied and no registration was needed. The device works in such a way that you can create a WiFi network, without being connected to the 3G network. Whilst this may seem an extra step, it means that you can have a local network without using any of your allowance in the background.

You may be thinking “for an extra £30 you could have had 3G built in”. Whilst true, this solution does mean that I have a connection for my MBA and iPad at the same time. I can also easily create a WiFi network between my iPhone and MBA which is ideal when using Keynote Remote (anybody that has tried to ad-hoc solution will agree that it is less than perfect).

I have found the connection to be good in the areas that I have tried to use it, and compared to the signal strength of o2′s network seems comparable.

Sure, it’s a little inconvenient to switch the dongle on first to connect, but the times when I need to quickly check something I will just use my iPhone, plus it isn’t like i’ll be taking the iPad out ‘on the road’ all of the time!

If you’d like more info in the Three MiFi hit the link below:

http://siz.la/hfk