Why there is no 3G ? - Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime

Why ASUS didn't include 3G into this tablet, nowdays thats like a must thing to do... with that would be perfect tablet!

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Samsung, HTC, and Motorola have existing relations with all the Wireless phone services. That may have something to do with Asus being left out. But besides the Xoom and the Apple, are there any other Wireless Tablets available for contract with wireless phone company?

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nook-color said:
Samsung, HTC, and Motorola have existing relations with all the Wireless phone services. That may have something to do with Asus being left out. But besides the Xoom and the Apple, are there any other Wireless Tablets available for contract with wireless phone company?
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Couldn't they just do an unlocked 3G version without having any connection to wireless companies?

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For personal use i don't think i will need 3g much. If/When i do, i have my rooted phone to tether to. So i don't see 3G as that needed a feature. And after following a lot of tech blogs and such it seems a lot of the people commenting are wanting wifi tablets only a lot too. So That could be part of it. Also until they have a shared data plan, cause who wants to pay for 2 data plans, i don't see my self paying for 3g even if it had the radio to do it.
However, for business use i would like one with 3g in it. Since i wouldn't trust people to know how to tether much less have a phone that can tether. So in this case simpler is much better. So for business use i will need to look at a different product which makes me sad. and if the treasurer for our non-profit has her way it will be a ipad ... which makes me very very sad. So a 3G model would have been awesome as well.
---------- Post added at 09:20 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:14 PM ----------
Smyc151 said:
Couldn't they just do an unlocked 3G version without having any connection to wireless companies?
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Correct me if i am wrong, but 3G isn't like cellular networks right? It has to be someone certain radio signal to work correctly meaning you have to work with that company ( be it at&t t-mobile version or sprint or who ever).
Like why the at&t iphone will work on t-moblie but it doesn't have t-moblies radios so you can't get 3G.
And say they just put AT&T radios in with out asking for whatever ( i don't know if you can do that or if it even matters, but just say they did) if at&T didn't want to support the device they could just block the device and not sell plans to it.
So i don't think it is just as easy as "unlocked 3G"

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The dock has a USB port, so just connect a mobile data dongle to it?

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dragonithe said:
The dock has a USB port, so just connect a mobile data dongle to it?
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Can android interpret the data dongle natively?(like Linux (at least it did on Linux Mint last time i tired)) or will a custom app need to be made for it to work if it works at all? (like windows). it is a interesting idea though. If it doesn't work out of the box (i doubt it but never know) someone should really make an app that will make it work. Since i already have a data dongle thing somewhere. lol

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Sprint might be getting it if you look at their CES invite the folds look just like that origami screen cover!
Sent from my PC36100 using Tapatalk

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Charles_A said:
Correct me if i am wrong, but 3G isn't like cellular networks right? It has to be someone certain radio signal to work correctly meaning you have to work with that company ( be it at&t t-mobile version or sprint or who ever).
Like why the at&t iphone will work on t-moblie but it doesn't have t-moblies radios so you can't get 3G.
And say they just put AT&T radios in with out asking for whatever ( i don't know if you can do that or if it even matters, but just say they did) if at&T didn't want to support the device they could just block the device and not sell plans to it.
So i don't think it is just as easy as "unlocked 3G"
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I'm not the best source about this information, so please excuse me if I'm wrong. But I thought that most 3G were on similar frequencies, and therefore it would be easy to make a 3G antenna which could communicate on all of them. The reason why I ask, is that I had a T-Mobile Android phone and brought it to the UK a few months ago, and can use it on any network here (since it's unlocked), and only have to change the network operators (or something like that, I can't exactly recall) info so it connects to the right towers. And it works perfectly fine. If I can do that with a crappy old Android phone, why couldn't it be done with Transformer?
But on the whole, I agree with you. It's so much cheaper to buy a tethering plan for most phones than it would be to give it its own 3G service, that for most people just doing a wireless hotspot with their phone would make more sense. But it's still a legitimate question for some people

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Charles_A said:
Can android interpret the data dongle natively?(like Linux (at least it did on Linux Mint last time i tired)) or will a custom app need to be made for it to work if it works at all? (like windows). it is a interesting idea though. If it doesn't work out of the box (i doubt it but never know) someone should really make an app that will make it work. Since i already have a data dongle thing somewhere. lol
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I know that Archos uses a dongle that slides into the tablet that is powered by USB, so it's not impossible. But I don't know if it's naively implanted.
And if not, maybe some dev's can port the software from the archos devices to the prime to get a USB dongle to work.

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I will personally use a wifi modem, that way it doesn't even use the battery of the tab, and I could share the connexion with whoever I want.

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I just put my phone in hotspot mode when I need a connection and Wifi is not available. But in that last 2 years I have only had to do that 3 or 4 times. I don't see any need for 3/4g, and the associated extra costs, in a tablet.

