Apple's new Verizon iPad can serve as LTE hotspot for more than 24 hours

Posted:
in iPad edited January 2014


While Apple's new LTE-equipped iPads are designed to offer customers the same experience regardless of which U.S. mobile carrier they base their purchase on, the Verizon model currently boasts the exclusive capability of sharing its high-speed mobile broadband connection with other devices for upwards of five times longer than most standalone LTE mobile hotspots.



The highly-technical Anand Lal Shimpi over at AnandTech recently revealed that his tests of the new Verizon iPad found that it could act as a mobile hotspot by sharing its LTE connection with other devices -- such as a notebook -- for approximately 25.3 hours under the proper conditions -- namely that the device's display remained turned off. That's roughly 5 times longer than the 4 hours and change of popular LTE MiFi hotspots from Novatel and Samsung.



Those claims were backed up Monday by independent tests conducted by the Verge, which configuring a notebook to utilize the new iPad's LTE connection, running tests that continuously cycled through web content for more than 24 hours before exhausting the battery of the iPad, which similarly had its screen turned off in addition to notifications and push email accounts.



"Best of all, we saw no evidence of dropped or stalled connections," the gadget blog reported. "That's not to say there aren't caveats here: LTE reception in our Manhattan office is top notch, and it remains unclear how things would fare in areas with weak signal."



The largely unpublicized hotspot feature remains exclusive to the Verizon models for the time being, as such capabilities are not yet available with the AT&T models. A spokesman for the carrier indicated earlier this month that it was "working with Apple" to enable the hotspot feature on the new AT&T iPad "in the future," but offered no timetable for when it might become available.





Verizon's LTE coverage map of the U.S. with service indicated in red.









AT&T's LTE coverage map of the U.S. with service indicated in blue.







For more on the new iPad and how it stacks up against its predecessors and competitors, see AppleInsider's in-depth review.



[ View article on AppleInsider ]

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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 34
    Please tell me what app or web app provided those coverage maps. Thanks.
  • Reply 2 of 34
    jragostajragosta Posts: 10,473member
    Cool. Now we can get even more complaints about how quickly LTE uses up your data plan........
  • Reply 3 of 34
    What's the source link for the two maps? The captions appear to compare two different things and reversing the color used for each carrier:

    First map shows tab clicked for "4G" coverage

    Second First map shows tab clicked for "LTE".



    Or was the AI editor attempting to say "....here is a comparison of at&t and Verizon coverage for both 4G and LTE. On both maps, Verizon is shown in blue and at&t is shown in red."
  • Reply 4 of 34
    solipsismxsolipsismx Posts: 19,566member
    This is interesting. The new iPad could chip into the mobile hotspot market for those who also want to buy a tablet. Those devices do cost about half the price of an iPad if you buy off contract. Are there any data rate differences between buying a mobile hotpot on contract v. paying for AT&T or Verizon's month-to-month plans?





    Quote:
    Originally Posted by AppleZilla View Post


    Please tell me what app or web app provided those coverage maps. Thanks.



    The name is right there at the top of each image.

    Quote:
    Originally Posted by SailorPaul View Post


    What's the source link for the two maps? The captions appear to compare two different things:

    First map shows tab clicked for "4G" coverage

    Second First map shows tab clicked for "LTE".



    Or was the AI editor attempting to say "....here is a comparison of at&t and Verizon coverage for both 4G and LTE. On each map, Verizon is shown in blue and at&t is shown in red."



    Good point.
  • Reply 5 of 34
    nagrommenagromme Posts: 2,834member
    Makes sense, since the iPad (and its battery) are bigger than most hotspots. There may be some obscure use out there where someone wants to pay for LTE for days on end with no access to a power outlet



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by SailorPaul View Post


    What's the source link for the two maps? The captions appear to compare two different things:

    First map shows tab clicked for "4G" coverage

    Second First map shows tab clicked for "LTE".



    Or was the AI editor attempting to say "....here is a comparison of at&t and Verizon coverage for both 4G and LTE. On each map, Verizon is shown in blue and at&t is shown in red."



