iPad Air with LTE tip: You can switch carrier SIMs at will

[ilovejedd]

Originally Posted by jocampo

iPad mini retina or old ones ?

Check Verizon and Tmobile site. I do believe that now you can bring your new retina Mini or iPad air and they will activate it.

Like I said, my new Mini is Tmobile and I was able to browse Internet with the Verizon's SIM. So clearly, the device was allow to use Verizon's cellphone towers.

iPad Air (Model A1475) and iPad mini with Retina display (Model A1490). Use yes. If you had used a new Verizon SIM card, though, you probably would have had troubles activating on your T-Mobile iPad.

The problem here isn't really technical. There's only one model of the iPad Air and iPad Mini with Retina which can be used on all partner carriers and in the US, at least, they're all unlocked. However, carriers in the US can be stupid. There's really no good reason why you can't activate a "T-Mobile" iPad on Verizon aside from Verizon's stupid whitelist. Key word here being activate. As long as you already have an active Verizon SIM, you can put it on any device (including the Nexus 7 FHD LTE) and you'll be able to use cellular data just fine.

Originally Posted by jocampo

In USA, at least a year or two ago, Tmobile technology was different. So you were not able to use a AT&T device on Tmobile and viceversa, at least! not at full speed. I think still that's the case, but the new iPad chip is not carrier dependent so makes stuff easier.

The latest iPads now support the AWS 1700 band T-Mobile uses on both 3G/HSPA and LTE. With T-Mobile's refarming of the GSM 1900 band to HSPA, even older iPads are now usable with T-Mobile 3G in majority of serviced areas (I believe T-Mobile has a press release mentioning 95% of its coverage area has been refarmed).

Originally Posted by afv011

That does not contradict what was said earlier. As long as the SIM had been activated on a Verizon device, it would work. It is different if it is a new SIM and you inserted for the very first time on a non-Verizon device.

Yep, exactly.

Originally Posted by HarryT

I'm a little confused. Verizon is a CDMA network, isn't it? I thought that CDMA devices didn't use SIM cards

GSM/SIM card, I believe, is a requirement for LTE so all Verizon LTE devices have a SIM card slot (at least that's what I've been told). Certainly, the Verizon iPads have had SIM card slots since the iPad 3. Besides, the latest iPad models are universal supporting 14 LTE bands.

Originally Posted by jocampo

Have you visited Verizon recently ?

I'm in Texas. After buying my Tmobile mini I did. The guy in the store tried to convince me of getting a monthly plan with my new Tmobile Mini. So it looks they are relaxing the policy.

If you call customer service and try to activate a Verizon SIM on a non-Verizon iPad, you'll get a line that you can only use Verizon devices. Same is true for some corporate stores based on experience by other users from MacRumors forums. If your local store is lax on this policy, good for you. However, I'd like to see it actually working first before recommending getting a non-Verizon iPad for use with Verizon service.

Originally Posted by jocampo

Micro SIM.

My old Verizon Mini uses one, shown in the picture.

The new Minis use micro SIMs as well, including Verizon.

Correction, the iPad mini, iPad mini with Retina and iPad Air use Nano SIM (same as iPhone 5 and 5s). The iPad 2 (GSM), iPad 3 and 4 all use Micro SIM (same as iPhone 4 and 4S).

[jocampo]

Originally Posted by ilovejedd

iPad Air (Model A1475) and iPad mini with Retina display (Model A1490). Use yes. If you had used a new Verizon SIM card, though, you probably would have had troubles activating on your T-Mobile iPad.

The problem here isn't really technical. There's only one model of the iPad Air and iPad Mini with Retina which can be used on all partner carriers and in the US, at least, they're all unlocked. However, carriers in the US can be stupid. There's really no good reason why you can't activate a "T-Mobile" iPad on Verizon aside from Verizon's stupid whitelist. Key word here being activate. As long as you already have an active Verizon SIM, you can put it on any device (including the Nexus 7 FHD LTE) and you'll be able to use cellular data just fine.


The latest iPads now support the AWS 1700 band T-Mobile uses on both 3G/HSPA and LTE. With T-Mobile's refarming of the GSM 1900 band to HSPA, even older iPads are now usable with T-Mobile 3G in majority of serviced areas (I believe T-Mobile has a press release mentioning 95% of its coverage area has been refarmed).


Yep, exactly.


GSM/SIM card, I believe, is a requirement for LTE so all Verizon LTE devices have a SIM card slot (at least that's what I've been told). Certainly, the Verizon iPads have had SIM card slots since the iPad 3. Besides, the latest iPad models are universal supporting 14 LTE bands.


