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Carrier iPad Air: *Really* One LTE Model?

Nevek said:
Engadget Review quote: "If you're not sure of a specific operator's network settings, don't fret: Apple tells us that the Air will detect which carrier you're using and will download the proper settings for you."

Sounds promising.
http://www.engadget.com/2013/10/29/ipad-air-review/?ncid=rss_truncated
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Indeed. Anand has similar language in his review. Still, they might be referring only to APNs and not to the built in activation app.

Interestingly, Anand gives the example of purchasing a Sprint iPad and then inserting a T-Mobile, AT&T, or Verizon SIM.

Sprint doesn't seem to offer SIM cards directly---they're still in a very CDMA mindset, in contrast to Verizon, whose 4G LTE devices are interchangeable the way GSM phones are, notwithstanding Verizon's usage of CDMA for voice and 3G data.

One possibility is that the Sprint iPad will effectively be the only truly universal one in the US, since Sprint might only activate Sprint iPads, while other carriers will activate any iPad Air. If so, and if the built in activation app does update automatically based on the current SIM, then the Sprint iPad is undoubtedly the one to buy, regardless of what carrier you plan to use now.
 
screensaver400 said:
Indeed. Anand has similar language in his review. Still, they might be referring only to APNs and not to the built in activation app.

Interestingly, Anand gives the example of purchasing a Sprint iPad and then inserting a T-Mobile, AT&T, or Verizon SIM
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Salient point from Anand's review is he specifically mentioned you can use an already activated SIM. That might suggest you can't use some other carrier's brand new, unactivated SIM card and activate it directly from the iPad via the Settings / Cellular Data menu. Oh well, I do plan to try this when I get my T-Mo iPad. :rolleyes:

screensaver400 said:
Sprint doesn't seem to offer SIM cards directly---they're still in a very CDMA mindset, in contrast to Verizon, whose 4G LTE devices are interchangeable the way GSM phones are, notwithstanding Verizon's usage of CDMA for voice and 3G data.
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Last I tried, you can't buy Verizon SIMs from Verizon corporate either. If you try to get one, they'll try to activate you on a postpaid plan. Thankfully, ebay comes to the rescue. :)

For me, safe choice is Verizon. Sprint doesn't really have as good a coverage so I'd rather have a Verizon-native iPad for straightforward sign-up for Verizon's prepaid plans. Both T-Mobile and AT&T have webpages where you can activate the SIM card so no issues with activation there. :)
 
so which variant?

So which variant will be the safest bet to be used with all carriers? Verizon? Or does it even matter at this point since they're all the same models? I want to take advantage of the free 200mb from Tmobile, but Best Buy doesn't list the Tmobile variant on their site. I would like to buy it from there because I have a lot of RZ dollars to burn. So confused!
 
darknight007316 said:
So which variant will be the safest bet to be used with all carriers? Verizon? Or does it even matter at this point since they're all the same models? I want to take advantage of the free 200mb from Tmobile, but Best Buy doesn't list the Tmobile variant on their site. I would like to buy it from there because I have a lot of RZ dollars to burn. So confused!
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Just buy the verizon ipad air since it will have the Verizon nano sim included, then buy a nano sim from t mobile. Reason I say this if you ever want to try out verizon it will be a challenge to get a verizon nano sim from their stores. They will tell you they don't sell prepaid sims and there's no such thing as prepaid ipad plans.
You'll have to resort to eBay to buy a verizon nano sim.
 
Akack said:
Reason I say this if you ever want to try out verizon it will be a challenge to get a verizon nano sim from their stores. They will tell you they don't sell prepaid sims and there's no such thing as prepaid ipad plans.
You'll have to resort to eBay to buy a verizon nano sim.
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So true. Happened to me when I went to get a SIM card to switch my iPad 3 from postpaid to prepaid.
 
True about Verizon, they would be my last resort.
and I assuming the providers want apple to sell the ipads by specific cell models so, at purchase, the providers and apple know what the intended provider is, for their own business info needs.
I didn't know the Tmo free 200mb was just capped at 24 months. makes it less valuable over time.
 
gigaguy said:
I didn't know the Tmo free 200mb was just capped at 24 months. makes it less valuable over time.
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Where'd you get that? So far, company tagline is free for life. The 24 month thing discussed is for the equipment installment plan.
 
gigaguy said:
True about Verizon, they would be my last resort.
and I assuming the providers want apple to sell the ipads by specific cell models so, at purchase, the providers and apple know what the intended provider is, for their own business info needs.
I didn't know the Tmo free 200mb was just capped at 24 months. makes it less valuable over time.
Click to expand...

Looks like their website says forever on all tablets. The 24 months is for all the HP laptops that come with free T-Mobile.

Cheers,
 
I went to Best Buy tonight to get a little scoop on what they may have in stock for launch tomorrow. I talked with the Apple employee working the mini apple store.

