We are leaving for Italy in about a week and I recently purchased an IPAD. I'm still in the learning mode. With that in mind, what does the airplane mode do? Does it disable the IPAD to prevent use during the specific times the Pilot requests to turn off all electronics? Thanks Jim, I'm Really getting excited for the trip to start !!!
Posted by
Pensacola
9110 posts
What it does is shut down all the trasmitters, but leave you a camera, tunes, movies, etc. Fairly simple. What people try to do with it is use it to prevent cellular data usage. Farily stupid. You do this by turning off cellular data after turning airplane mode back on. Now you have a phone, wifi, and everything else that doesn't require data. Data will automatically kick in when you connect to wifi. What a phone or tablet won't do is dork with an airplane, mode switch or not - - some day they'll fess up to it. I've fiddled with everything possible and tried to make the airplane screw up - - it can't be done, no matte how crude or how sophisticated the electronics are.
Posted by
Tresana, Highlands Ranch, CO, USA
23661 posts
It is only an issue if you ipad has 3G/4G service. If it only has WIFI then you have nothing to worry about.
Posted by
Vernon, Canada
32402 posts
Jim, To expand on some of the previous replies, here's a bit of further information. As previous replies mention, Airplane Mode disables all wireless functions in the iPad / iPhone, including Cellular (if your iPad is equipped with that), Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, and prevents them from re-connecting. Of course, the other way you can achieve the same result would be to simply turn the device "off" (however it would have to remain "off" for the entire flight, unless you activated Airplane Mode). You can access the appropriate switch by going to the "Settings" menu. Some airlines are now providing Wi-Fi on flights, so if that's the case you could go to the Wi-Fi switch in the "Settings and turn ONLY that function "on", while leaving the device in Airplane mode. The simplest solution would be to just leave the iPad in Airplane Mode for the duration of the flight. You'll still have access to books, music, movies, camera and App's (as long as they don't require wireless connectivity). You may find it helpful to have a look at the following website: http://www.macinstruct.com/node/464 Happy travels!
Posted by
Dallas
3 posts
It's always worth being careful with roamed data when abroad. If you're looking to avoid the bill-shock thing of your iPad using lots of data then you can do what the other poster suggested and turn off cellular data. That restricts you to wifi only. What I then do if I'm going to Europe is rent a European Mifi to take with me as well and connect to its wifi signal. Its really simple. That lets me keep my cellular data off but lets me have data wherever I am, not just at my hotel or MacDonalds! The one I've used is from Cellhire and it's $59 for 1GB of data that works anywhere across Europe. I think they do country-specific ones too but for me, $59 for 1GB of data seems pretty solid value and they are a US firm that deliver in the US. Once you've used a Mifi device you'll wonder how you ever travelled without one. You can connect other devices to it as well - like a phone or laptop, or a travelling companion's device.
Posted by
Sun Prairie, WI, USA
4 posts
I saw a mention of a European Mifi. What is that? Dawn
Wisconsin
Posted by
Tuscaloosa, AL
1152 posts
Dawn, check out What is a mifi