iPad can you use Verizon LTE ipad 3 in europe?

wordoflife said:

basically the thread title:

apparently, you can put an AT&T sim inside it and it will work on AT&T 3G ... but does anyone know if it works the same way in europe?

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Yes, that's always been a selling point of iPads, from day 1. They have always been unlocked and can be used on GSM networks anywhere.

wordoflife said:

Right. I just wasn't sure if this also applied to the verizon ipad.
so i guess it's safe to order.

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The Verizon iPad is nearly identical to the AT&T except that it also adds CDMA for Verizon network (3G) compatibility:

http://www.apple.com/ipad/specs/

Has anyone actually had first hand success with it?

There is at least one post of someone saying it doesn't work when he tried it.

elefantrider said:

Has anyone actually had first hand success with it?

There is at least one post of someone saying it doesn't work when he tried it.

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I am going to London with my VZW iPad next week. I am going to get a SIM card from THREE mobile while I am there, I hope to get hotspot working as well. I have tried the AT&T SIM already, and it works here in the US, so I know our iPad's are unlocked. I am pretty confident it will work (not sure about tethering).

There are posts here suggesting that the AT&T iPad is not unlocked ( maybe to prevent T-mobile SIM used in their iPad). And I see no one confirming the AT&T one can work in any GSM countries.

Conclusion, it's safer to buy the VZW iPad if you are planning to travel to GSM countries.

i work at a phone company as a summer job right now and just yesterday a tourist from the US came to the store with an verizon iPad, unfortunately the sim didnt work ... we tried two different providers "T-Mobile" (the biggest one in germany i'd say) and "vodafone" and neither would work. the iPad didnt response to the sim

Interesting... this is the 2nd time I've seen this posted by someone with actual experience.

elefantrider said:

Interesting... this is the 2nd time I've seen this posted by someone with actual experience.

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Wasn't the the other one an AT&T iPad? bought in Dubai and owner trying to use in Sweden?

I hope bushido was wrong, otherwise, I am screwed next week

@bushido, you do realize that you have to change the APN. Verizon iPad has a Verizon APN, and AT&T iPad has a AT&T APN as their defaults. Without the correct APN setting, you can see the network name on the top status bar, but you won't be able to connect to their data gateway.

dchao said:

Wasn't the the other one an AT&T iPad? bought in Dubai and owner trying to use in Sweden?

I hope bushido was wrong, otherwise, I am screwed next week

@bushido, you do realize that you have to change the APN. Verizon iPad has a Verizon APN, and AT&T iPad has a AT&T APN as their defaults. Without the correct APN setting, you can see the network name on the top status bar, but you won't be able to connect to their data gateway.

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yes, i'm aware of that. we have to change the APN for each provider (vodafone, t-mobile, O2 ..). they "dont just work". but there is the first problem ... his iPad didnt have the APN Settings in "Networks"

it seemed like the iPad is "set" to "cdma" by default? and doesnt respond to gsm sim cards (we only have gsm in germany)

bushido said:

yes, i'm aware of that. we have to change the APN for each provider (vodafone, t-mobile, O2 ..). they "dont just work". but there is the first problem ... his iPad didnt have the APN Settings in "Networks"

it seemed like the iPad is "set" to "cdma" by default? and doesnt respond to gsm sim cards (we only have gsm in germany)

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Ha - that's what I thought. The iPad's sold in the States have the cellular data provider set to either AT&T and Verizon, hence we don't have a generic APN changer screen. With the US data provider screen, we can activate account, change data plan and cancel data plan, all from our iPad (basically an extra layer of software for account management). I don't believe any EU provider is offering this feature right now.

I use the website called:

http://www.unlockit.co.nz/

to change my APN settings on my iPad.

Here is the tutorial:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rD0kI1_IrsI

As the hardware goes, VZW iPad can work with your HSPA+ and HSDPA, so there shouldn't be any problem.

