3G Plan Selection Guide For Your Shiny Apple iPad

While Steve Jobs does the chicken dance in a dystopian tower somewhere along the outskirts of California, the 3G variant of the iPad has released to much fanfare and shameless Mashable iPad post volumes. In order to be certain you’re getting the most juiced data plan for your Apple iPad 3G, you need to purchase a data plan specifically for the device. There are only two choices, which given Apple’s iPhone past is awesome, but not so much if you have access to wifi.

The first option comes with a data cap of 250 MB/month and costs $14.99. Point to be noted this time around, is that you’ll have no contract to adhere to in either of these plans as had become the norm with Apple.

The second, and better, plan is an unlimited data plan for $29.99/ month. AT&T doesn’t want to screw you over this time around, so they’ll prompt you when you’re down to your last 50 megabytes and again when you’re down to those last 25 megabytes.

You can switch freely between plans and there isn’t a fee levied on change. Going for a vacation, or a business trip – just change your plan for that month and comfortably walk over to your limited data plan when you’re back.

Another option for Apple and/or AT&T weary consumers, is to work off all the Wi-Fi hotspots at Barnes & Noble bookstores, Starbucks and a whole lot of other places across the city. Note- 3G plans are for use within US only.

Cost Breakdown for your first year carrying the slab:

iPad 3G 16GB + 250 MB plan : $808.88
iPad 3G 16GB + unlimited : $988.88

Looking at those figures, it’s obvious that while the entry price of the iPad is acceptable by Apple standards, the recurring cost isn’t. Probably time for networks to forget all the copper wires laid down in the Pacific and consider fiber optics instead. Then again – it’s been time for that since 2004!

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