Will SP4 come with a SIM card slot, for GPRS/EDGE/UMTS/LTE?

[jonchis]

The title says it all ...

Will the Surface Pro 4 provide a 4G slot for inserting telecommunication SIM cards?

Set Trend, I'm on the same page - I recently thought to set up my wife with a new tablet for her mobile work and being very tired of the issues of ITunes, synching, no USB, no file browser etc. it seemed time to cross over to the Surface.
bought a fast large one, keyboard cover, extended warranty, office 365, went home to set it up....

Where's the Sim card slot? This is the new all singing iPad killer...no Sim card. I have to admit I was racing through the Web, error checking - no sim.

back to the store, shared the problem - "Are you sure sir?" ..they all went looking, web checking - no sim.

short discussion, the new Surface was returned, full refund, I had to purchase another iPad. If we can't pull out the unit when travelling, in a non-wifi zone, without having to set up a mobile hotspot, synch up then terminate the hotspot, this is going nowhere.

I was seriously excited about the prospect of getting back to Microsoft and the excellent new OS, connectivity, a file browser - everything. But here we are, back with another iPad...

 

[SetTrend]

@jonchis: Absolutely.

In this thread, @optical1 proposed some alternatives to the Surface Pro. I followed his suggestions and I have now come to my decision to buy a HP Elite x2 1012. It comes with all the Surface Pro 4 features plus SIM slot plus Magnetometer (Compass) plus some advantages in durability (battery pack and SSD are replaceable).

 

[Yillbs]

@jonchis: Absolutely.

In this thread, @optical1 proposed some alternatives to the Surface Pro. I followed his suggestions and I have now come to my decision to buy a HP Elite x2 1012. It comes with all the Surface Pro 4 features plus SIM slot plus Magnetometer (Compass) plus some advantages in durability (battery pack and SSD are replaceable).

That looks like a beast, to bad they are all sold out Follow up with an update on how you liked it!

 

[GreyFox7]

That looks like a beast, to bad they are all sold out Follow up with an update on how you liked it!

They are not all sold out but the model you want may be
elite x2 1012 Search Result | HP® Official Store

Some of these models I couldn't figure out what was different between them. Thank god for the minimalist craze and horrible web sites.

 

[dstrauss]

I dont imagine there is a big enough market to justify it. You can thank greedy network providers for that. The vast majority just tether instead of paying for yet another contract.

I honestly don't understand how LTE capability has any bearing on something being considered portable or not.

I think this is the real answer. Even if it is "only" $10, when every member of the family has a tablet or other device, those 10's begin to add up, and in my case, since I still have an iPad Air 2 (getting little to no use at this time) it would be $20. I can see if you are hard core 24/7 data connected it would be simpler than tethering, but for most folks on a limited basis tethering is much more practical.

 

[Yillbs]

I think this is the real answer. Even if it is "only" $10, when every member of the family has a tablet or other device, those 10's begin to add up, and in my case, since I still have an iPad Air 2 (getting little to no use at this time) it would be $20. I can see if you are hard core 24/7 data connected it would be simpler than tethering, but for most folks on a limited basis tethering is much more practical.

They are not all sold out but the model you want may be
elite x2 1012 Search Result | HP® Official Store

Some of these models I couldn't figure out what was different between them. Thank god for the minimalist craze and horrible web sites.

(4 GB DDR3L-1866 onboard and 4 GB DDR3L-1866 SDRAM)
Do you happen to know what they are saying when they list the ram lol? I dont' think i've ever seen ram listed this way ?

 

[Yillbs]

I think this is the real answer. Even if it is "only" $10, when every member of the family has a tablet or other device, those 10's begin to add up, and in my case, since I still have an iPad Air 2 (getting little to no use at this time) it would be $20. I can see if you are hard core 24/7 data connected it would be simpler than tethering, but for most folks on a limited basis tethering is much more practical.

I concur with you. However why market it as a " pro " device? the VAST majority of people using it as such would want the connectivity over battery life. Some people, like myself, are in the engineering field and it's way more difficult to tether the phones to the device, it's time consuming, and while I won't speak for most people, my time is valuable, and i don't want to

On a side note, if We DO tether for work, we usually have a work phone. So now not only do we go into the field with our personal phone, we have to bring out work phone so we can tether, so we're not using our personal phones data. I know it all sounds VERY silly to most people, but the ones that DO use the phone as a PRO device, run into these hurdles every day.

 

[GreyFox7]

(4 GB DDR3L-1866 onboard and 4 GB DDR3L-1866 SDRAM)
Do you happen to know what they are saying when they list the ram lol? I dont' think i've ever seen ram listed this way ?

I think the elite x2 is upgradeable/serviceable and 4gb is non-removable but who knows they could have meant just about anything.

 

[dstrauss]

...On a side note, if We DO tether for work, we usually have a work phone. So now not only do we go into the field with our personal phone, we have to bring out work phone so we can tether, so we're not using our personal phones data. I know it all sounds VERY silly to most people, but the ones that DO use the phone as a PRO device, run into these hurdles every day.

Not silly - you have the very use case for built-in LTE, but I think that is the exception to the rule, and they are trying to garner the most market possible...

 

[GreyFox7]

Not silly - you have the very use case for built-in LTE, but I think that is the exception to the rule, and they are trying to garner the most market possible...

Agreed, by all accounts WiFi iPads out sell LTE iPads, WiFi tablets out sell LTE tablets. The ROI on additional LTE SKUs wont be great or may even be negative.

 

[hughlle]

And you can thank carriers for a lot of that. If they were not so greedy maybe more people would buy a plan.

I just checked my provider.

£28 a month for 20gb. For 20gb it isn't worth my time. Yet for my phone I get hundreds of minutes, unlimited texts, and unlimited 4g for £17 a month. They have neglected to upgrade their infrastructure and as such have to try and give you a reason not to use their precious bandwidth.

 

[SetTrend]

That's strange. Don't your providers offer a secondary SIM card on the same contract? That's what I'm using: 33 € with 2 GB for my smartphone's SIM card. And now an additional 4 € a month for a secondary SIM card for the same number. I'll just buy/insert that secondary SIM card into the tablet and that's it. Just 4 € more.