Ting wireless has announced that they will now support iPad and iPad mini Sprint compatible devices on its network. While a Ting iPad is not available to purchase directly, they are allowing people to bring their own device.
At the moment, the only iPad models that currently work will be the 4th generation iPad and 1st generation iPad mini. Ting says that later generations will be supported on the network around a year from a devices’s release date.
Since Ting has already had a lot of success with it’s BYOD (bring your own device) program for the iPhone 4, iPhone 4s, and iPhone 5 it only made sense to continue the support for the popular Apple products.
The nice thing about being able to use a tablet like an iPad on the Ting network is that you don’t have to lock yourself into a long term data contract with the big telecom companies like Verizon or AT&T. With Ting you can just pay for only the data you use on their generous tiered data rate plan. So if you only use up to 100MB a month then that is only $3, or $12 if you use up to 500 MB of data a month.
Of course, the $6 per device on your plan would still apply to a tablet. So if you have both a mobile phone and an iPad on your Ting service, then the base cost would be $12 ($6 for each device) plus the cost of whatever minutes, text messages, and data that each device uses.
If you are the type of person who is on the road and needs to use an iPad for limited uses like checking email and casual web browsing then a Ting plan might make a lot of sense as an affordable data option. However, if you are the type of person who streams a lot of data to your iPad such as watching movies or music from services like Netflix, Pandora, or Spotify; then the cost per use payment model might not be worth it compared to an unlimited plan from another data provider.
It’s really nice to see this innovative company keeping up with its device offerings by offering Ting iPad support and I look forward to the continued addition of more devices, particularly other tablet options.
If anyone reading is using an iPad on the Ting network, please let us know how it is working for you in the comments below.