Ipad beginner needs advice please

[WetAugust]

I've ordered an Ipad Wifi 16GB tablet and will pick it up on Tuesday.

I am complete beginner with tablets and with Apple too.

The Ipad does not have 3G/4G so I will be relying on wifi hotspots when I'm out and about.

How does this work. Do you just get some indication on the Ipad that it's in range of a hot spot and, if so, does it them automatically connect?

Is it possible to get by on free wifi? Or should I buy myself a mobile package to ensure that I always have mobile broadband available?
Don't really want to do this for occasional wifi use (I don't have a smart phone).

Thank you

It varies.

Some public wifi systems will bring up a login page when you open the web browser (safari on the ipad).

Some providers (such as Sky/The Cloud) provide a FastConnect app, which remembers your login details and auto connects you, though does sometimes need you to open a browser.

The thing to remember is that if you are somewhere with free wifi, you may need to tell the ipad about it - tap the settings icon, select wifi, select the network id. It will remember networks, so if you go somewhere again you may not need to tell the ipad, it will try to login.
Most free wifi requires a passcode or some kind of registration. Thus if you can't get it to work, open a browser window and navigate to something like mumsnet.com. Do not try google.com as some providers will let you use common search sites without the need to login, so being able to do a google search does not mean you have full wifi access. Hope that makes sense.

As long as you have wifi at home, then it will be fine to use that and free wifi when you are out. The ipad can do quite frequent updating of apps and the operating system, so having wifi at home is needed so that you can do bigger downloads there, which free wifi providers may not permit (or may do slowly).

iPads are great, use mine quite a lot. Good for watching tv in bed, or mumsnetting

-posted from the mumsnet ipad app-

Thank you. That#s really helpful.

I guess I'll just have to go somewhere like Costa that advertises free wifi and play around with it a bit.

Thanks - I am really looking forward to getting my hands on mine.