If you call customer service and try to activate a Verizon SIM on a non-Verizon iPad, you'll get a line that you can only use Verizon devices. Same is true for some corporate stores based on experience by other users from MacRumors forums. If your local store is lax on this policy, good for you. However, I'd like to see it actually working first before recommending getting a non-Verizon iPad for use with Verizon service.


Correction, the iPad mini, iPad mini with Retina and iPad Air use Nano SIM (same as iPhone 5 and 5s). The iPad 2 (GSM), iPad 3 and 4 all use Micro SIM (same as iPhone 4 and 4S).

I am telling you it's possible. Not sure what you keep challenging what I'm saying. I have two friends in FL that did it after I mentioned it.

Maybe is your state or the store you are visiting? Or maybe they just change the policy recently, Verizon, I mean. Or just the way you ask?

Now,each store is different so I don't doubt some still want to be a pain and refuse to do it, just because you bought a non Verizon iPad.

[ilovejedd]

Originally Posted by jocampo

I am telling you it's possible. Not sure what you keep challenging what I'm saying. I have two friends in FL that did it after I mentioned it.

Maybe is your state or the store you are visiting? Or maybe they just change the policy recently, Verizon, I mean. Or just the way you ask?

Now, each store is different so I don't doubt some still want to be a pain and refuse to do it, just because you bought a non Verizon iPad.

Because I'd like to see actual proof that activating a non-Verizon or non-Sprint iPad on Verizon's or Sprint's network via Settings >> Cellular Data >> View Account works flawlessly. Since you just recycled your Verizon SIM from your old iPad mini, that isn't exactly proof. Now if you were to put a brand new Verizon SIM card on your T-Mobile iPad and are able to create/activate a new account, that's proof.

So far, you're the only one I've seen claiming BYOD activation is possible but I've seen countless posts saying that it's not the case from other people who have actually tried activating Verizon SIM cards on their non-Verizon iPad Air or rMini (and I've been monitoring reports on this since the Air's release). I'd love to have the ability to switch carriers at whim but from what I'm seeing right now, that still isn't the case at this time. It's irresponsible to report people can buy, say, an AT&T or T-Mobile iPad and activate it on Verizon or Sprint when Verizon or Sprint will give you a headache if you try. I reckon sooner or later, traditionally CDMA carriers like Verizon and Sprint are bound to allow BYOD. However, we're still at the transition period so at this point in time, best bet is to get an iPad from either Verizon or Sprint since it's much easier to go from Verizon/Sprint to AT&T/T-Mobile than it is to do the reverse.

[jocampo]

Originally Posted by ilovejedd

Because I'd like to see actual proof that activating a non-Verizon or non-Sprint iPad on Verizon's or Sprint's network via Settings >> Cellular Data >> View Account works flawlessly. Since you just recycled your Verizon SIM from your old iPad mini, that isn't exactly proof. Now if you were to put a brand new Verizon SIM card on your T-Mobile iPad and are able to create/activate a new account, that's proof.

So far, you're the only one I've seen claiming BYOD activation is possible but I've seen countless posts saying that it's not the case from other people who have actually tried activating Verizon SIM cards on their non-Verizon iPad Air or rMini (and I've been monitoring reports on this since the Air's release). I'd love to have the ability to switch carriers at whim but from what I'm seeing right now, that still isn't the case at this time. It's irresponsible to report people can buy, say, an AT&T or T-Mobile iPad and activate it on Verizon or Sprint when Verizon or Sprint will give you a headache if you try. I reckon sooner or later, traditionally CDMA carriers like Verizon and Sprint are bound to allow BYOD. However, we're still at the transition period so at this point in time, best bet is to get an iPad from either Verizon or Sprint since it's much easier to go from Verizon/Sprint to AT&T/T-Mobile than it is to do the reverse.

You know what? I gave up!

I told you I have two friends in FL that brought a Tmobile mini, walked into Verizon and activate a new SIM with their Tmobile retina Mini.

And on my case, I used an already activated SIM on a Tmobile retina Mini.

It seems you don't believe me or you are implying that I'm lying?

I have no idea if you have tried before or what they said to you or what they refused. Or maybe the problem is that you are just trying to do that yourself at home. Get your iPad air or Mini and bring it to Verizon. I'm almost sure that if you enroll on a monthly plan or just say that the Tmobile mini was a gift, they will activate a brand new SIM for you.

Sometimes people have to know how to ask for some stuff. You will be surprised of of all the things I've made possible on my old cellphones , legal of course, just talking the right way and to the right person, on both companies, Verizon and Tmobile.

[afv011]

Originally Posted by jocampo

And on my case, I used an already activated SIM on a Tmobile retina Mini.

That's the whole point, ALREADY activated.

[jocampo]

Originally Posted by afv011

That's the whole point, ALREADY activated.

No, brand new as well!

