Using iPAd on holiday in UK and France

[RoyBurton]

iPad in France and England

Thanks for your advice. We have just returned from holiday. We spent two weeks in England, where we bought a sim card for iPad on Paddington Station for 5 pounds for a month. This worked fine wherever we went except in the hills in Wales. We hoped that it would work in France but it didn't.
In France, because we were staying in hotels, we relied on the hotel's wi-fi systems. This worked reasonably well but there were times when I had to walk around the corridors to get a connection.
What surprised me, and this may be because I am only a recent iPad user, is that our emails came direct to the ipad. I thought that we would have to get them from the server's web site, as we have done in the past, when we used to go to an internet café. Also, even though the iPad was switched off, we would sometimes hear a "ping" of emails arriving, or the swish sound of an email being sent, when because of a poor connection it didn't go immediately but somehow the connection improved and it went later.
Altogether a good experience and I would recommend anyone planning to travel to take an iPad.
Roy

 

[K1W1]

What surprised me, and this may be because I am only a recent iPad user, is that our emails came direct to the ipad.

If you have an email account set up on the iPad it will poll the mail server constantly to look for new mail.

Also, even though the iPad was switched off, we would sometimes hear a "ping" of emails arriving, or the swish sound of an email being sent, when because of a poor connection it didn't go immediately but somehow the connection improved and it went later.

Was it turned off or just asleep?
If all you did was blank the screen then it was asleep and will still pole the servers are regular intervals. If you actually turned it off (held the button down then swiped the screen) it no longer poles the servers.

 

[RocketIII]

You can set up how often the iPad checks your email account in settings. Anywhere from every 5 minutes to only when you open the email app. This also saves battery power. Another Kiwi in Auckland NZ