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Personally I would never pay extra for a 3g version and then have to pay a monthly fee on top of that. In Canada at least the monthly fee is not that cheap.
I wonder if there are stats on how many of each of the ipad models were sold? The original and ipad2 were both released with a 3g model at launch right? It would be interesting to see how big the 3g market is

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Probably just to keep costs down. And I honestly don't view 3G as a must do thing. It'll be a while before people start to see data plans attached to devices as a given. Right now, if I need internet while I'm out and about with my tablet I just set up my phone as a hotspot. It's still a bit rare when I feel the need for internet when I'm not at home (most of the time I'll be reading or watching things already stored) but it came in handy while waiting in line for Black Friday.

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as the prime is already available for some, could you please test if a 3G dongle works? my interest is not so much in internet connectivity but using mobile TV which only works via 3G here and not over a wifi connection due to legal requirements..

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I heard somewhere that they don't because it's not a very popular market. They are aware most people have data plans on their phones and don't want to spend extra on a separate plan for a tablet. Plus most people will just tether from there phones if they need to connect out of wifi range.

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3G would be nice in theory, but I wouldn't be willing to pay for another data subscription when I already have one for my phone.

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3G does indeed run on different frequencies. especially in the US, it's a giant clusterfuck of various bands that carriers use as well as completely different technologies for it.
verizon and sprint both use CDMA and different freq
tmobile and at&t both use GSM (like most of europe) at run at different freq. (it's the reason an unlocked iphone will work on tmobile, but you won't get 3g on it.)
for asus to come out with a 3g (or 4g) enabled tablet in the states, it would mean working with some provider to support and sell it, which asus being such a small player would be tough to get any of the big providers to get on board.
one solution would be to install a quad or penta band gsm radio in it (like the galaxy nexus) and let people use it however they want, but then cost comes into play.
personally, i've never seen the draw to 3g enabled tablets, as most people who have one also have a smartphone that they can probably tether to the device.
if i really wanted to get 3g and not tether in some way, i'd probably rather get a hotspot for the same price (service wise) and not use up my tablets battery powering the radio and also be able to connect multiple devices to it.

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maybe i shouldn't have replied to this thread but created a new one
what i asked is whether a 3G dongle would work (similar to what archos does), but i guess not
asus could support that and not care about a 3G tablet version, only put the drivers and apps into the firmware.
3G connectivity is cheap in austria, unlimited data plan (without throttle) with 10mbit/s for 15 euros/month (or even much cheaper with throttle), but as i said, i'd only need it for mobile TV.

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nook-color said:
Samsung, HTC, and Motorola have existing relations with all the Wireless phone services. That may have something to do with Asus being left out. But besides the Xoom and the Apple, are there any other Wireless Tablets available for contract with wireless phone company?
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Click to collapse
The U.S. isn't like the rest of the world. With the exception of Asus, all the manufacturers offer both 3G and Wi-Fi versions of their tablets. Some of what's available in the U.S. are adaptations of those. And data plans in a lot of countries aren't as expensive and don't lock you in to two-year contracts making 3G much more popular outside the U.S.
Asus said in the spring they'd launch a 3G version of the TF1. In November, they sent them out to reviewers. It's still not released and may never be. Apparently, Asus isn't big on 3G.
http://www.tabletbite.com/3g-asus-transformer-spotted-wild-picture-4316/
Charles_A said:
For personal use i don't think i will need 3g much. If/When i do, i have my rooted phone to tether to. So i don't see 3G as that needed a feature. And after following a lot of tech blogs and such it seems a lot of the people commenting are wanting wifi tablets only a lot too.
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Click to collapse
I have a HSPA+ 21 UK tablet that I use on AT&T. It's $20 a month with unlimited data and MMS because it's just another non-smartphone on my account. Tethering is a pain in the ass. Get out the phone, turn on Wi-Fi sharing, connect the tablet, disconnect the tablet, turn off Wi-Fi sharing. If you forget the last thing you're phone's battery is shot. It's shot anyway becasue Wi-Fi sharing's a huge drain. Connecting a tablet after it's been offline's also a pain while you wait for everything to sync before you can start using it. With all the carriers (except Sprint) starting to throttle for excessive usage splitting data over two devices keeps each devices data usage down. I'm usually at 4-6GB a month on both my phone and tablet individually. It's great when you're traveling to be able just whip the tablet out quickly and start using it. I'm not selling anyone on the idea of 3G but it has its advantages.
And there's zero chance the Prime has a GSM radio in it. It wasn't shown in the tear down and wasn't in the sample sent to the FCC for clearance.

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yea i had a xoom and phone and it was too much to pay for data so now im just goona hotspot it and not pay $40 for something i dont need.