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raymond42n · Mar 29, 2011, 08:38 PM

With the recent release of iOS 4.3 which allows the iPhone 3GS/4 to be used as a Personal Hotspot, the choice of getting an iPad w/ 3G or w/o 3G is something to be considered (in light of the additional US$130 plus data plan cost factor).

Has anybody made any tests on the speed of the iPad 2 using its built-in 3G hardware vis-a-vis a non-3G iPad 2 that "rides on" the Personal Hotspot connection of an iPhone 4 or 3GS? Could you share to us your findings? Many thanks!

Raymond

Eug · Mar 29, 2011, 09:00 PM

Dunno about the iPad 2 (yet), but personal hotspot works great tethering my laptops to my iPhone 4.

solofx7 · Mar 29, 2011, 09:10 PM

I would love to do the personal hotspot or tethering, but AT&T will not let me bring my "grandfathered" in truly unlimited data.

JMan09 · Mar 29, 2011, 11:47 PM

I use my iPhone 4 as a hotspot with my iPad 2, but not with AT&Ts approved plans. And for the amount I use it while tethering isn't that much. So far it has been working great.

subego · Mar 29, 2011, 11:55 PM

How's that hitting the battery? I hear tethering sucks up juice on the phone like nobody's business.

JMan09 · Mar 30, 2011, 12:01 AM

Yeah it drains the battery pretty good. I haven't really recorded the percentage dropping for a certain amount of time though. But I've used it in class for about an hour because some reason my iPad won't pick up the wifi in that room. And with normal iPhone usage the rest of the day my battery is at about 20% by about 11pm and other days when I don't tether my battery is about 55%.

Eug · Mar 30, 2011, 08:39 AM

1. I'm using tethering on Fido in Canada. I have a 1 GB plan, and laptop tethering eats up bandwidth pretty quickly. VPN for regular stuff (not huge file transfers) can eat up 100+ MB in a few hours.

2. Tethering eats up battery fast on the iPhone 4. Without tethering my iPhone 4 would last days. With continuous tethering it's hours.

Phileas · Mar 30, 2011, 09:27 AM

Yes, tethering is a battery hog, that's for sure, and the main reason why I'll be getting a 3G model next time around.
Bandwidth is more of an issue with a tethered laptop than with an iPad in my experience, but that might just be an indication of different usage patterns.

raymond42n · Mar 30, 2011, 10:43 AM

Originally Posted by Eug

1. I'm using tethering on Fido in Canada. I have a 1 GB plan, and laptop tethering eats up bandwidth pretty quickly. VPN for regular stuff (not huge file transfers) can eat up 100+ MB in a few hours.

2. Tethering eats up battery fast on the iPhone 4. Without tethering my iPhone 4 would last days. With continuous tethering it's hours.

So do we have a relatively general consensus (based on experience) that the Personal Hotspot works real well for a wi-fi only iPad but causes battery drain to your iPhone? I sensed that this would be the case, as the iPhone screen remains "on" while someone is connected via Hotspot.

Thank you so much, people! This is extremely helpful and enlightening.

anthology123 · Apr 1, 2011, 02:26 AM

Would it be dangerous to keep your iPhone plugged into it's 5W charger while you are doing tethering? I know you lose portability, but
you could stay connected much longer if you didn't have to rely on the battery only if you didn't need to.

subego · Apr 1, 2011, 03:23 AM

I'm sure that's fine.

Big Mac · Apr 1, 2011, 09:22 AM

It's really true that the personal hot spot turns off if the screen is turned off? That sounds like poor design.

JMan09 · Apr 1, 2011, 10:15 AM

Originally Posted by Big Mac

It's really true that the personal hot spot turns off if the screen is turned off? That sounds like poor design.

Mine doesn't but I'm jailbroken.

Phileas · 10:36 AM

Originally Posted by Big Mac

It's really true that the personal hot spot turns off if the screen is turned off? That sounds like poor design.

Nope, that's not the case.