All Sections

iPad 2: Best network deals

Adopting a new Apple product is never a fun experience for your wallet. Many are still recovering from the expense of a first generation iPad, with plenty of people still bound to a two year data contract. For those however who didn’t get a taste of Apple’s tablet first time round or just want two contracts to pay, expect a difficult decision when it comes to making a network choice.

Currently iPad 2 prices and deals are all over the place, networks are offering all different sizes of data plans and discounts to try and draw you their way. Thankfully the Recombu team has put together this handy little cross-network comparison to help make your iPad 2 choice easier.

Orange looks to be offering a pretty decent iPad 2 pay monthly setup, particularly when it comes to the up-front price of the tablet itself.

Pay Monthly

£25 per month for 24 months

Inclusive data

1GB anytime and 1GB quiet time (12-4 AM) + unlimited BT Openzone WiFi

iPad 2 price

Either £199 for those current Orange customers or £229 otherwise (16GB model)

SIM Only

5.1p per MB with a £40 per month cap. Works out at £51 for 1GB

They may not have the best coverage, but if you can get it data heavy devices like the iPad 2 are perfectly suited to the speedy network. Inclusive data on Three looks to be about the best on offer, beating any of the competition by a substantial amount.

Pay Monthly

£25 per month for 24 months

Inclusive data

15GB per month

iPad 2 price

£229 for 16GB model or £199 for existing customers

SIM Only

1GB is £10.49 for 30 days. 3GB is £20.99 for 3 months

Unusually there doesn’t appear to be a pay monthly option on offer from O2. There is however just about the best Pay as You go deal..

Pay Monthly

N/A

iPad 2 price

Starts at £499 on Apple store for 16GB model

SIM Only

£2.04 daily for 200MB for 24 hours. £10.21 for 1GB available for 30 days, £15.32 for 2GB

T-Mobile is offering pretty much the same as Orange. A good network with decent customer service, definitely worth considering when signing up for a 24 month contract

Pay Monthly

£25 per month for 24 months

Inclusive Data

1GB anytime and 1GB quiet time (12-4 AM)

iPad 2 price

£229 for 16GB model or £199 for existing customers

SIM Only

£2 per day with 500 MB fair use policy

Vodafone manages to squeeze an extra GB of data in there above most of the competion…tempting.

Pay Monthly

£27 for new customers, £24.50 for existing on a 24 month contract

Inclusive Data

2GB with 1GB Wi-Fi allowance, then £15 per GB out of bundle

iPad 2 price

£229 for 16GB model or £199 for existing customers

SIM Only

£15 for 2GB,  £7.40 for 500MB for 30 days or £5 per day for 250 MB

Looks like just about every network is offering the same thing price-wise when it comes to the iPad 2.

Data however is a very different story. As we said earlier, Three trumps just about everyone when it comes to allowance. For those who intend to use their iPad 2 a lot, then they are definitely worth considering. That said Vodafone looks like it has some relatively juicy data offerings, especially when you go out of bundle or use the iPad 2 for roaming.

But, if you’re going to be doing some late-night browsing and downloading without WiFi, the extra data available from T-Mobile and Orange during their quiet times is a bargain.

O2’s one-day 200MB chunks are well-suited to occasional dip-in-dip-out iPad users. Decisions, decisions.

It’s great that there’s so much choice available, so it’s well worth investigating which will tariff suit you best.

Comments

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *