Is a tablet without 3G/4G useless?

[JohnJSal]

I've been thinking about getting a tablet lately, although so far I haven't quite figured out why I would need one or how I would really use it.

But with the Kindle Fire being only $199 and the Nexus 7 just coming out for the same price, I'm tempted to give it a try.

However, I find the lack of cell service somewhat strange. It's nice not to have to worry about another monthly fee, but how useful is a tablet if you don't have reliable internet access when you leave your house? I can't imagine it would be fun to have a tablet sitting in the car but unable to connect to the internet for anything.

Anyone have any experience with this, like with the Fire? Or plan on getting the Nexus 7? How do you (personally) use it?

Thanks.

 

[G80FTW]

Why would it be useless? I have a Sony Tablet S that doesnt have that, and I love it. If you ever need to, just get a phone like I have that will let you make it a wifi hotspot and its the same difference and wont charge you extra on useage.

 

[JohnJSal]

Why would it be useless?

Well, it seems like it would only be usable (for most apps that require internet access) at home or in a place with wifi service, but not, for example, in the car during a long drive, or when you are out anywhere without free wifi.

I have a Sony Tablet S that doesnt have that, and I love it. If you ever need to, just get a phone like I have that will let you make it a wifi hotspot and its the same difference and wont charge you extra on useage.

But to make a phone a wifi hotspot, don't you still need to be within wifi range?

 

[wolfeking]

no. you just have to have signal to the phone and the app to make it a hotspot. But be noticed that more and more phone companies are charging extra (on top of unlimited data) to let you make your phone a hotspot. I know Tmobile was going to be ~ 50 on top of the bill to keep running that way.

 

[G80FTW]

Well, it seems like it would only be usable (for most apps that require internet access) at home or in a place with wifi service, but not, for example, in the car during a long drive, or when you are out anywhere without free wifi.



But to make a phone a wifi hotspot, don't you still need to be within wifi range?

Well, on the road it wont do you alot of good I suppose. But as far as phone wifi, no you dont have to be in wifi range. It uses your phones signal. Even with good signal, its usually not going to be that fast of a connection versus a real wifi connection like a home network or business network.

And $50 is crazy. AT&T only charges $22/month for the 2 phones on my plan to be used as a wifi hotspot. But, in that actually SAVES you money if you are on the road alot. As if your using alot of data, you can easily go over your plan (sprint is the only carrier that still has real unlimited data, but they also cost more) but using it as a wifi hotspot will not count as using data on the phone.

For me, I had a choice between staying with Sprint or going with AT&T. And all my friends have AT&T and swear by it, and Iv had nothing but bad service with Sprint for the past decade so I decided to switch. In terms of cost, the sprint bill would have actually been SLIGHTLY cheaper than what I am paying now monthly (maybe by $10, not much at all) BUT, I also only paid $50 for my phone whereas Sprint would have made me pay $180 for the same phone. So..... yea.

 

[strollin]

I had a Kindle Fire which I have since given to my son and currently have a Galaxy Tab 2.0 7, neither of which have 3/4G. While it's true that you must have wifi access to do internet related stuff on the tablets, they are still plenty useful without internet access. There are games you can download, videos, books to read, music, etc... There are also productivity apps that will let you jot notes, view/edit Office files, etc...

The Kindle Fire doesn't have a camera or GPS so it can't be used for those functions but the Nexus 7 you are considering has both so you can use it as a GPS device and you can use the camera to scan things, take pictures, movies, etc...

As others have said, if you have a phone capable of creating a hotspot then you can access the internet that way. You can use that in a moving car but it's a little iffy because your 3/4G may drop on and off as you move from cell tower to cell tower or you encounter dead spots with no cell coverage.

 

[ayan]

I don't really think it will make a difference unless you're traveling alot out of the city. My brother owns an tablet that does not have 3g/4g, and it's perfectly fine using the wireless. I'm not very fond of any kind of tablet, but i don't think it will make a difference.