Ipad 3: att vs verizon?

[KrishnaM]

Any difference other than the price? Can I switch services in future if needed or have to stick with same carrier through out the life time?

Thanks
Krishna

 

[vdubreeze]

Verizon varies greatly depending on where in the country you are. Personally, as a user Brooklyn, NY, my Verizon cell phone coverage and consistency has always been very good all over NYC and generally wherever I go around here. But my distaste for everything else about being a Verizon customer has me firmly in the camp of those who would never consider them for more than I currently have them for. Naturally others may be just as bad and YMMV. But in my dictionary if you look up "torture" you get a Verizon icon next to the definition.

 

[Tom_N]

Any difference other than the price? Can I switch services in future if needed or have to stick with same carrier through out the life time?

Thanks
Krishna

On Apple's site, there are no differences in hardware prices between the AT&T and Verizon versions.

As for differences between them, they support overlapping, but different, sets of radio frequencies and access methods. The Verizon model supports CDMA; the AT&T model does not. The AT&T model supports an extra 4G LTE radio band.

Apple is a bit ambiguous on carrier lockin. They say that the iPad supports "fast (3G, GSM/UTMS) cellular networks around the world", but they also caution buyers to "be sure to select the model that corresponds with the carrier you’d like to use for 4G LTE service. The iPad model you purchase is specially configured to work with either AT&T or Verizon — not both."

I guess I can see why an AT&T iPad would not work too well on the Verizon network. Verizon uses CDMA for 3G, so if you were in an area with no 4G LTE service, an AT&T iPad would not be able to fall back on 3G CDMA service.

http://www.apple.com/ipad/specs/
http://www.apple.com/ipad/4g/

 

[Christoph Beck]

Get an ATT device if you plan to go out of the country. Verizon's CDMA is US-only.

Any difference other than the price? Can I switch services in future if needed or have to stick with same carrier through out the life time?

Thanks
Krishna

 

[KrishnaM]

Thanks every body. I was planning to get verizon as I always hear that verizon has better coverage than att. However I am not a techy and want to make sure to get right carrier before jumping on to Ipad. The guy in Apple store was not very helpful. His comment was "they both are fine, just get a local sim card if you are planning to go abroad". I know I could use my iphone (att) when we visited france last summer. I do not travel abroad frequently, but will get att if it has benefits over verizon.

Krishna

 

[Peter Rongsted]

Get an ATT device if you plan to go out of the country. Verizon's CDMA is US-only.

The Verizon model also supports UMTS and has a Micro-SIM card tray. So it will work just as well as the AT&T model outside the US. The specs:

Wi-Fi + 4G for Verizon model: 4G LTE (700 MHz)3; CDMA EV-DO Rev. A (800, 1900 MHz); UMTS/HSPA/HSPA+ DC-HSDPA (850, 900, 1900, 2100 MHz); GSM/EDGE (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz)

Peter

 

[ajcook]

People are reporting that the Verizon new iPad works on AT&T 3G, if you put an AT&T sim in it.

(eg http://www.redmondpie.com/new-verizon-ipad-works-on-att-3g-network-video/ )

That would seem to make the Verizon version the obvious choice unless you wanted to use AT&T LTE.

 

[Ed Kalama]

Verizpn also offers a FREE Hot Spot feature. AT&T hasn't announced yet if they would offer the same. AT&T is also more expensive.

I'll go with Verizon when I buy mine later.

--
ed
Sometimes, I SHOOT LIKE CRAZY!
http://edgarces.smugmug.com

 

[Tom_N]

The guy in Apple store was not very helpful. His comment was "they both are fine, just get a local sim card if you are planning to go abroad".

It appears that both versions of the iPad support 3G GSM bands and a (micro)-SIM. GSM is pretty widespread. Thus by temporarily signing up with a foreign carrier and installing a foreign carrier's SIM, you could get 3G service in many places.

If a foreign carrier also supported 4G LTE, the AT&T model might have a bit of an advantage over the Verizon one (since it supports two 4G radio bands to the Verizon model's one). Conversely, there may be places (mainly in Asia) that use only CDMA; there, the AT&T model would not be able to pick up a cellular data signal.

 

[Peter Rongsted]

The guy in Apple store was not very helpful. His comment was "they both are fine, just get a local sim card if you are planning to go abroad".

It appears that both versions of the iPad support 3G GSM bands and a (micro)-SIM. GSM is pretty widespread. Thus by temporarily signing up with a foreign carrier and installing a foreign carrier's SIM, you could get 3G service in many places.

