topic Re: Tablet question in Get Support

Tablet question

Pufferz — Wed, 05 Jan 2022 09:05:50 GMT

I have a stupid question here lol

I just purchase a Lenovo 10’ tablet can we use one of public mobile data plans for this tablet?

Thanks in advance

Re: Tablet question

Lg85 — Sun, 11 Feb 2018 20:27:35 GMT

If you want to check whether your Lenovo tablet will work on the Public Mobile network (I am assuming you have a tablet with cellular capabilities), please check it here:

https://willmyphonework.net/

Re: Tablet question

srlawren — Sun, 11 Feb 2018 22:39:27 GMT

@Pufferz bear in mind that the data-only (or any single-service plans) from Public Mobile are not very cost-effective. You might want to look at Fido, they have a 3GB $15/month tablet plan.

Re: Tablet question

ute1978 — Mon, 12 Feb 2018 00:20:02 GMT

wrote:
You might want to look at Fido, they have a 3GB $15/month tablet plan.

For this you have to be a Fido postpaid plan customer.

Re: Tablet question

srlawren — Mon, 12 Feb 2018 18:01:42 GMT

wrote:
wrote:
You might want to look at Fido, they have a 3GB $15/month tablet plan.
For this you have to be a Fido postpaid plan customer.

@ute1978 not necessarily. Some people have managed to get it without being a customer. I know that @mimmo is an example. I think he just went to a 3rd party Kiosk (II'm not sure which one, but I'm guessing WoW or Wireless Wave or something) rather than a Fido retail location, and they activated it for him without issue.

Your mileage may vary of course but it's probably worth a try. Why? Here's the cost of 30 days with 3GB of full speed 4G data with no talk or text at PM:

30 days, no talk, no text, 3 GB 4G full speed data: $50

say you take out $2 for AutoPay, that's still $48, or $48.67 monthly equivalent

Stepping up to 90 days same plan with 9GB 4G data: $148

say you take out $6 for AutoPay, that's still $139, or $46.98 monthly equivalent

Both are more than 3x the cost of the Fido tablet plan!

If you wanted to save a little and step down to the throttled "3G" speed data-only plans, there is no 3GB/9GB options, so let's try to save a little more by looking at the 2GB versions:

30 days, no talk, no text, 1+1 GB "3G" speed throttled data: $40

Taking out $2 for AutoPay is $38, or $38.53 monthly equivalent

90 days, no talk, no text, 6GB (3+3) "3G" speed throttled data: $115

Takingout $6 for AutoPay is $109, or $36.83 monthly equivalent

You can see how even the slower, 2/3 of amount of data option at PM is still almost 2.5x more expensive than the Fido table plan at full speed, where the full-speed PM option wtih same data amount is more then 3x as expensive as the Fido tablet plan.

EDIT: fixed my math and factored in AutoPay in all monthly equivalent calculations.

if anyone is curious how I got the monthly equivalent numbers:

30 day plans:

Take the 30 day plan cost and divide by 30 to get a cost per day

Multiply that by 365 to get a cost per year

Divide that by 12 to get equivalent monthly cost.

90 day plans:

Take the 90 day plan cost and divide by 90 to get cost per day

Take the 30 day plan cost and divide by 30 to get a cost per day

Multiply that by 365 to get a cost per year

Divide that by 12 to get equivalent monthly cost.

This is the number you can compare against other carriers, all of which work on a calendar month as a cycle.

Re: Tablet question

Pufferz — Tue, 13 Feb 2018 20:06:12 GMT

Thank you for all the replies and suggestions I was leaning towards having data here because my plans for the data is when I’m on the bus or traffic etc there’s no wifi I can do some work on my tablet I didn’t really wanted a contract since I’ll probably use the tablet few times when I’m at home I use the wifi

anyhow turns out my lenvono 10 tablet doesn’t have a spot for a SIM card only storage unless I’m wrong

Re: Tablet question

srlawren — Tue, 13 Feb 2018 20:10:42 GMT

@Pufferz for occasional use, you could always turn on your Wi-Fi hotspot on your phone and connect your tablet to it while in transit.

A few considerations:

1) The data would come from your phone's Public Mobile plan data, so do be mindful of usage so you don't run out.

2) WiFi hotspot does tend to use up quite a bit of battery on the phone; it seems worse on some models than others, but it's something to keep in mind so you don't find yousrelf short on electrons while out and about

3) Make sure you secure your WiFi Hotspot on your phone with WPA2 security and a nice strong password to prevent people nearby connecting if not secured

4) Only keep the hotspot turned on on your phone while you're actively using it. This will help with points 2 and 3 above.