I will travel to Perth at the end of June.

Hi Hew,

In a nutshell, you can buy a SIM only. You can check out our best iPad plans here, which applies to all tablets.

As a shortcut, I'd recommend Amaysim (1300 302 842) for a few reasons. Their plans are straightforward, starting at $10 for 1GB, and their customer service is fantastic. Their app, available for iOS and Android, lets you keep an up-to-the-minute tab on your usage.Best of all, they don't sell modems or tablets or any other equipment - their whole business is in SIM cards, so dealing with them comes with no risks of trying to be sold on something else.

That said, there might be another option for data on the go. You can get battery powered modems that take the 3G data connection, and re-transmit them to your devices via Wi-Fi. This 'Pocket Wi-Fi' has a few advantages, especially with tablets.

The first advantage is a bit of a hidden secret. Most GPS apps on iOS and Android use a technology called A-GPS. This uses the SIM card to triangulate position between mobile network towers as part of the overall calculation of where you are. Putting a SIM card directly into your tablet will use this method.

Otherwise, a tablet (and smartphone) can use the Wi-Fi radio to similarly boost the performance of GPS triangulation, but will only use this when the tablet is connecting to a Wi-Fi network. This will result in roughly equal position marking, but faster direction-finding.

The other advantage of a pocket Wi-Fi connection is that the connection can be shared amongst multiple devices.

Dodo offers a pocket Wi-Fi modem from $59, that comes with the SIM card and 5GB access for your first month. These kits can usually be puchased at airports, but if you want to confirm (or purchase now to activate when you're in Perth), call Dodo on 1300 136 793.

Virgin can offer similar devices at even cheaper data rates, call Virgin on 1300 106 571.

Thanks,

Adam at CompareBroadband

1300 106 571