[ilovejedd]

Originally Posted by jocampo

I told you I have two friends in FL that brought a Tmobile mini, walked into Verizon and activate a new SIM with their Tmobile retina Mini.

And on my case, I used an already activated SIM on a Tmobile retina Mini.

It seems you don't believe me or you are implying that I'm lying?

I have no idea if you have tried before or what they said to you or what they refused. Or maybe the problem is that you are just trying to do that yourself at home. Get your iPad air or Mini and bring it to Verizon. I'm almost sure that if you enroll on a monthly plan or just say that the Tmobile mini was a gift, they will activate a brand new SIM for you.

Sometimes people have to know how to ask for some stuff. You will be surprised of of all the things I've made possible on my old cellphones , legal of course, just talking the right way and to the right person, on both companies, Verizon and Tmobile.

The question is how did your friends activate the SIM on their iPads? Perhaps you can ask them if it was a straightforward activation. There are several workarounds to Verizon's system - the most common being to activate the SIM card on a Verizon device and then transfer the already activated SIM to a the non-Verizon device. However, that's just a workaround. Until Verizon's automated system actually allows for OTA activations on non-Verizon devices, I would consider your case the exception rather than the rule.

I never said you were lying. Besides, I know for a fact that what you've done works (already activated SIM on a non-Verizon device). I'm just saying it might not be as easy to get everything activated as your post suggests.

On the iPad Air and rMini purchase page, they've changed the verbiage from:

Your iPad will only work with the carrier you choose.

to:

Your iPad will be configured to operate with the carrier you choose right out of the box.

I do think Apple may be negotiating with (or strong-arming) US carriers to allow activation of any WiFi + Cellular iPad with compatible hardware on their networks. I'd be very happy if/when BYOD is allowed on all US carriers. For now though, I'm sticking to Verizon hardware for guaranteed activation on Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile - no need for a trip to the Verizon store.

[afv011]

Originally Posted by jocampo

And on my case, I used an already activated SIM on a Tmobile retina Mini.

Originally Posted by jocampo

No, brand new as well!

Which one is it?

[ilovejedd]

Originally Posted by afv011

Which one is it?

jocampo's was already activated (from an old Verizon iPad Mini). His/her two friends in FL had T-Mobile iPad rMini's which were new activations, I believe. We don't have details on how those were activated so still don't know if there's been a change of policy on Verizon corporate or if they used one of the many workarounds (e.g. manually activating based on ICCID, using a Verizon iPad IMEI/MEID to activate, etc).

[JTravers]

FYI.
http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=1665530

[ilovejedd]

Originally Posted by JTravers

FYI.
http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=1665530

Yes, I've been following that thread (user:rui no onna) and countless others like it.

I called Verizon and went through the prompts to get to a person who could add it. The lady asked me for the MEID. I gave it to her and she said it wasn't coming up. She then asked for the IMEI and I gave it to her and she had the same problem. At this point I made the mistake of telling her that it was actually an AT&T iPad and then a 5 minute conversation ensued about how it wasn't possible to activate that on Verizon and that I was a complete idiot for trying....

Hung up, called back in and got a new lady to help me. This time we went through the same process and had the same rsults. No pay attention, this is where things differ.....

I asked the lady if she could just activate the iPad using the SIM number which shows up as the ICCID under the iPad menus. She said sure, lets give that a shot. 2 minutes later and one reboot, up and running with LTE speeds and everything working perfectly.

After all of that, I told the lady that it was actually an AT&T iPad she just activated and she was shocked. She had been told they couldn't activate anything other than Verizon iPad Airs. So basically it is just a training issue or a company line that they can't do it.

Corporate policy regarding BYOD at Sprint or Verizon needs to change. Until that happens, I recommend getting either a Sprint or Verizon iPad since it's far easier to move those to AT&T/T-Mobile than it is to do the reverse.

[judojorge]

I bought a t-mobile ipad mini retina and also had a hard time at a verizon store. I was told it couldn't be done. I ended up returning my mini for a larger storage size and verizon ready. Today I went to att and they were happy to set me up with service so now I have att and verizon LTE service

however, the att service isn't quite the same as advertised on the apple site, there were different tiers of data and pricing and there is a 10 dollar fee above it every month. It's actually not a prepaid plan but a postpaid, yet there is no contract (kind of odd I think). My ATT plan is called Mobile Share 4GB and costs $30 a month plus the $10 plus there was an activation fee. I was just too impatient to wait but I'm thinking if you buy a ATT nano sim off of ebay or amazon you could probably just activate ATT service on the iPad thereby saving money on activation and the extra 10$ monthly fee. Could somebody please verify this?