    I saw this images in a previous article and IIRC, Verizon is red in both, but AT&T is shown two ways in blue, all 4G, and LTE-only 4G (which has more limited coverage). Those are the three kinds of coverage you?d need to compare when thinking about Verizon vs. AT&T for where you live.
  • Reply 6 of 34
    drdoppiodrdoppio Posts: 1,132member
    I'm sure you could hook a big-ass battery pack to your LTE hotspot and get similar results. The radio in the iPad does not use the new 28nm process and is therefore not more efficient than those in older devices. But hey, if you're happy with a 700 gram, $700 hotspot -- knock yourself out!
  • Reply 7 of 34
    solipsismxsolipsismx Posts: 19,566member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by DrDoppio View Post


    I'm sure you could hook a big-ass battery pack to your LTE hotspot and get similar results. The radio in the iPad does not use the new 28nm process and is therefore not more efficient than those in older devices. But hey, if you're happy with a 700 gram, $700 hotspot -- knock yourself out!



    Your post makes the erroneous assumption that if you use your iPad as a hotspot that it can't have other uses and therefore is expense and heavy compared to cheaper, smaller and lighter hotspots. Is that really fair?
  • Reply 7 of 34
    isheldonisheldon Posts: 570member
    Yes another reason why the Verizon iPad plan was the way to go. I will not reward mediocrity nor do I suffer fools lightly.

    AT&T will never get me to drop my grandfathered iPhone unlimited plan in order to get a hotspot feature on my iPhone. Nor would I ever, ever pay greedy AT&T $.06/MB on their lowest iPad plan.
  • Reply 9 of 34
    drdoppiodrdoppio Posts: 1,132member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by SolipsismX View Post


    Your post makes the erroneous assumption that if you use your iPad as a hotspot that it can't have other uses and therefore is expense and heavy compared to cheaper, smaller and lighter hotspots. Is that really fair?



    Yes, it is. Turn the screen on, and kiss those 25 hours good bye.



    I'm trying to make the point that such a fringe use of your iPad is highly cost inefficient and thus pointless to boast with.
  • Reply 10 of 34
    isheldonisheldon Posts: 570member
    A spokesman for the carrier indicated earlier this month that it "working with Apple" to enable the hotspot feature on the new AT&



    What the hell does Apple have to do with AT&T's incompetency?

    Fix your friggin network AT&T and leave Apple out of it.
  • Reply 11 of 34
    isheldonisheldon Posts: 570member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by DrDoppio View Post


    Yes, it is. Turn the screen on, and kiss those 25 hours good bye.



    I'm trying to make the point that such a fringe use of your iPad is highly cost inefficient and thus pointless to boast with.



    Fringe use- maybe to you. I have been using it all weekend, daisychainin' friends laptops, iPads up to it. Simple web browsing does not eat up that much- this claim has been overexaggerated. It's only streaming music, videos, etc where it doesn't make sense to use LTE.
  • Reply 12 of 34
    solipsismxsolipsismx Posts: 19,566member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by DrDoppio View Post


    Yes, it is. Turn the screen on, and kiss those 25 hours good bye.



    I'm trying to make the point that such a fringe use of your iPad is highly cost inefficient and thus pointless to boast with.



    The battery life is a single metric to gauge the longevity of use under specific conditions. It's no different than Apple posting how long on '2G' or '3G' can use a device as a phone. Or how long on '2G', '3G' or WiFi can you use for data. Or how long you can listen to music or play videos.



    Where have you complained that vendors using specific use cases that don't exist in the real world are pointless? Where have you made comments that suggest Apple's comments about 40 hours of audio playback on the iPhone is pointless. If you want to use your iPhone only to play music you should just get an iPod Touch."



    Your comment is tantamount to complaining that noting the standby time of a phone is pointless because no one charges a phone just to leave it in standby the entire time. I don't think you've made such comments because it would be silly and I know you're smarter than that. So why is this simple metric an issue?



