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Verizon offers best deal on iPad data and the only mobile hotspot option

Want to use your shiny new 4G LTE-equipped iPad as a mobile hotspot? Then you …

Verizon offers best deal on iPad data and the only mobile hotspot option

Apple said during the March 7 media event that LTE versions of the third-generation iPad would offer data tethering via iOS's mobile hotspot feature "if supported by the carrier." That caveat is now rearing its ugly head for US iPad buyers. AT&T has stated that it will not support the iPad 3's hotspot feature—at least for the time being.

Perhaps history is repeating itself. Apple first began offering the mobile hotspot feature with the launch of the Verizon-compatible CDMA iPhone 4 in early 2011. However, the ability to use a GSM iPhone 4 as a mobile hotspot on AT&T came a couple months later, with the iOS 4.3 update. It's worth noting that the iPad 2 launched around the same time as iOS 4.3, but didn't include a mobile hotspot option.

Though the third-generation iPad now has a mobile hotspot feature baked into its software, only Verizon will support it at launch in the US. AT&T customer service reps have been telling potential customers that mobile hotspot won't be supported on its network, a fact that was confirmed to The Verge by an AT&T spokesperson. "We are working with Apple to enable this feature in the future, but we currently do not offer it," the spokesperson said. It may be coming, but when and for how much AT&T hasn't said.

If that alone doesn't make you consider buying a Verizon-compatible LTE iPad, however, Verizon's slightly better data plan pricing may tip the scales in its favor. For both the Verizon and AT&T iPhone 4, the mobile hotspot option came with an added cost. Users had to pay an extra fee on top of their normal data fees if they wanted to use the mobile hotspot feature. But at least for the third-generation Verizon iPad—data is data. You pay for how ever much you use regardless of whether those bits go directly to the iPad or get funneled to another device. 

Verizon's pricing is also a better deal for users on the low end ($20/GB as opposed to a staggering $60/GB) or high-end of the data usage scale:

Allowance Price Overage Price per GB
AT&T iPad Data Plan Pricing
250MB $14.99 $14.99/250MB $59.96
3GB $30 $10/1GB $10
5GB $50 $10/1GB $10
Verizon iPad Data Plan Pricing
1GB $20 $20/1GB $20
2GB $30 $10/1GB $15
5GB $50 $10/1GB $10
10GB $80 $10/1GB $8

The $30 plan is in AT&T's favor, and the $50 plans are identical between both carriers. But the price per gigabyte definitely swings in Verizon's favor at the extremes. Furthermore, if you want to use your iPad as a mobile hotspot, then Verizon currently remains your only option.

Channel Ars Technica