Verizon Will Sell iPad+MiFi Bundles, Starting Oct 28th

wiredmikey quotes from today's much-anticipated announcement from Apple that Verizon is joining the iPad club, which means that: "iPad will be available at over 2,000 Verizon Wireless Stores nationwide beginning Thursday, October 28. Verizon Wireless will offer three bundles, all featuring an iPad Wi-Fi model and a Verizon MiFi 2200 Intelligent Mobile Hotspot, for a suggested retail price of $629.99 for iPad Wi-Fi 16GB + MiFi, $729.99 for iPad Wi-Fi 32GB + MiFi and $829.99 for iPad Wi-Fi 64GB + MiFi. Verizon Wireless is offering a monthly access plan to iPad customers of up to 1GB of data for just $20 a month. In addition, Verizon Wireless will also offer all three iPad Wi-Fi models on a stand-alone basis." Since the Verizon bundles don't seem to offer the kind of subsidy that many phone purchases do, it would make sense to shop around for the same functionality (Wi-Fi iPad + 3G service) from other carriers. For instance, if you live within Sprint's city-centric 3G footprint, and want more than 1GB of data, Virgin Mobile's branded MiFi offers unlimited transfer (within the limit of the network — it's no FiOS, but I've used it with Skype and Google Voice) for $40/month.

Comments

Tag article SLASHVERTISEMENT

[Anonymous Coward]

Thanks for trying to appeal to th' geeks, but we are awarrrrrrrgggg!!!! of your marketing ploys.
 
Thank you,
The undersigned.

Re:Tag article SLASHVERTISEMENT

[tooyoung]

For real? People have speculated for years now about the iPhone moving to Verizon. There have been countless stories on slashdot based on mere rumors. Now we see the first evidence of this potentially happening, and this isn't worthy of making it onto slashdot?

Droid + iPad bundle opportunity

[Orga]

Could hook the iPad up with free wifi tethering from my rooted droid on Verizon!

1gb/month

[pilgrim23]

And with the crisp iPad screen I will be able to download/stream all my favorite movies for.... enter bill shock. The cheap up front, soak them on bandwidth American telecom paradigm needs to needs now.

Re:1gb/month

[VoiceInTheDesert]

This is pretty much exactly the case. The iPad is for media...but how much media can you download/stream in 1GB?

Also, I'm going to take this opportunity to once again state how much of a rip off a 64GB media player is for $830. I can buy a very capable laptop with 3G capability for less than that and it will be useful for more than just browsing pictures and watching youtube. Honestly, my Samsung Epic is just as capable as the iPad for most purposes and costs much less while being a useful phone at the same time.

Re:1gb/month

[whisper_jeff]

I can buy a very capable laptop with 3G capability for less than that and it will be useful for more than just browsing pictures and watching youtube.

It really is laughable that you think an iPad is just for browsing pictures and watching youtube. But, hey, feel free to keep utterly missing the point. If you're happy with your Samsung Epic, all the more power to you but, I assure you, there are millions of people out there who are happy with their iPads and I also assure you that the majority of them use them for a lot more than pictures and youtube. It may not be the right product for you - the Samsung Epic may well be that product - but that doesn't mean it isn't the right product for a lot of other people. Millions and millions of other people, in fact.

Re:1gb/month

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm going to take this opportunity to once again state how much of a rip off a laptop is. I can buy a very capable desktop for less and it will be useful for more than just browsing pictures and watching youtube and running basic applications. Honestly, my Dell Inspiron is just as capable as a laptop for most purposes and costs much less while being a useful gaming machine at the same time.

Re:1gb/month

[Pojut]

It is also worth noting that millions of people bought music from Clay Aiken, Sean Paul, and Creed.

A fool and his money...

Re:1gb/month

[nine-times]

I can buy a very capable laptop with 3G capability for less than that

which of those laptops has a high-quality 10" screen, is 0.5" thick, and weighs 1.5 lbs?

my Samsung Epic is just as capable as the iPad

Your Samsung Epic has a small screen.

