Using a cellular iPad on the Isle of Man.

[David Cooper]

I have an unlocked 3rd gen cellular/Wi-Fi iPad. I will be going on holiday to the Isle of Man. EE my cellular network provider treat the Isle of Man as aboard & do not support iPad roaming.

I have visited all of the major mobile suppliers shops & they say they don't cover the Isle of Man either.

I contacted Manx Telcom. They came back & suggested this pay as you go nano SIM  http://shop.manxtelecom.com/p.aspx?productid=1049&groupid=1&categoryid=1&sectionid=6&id=c5dfd2f7-951e-488d-8409-7e7052a4b4ae&pagepos=1 Their website describes the SIM as providing minutes & texts plus 10MB of data.  Not sure that this SIM is suitable I emailed back to check. Days later they have not replied.

I would like internet access while I am out & about on the island. Does anyone in the group know of a suitable SIM.

Regards. Dave Cooper.

http://bridgemeister.com/imgresults.php?term=Dave+cooper&type=all

[Derek Buttery]

David

Whilst working up there, over 10 yrs ago now, we had similar issues with cell phones / providers / roaming etc., it seems that they're still a few years behind, regarding technologies pf the day.

Have you searched for free local wifi eg libraries, pubs etc?

Sent from my iPhone

[David Cooper]

Thank's Derek,

I fear that you are correct about the Isle of Man's mobile phone, mobile internet infrastructure. As far as an iPad Sim goes Manx Telecom can't come up with the goods.

I have found a Wi-Fi facility over there that will give me full internet access. I had been hoping to use the OS map finder App to record my routes on the Isle of Man but I can't use it without mobile access.

After my experience on Shetland I did not check out libraries etc. because up there they only give limited web access. Most of the internet is blocked. This includes iCloud, Gmail & other webmail. I can receive email using Mail but not send it. It's one of the reasons. Along with the ability to carry it inside a motorcycle jacket that I went for a cellular enabled iPad.

Regards. Dave Cooper.

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[Drew Reece]

You may want to setup a VPN account before you go. In theory they shouldn't be modifying the HTTPS traffic so you may find that gmail & the like can work. A VPN should encrypt everything making it difficult to block via the filters, unless they are being evil & stripping/ blocking the encryption :^)
It should route data via web ports instead of the IMAP ports that Mail app uses (enable the send all data option to encrypt the DNS lookups in too).
VPN's are slower but it can get you out in a pinch. You will still need to have legitimate access to the portal page though.

OS Mapfinder claims to do offline, is it just pants without cellular data, or are the tiles too much?

You can cache map tiles if you jailbreak & leave some space.

Re:co

[David Cooper]

Thank's Drew,

Unfortunately I would need help to set up a VPN account. Until sometime in the last twelve months Shetland phone/internet access went via a microwave link from Caithness piggybacked over Orkney. 3MB was described as fast broadband. Anything that slowed access even more would have just increased the frequency of timed out messages.

We travel round rural areas of the UK on a regular basis. The purchase of a cellular enabled freed me from needing to find accessible Wi-Fi. BT list one hotspot near the 30 plus miles of the A897. Plus I don't think it's near enough to to road to be accessible anyway.

I am not sure how the Ordnance Survey Mapfinder would work away from Wi-Fi. I don't know how it does it because the iPad does not have GPS . But even with the iPad's Wi-Fi and cellular turned off Mapfinder is still able to is able to more or less able to find your current location. I have only tried this in urban areas that have been Wi-Fi/mobile signal rich. Unless anyone knows any different I see this as an indication that it may work in the Isle of Man. ( I have downloaded two 1:500,000 Isle of Man map tiles. I have just looked, all the other IoM tiles are currently listed in Purchase as unavailable. )

I have stared using OS Mapfinder 1:250,000 maps in place of the paper versions. They don't take up any physical space, don't weigh anything & are more manageable than paper in windy conditions. But don't expect the maps to be up to date. I downloaded the tile covering Vidlin, Shetland in the last few months. Amongst other out of date info it still shows a post office. Herculson's ceased being a post office at least five years ago in a round of rationalisation.

Regards. Dave Cooper.

http://bridgemeister.com/imgresults.php?term=Dave+cooper&type=all

[Ian Collier]

Just one minor correction - if your iPad has 3G it does indeed also have GPS.

--Ian

___________________

Ian Collier

ian.c...@mac.com

+44 7866 510075

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[Drew Reece]

I think you are right about Mapfinder, I was thinking the iPad had cellular & GPS. I'd doubt it will be very accurate on just wifi. It looks like The Isle of Man has been 'streetview scanned' so maybe some access points are in the DB.

I thought all cellular iPads had GPS (at least AssistedGPS), you should be able to get a GPS fix, but you'll need an app that has the tiles pre-cached.

A VPN is a case of signing up, paying and then entering the details into the settings app on iOS, you turn that option on whenever on open/ public wifi. I'd be interested to hear what providers people are using for their VPN's. I think relakks was mentioned on here a while ago. There may be free (or cheap) UK based one that may give better speed, however the encryption adds some overhead. You'll need one that supports pptp or l2tp for iOS, many free versions only support OpenVPN which doesn't play well on iOS. Let's see what others suggest.

Re:co