Useless Work IPAD - Can anything be done?

[itmar]

I am throwing myself on the MN wisdom as you have all been so helpful with my questions in the past.

Work bought me an ipad with the intention that I can take it with me to check emails when I work away from the office. Unfortunately it turns out that the one room I always work in doesn't have WIFI (the only room in the whole hospital!) I can't work anywhere else such as down the corridor or in another room and it would cost too much to have WIFI installed in the room.

Can anything be done to salvage the situation? I've heard I can't put Word or Excel onto an ipad but are there any other apps which work can buy for me so that I can work on a Word document on my computer and then easily transfer via a datastick to the ipad and back again to the computer when I'm back in the office?

Otherwise it seems a complete waste of money!

Can your iPad take a SIM? You could then use the 3G option.

You can't put Word or Excel on to your iPad but IIRC there is software to allow you to view and edit Word and Excel documents on it. Someone who actually owns one of the things will be able to help.

Sounds like a genius procurement decision. You can always spot the management teams with no technical knowledge because they're the ones who say "Why don't we convert to iPads".

Would any sim card work? I am considering an ipad but there is a big differential in price between the wifi and the 3G. We have lots of spare sim cards so that might solve my issue.

I understand that you can download something called Number to allow you to work on Excel spreadsheets.

I don't know. I suspect you'll need a data contract and a SIM from a particular telecom company. So it's going to be expensive.

Has your hospital considered a PowerLine solution (such as those made by Devolo) to create a wireless hot spot in your room? The data is sent through the mains electrical circuit.

Might be worth quizzing your IT department and checking what the rules are on them.

I have seen (on Ebay) a pretty small wireless access point (WAP) which could be plugged in to any nearby hospital-wide ethernet to give your area a wi-fi signal.

www.ebay.co.uk/itm/130389493517

Obviously it would need the IT people to set it up, but it's cheap enough to buy and with limited risk (could be put back on Ebay if you find you don't get a good enough signal, and all for under 15 quid)

At least if they know it isn't going to add 50 to 100 on top of the cost of the iPad then it should be possible to consider!

I have used this unit before, when a firm called Evesham Computers ran a web site called LowestOnTheWeb.com [or very similar] and I paid a tenner but that was over 6 years ago, and I guess the chap on Ebay bought the remainder of the stock for peanuts when Evesham closed down, and has been trying to sell them ever since... (used to be priced closer to 13 quid + delivery)

Is it a 3g Ipad? If not, can you get 3G reception in that room, maybe you could get the Three wireless dongle, we have a wireless only Ipad that we rarely use away from home, but when we do we use the dongle, it doesn't need to plug in you just need it near the Ipad.

Costs about £60 upfront then £10 a month for enough MB (can't remember how many) for general browsing and email (doesn't last long if you try streaming video or anything though).

Idea of using 3G may appeal, but it won't necessarily fit in with work use, if OP needs to access files from internal hospital network. While that might have 'internet' access, it's a whole other set of hurdles/ permissions (and cost) compared with a wi-fi link to an internal network.

Need clarification here, I was assuming the OP works for a business but their work requires them to be based in a hospital some of the time. So it depends whose network she needs to access. I was assuming it was a non hospital network, in which case her employer should be able to provide remote access via the internet? Using 3G would be very slow for this though I would think.

Install DropBox for ease of accessing files from multiple computers. You will, however, need internet access for this..

You will not be able to access 3G if you do not have a 3G iPad.

You can get apps to do Word/Excel editing - Numbers and Pages are the Apple ones but there are others.

Ah, yes, I see your thinking now, WhoKnowsWhereTheTimeGoes

As for 3G being slow, I think it really depends on which network you use...

Have had some good upload and download speeds on Three with a recently (2012) bought USB modem in place of the one supplied in 2008 (which I lent to someone, and hasn't yet been returned {grrrrr}).

SoupDragon, WhoKnowsWhereTheTimeGoes suggested a way around needing a 3G iPad, using the 'MiFi' from Three. It's a mobile 3G-linked Wi-Fi router.

I have a similar unit from Three (but mine is for use indoors and was 40 quid), the ZTE MF10, which (like the MiFi unit) can handle up to 5 devices and shares the 3G mobile internet connection between them.

You can do the same with some mobile phones. My Three mobile has 'all you can eat' data allowance and making it into a wireless hotspot is a matter of enabling that function. Don't know how many other phones could share the connection (it would get a bit hot with two transmitters running without a break!) but I have used it with my Android tablet.

Wow everyone thank you! I thought I would have one or two replies but you've really amazed me.

I cant say I understand half of what is written but I'll print this off and speak to my manager about what to do. We've at least got some suggestions of what to do to make these worthwhile.

xxx

If you work in a hospital then it is incredibly unlikely the IT team will allow you to plug anything into the network to extend wifi coverage.

As for MS Office, yes you can put documents onto the ipad and edit them using other tools. You are unlikely to want to. I think I'd rather waterboard myself than type a long document on an ipad screen.

Me too TBH. It's briliant for email and browsing, but I always gravitate back to the desktop/laptop for anything more than a few lines of typing. We've got a little keyboard with ours but even with that it's not great.