When I returned my t-mobile mini I kept the t-mobile sim. I signed up for the free 200 MB to see what the LTE speeds on t-mobile were like. For some reason it has not been working for me on my new mini which is a real shame because I was getting better speeds at home with t-mobile. I went to t-mobile after I was done with ATT and spent 2 hours troubleshooting the problem with a friendly t-mobile rep. She called corporate and was on the phone for almost the entire time trying to get the t-mobile service to work. After all of that the issue still wasn't resolved and they wrote up a ticket (whatever that means) and said the engineers would take a look at the issue. She said it should be working in under 48 hours, I guess I'll just have to wait and see.

The reason I have 3 different sims activated is really to test the networks out for one month. After that time, I'll choose the best network suited for my usual commute. Plus hopefully keep the other sims handy for when I travel or move(plan on moving within six months). Another question, does anybody know if I can just stop paying my Verizon prepaid service for a few months and just come back to it whenever I want? Would I have to get a new sim or could I just stick the same SIM card and pick up where I left off?

One last question, in case my T-mobile service never gets re-established, could I just buy a brand new T-Mobile nano sim off ebay or amazon and setup new service directly on my iPad?

Thanks for your time and sorry for the long post guys!

[ilovejedd]

Originally Posted by judojorge

however, the att service isn't quite the same as advertised on the apple site, there were different tiers of data and pricing and there is a 10 dollar fee above it every month. It's actually not a prepaid plan but a postpaid, yet there is no contract (kind of odd I think). My ATT plan is called Mobile Share 4GB and costs $30 a month plus the $10 plus there was an activation fee. I was just too impatient to wait but I'm thinking if you buy a ATT nano sim off of ebay or amazon you could probably just activate ATT service on the iPad thereby saving money on activation and the extra 10$ monthly fee. Could somebody please verify this?

Sounds like AT&T forced you into a postpaid plan. That's one issue with going to the store and having them activate. If you're not particularly well informed, carriers will try to put you on postpaid as much as possible. Yes, you could just buy an AT&T Nano SIM off ebay or Amazon next time and activate on prepaid. Actually, you could probably just have asked the store for a Nano SIM. Most stores would give you one but store policies vary on how much they charge. Some stores would give you the SIM for free, others can charge as high as $25.

Originally Posted by judojorge

Another question, does anybody know if I can just stop paying my Verizon prepaid service for a few months and just come back to it whenever I want? Would I have to get a new sim or could I just stick the same SIM card and pick up where I left off?

With Verizon, if you cancel service, the SIM card gets deactivated after 5 months of non-use. You'd have to get a new SIM card when that happens.

Originally Posted by judojorge

One last question, in case my T-mobile service never gets re-established, could I just buy a brand new T-Mobile nano sim off ebay or amazon and setup new service directly on my iPad?

You could just get the SIM card directly from T-Mobile web site. They offer the SIM card activation kits for $0-0.99 every now and then.

[jocampo]

Unless you never activated the Tmobile nano SIM, your issue maybe signal related, not SIM or Mini related.

I have awesome signal at homr when using the Tmobile SIM but horrible at work. I have good signal and speed at work AND home when using the Verizon SIM.

So check Tmobile and Verizon carrier LTE coverages, it varies on same cities.

[afblangley]

Originally Posted by judojorge

the att service isn't quite the same as advertised on the apple site, there were different tiers of data and pricing and there is a 10 dollar fee above it every month. It's actually not a prepaid plan but a postpaid, yet there is no contract (kind of odd I think). My ATT plan is called Mobile Share 4GB and costs $30 a month plus the $10 plus there was an activation fee. I was just too impatient to wait but I'm thinking if you buy a ATT nano sim off of ebay or amazon you could probably just activate ATT service on the iPad thereby saving money on activation and the extra 10$ monthly fee. Could somebody please verify this?

AT&T has 3 plans that an iPad can be put on.
The first is a Share Everything plan, where the charge is $10/mo plus a whatever bucket of data you purchase to share amongst devices. This can be activated on the device on in a store.

The second is the DataConnect, a postpaid tablet plan which is $15/30/50 for 250MB/3GB/5GB. If you go over, you are automatically billed $10 and given another 1GB of data. This can be activated on the device or in a store, there can be an activation fee assessed.

The last option is called session based, it is prepaid, you can buy for the day, week or month. Once your data limit is reached, you are cut off. This can only be activated on the device, but you need a sim card from the store (its free). There is no activation fee. Many store employees and even some Customer Care Reps are unfamiliar with this plan.

I had a grandfathered unlimited plan, so I couldn't add a tablet on it and share the data. I put it on the DataConnect plan, I get a bill for every month, just like my cell phone. I recently bought another tablet and put it on a session based plan. There is no bill, I'll buy data for it as needed, by turning on/off the autopay. The postpaid plans are good for tablets that need data access continuously, it is cumbersome for intermittent use (new sim, activation fee each time). The session based plans can be stopped and restarted without consequence.