# iPad on SaskTel



## Farmer Harv (Oct 7, 2009)

After much happiness getting my iPhone working with SaskTel's new 3G network, I decided to try it with an iPad. Went into the Big City (Saskatoon) to the new Best Buy and picked up a new 3G iPad, but they knew nothing about SaskTel micro-sim cards and gave me a Telus one instead.

Wanting to go with SaskTel I wandered into the mall and found a Jump.ca kiosk. Sadly they're as far behind the curve as my local cell place, as I had to do much explaining and assure them that I was willing to sacrifice the $11 if my device didn't work on the network. So after finally getting a sim, a new number and a 500mb plan (I'm going to have to check into this, as I'm not exactly sure of what I plan have) we were off to the lake.

Once settled in I found some scissors, and using the Telus sim as a guide I cut the SaskTel sim down to micro-sim size and popped it in. At first I had nothing, but after manually inputting the APN it came to life on the SaskTel 3G network. WhooHoo!

As I type this I'm halfway up the hill at Bayview Heights on Jackfish lake, have four bars on the signal meter and Speedtest just showed speeds of 2300 down and 180 up. 

Life is good.  Now off to sell a couple of vanilla iPads on Kijiji.


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## bhil (Oct 30, 2004)

I would be curious to know what you ended up with a for a data plan and what SaskTel is charging you. Looking at their website, they don't actually have a 500MB plan listed. Since they don't officially support iPhones and iPads yet, they don't have the specific plans for them, and you might be better off sticking with the the Telus micro-SIM and their $20/500MB data plan. If you are worried about coverage take a close look at the coverage map, it's identical to SaskTel's.


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## Farmer Harv (Oct 7, 2009)

Called last night, and I'm definitely set up on the $20 Mobile Tablet plan. 

Mobile Tablet Plans - SaskTel

Good thing I called though, as jump.ca made a couple of small mistakes and everything is good now.


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## bhil (Oct 30, 2004)

Ah, I completely missed that on their web page. Good to know as SaskTel definitely has better customer service than Telus. Do you know, can this be upgraded on the fly through the iPad, or is it just a fixed data contract? I don't see any mention of that on the page, but the page is not geared explicitly towards the iPad.


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## PhotoJim (Sep 10, 2010)

This is a fixed-price, postpaid plan, not prepaid like the Bell and Rogers plans that you buy right on the iPad. I'm not sure how Telus' plan works.

I can confirm that the Bell iPad plan works on both SaskTel and Rogers, too. There are a few areas like Regina Beach where Rogers has better coverage, although it's 2G.


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## bhil (Oct 30, 2004)

Thanks Jim, that's exactly what I wanted to know. Now if only all these rumors about the next generation iPad coming out by Christmas weren't floating around I would be looking for a 3G iPad as we speak.

And don't worry about the Regina Beach coverage, it's coming, expect it by the end of the year.


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## PhotoJim (Sep 10, 2010)

I'm not sure what a new iPad could have that would make me desperately want to have one. I managed to skip the iPhone 3GS without feeling lost and regretful. 

We have usable service at our cottage across from Regina Beach, but the speeds are not as good as Rogers 3G in the city. Still, bad 3G is better than good EDGE.


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## bhil (Oct 30, 2004)

Most specifically, the rumored front facing camera with FaceTime (my wife is going to be getting an iPhone 4 as soon as she can get out of her current contract, and I'm still on my iPhone 3G). I would rather have a 3G iPad than an iPhone 4, so I'm waiting for a camera enabled one.

If you have some coverage already that's a good sign. Official coverage for Regina Beach isn't scheduled until December so that means you are sneaking in off a different tower and the coverage will only get better.


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## PhotoJim (Sep 10, 2010)

I am likely picking up the Lumsden tower. I am probably in the shadow of the hill with respect to the Bethune tower (if it's HSPA+ yet).

I picked up an unlocked iPhone 4 (to give me the possibility of switching to SaskTel next summer, but primarily to give me the ability to use my phone with AT&T in the US and Orange in the UK). I really like it.


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