A question about tablets

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Rickles

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#100205 5-Apr-2012 08:29

I may not be seeing the wood for the tress, but ....

Tablets are being advertised with either wifi, or wifi & 3G connectiivity.

Wifi I understand, but With regard to 3G (mobile broadband), are the devices already 'hardwired' for a particulalr telco, or does one buy a SIM card and pop it into the device? Maybe the device acts similar to wifi, and picks up all the telco's offering mobile broadband and you choose the one you have purchased data with?

R.

RunningMan

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#605480 5-Apr-2012 08:43

You buy a SIM card for the telco you want to use - either pre-pay or normal account.

Rickles

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#605524 5-Apr-2012 09:29

Thanks for that .... a (USA) friends' iPad had no SIM card slot, and appeared to be 'hardwired' for a teleco service. Likewise his Kindle.

R.

jonb

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#605528 5-Apr-2012 09:34

You also need to be aware of the 'WCDMA' frequencies the 3G tablet supports, some won't work on the Telecom XT network, or have limited coverage on vodafone/2degrees.

Jaxson

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#605533 5-Apr-2012 09:45

Yeah there's a general be careful rule when you're sourcing yourself from out of NZ. That's potentially a pretty key bit of info there....

Rickles

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#605547 5-Apr-2012 09:55

So, similar to mobile phones, one needs to look at both the SIM capability, as well as the device's ability to handle any particular SIM/network so that they 'match'.

Thanks guys.