Sadly, at the time I asked tonight, he said the store had no Verizon or AT&T 64GB space gray models to sell. He said some "may" come on the delivery truck by morning, but he couldn't say for sure. It makes me wonder if the 64GB Cellular versions are going to be touch launch day; I noticed Best Buy doesn't even have them listed on their website.

Now to topic.... The Apple employee went on to tell me that in terms of iPad use across carriers, the AT&T versionl won't work on Verizon, and the Sprint version won't work on AT&T or T-Mobile. He added something about there are "carrier restrictions". He seemed pretty adamant about it. He went on to say that the best version to buy is the Verizon, but even then the Verizon version won't work on Sprint.

Is he blowing smoke because he's not good enough to work the actual Apple Store? haha. What he said goes totally against everything I seem to be reading.
 
zaxdude said:
I went to Best Buy tonight to get a little scoop on what they may have in stock for launch tomorrow. I talked with the Apple employee working the mini apple store.

Sadly, at the time I asked tonight, he said the store had no Verizon or AT&T 64GB space gray models to sell. He said some "may" come on the delivery truck by morning, but he couldn't say for sure. It makes me wonder if the 64GB Cellular versions are going to be touch launch day; I noticed Best Buy doesn't even have them listed on their website.

Now to topic.... The Apple employee went on to tell me that in terms of iPad use across carriers, the AT&T versionl won't work on Verizon, and the Sprint version won't work on AT&T or T-Mobile. He added something about there are "carrier restrictions". He seemed pretty adamant about it. He went on to say that the best version to buy is the Verizon, but even then the Verizon version won't work on Sprint.

Is he blowing smoke because he's not good enough to work the actual Apple Store? haha. What he said goes totally against everything I seem to be reading.
Click to expand...

Even with previous iPads, which had different hardware models for each carrier, you could still make certain combinations work (e.g., a Verizon LTE iPad would support AT&T HSPA). All iPads are sold unlocked.

I'm fairly certain that any iPad Air will work with any of the four carriers, so long as you have a nano SIM from that carrier (which, see above, can be tricky to obtain).

There is still the question of the built-in activation app, but if you have an activated SIM, it will almost certainly work.

FWIW, I'm planning on buying a Sprint iPad tomorrow. I have an unactivated nano SIM from my old iPhone 5 that I'll swap in and see what happens. I'm planning on immediately walking to a T-Mobile store and picking up a T-Mobile SIM for the free 200MB, so we'll have some clarity on that too.
 
zaxdude said:
I went to Best Buy tonight to get a little scoop on what they may have in stock for launch tomorrow. I talked with the Apple employee working the mini apple store.

Sadly, at the time I asked tonight, he said the store had no Verizon or AT&T 64GB space gray models to sell. He said some "may" come on the delivery truck by morning, but he couldn't say for sure. It makes me wonder if the 64GB Cellular versions are going to be touch launch day; I noticed Best Buy doesn't even have them listed on their website.

Now to topic.... The Apple employee went on to tell me that in terms of iPad use across carriers, the AT&T versionl won't work on Verizon, and the Sprint version won't work on AT&T or T-Mobile. He added something about there are "carrier restrictions". He seemed pretty adamant about it. He went on to say that the best version to buy is the Verizon, but even then the Verizon version won't work on Sprint.

Is he blowing smoke because he's not good enough to work the actual Apple Store? haha. What he said goes totally against everything I seem to be reading.
Click to expand...

He's mostly right, about existing models, but like most sales guys, they don't actually know more than we do unless they get trained on it, and Best Buy doesn't do product training IIRC.
 
Krevnik said:
He's mostly right, about existing models, but like most sales guys, they don't actually know more than we do unless they get trained on it, and Best Buy doesn't do product training IIRC.
Click to expand...

Do you know if the employees working the apple station are Best Buy employees or Apple? They guy had an Apple logo'd shirt on (was a black shirt, tho). He seemed to indicate he worked for Apple. I would hope if his info is incorrect he'd be a better trained employee by Apple if he does work for Apple.
 
Now that the iPad Air is out, anybody try swapping sims yet?

Looking specifically to switch between Verizon and T-mobile on the Air and/or vice versa.
 
grumple said:
Now that the iPad Air is out, anybody try swapping sims yet?

Looking specifically to switch between Verizon and T-mobile on the Air and/or vice versa.
Click to expand...

I got a Verizon model and I can confirm that I can swap between Verizon, AT&T, Aio and T-Mobile with LTE support for all four carriers here in Phoenix.

I activated all three sim cards from the iPad Air (the one from Verizon that came with the air), the free 200mb one from T-Mobile and an old iPad mini one that I had laying around from last year and also tested my activated Aio one.

All four carriers show up their corresponding sign-up pages when you load their sim card and APN setting get downloaded automatically.

This is truly a universal LTE device for use here in the States. I did not test Sprint since I don't have a sim card from them.
 
Picho said:
I got a Verizon model and I can confirm that I can swap between Verizon, AT&T, Aio and T-Mobile with LTE support for all four carriers here in Phoenix.