    One can infer that if I use it to read for 5 hours I'd lose about half the battery life based on the 10 hour duration. Now let's say I want to use my MBA tethered to my iPad. How much time could I potentially get from tethering? About 12 hours. I know this because of the two separate metics. I don't need a graphic calculator to figure this out.
  • Reply 13 of 34
    drdoppiodrdoppio Posts: 1,132member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by SolipsismX View Post


    The battery life is a single metric to gauge the longevity of use under specific conditions. It's no different than Apple posting how long on '2G' or '3G' can use a device as a phone. Or how long on '2G', '3G' or WiFi can you use for data. Or how long you can listen to music or play videos.



    Where have you complained that vendors using specific use cases that don't exist in the real world are pointless? Where have you made comments that suggest Apple's comments about 40 hours of audio playback on the iPhone is pointless. If you want to use your iPhone only to play music you should just get an iPod Touch."



    Your comment is tantamount to complaining that noting the standby time of a phone is pointless because no one charges a phone just to leave it in standby the entire time. I don't think you've made such comments because it would be silly and I know you're smarter than that. So why is this simple metric an issue?



    One can infer that if I use it to read for 5 hours I'd lose about half the battery life based on the 10 hour duration. Now let's say I want to use my MBA tethered to my iPad. How much time could I potentially get from tethering? About 12 hours. I know this because of the two separate metics. I don't need a graphic calculator to figure this out.



    Generally speaking you're right, this metric is as useful as others featuring a single use. I wasn't complaining, I was making light of this "new" feature, which is entirely derivative of the large battery capacity coupled to the LTE radio. I mean, what would the next revelation be, that you can use the iPad for 12+ hours* as a bed lamp?



    ---

    *with no programs running to waste CPU/GPU cycles, just the screen set to white
  • Reply 14 of 34
    postulantpostulant Posts: 1,272member
    Your battery will last more than 24 hours. Your data plan will last only 2 hrs.
  • Reply 15 of 34
    isheldonisheldon Posts: 570member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Postulant View Post


    Your battery will last more than 24 hours. Your data plan will last only 2 hrs.



    You can shut off the LTE you know and regardless you only use what you consume. If you had your iPhone used as a hot spot you would still consume the same amount of data- so what is yourpoint exactly except perhaps to mock a feature that you don't have on your AT&T iPad?
  • Reply 16 of 34
    isheldonisheldon Posts: 570member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by DrDoppio View Post


    Generally speaking you're right, this metric is as useful as others featuring a single use. I wasn't complaining, I was making light of this "new" feature, which is entirely derivative of the large battery capacity coupled to the LTE radio. I mean, what would the next revelation be, that you can use the iPad for 12+ hours* as a bed lamp?



    ---

    *with no programs running to waste CPU/GPU cycles, just the screen set to white



    You can always use your iPAd while it's connected to an electrical outlet so what exactly is your point? Who cares about how long the battery lasts- they're merely demonstrating that you don't loose the hopspot capacity as the device drains down.
  • Reply 17 of 34
    softekysofteky Posts: 136member
    ...the new iPad's thermal characteristics have been in the headlines for over a week!



    ps
  • Reply 18 of 34
    jragostajragosta Posts: 10,473member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Postulant View Post


    Your battery will last more than 24 hours. Your data plan will last only 2 hrs.



    I knew it wouldn't take long.....
  • Reply 19 of 34
    postulantpostulant Posts: 1,272member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by iSheldon View Post


    You can shut off the LTE you know and regardless you only use what you consume. If you had your iPhone used as a hot spot you would still consume the same amount of data- so what is yourpoint exactly except perhaps to mock a feature that you don't have on your AT&T iPad?



    I have a Verizon iPad...



    Next.
  • Reply 20 of 34
    mstonemstone Posts: 11,510member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by SolipsismX View Post


    Are there any data rate differences between buying a mobile hotpot on contract v. paying for AT&T or Verizon's month-to-month plans?




    I can tell you that an off contract AT&T LTE hotspot with 5GB is $50 per month. Overage is charged at $10 per GB.



    It works out the same per GB as the iPad on the 3GB for $30 plan. The only difference is that you pay for 5GB up front with the hotspot.
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