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Hello, I’m Michael Sliwinski, founder of Nozbe - to-do app for business owners and their teams. I write essays, books, work on projects and I podcast for you using #iPadOnly in #NoOffice as I believe that work is not a place you go to, it’s a thing you do.

5G - 5 reasons for getting a cellular iPad

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As an iPad fan, the person who uses iPad as the main computer and who loves working on an iPad and who just happily upgraded to the M4 iPad Pro, I get asked a lot about choosing the best configured iPad for people’s needs. Recently I’ve been asked whether it’s worth it to upgrade to the “cellular” model. My answer in most cases is YES and here’s why:

5G - 5 reasons for getting a cellular iPad

Yes, Apple charges A LOT for the cellular 5G upgrade!

In the past Apple used to charge $130 for the cellular upgrade on any iPad which was pretty high. Now, instead of less, it’s even more, it’s $150 for most of the iPads and $200 for the iPad Pro. Why so much? Because Apple likes to charge premium prices.

That’s why people keep asking me whether it’s worth it to pay 20-30% extra for their iPad with the cellular connection. And because of this high cost, most people tend to NOT do it.

This post explains that despite this initial cost most people should pay it and get the cellular iPad.

And NO, I’m not getting any commission from Apple for writing this and I’m really NOT happy that Apple charges so much for this upgrade.

1. An iPad is a durable tablet that will serve you many years!

I’ve got many iPads in my household and these things last. See below for updates on that. My daughters keep getting their hand-me-down iPads from me and these tablets never break.

As of today, July 2024, here’s what we’ve got:

Apart from these iPads, I also have 3 additional iPads in my home office:

As you can see from my list, an iPad can last years and get software upgrades for years as well. And even past that it just works (my youngest still loves gaming on her 9-year old iPad Mini 4!). An iPad’s screen never breaks, its aluminum body is durable. So unless you throw and iPad like a frisbee, it’ll work almost forever.

Now, if you buy a currently-refreshed iPad Air you get an M2 chip which will be good for the next decade. It will support Apple Intelligence and all the things.

Considering that:

you’re not buying an iPad for a year or two, but for many years, so spending more to have an option to have it be online all the time may be worth it!

Maybe you don’t need this kind of connection now, but in a few years your situation can change and you might need that!

2. With cellular 5G your iPad is online all the time!

Believe me, all the MacBook owners out there crave for this. To be able to be online ALL THE TIME. With the iPad it’s possible. Never worry about your connection. You just unlock it and you’re online. While traveling, visiting family or having a break at your local coffee shop, you don’t have to ask for WiFi credentials or worry if they offer WiFi at all. You just unlock it and you’re online.

This convenience alone is worth the money. Believe me, as the founder of Nozbe I’ve become a productivity nut and lowering a barrier of entry to anything is a great productivity hack.

Bonus point is that you’re not connecting to some random WiFi hotspots that can track you or try to decrypt your email.

3. Cellular 5G connections will just get faster and more ubiquitous!

The current generation of iPads all ship with 5G connectivity. According to my tests, it’s usually faster than any WiFi at any coffee shop, any hotel or family member’s house. Only some households and some offices have faster WiFi.

That’s why having a 5G iPad I never bother to even ask for WiFi credentials. I just use my cellular connection because it usually is faster for me.

The limits of GB will also be going away. I’m already on an unlimited data plan, so I never worry about what I download or stream to my iPad. I just enjoy the glorious cellular speeds!

4. You might NOT need an additional data plan anymore…

Just like these data GB limits are going away, many mobile carrier providers don’t even charge you an additional plan for the iPad. I’m on an unlimited data plan for my iPhone and my carrier let me add an eSIM to the iPad tied to the very same plan.

This way I get unlimited data on my iPhone and my iPad. No additional costs and I’m online on my iPad all the time! Check with your local provider, but it’s definitely a trend.

And if not, many carriers offer data-only plans which are dirt cheap anyway!

On the plus side, if you live in the US, your carrier plan works in all US states and if you live in the European Union, thanks to the new roaming agreements, you can also use your data plan while traveling to different countries.

And if you travel to Asia or somewhere else, you can always buy an eSIM for a week or two and enjoy being online!

5. Tethering from your iPhone sucks, is slow and drains battery…

Now that I’ve argued that you’re buying an iPad for many years, the 5G speeds are getting better and in many situations faster than WiFi and an additional plan might not cost you a thing, everyone will just tell me about tethering: …but you can use your connection from the iPhone!

Yes I can, but it sucks for 4 reasons.

  1. Unreliable - an iPad connects easily to your iPhone until it doesn’t. When it stops working for some reason, you have to start a dance of turning off wifi, toggling airplane mode, maybe even restarting both devices. It’s a pain and it’s annoying.
  2. Slow - you won’t be surfing at full speeds when tethering from your iPhone. It’ll be slower. Again, at times it gets so slow that you might not be able to get your stuff done on the iPad.
  3. Drains iPhone battery - and the iPad has bigger and better battery. Now you’re draining both devices at the same time while using only one.
  4. Better antennas on the iPad! - iPad is bigger and has better cellular antennas. I’ve tested it many times and I got better Internet speeds in most cases. It’s just better to surf on the iPad!

So let me repeat:

Tethering Internet from the iPhone to the iPad is unreliable, annoying, slow and drains your phone’s battery.

Why would you do that?

Bonus: your iPad can be a WiFi hotspot for your family!

When we travel my iPad is in my backpack and I’ve set it to accept tethering from my family, so all my daughters’ iPads. This is a much better way of using tethering, because the iPad has bigger antennas for both WiFi and cellular so it works great as a mobile hot spot and when it’s hidden in my backpack it barely uses battery because the screen is off.

For some reason this reverse-tethering works more reliably and in the case of me not wanting my daughters to have separate data plans, works great.

Not enough? Watch my short!

Here’s me on video arguing that you should spend the extra dollars to get the cellular connection:

Yes: iPad lasts a lifetime, 5G is faster and cheaper, and being online all the time rocks!

Again, it’s your money, your decision, your iPad. However, I hope with this post I laid out all my arguments for spending a little extra on major convenience that will just help you enjoy the iPad much more.

Thursday, July 18, 2024 /cellular/