I activated all three sim cards from the iPad Air (the one from Verizon that came with the air), the free 200mb one from T-Mobile and an old iPad mini one that I had laying around from last year and also tested my activated Aio one.

All four carriers show up their corresponding sign-up pages when you load their sim card and APN setting get downloaded automatically.

This is truly a universal LTE device for use here in the States. I did not test Sprint since I don't have a sim card from them.
Click to expand...

About time! Thanks for testing
 
Picho said:
I got a Verizon model and I can confirm that I can swap between Verizon, AT&T, Aio and T-Mobile with LTE support for all four carriers here in Phoenix.

I activated all three sim cards from the iPad Air (the one from Verizon that came with the air), the free 200mb one from T-Mobile and an old iPad mini one that I had laying around from last year and also tested my activated Aio one.

All four carriers show up their corresponding sign-up pages when you load their sim card and APN setting get downloaded automatically.

This is truly a universal LTE device for use here in the States. I did not test Sprint since I don't have a sim card from them.
Click to expand...

How did you go about getting the T-mobile SIM w/ the 200Mb free offer?? Can you just use any unactivated SIM from Tmob and activate the free data on the iPad?? I also plan on getting a Verizon iPad but want to take advantage of the Tmob offer to test their service out here in Chicago.

Thanks for the info!
 
T-Mobile Ipad No Go on Verizon

So, I wanted to get the Verizon iPad but they were sold out. I got the T-Mobile to give it a try. When i got home, I swapped out my nano sim from my iPhone 5 and the iPad was able to connect to the Verizon network no problem.

So I called verizon and requested a nano-sim card for my ipad and tried to add it as a new line. Unfortunately, since they couldn't recognize the IMEI # in their database, they wouldn't give me a sim card. They suggested a jetpack (with contract of course...) and I told them to take a hike.

I guess I'll have to return my T-Mobile model and get the verizon one. As I understand it, T-Mobile will give you the 200mb free each month even if you didn't buy "their" model
 
duke02 said:
So, I wanted to get the Verizon iPad but they were sold out. I got the T-Mobile to give it a try. When i got home, I swapped out my nano sim from my iPhone 5 and the iPad was able to connect to the Verizon network no problem.

So I called verizon and requested a nano-sim card for my ipad and tried to add it as a new line. Unfortunately, since they couldn't recognize the IMEI # in their database, they wouldn't give me a sim card. They suggested a jetpack (with contract of course...) and I told them to take a hike.

I guess I'll have to return my T-Mobile model and get the verizon one. As I understand it, T-Mobile will give you the 200mb free each month even if you didn't buy "their" model
Click to expand...

Don't return it. You can buy a Verizon SIM on eBay for a few bucks.
 
Checked with the T-Mobile stores, the 200 MB is only free for voice customers. It's $10 per month otherwise. Customers who have a voice plan with them will get $10 credit a month on their bill.. and thus the "free" data they advertise.
 
It's vaguely mentioned here http://www.t-mobile.com/landing/free-mobile-internet-data.html under Questions at the bottom

"Do I have to be on a plan or a contract in order to get the free data?

In order to get the 200 MB of free Starter Data, you need to have an active Mobile Internet account with T-Mobile.

If you are a postpaid customer, you’ll need to have an On Demand data plan at minimum which is $0/mo. if you are a voice customer (after $10 line credit)."

Let me know otherwise... if anyone has been able to get the free data without a voice plan. Because I'd definitely get that too. But I tried at my local T-mobile store today and free data wasn't the case.
 
YodasMaster said:
Don't return it. You can buy a Verizon SIM on eBay for a few bucks.
Click to expand...


Well, the real hurdle seems to be that verizon won't let you use the device on their network if they don't recognize the Imei number. Would getting an eBay sim alleviate this? Sorry for the stupid question, all my previous iOS devices were locked to their network.
 
bobjoe2014 said:
It's vaguely mentioned here http://www.t-mobile.com/landing/free-mobile-internet-data.html under Questions at the bottom

"Do I have to be on a plan or a contract in order to get the free data?

In order to get the 200 MB of free Starter Data, you need to have an active Mobile Internet account with T-Mobile.

If you are a postpaid customer, you’ll need to have an On Demand data plan at minimum which is $0/mo. if you are a voice customer (after $10 line credit)."

Let me know otherwise... if anyone has been able to get the free data without a voice plan. Because I'd definitely get that too. But I tried at my local T-mobile store today and free data wasn't the case.
Click to expand...

So I read that as you have to actually sign up with tmobile to get the data - this is obvious. Basically you have to have an account with them. But from all the coverage I've seen about the 200mb of free data, the whole reason it was news and the big deal about it is that there are no strings attached and it's free to anyone with a tablet. I think tmob is desperately looking for an in with customers and this is a play in that direction. They're hoping that when 200mb proves not enough, you'll agree to pay them a little more instead of switching carriers entirely--it'll be easy as you already have the sim and the account set up.

If that's not the case then tmob has been extremely misleading about the whole thing and that would very much go against the image they're working hard to perpetuate right now.
 
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