Are these 3G Tablets Digging our Wallets Deeper?

Tablet computers have never made this big a noise since the iPad launch this year. Most tablets including Apple's shiny 10-inch device or even Samsung's Galaxy Tab (which we recently checked out) come with Wi-Fi for connecting to the net when you're around a hotspot. Many also have 3G for Internet accessibility anywhere you go. Now, something that many may tend to overlook are the recurring charges for the latter. This is more relevant to people who own tablet computers as well as smartphones (which I believe is a big percentage). For such people, they're already paying a monthly fee for 3G on their cell phone.

Over and above this, if you own an iPad 3G model, you'll be shelling out $15 per month to AT&T for a paltry 250MB. Another American carrier Sprint charges $30 per month for 2GB of usage when you purchase the Samsung Galaxy Tab via them. A possible way out of this is to share the Internet connection from your cell phone when required (known as Internet Tethering). For example, Google's Android 2.2 has a feature built-in that lets you turn your phone into a Wi-Fi hotspot. It uses its 3G connection to serve other Wi-Fi enabled devices (like say the Wi-Fi only iPad or iPod Touch) with broadband internet. A popular app called Joikuspot for Symbian devices lets you do the same. However, some operators do not allow such type of sharing of their 3G Internet to more than one device.

We still don't know the fate of 3G Internet tethering till all operators launch it. At least most of them have no such harsh restrictions for the currently running 2.5G Internet (or EDGE) service. So, for people already owning a 3G smart-phone and planning to buy a tablet, I'd suggest you do your math before jumping to buy a 3G tablet with a monthly plan. Explore Internet sharing over your smartphone before. You could save a big sum at the end of the year.