Did not realize the carriers had such little tablet coverage...

[JnEricsonx]

I mean, Verizon has like 15 odd options, most of which are various Ipads, or previous generation Galaxy Tab 2s. Sprint's even worse, though they do have the 7 inch Galaxy Tab 3, which looks like. I guess most carriers would what, rather sell a wifi device for someone to use with their tablet, or tethering through their phone, yet don't offer many tablets themselves? Or am I wrong?

 

[mplevy]

If they can't sell you another "line" on your plan to go with the device why would they want to sell a device? Being able to add it to the plan depends on the manufacturer including the cellular radio in the device.

With the inclusion of the ability to turn on the hotspot on your phone in most data plans now, there's little need to get a tablet with a data plan. In fact, my dad just replaced a first-gen iPad (with cellular data) with a WiFi-only iPad 4 for that same reason.

 

[Thom]

I moved this thread to the forum where general tablet discussions are held.

... Thom

 

[mikedt]

Probably because Verizon is not really interested in selling WiFi tablets. They're not Radio Shack or Best Buy. Much more $$$ in selling you a two year contract or extending your existing one.

 

[jhawkkw]

Selling data enabled tablets has been one area that hasn't really caught on with any carrier. Customers don't want to pay the higher price for the device itself since they aren't subsidized, and then paying for a data package on top of that just makes it not as cost efficient as a WiFi tablet.

T-Mobile is trying to change that by allowing you to buy tablets on their installment plan system and giving you the option of 200MB of data free each month with the ability to buy more if you want it. It's not an astounding amount, but it's enough that will get you through in a pinch if you're ever in an area without WiFi and you either can't tether due to carrier restrictions, lack of data left on your phone data bucket, or low battery on your phone.

 

[JnEricsonx]

Fair enough. I just honestly thought there'd be more of that is all.