Adding 3G to an iPad bought without 3G?

Question

Adding 3G to an iPad bought without 3G?

If I bought an iPad without 3G, can I take it to a Mac store sometime later and pay the $130 to have 3G added to it?

- Mark A. Crook, aka MAC

MacBook, Mac OS X (10.6.2)

Posted on May 30, 2010 11:22 AM

Reply

Answer 1

BCFind

Level 1

135 points

May 30, 2010 11:30 AM in response to MAC- Mark A. Crook

I doubt it, it seems to be built in on my 3G and not something that could be added later.

Brian.

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Answer 2

May 30, 2010 11:33 AM in response to MAC- Mark A. Crook

Not possible.

Sell your iPad wi-fi to someone else that wants or needs a wi-fi only iPad, and use the proceeds to purchase the iPad wi-fi+3G.

If Apple included an option to add "3G" to a wi-fi only iPad, it would cost much more than $130.

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Answer 3

Ziatron

Level 5

4,186 points

May 30, 2010 12:27 PM in response to MAC- Mark A. Crook

Just tether the ipad to your mobile phone, may be zero cost for you.

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Answer 4

gareth25

Level 1

0 points

May 30, 2010 12:55 PM in response to MAC- Mark A. Crook

Personally I don't know why the 3g sells so well. If you have an iPhone there are ways to turn it into a wifi hotspot but I won't say on here as apple don't like that.

I use a nokia phone (waiting for 4G iPhone) and there's an app for turning it into a hotspot - saving me the cost of buying another data plan.

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Answer 5

gdgmacguy

Level 7

21,885 points

May 30, 2010 2:00 PM in response to gareth25

gareth25 wrote:
Personally I don't know why the 3g sells so well. If you have an iPhone there are ways to turn it into a wifi hotspot but I won't say on here as apple don't like that.

Actually, it's AT&T that prohibits tethering, not Apple. The iPad and iPhone have the appropriate hardware, but AT&T is thus far prohibiting it in the US

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Answer 6

May 30, 2010 5:15 PM in response to gareth25

The main reason I bought the 3G model is I don't have an expensive plan iPhone. I have a cheap plan based nationwide cell phone for under $25. So the AT&T data plan when I need it for the month or months I need it works out great.

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Answer 7

wlj

Level 1

0 points

Aug 8, 2010 11:05 AM in response to gdgmacguy

I do not have an IPhone but I do have AT&T service and a 2G cell phone. Is there a hardware option that I can connect by IPad to the internet?

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Answer 8

lllaass

Level 10

210,411 points

Aug 8, 2010 2:00 PM in response to wlj

wlj wrote:
I do not have an IPhone but I do have AT&T service and a 2G cell phone. Is there a hardware option that I can connect by IPad to the internet?

If your 2G phone can act as a wireless hot spot and tether is allowed then you can use your phone as an access point. There is no connector to physically connect the iPad to a phone (except for using the camera connection kit to download photos and videos from some model iPhones).

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Answer 9

Jun 14, 2015 6:54 AM in response to Ziatron

I guess this would work, but not for me. I need to run Garmin Bluechart sailing navigation program which relies on the iPad's GPS capability. This functionality is different from, and yet integrated with, the chip that also enables cell connectivity on the cell version of the iPad.

You can operate GPS without having ever using or even having a cell account, which is fine with me, but you must have the chip to operate either, or both.

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Answer 10

Jun 14, 2015 9:23 AM in response to MAC- Mark A. Crook

NO IPAD WIFI AND IPAD 3G ARE COMPLETLEY DIFFERENT IPADS

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