3 confirms new iPad pricing and availability
Available March 16th in both one month and 2-year contract varieties
Network provider 3 has just announced pricing for the forthcoming iPad 3. From the 16th of March, customers will be able to buy a 16, 32 or 64GB model on a variety of data contracts.
Every 24-month contract includes 15GB of data, with the choice to pay either £29 or £25 per month. The best deal looks to be the two-year, £25 per month contract for a 16GB model, which includes a £159 initial cost to bring the total amount to £760 over the length of the contract.
If you don’t want to be tied down to one network provider, 3 will also be selling the new iPad with one-month rolling contracts. The 16GB model will cost £479, then £549 for the 32GB and £629 for the 64GB models. The £15 per month bundle includes 10GB of data, or users that aren’t frequent 3G users can opt for the £7.50 per month contract that includes 1GB of data.
With the best 3G coverage in the country, 3 is also the only UK network provider to announce its plans to upgrade its service to the faster 42Mbps HSPA+ technology.
Unfortunately, UK customers won’t be able to use the new iPad’s LTE capabilities Apple demonstrated in the US when it announced the device, as there are currently no 4G networks available on this side of the Atlantic. Even when we do eventually get the faster network, the iPad’s limited LTE frequency range makes it look unlikely that’ll we’ll able to use it for faster downloads in the foreseeable future.
Would-be iPad owners can register their interest now at www.three.co.uk/ipad.