Having a monthly data contract on your tablet can be hard to stomach when you already pay for data on your phone, and assuming your smartphone tariff includes tethering it’s also generally unnecessary.
But there are times when your phone’s battery is flat or you’re simply low on data and would love to be able to get online, and for those times Three now has a solution.
The network has teamed up with Otono to offer the latter’s AlwaysOnline Wireless service in the UK. This is a service which charges users for data by the hour, day or megabyte, rather than tying them into a contract, and it’s available across 74 countries and can be set up direct from your device.
It relies on the Apple SIM to work, which means the device in question has to be an iPad Pro 9.7, iPad Pro 12.9, iPad Air 2, iPad mini 3, or iPad mini 4 and it has to be a Wi-Fi + Cellular model of course, but that still accounts for a huge number of tablets in the wild.
As it uses Three’s network in the UK you’ll be able to get a network signal anywhere you would with Three, which accounts for most populated regions of the UK, as well as many rural areas.
But you don’t have to be on Three to use it, in fact you don’t even have to be a UK resident – visitors to the country will be able to take advantage of affordable mobile data too, while those who do live in the UK can also use AlwaysOnline Wireless in any of the other countries it’s available.
Three hasn't yet confirmed availability of the service, but if you have a compatible device you should be able to find 'AlwaysOnline' under the list of available networks when you head into Settings>Mobile Data>Set Up Mobile Data. Just select this and you'll be prompted to create an account or login, then you can pick your plan and get online.
Data starts at 37p per megabyte of 4G data when purchased by the hour, but other plans, such as £4.50 for 500MB over 24 hours, or £8.26 for 1GB available for 15 days, are also available. All of which should make the cellular versions of Apple’s slates desirable even to people who have no interest in a long term data contract.