iPad 3G data plans: the big international showdown

Apple has finally opened iPad preorders in 9 new countries and mobile operators have come out of the woodwork to slam us with their iPad 3G offers. A quick look at our forums and at our internal mailing list shows that, in France, quite a number of people have changed their minds after a glance at the outrageous data rates: instead of ordering a 3G+wifi iPad, they'll simply take a wifi version. Which is what I just did.

So, for clarity's sake, I decided to do a comprehensive comparison of the data plans offered by the various operators in the 10 countries in which iPad is now officially available. Please note that some operators have not announced anything while some others have made press releases but still have to update their websites accordingly. The long table at the end of this articles shows all the available plans, sorted by types (with or without contract, prepaid or unlimited) and by increasing price per Gigabyte.

First remark: prices vary wildly from country to country and from operator to operator and, more suprisingly, from one country to the other for the same operator! For example, Orange UK offer a prepaid 3GB/month plan for 17.25€, while in France their 2GB/month plan goes for 39€, or more than twice the price for 1/3 less data!
The short table below is an excerpt from the comprehensive survey, showing how Orange rates vary from country to country.

If we look at the cost per GB of prepaid plans, the cheapest is the Orange offer in the UK, with 2.88€/GB, while SFR, in France, is king of the robbers with their 72MB/3 days offer costing 9090€⁄ or a whoping 132€/GB!!!
In a single country, for example France, the situation is a bit more balanced: all plans are similarly overpriced, with only SFR offering an "unlimited" data plan, which is actually 1GB at full bandwidthm then the rest is throttled (with no mention of how reduced the bandwidth is). If you are in France, it's then reasonnable to really think before buying a 3G iPad, especially if you already have an iPhone with a data plan (Orange even goes as far as offering a pathetic 15% discount on iPad data plans if you have a voice plan with them. 15%, come on!).
If you are simply looking for an emergency data solution, Vodafone Italiy offers a cool 500MB/1 day for 5€, which can come in handy.
Clearly the best offer is that of Telefonica in Spain: if you have an iPhone data plan with them, you can use it with your iPad at no extra cost!

So, why did the French (and other) operators decide on offering such unappealing data plans for iPad, when the iPhone data plans are usually quite cost-effective? The reason is likely that, with iPhone, Apple granted exclusivity for the first carriers, and that voice plans come with 12/24 month contracts, meaning operators were capturing customers (new or existing) and thus, guaranteed revenue. With iPad, all they could hope for were bandwidth-gobbling users who would leave them for the competition as soon as a better offer was up. This might also be a way for operators to strike back at Apple after the harsh conditions they were imposed during the iPhone negocitations.

So, 3G or WiFi-only iPad? It's up to you to decide, now that you have the complete picture.