Here's what you have to understand: it's not about raw computing power, and it's not about being able to hack the kernel. The people who bought iPads are interested in usability for certain specific applications. It's a web-browsing appliance, an ebook reader, a document viewer, a picture browser, a giant iPod, and a bunch of other things. Being the right form-factor is essential. If you don't care about the form-factor and usability features, then you aren't its target audience at all.

Re:1gb/month

[whisper_jeff]

Depends on your needs and desires but things like the Marvel app (and the various other comic apps) makes reading comics a pleasure (no, seriously - this is an absolutely fantastic app and I highly recommend it to any comic fan out there) and the various sketching apps makes doing design brainstorming a breeze (and sending those sketches to clients easier than scanning and emailing), to name but two quick things that a laptop fails at. As a media consumption device, laying in bed, it's better than a smart phone for the screen real estate and better than a laptop for it's size and weight. For a pick-up-and-go computing device, it is superior to a laptop, imho. For a _computer_, it is inferior but I didn't buy it to be a computer. I have a desktop for desktop-y work and I have a laptop for laptop-y work. That said, I still regularly use my desktop but, since getting my ipad, I haven't used my laptop at all...

Suffice it to say there are a ton of other uses but I'm at work and don't feel like writing a long post on the subject... :)

Re:1gb/month

[rockout]

While I share your assessment of those three "artists" and their musical "talent", that doesn't mean that those millions of other people are fools. They just don't share your (or my) taste in music. This goes back to the GP post - just because an iPad isn't for you, doesn't mean it can't fit the needs of millions of other people, who may be "fools" in your opinion, but in the end, that's just your opinion, and it would be supremely arrogant to state it as fact.

Re:1gb/month

[rockout]

But again, in music, quality is in the ear of the listener. As for quality and the iPad, the form factor has to count for something - if you've never actually held one and fooled around on it, you should. It fills a hole between smartphone and laptop that no products before it (or currently, as far as I can tell) have filled nearly as well. I don't need one myself, but I had to admire the size, shape and weight of the thing. For a lot of people, it's perfect. Are some people buying it just because it's "cool" and they have money to burn? Probably, but it's ridiculous to dismiss millions of people as falling into that category just because you don't like/need one.

Re:1gb/month

[toastar]

What's an IPAD?

It's a device that digitally lets you know when to plan the guys night out.

The problem with wifi-only iPad

[microbee]

is that it does not have a GPS chip. This makes all the location services not working. Would it work with +myfi?

Somehow Apple did not stress this point in feature difference when it released the iPads. I only found it out a while after I bought the wifi version.

Re:The problem with wifi-only iPad

[Tharsman]

is that it does not have a GPS chip. This makes all the location services not working. Would it work with +myfi?

Somehow Apple did not stress this point in feature difference when it released the iPads. I only found it out a while after I bought the wifi version.

It's in their website. http://www.apple.com/ipad/specs/

Location:
* Wi-Fi
* Digital compass
* Assisted GPS (Wi-Fi + 3G model)
* Cellular (Wi-Fi + 3G model)

I was very clear about this when I got my Wi-Fi iPad. It still can point me in the map, exactly points at my apartment in a cramped up community, something I find very scary given the thing has no GPS. Didn't know you could get that much information out of your Wi-Fi alone.

Re:The problem with wifi-only iPad

[AndrewNeo]

Who says wifi is stationary? I think you're missing the point, but so is Apple.

If you're on stationary wifi, then yes, why do you need location services? But if you're on mobile wifi (tethering, MiFi, etc.), you might want to use it as a GPS or the like. Now, if it supported bluetooth GPS pucks (or nowadays, smartphones that will act as bluetooth GPS pucks) then there shouldn't be as much an issue.