Technically GSM is 2G. The 3G development is called UMTS. Both models will be able to use it.

If a foreign carrier also supported 4G LTE, the AT&T model might have a bit of an advantage over the Verizon one (since it supports two 4G radio bands to the Verizon model's one).

There are plenty of LTE carriers outside the US but they use 800MHz, 1800MHz and 2600MHz. So none of the US models will work on LTE outside North America.

Peter

 

[noirdesir]

The guy in Apple store was not very helpful. His comment was "they both are fine, just get a local sim card if you are planning to go abroad".

It appears that both versions of the iPad support 3G GSM bands and a (micro)-SIM. GSM is pretty widespread. Thus by temporarily signing up with a foreign carrier and installing a foreign carrier's SIM, you could get 3G service in many places.

If a foreign carrier also supported 4G LTE, the AT&T model might have a bit of an advantage over the Verizon one (since it supports two 4G radio bands to the Verizon model's one). Conversely, there may be places (mainly in Asia) that use only CDMA; there, the AT&T model would not be able to pick up a cellular data signal.

The AT&T model also supports CDMA (in the same way as iPhone 4S supports CDMA + GSM/EDGE/UMTS/HSDP+). The two models differ only in their LTE bands (and implementation).

 

[KrishnaM]

Gosh! you all are talking technical language. Simple question: what will I loose if I sign up with verizon?

Thanks
Krishna

 

[noirdesir]

Gosh! you all are talking technical language. Simple question: what will I loose if I sign up with verizon?

AT&T LTE. Probably some ease of using of activating it on AT&T.

 

[Tom_N]

The AT&T model also supports CDMA (in the same way as iPhone 4S supports CDMA + GSM/EDGE/UMTS/HSDP+).

If so, that's an undocumented feature. As far as I know, none of the Apple technical specifications for the AT&T model refer to any form of CDMA support.

 

[noirdesir]

The AT&T model also supports CDMA (in the same way as iPhone 4S supports CDMA + GSM/EDGE/UMTS/HSDP+).

If so, that's an undocumented feature. As far as I know, none of the Apple technical specifications for the AT&T model refer to any form of CDMA support.

Looks like I was wrong on that, had it from a secondary source. Apple advertises CDMA on the iPhone 4S in European countries without any CDMA carrier nearby but they don't advertise CDMA on the iPad there (which is the AT&T version). The AT&T iPad has two LTE bands in addition to all the GSM/EDGE + UMTS/HSPA/HSPA+/DC-HSDPA rigmarole, the Verizon iPad CDM + one LTE band.

 

[Peter Rongsted]

The AT&T model also supports CDMA (in the same way as iPhone 4S supports CDMA + GSM/EDGE/UMTS/HSDP+).

If so, that's an undocumented feature. As far as I know, none of the Apple technical specifications for the AT&T model refer to any form of CDMA support.

Looks like I was wrong on that, had it from a secondary source. Apple advertises CDMA on the iPhone 4S in European countries without any CDMA carrier nearby but they don't advertise CDMA on the iPad there (which is the AT&T version). The AT&T iPad has two LTE bands in addition to all the GSM/EDGE + UMTS/HSPA/HSPA+/DC-HSDPA rigmarole, the Verizon iPad CDM + one LTE band.

Yep the iPhone 4s is advertised as a world phone in Europe including CDMA EV-DO (800MHz and 1900MHz). Anyway to complicate matters UMTS use wideband CDMA technology. It is not compatible with the IS-95 CDMA system that Verizon uses but it is a CDMA system never the less.

Peter

 

[Carlgo]

...reception, whatever the tech specs are.

VZ clearly has more coverage in the US. ATT has better customer service.

If you find yourself in urban areas most often, any of the carriers are probably going to work.

Overseas...well you read all the previous responses and if you can figure it out you are smarter than me.

ATT has good WiFi service at Starbucks and you might check around to see where each carrier has hotspots at locations convenient to you.

 

[Conchita]

But you don't need any kind of contract for wifi. I use my ipod at ATT wifi spots all the time and it has no ability to have a data plan if it wanted to.

 

[Peter Rongsted]

Overseas...well you read all the previous responses and if you can figure it out you are smarter than me.

Outside North America they have the exact same ability.

Peter

 

[lcubed11]

Any difference other than the price? Can I switch services in future if needed or have to stick with same carrier through out the life time?

Thanks
Krishna

if you are one of the lucky few w/ unlimited data on the original ipad, this is grandfathered onto the new att ipad. woohoo!! unlimited unthrottled data!