Electronics

[Black Cat Back]

A friend of mine doesn't have a computer connection at home. She said she can't buy a Kindle or tablet because she has no computer and wi-fi.

Is that true? I don't own a tablet, so I'm not sure how that works.

[Peaches McPhee]

Yes and no.

You need wifi/computer access to get the content (books, movies, games, for example) from the internet. You can do this in a public place that has wifi. You use the wifi to download content to your tablet.

Once it is there, you can use/view the content anywhere; you don't need wifi for that.

But you do need wifi/computer access to get the content to begin with.

[hckynut]

As the other poster said, yes and no.

If you don't have wi-fi in your home you ain't going to do anything that requires that connection to wi-fi to work.

[Nuttmeg]

A person needs Wi-Fi in their home to enjoy a tablet. A Public networks in your local McD's is not safe. A tablet and or smartphone updates apps each time you turn the device on. Sometimes the device does a software or hardware update. The device needs a charged battery and a good connection. You may not have a strong connection on a public network.

You do need a computer to have internet service installed in your home.

You can buy a tablet with a cellular 3G/4G data plan. A data plan maybe expensive compared to cable,FIOS, or DSL.

[glb613]

A friend of mine decided to get only an iPad for home use. The cable company who installed her internet service brought a notebook computer with him to install the wireless router. If her internet provider doesn't do this, take a notebook computer with you and install the router for her.

[apple1964]

I have xfinity [Comcast] that now has wifi.. my tablet works well with this. This wifi was a new free update with my new modem also for free.

[chrystaltree]

We have elderly friend who has and greatly enjoys his Kindle Fire, he has wi fi through Comcast. He does not have and has never owned a computer. Yes, you need wi fi for a Kindle but you don't need a computer.

[Black Cat Back]

Thanks for all the good information. That all makes sense. I'll let her know and have her do some research. The sad fact is... she doesn't even have cable TV. She uses the converter box. So, she has no cable service at all.

In this day and age, and I'm no tech wiz, it seems so inconvenient.

[jaxs mom]

You don't need an internet connection at home, you don't need a wifi network.

Both tablets and kindles are sold with the option of a cellular data plan. In the case of the e-ink kindles ( like the paperwhite), which are strictly ebook readers, there is no monthly fee and you can buy books right from the device. In the case of the Kindle fire tablet and iPad you have to pay a monthly fee to have a cellular data plan ( you can also connect with a wifi network at home or away if you have the password to the local network for free). You just choose which carrier you want to use when purchasing the tablet.

So she can just go on Amazon's website, choose which model of Kindle Fire tablet she wants, choose the data storage about ( 16 GB or whichever) and then choose Verizon or AT&T and then choose how much data she wants to be able to use per month.

With Apple you can go into the store, or Best Buy or their website and choose which iPad model, the data storage amount and then her data service provider, they offer service plans from AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile or Verizon. You should be able to also go into any of those carriers local stores and buy an iPad with data plan.

Since she sounds like she's electronics challenged her best bet is to either, have a local sales person walk her through the purchase or have a friend that has well versed in tablets help her complete the transaction. She has to buy a device that is cellular capable ( not just wifi only). These days it uses the 4G network, so they call it 4G. As in Wifi +4G.

[glb613]

You most certainly do need an internet connection. What do you think 4G is? It's a cellular connection to the internet.