Re:The problem with wifi-only iPad

[voidptr]

The WiFi + 3G version has an actual GPS chip in it that works with or without a cell tower in range. "Assisted GPS" means it bootstraps the GPS chip with either WiFi or cell triangulation and time reference to speed up computing the initial GPS solution if they're available, but it is real GPS and works without a cell subscription or if you're not in WiFi or cell coverage.

The GPS chip is built into the 3G chipset though, which is why it's not in the WiFi only version.

I wish they'd add native support for third-party bluetooth GPS pucks to provide Core Location data though.

Re:The problem with wifi-only iPad

[tlhIngan]

I don't know where this myth comes from, but the 3G ones DO have a true GPS. Perhaps people think that 'assisted GPS' means 'fake GPS'. Wrong. It just means that the real GPS gets some help from the cellular network to quickly get a first position fix. After that it functions like any other GPS, and without that help it just takes a little longer to get the fix.

Probably because there's actually several different levels of Assisted GPS.

First one would be "fake GPS" where it's really a 1-channel GPS receiver and uses the cell network to provide the missing satellites - usually the cell towers do the computation for you and they know your location. Many "dumbphones" do this (remember when you had to pay for locations eervices?).

Another form would be where the cell tower broadcasts the local GPS information and combined with the received satellite signal, the onboard AGPS chip computes your location. Featurephones often use this variant, and most E911 is done this way as well.

The iPad, iPhone and probably every smartphone out there instead uses this third form which is GPS with network bootstrap. In GPS, the module needs to download some data known as the almanac, which details the location of the satellites in the sky. It's a slow download, which is why a GPS cold start can take easily 15 minutes of solid signal (we're talking a few hundred bits per second). A warm start (the GPS has a moderately recent almanac that it can use immediately, plus knows where it was last) means it just has to acquire the satellites and do the calculations, which can take 15-45 seconds while it updates the almanac data in the background. Of course, if you're attached to the cell network, you suddenly have two more pieces of information - the cell network can provide the current almanac at much faster speeds so cold-starting takes much less time, as well as providing initial GPS data (similar to the second form of AGPS above) so you can get a rough fix in seconds. Without this asssistance, it'll work standalone just fine, but with it, it can get a fix extremely quickly and improve on it as it acquires more satellites on its own. Even cold-starting a GPS is relatively quick if it can grab the almanac this way.

The confusion comes because there's many forms of assistance - from just bootstrapping to letting the cell tower figure it out.

Apple takes it one further as well since CoreLocation uses GPS, but also supports WiFi geolocation (if a connection's available) as well as cell-tower geolocation.

Nothing you cannot already get.

[bigredradio]

You can already buy the iPad. You can already get a MiFi device and connect them. The only news here is that they are available at the same store. I was starting to jump for joy until I realized that it was not a Verizon network capable iPad. Maybe next year.

Re:Nothing you cannot already get.

[bsDaemon]

WSJ article a few days ago indicated that Verizon should have the iPhone in early 2011. Assuming that's true, a good indicator that they're moving that direction is having Verizon bundle the iPad. The MyFi device is probably just a temporary measure to get around the GSM-only hardware for cellular data.

Since the iPad doesn't need to make phone calls, using an adapter for cellular data access makes sense. They'll have to make some physical changes to the iPhone to have it actually work on a non-GSM carrier, so it makes sense to take longer moving in that direction, but using the iPad to get people used to the idea of a break in AT&T exclusivity.

Or maybe I'm reading too much into it. I actually wouldn't mind an iPhone, but I have no reason at all to want an iPad.

Re:Nothing you cannot already get.

[AndrewNeo]

I'm not really sure how much of a change they would have to make, considering there was an article earlier this year on how someone removed the 3G unit from their iPad and replaced it with the insides of an.. wait, you guessed it, a MiFi. (article) My point being the 3G unit is modular in the iPad (unlike a phone's, which is integrated with the radio which is deeply involved with the phone's operation) and they could probably make a CDMA version.

