How To: Use iPhone 4 data plan with iPad 3G

Interesting post! Thank you.
I had a question-
Is it possible to use my unlocked UK iphone 4 while I'm in the US this Fall with an at&t 3g data plan? I don't want a phone plan because I'll just use the newly updated skype app. Just wondering if at&t will allow me to do this...
Thanks for the help.

That's ridiculous. I don't know where this pay-per-user mentality came from, but it's absolutely retarded. The reason you can put as many devices as you want on your home network is that no matter what, you're not sucking down more than your line's rated (usually lower of course) speed. If you're on a 12 meg line, that's what you get, no matter how many computers in your house are downloading porn at the same time.

On the 3g networks, that's not the case. Each device you own is independently sucking down as much data as it wants to without having to share the bandwidth with your other devices.

How can people not see that distinction? Or is it that people just don't care because they have such a self-righteous sense of entitlement these days that they insist on violating the terms of service - and sometimes the law - to get what they feel they deserve?

I suspect the latter.

OK, I just re-read my last post. I was pretty harsh. And I do apologize for getting personal and attacking you. I shouldn't have implied you were dense or obtuse or irrational or anything like that. I am sorry, Aron. I like this site (obviously, or I wouldn't be reading it and commenting), but sometimes crap like this really frustrates the heck out of me.

And I found your comment about ATT stealing from you to be quite offensive. So I over-reacted. My bad.

I still stand by the points I made earlier, minus the parts where I got mean and nasty.

And I never got a good answer to this question: If the iPad were on T-Mobile instead of ATT, and you had a T-Mobile smartphone, do you think T-Mo should provide free data for the ipad since you already have a smartphone data plan on T-Mo?

Or is this just more of the "I hate ATT, so let's screw them over" type of attitude I have seen on sites like TUAW or Gizmodo or Engadget or MobileCrunch or Intomobile or any other of the myriad tech blogs?

Again, I apologize for getting personal, but I still feel this way: if you want to sim-swap and cheat your way out of paying for ipad data, go nuts. Do it and be happy. Just don't do it thinking that you "deserve" to have free data on your shiny new data device.
And please realize that your are exploiting the system to steal free data.



Disclaimer: I am an AT&T customer and an iPhone owner. I am also an AT&T employee. I do NOT receive any form of compensation for my posts. My posts reflect my own personal opinions and do not necessarily represent AT&T’s positions, strategies or opinions. I also do not possess any "insider knowledge" of future products or future releases. And if I did, I certainly wouldn't tell you! :)

Aron Trimble said:

But the fundamental concept is the same.

With both a landline and a data connection, I can only use the service myself. In other words, it cannot be used simultaneously by multiple people.

If I were to pay for data on my iPad 3G, then I would still not be able to use the data simultaneously because I am only one person.

I understand that the technology is different, but AT&T is wanting to charge me twice even though I can only use one at a time.

If anything, I think AT&T is the thief, not me!
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OK Aron. You win. I am tired of trying to explain reality to you. It does not matter how many people use the device (or don't use the device). IT doesn't matter that you don't use the devices simultaneously.
What matters is that they are TWO SEPARATE DEVICES.
An ipad or an iphone is not a landline telephone. They are not desktop computers using comcast to supply them data. Those comparisons are meaningless and incorrect on a grand scale.
And no, the fundamental concept is not the same. You could not be more wrong unless you are trying. I have explained why and how you are wrong in plain simple language, but you refuse to accept reality. Perhaps you are just trolling me to get a response, because I really hope you aren't that dense in real life. Just in case you are intentionally being obtuse, I will not be adding any more fuel to the fire....after this post, I am done.
If you really want to convince yourself that AT&T is stealing from you, then that is your prerogative. In your confused and irrational mental construct, you can claim that ATT is stealing from you....but how this jibes with reality, I have no idea. Maybe you feel that is a necessary step in your justification process so that you can feel OK about stealing from AT&T with a "somewhat" clear conscience. I find your entitlement attitude trite and boring.
Have a nice life, Aron.

Disclaimer: I am an AT&T customer and an iPhone owner. I am also an AT&T employee. I do NOT receive any form of compensation for my posts. My posts reflect my own personal opinions and do not necessarily represent AT&T’s positions, strategies or opinions. I also do not possess any "insider knowledge" of future products or future releases. And if I did, I certainly wouldn't tell you! :)

what about canadian users? any help for you friends in the great white north???

I was thinking of just jailbreaking my iPad 3G and getting this unlimited data plan from tmobile for $40/month with no contract.

http://www.t-mobile.com/shop/plans/cell-phone-plans-detail.aspx?tp=tb1&rateplan=Even-More-Plus-Smartphone-Unlimited-Web-E-mail

I have a microsim to sim adaptor so I can just get them to use my iPad 3G card. Any thoughts on this?

Note, the "username" and "password" are optional. You can now use the APN only with blank username and password. The username/password is merely still supported for legacy phones.

So you can just use:
APN name: wap.cingular
username: (blank)
password: (blank)

FURTHERMORE, if you have an iPhone data plan on this SIM, you can, and (possibly should??) not use wap.cingular, but you should use the APN: "phone".
Why? The iPhone uses the "phone" APN for all data. It uses "wap.cingular" only for MMS. So if you use your iPad on "phone" then it appears to AT&T to be just more iPhone data usage.
Of course it really doesn't matter. Use whichever works.

So you can use the following, but only on iPHone data plans:
APN: phone
username: (blank)
password: (blank)

Aron,
Again you compare apples to oranges. Mobile data is much much different than land line telephony. Mobile data is wireless, cellular technology that needs to be built and maintained over the entire country. This is not an easy task. Nor is it an inexpensive task. With cables (like Comcast) and landline telephony (like AT&T wireline), the technology is more robust and stable. There are physical wires buried safely underground connecting your home to the system (last mile delivery). That is very dfferent from a broadcast RF energy network consisting of thousands of cell towers. Please tell me you can understand the concept of two vastly different types of technology, with two vastly different methods of delivery.
Disclaimer: I am an AT&T customer and an iPhone owner. I am also an AT&T employee. I do NOT receive any form of compensation for my posts. My posts reflect my own personal opinions and do not necessarily represent AT&T’s positions, strategies or opinions. I also do not possess any "insider knowledge" of future products or future releases. And if I did, I certainly wouldn't tell you! :)

It is probably also worth noting that when you use your iPhone SIM card on iPad, any calls you receive to your iPhone cell number result in a busy signal...they won't be transferred to voicemail as I had originally hoped.

I guess you skipped over the points I went over in my first post. That pretty much explains why.

People have always wanted something for nothing. It's our nature. But now it seems that people feel they DESERVE something for nothing. Then get mad when reality kicks in. Or they just steal it, and justify stealing with some twisted faulty inner logic.
Disclaimer: I am an AT&T customer and an iPhone owner. I am also an AT&T employee. I do NOT receive any form of compensation for my posts. My posts reflect my own personal opinions and do not necessarily represent AT&T’s positions, strategies or opinions. I also do not possess any "insider knowledge" of future products or future releases. And if I did, I certainly wouldn't tell you! :)