iPad Data Rates In Canada

As many people know, Rogers announced the 3G data pricing for the iPad in Canada. As expected, many people are upset about it, partially due to the lack of bandwidth, and partially due to the lack of an option to couple it with the iPhone data plan.

One good aspect of the announcement is the lack of a contract required for the data portion for the iPad. I for one am sick of locking myself into multiyear contracts, and think it’s a step in the right direction. That said, I am currently paying $30/month for the 6G/mo data plan for Rogers, so it seems silly that I can’t use some of that bandwidth for my iPad.

Truthfully, I don’t imagine many people will suck lots of bandwidth on their iPhones. Granted, it’s a new device and some bandwidth intensive applications may come out. But despite having 6G/mo on my iPhone, I don’t think I’ve ever broken through the 1GB/mo barrier yet, even with some of the tethering I’ve done. If I had a iPad 3G and a data plan, I would mostly be using the 3G data plan for purchasing books and the odd bit of web surfing. So at least for me, I suspect 250MB/mo would probably be enough.

But I purposefully didn’t but the 3G version, partially because I thought the 3G plans wouldn’t be that great (which seems to be the case), and partially because I don’t really expect to use the device in many locations without WiFi. I am disappointed that Rogers doesn’t have an option to share the iPhone’s data plan, which would seem like a no-brainer. How is it that I’m allowed to tether my laptop to it (which I consider a much more data hungry device), but am not given the ability to connect my iPad to it? I’d probably be willing to fork out $10/mo on a cell phone plan for a SIM that would allow my iPad to share the data package of my iPhone. But even the $20/mo plan that was pulled at the last second (or, according to Rogers, a mistake) is too high in my opinion. Should it really cost 66% of the monthly cost simply to share the already existing data plan? Rhetorical question with an answer of “no”.