buying an iPad in US to use in Australia

Why don't you want to buy one in Australia? For 16gb wifi here it's $629 including tax. In USA it's $499 but tax is not included so prices are very similar. Bear in mind the us dollar is stringer than the aussie dollar

Yes, as long as you don't mind American English. Actually, the chargers work on either US or foreign power and switch automatically. All you would need is a wall outlet adaptor.

If you are signing up for 3G broadband, then you will need an appropriate SIM card, but you should be able to buy them when you are home. As for WiFi nothing is required. But whether you can use 3G without ATT, I don't know.

You'll have to pay a duty tax when you go back home.

Just got back from a 2-week vacation in Australia.

US iPhones are locked to ATT and cannot be used on Australia networks without hacking.

US iPads are NOT locked to ATT and CAN be used on Australia networks, no problem. I got a micro-SIM for free from Vodafone and they have several 30-day or 180-day pre-paid data plans to use on their 3G network.

The bad part is that the 30 day plans (e.g. $15 for 1 GByte) can only be purchased online with an Australian credit card. Only the 180 day plans (e.g. $100 for 6GByte) can be purchased in a store with a US/Intl credit card. Darn.

Jim

i bought a 32gb 3g + wifi ipad in usa and just got back to australia a week ago

ordered a tpg pay as you go micro-sim for $1 a month (50mb included data)

its all working, insert tpg (optus) sim and change the apn...voila

AUD is strong so might work out cheaper if you buy in the states
keep in mind you can claim GST on the ipad if u buy it here and fly o/s with it

i did not get charged tax when i brought it back

Here's something I'm thinking about, and I'm looking for someone to poke holes in my plan if it won't work. I have an iPad 3G that I'll take to Germany at Christmas time. I would like to buy a pre-paid data SIM from a company like Fonic (read about them here: http://paygsimwithdata.wikia.com), and use it in the iPad.
Looks like you have to send an SMS message from the device with that SIM to get the monthly plan going, so I could put the SIM into my unlocked Blackberry long enough to send the SMS, then put it in the iPad, and off I go. At the end of my trip, put the SIM back in the Blackberry, send an SMS to cancel the plan, and I'm done.
That should work, right?

Did you have any issues plugging in the US iPad into your Australian PC accessing the Australian iTunes Store? Or did you have a US iTunes Account?