New possibility in continuing quest to not pay for another data plan
One thing that has been nagging me about the iPad is how I will get a connection for it (assuming I ever get one). At home it’s no issue. I’ll have WiFi always on. However, I live in the “so desperately wants to be a real city” called Orlando where ever-present WiFi is but a mere dream. Granted, I could possibly get by on Wifi at home and at the office except that the building I work in was apparently built out of left over lead shield from some pre-war era bomb shelter so there is no WiFi getting through any walls. This leaves me with the option of 3G. The ATT plans are decent. $30/month for unlimited data and $15/month for 250mb. But I don’t want to worry about turning the plans on and off as I use them and there is a certain ethical problem I have with paying ATT $30 more for unlimited data when I’m already paying that for my current iPhone 3GS. I realize I could jailbreak my iPhone to allow tethering but iPhone OS 4.0 is coming soon and I’d rather not have to rely on a hack for service.
This brings me to Sprint’s Overdrive 4G. The service is provided via a small router that gives you access to Sprint’s new 4G WiMax service. With speeds of 3 – 6 Mbps it’s a much faster solution that ATT’s 3G plans and they’ve even got a snazzy iPad specific case.
The idea of carrying around my iPad with a teeny “constant WiFi” in my case is exactly what I want. Now the bad part. It’s $60 a month and $349 for the router (although current promos take it down to $99 for a limited time). That is twice the ATT plan but if I could share the cost with coworkers/friends (5 people at $12 a pop) then it becomes the best deal for the money. Should be easy to find 4 people to chip in, right? Maybe I should just work on getting an iPad first 
Check out the video for more details.
Okay,
While i feel your pain I can also emphatically state that not all wives are created equal. I have the polar opposite problem with my wife…
Let me explain… My wife is a tech fanatic 100% she simply glanced over my shoulder while I was watching the iPad keynote and on her way to the kitchen she said and in no uncertain terms… “We’re gonna need TWO!”
I’m not lying!
So what am I complaining about you ask?!! How would YOU like to be the one forced into taking a ‘responsible position’ when it comes to tech-toys. For another quick and recent example, my wife saw this show taking about 3D HD… Now mind you we have a 54″ HD 1080i Sharp Aquos in our family room, a 32ish 1080i Sharp Aquos in our master bedroom and a CRT in the guest room (where her dad stays when he visits). So she said quite matter of factly… Problem SOLVED!
I was afraid to, but asked… “What problem?” she went on to say that her dads macular degeneration was getting worse and the CRT was in his guest room wasn’t really good.
__SO__ (get this)
We could buy a 60″ 3D HDTV for the family room, take the 54inch Aquos and move it to OUR bedroom and then put the 32″ Aquos into the guest room.
She argued… While the 54″ was ‘okay’ for the family room a bigger set with 3D no-less would be nicer experience and the 34inch Aquos in our bedroom was a tad on the tiny side too so getting the 54″ from the family room would solve THAT problem too. Now if I were a normal husband it would be ME trying to convince my wife that ‘only’ having a 32″ HDTV in the bedroom was ‘a problem’.
Instead, I have to be the ‘bad guy’ and throttle our toy purchases… otherwise we’d be flat broke!
So while you might want a wife that is more ‘tech friendly’ all I’m saying is be careful what you wish for.
Anyway… good luck with the battle!
Dave
Try the new droid operating system. Your phone can be a wireless router. Coming in June. Constant iPad source of wifi….