Flight Crew Instrument; Flight Crew Multiengine; Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe
General None Reported / Taken
Company Policy
I flew with a First Officer who could not use the cellular service on his iPad to download the flight plan; weather; and etc.; before his flight. WiFi was not available in the terminal. I tried to upload my information to him via Bluetooth but that did not work either. His iPad was not recognized by my iPad. The following day; he called the iPad help desk. They told him that he had gone over his monthly allotment of cellular megabits and that his iPad was locked out. His request to unlock it was denied. He was instructed to get a loaner iPad for his next sequence and was informed that he would have to wait until the new cycle starts before his iPad would be unlocked again for cellular service. He was able to download everything on one of our legs because the terminal had a WiFi service; but on other legs I was the only one to download flight information.I don't agree with the company's decision to just lock up an iPad. This is an important tool for our flight planning. Somebody artificially decided what our monthly cellular allotment is. We often don't have a choice and have to use cellular service to download everything. I personally am close to exceeding my own allotment because in the last two weeks I have flown four trips. I suggest that the company increases our cellular allotment or gives us some extra megabits when approaching a limit. Just taking away the only device we have in the middle of a trip is unsafe. The company is not giving us enough cellular allocation. Many airports don't have WiFi available. [I suggest] increasing the cellular allocation.
B737-800 Captain reported the Company iPads are at times unable to obtain flight plans and weather information because the allocated data plan had been exceeded.