Re:Nothing you cannot already get.

[ThermalRunaway]

Exactly, its a band aid for now until an EVDO (or maybe LTE?) iPad is ready.

However, I see this bundle as a net win. With a 3G iPad, you get data on your ipad, and thats it. Unless you jailbreak and use it as a hot spot. If you get the MiFi bundle (which is basically the same cost as an ATT 3G ipad) you get a router that you can connect other devices to besides the iPad. So if you have a laptop and an iPad, you are good on both counts.

Futher, this somewhat future proofs your data setup. You can't swap out the chipset in the iPad, so all those ATT 3G owners will be left out when LTE hits. But if you are using a MiFi... just get a 4G mifi and you are in business.

Re:Nothing you cannot already get.

[ThermalRunaway]

.. the 3G unit is modular in the iPad (unlike a phone's, which is integrated with the radio)...

The 3G module IS a radio. The iPad #G baseband chip is the Infineon X-Gold 608, according to the data sheet it supports HSDPA, WCDMA, and EDGE. This is the same chip that could be used in a phone to make calls.

There is not "probably" about making a CDMA version. You just need a CDMA chipset instead of the X-GOLD 608 and you would need different drivers in iOS to support the different chip. But I would suspect there is a very clean interface in the code that makes this easy. The dialer app isnt making calls directly to the radio or something. Look at how Android's telephony stack is setup. And look at how they have phones on CDMA and UMTS networks... this isn't difficult....

Summary Correction: Sprint's 3g footprint

[exabrial]

I think you mean Sprint's 4G footprint. Sprint has 3G coast-to-coast like Verizon does (They often share the same towers). AT&T has a city-central 3g network and 2g technology everywhere else.

*gb/month

[dazedNconfuzed]

[quietly gloats over $30/mo unlimited]
[quietly laments strangling of XX&X users with subsequent bandwidth-capped service]

Re:LAPtop

[Pojut]

I don't think anyone but the most die-hard haters would say the iPad is useless. What they're saying that you're paying more money for the same internal hardware. The form factor is very useful for a variety of things, but when it amounts to a netbook without a keyboard while carrying the possibility of costing twice as much, the price-to-usefulness ratio goes out the window.

I don't care how smooth it runs, I don't care how useful it is...paying up to twice as much for a netbook with half as much hardware doesn't sound like a good deal to me.

What constitutes equivalent?

[dazedNconfuzed]

I could sell you a desktop computer powered by a car battery for even less.

Yes, useful form factor costs extra.

Re:LAPtop

[ColdWetDog]

checking email while walking down a hall, reading ebooks in bed, web browsing on the train, games while curled up on the couch, listening to noise-suppressing music at work, checking house prices while driving thru a neighborhood, writing a book in the few-minute gaps between tasks/events, looking up conversation subjects over lunch, making VoIP calls walking to the car, checking traffic & weather when starting the car, trading stocks the moment you hear news of market activity, looking up & ordering books when a friend suggests one, reviewing news over breakfast, finding a suitable nearby restaurant while going out with friends, ... and yes, browsing pictures and watching YouTube -

You might consider upping your Ritalin dose.

The good thing: a no-contract $20 data plan

[Jon_S]

What intrigued me is the no-contract $20 data plan. I got a spot in the boonies that has no DSL or cable access, but can get VZW (but no other carriers). I don't want to spend $60/month for a MiFi device with a 2-yr commitment. If I read the reports right, this comes with a $20 data plan, and no committments, so perhaps one can turn it on an off as needed. Hoepfully I read that right.

Yeah, Yeah, I know - 1 GB/mo. But that's 1 GB/mo. more than what I got now.

So I'm saying I would buy it for the MiFi and the plan, not for the iPad. Of course the money I save would be eaten up by the iPad cost, but I could sell that on e-bay.

Or did I read one of them there internet articles wrong?