IIRC there was some flap about the use of "LTE" with the iPad 3 - it seems that LTE frequencies vary around the world and a the iPad 3 won't do LTE everywhere. the models currently sold work in the U.S., but may or may not elsewhere for LTE.

Thanks for the good solid info. It is looking much better now.

Hopefully someone will chime in to confirm they've got it to work with a European SIM.

old-wiz said:

he models currently sold work in the U.S., but may or may not elsewhere for LTE.

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It's not "may or may not". It definitely won't. The freq bands used are all different.

dchao said:

It's not "may or may not". It definitely won't. The freq bands used are all different.

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You are just talking about 4G right? 4G doesn't even exist in most parts of Europe yet.

The Verizon model should work on current 3G technology in Europe after doing your posted "fix". Do I have that right?

elefantrider said:

You are just talking about 4G right? 4G doesn't even exist in most parts of Europe yet.

The Verizon model should work on current 3G technology in Europe after doing your posted "fix". Do I have that right?

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Nope, I was talking about 4G LTE and 4G, the spectrum allocation is different for every region. It need the next gen radio chipset to be able to do world-wide 4G and/or 4G LTE. iPad 3 is not future-proof. (old-wiz was asking about future compatibility of the current 4G LTE iPad)

http://www.knowyourcell.com/news/14...io_that_supports_multiple_spectrum_bands.html

And Yes, 3.5G is OK. The current Qualcomm radio chipset inside the iPad 3 can be configured to talk to most of them (you still need to check with iPad's specs to be sure)

elefantrider said:

Interesting... this is the 2nd time I've seen this posted by someone with actual experience.

Click to expand...

No experience with a VzW iPad, but I've been taking my AT&T iPad 2, and more recently iPad 3 to the UK on business trips.

Never had any trouble swapping the sim for a Vodafone one. I do the 750MB for £10 deal ( 3 250MB packs, essentially buy 2 get 1 free).

jcostom said:

No experience with a VzW iPad, but I've been taking my AT&T iPad 2, and more recently iPad 3 to the UK on business trips.

Never had any trouble swapping the sim for a Vodafone one. I do the 750MB for £10 deal ( 3 250MB packs, essentially buy 2 get 1 free).

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Thank you for posting your experience in this thread. I believe the US AT&T iPad 2/3 are not SIM locked. This confirms the other two instances could be just user errors.

Out of interest, how do you change the APN settings when you are in the UK? Does your UK SIM card has APN settings preloaded.

Folks ... there is NO "AT&T" IPAD! There is a VERIZON iPad and there is an iPad that works on AT&T. Look at the "AT&T iPad" box. It says nothing about AT&T. The "AT&T" one is the identical one in all respects to what is being sold all around the world. The VZW one is only sold in the US, is labeled on the box VERIZON, but also works on any other GSM carrier in the world.

TB07-NJ said:

Folks ... there is NO "AT&T" IPAD! There is a VERIZON iPad and there is an iPad that works on AT&T. Look at the "AT&T iPad" box. It says nothing about AT&T. The "AT&T" one is the identical one in all respects to what is being sold all around the world. The VZW one is only sold in the US, is labeled on the box VERIZON, but also works on any other GSM carrier in the world.

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What I meant was the AT&T iPad 3's that are sold in the US.

Even though, I suspect there is a small difference. It's in the carrier settings screen.

Generic GSM version has a APN changer. And AT&T one has the account management screen. I would not find APN changer anywhere on the US VZW or AT&T iPad. But the EU users keep talking about this APN changer, and they have no idea how to change APN settings when they see a US iPad, because there is none. That's why we hear so many Europeans complaining about US iPad's are locked. Nope - it's not locked, it's just lacking the APN changer.

dchao said:

What I meant was the AT&T iPad 3's that are sold in the US.

Even though, I suspect there is a small difference. It's in the carrier settings screen.

Generic GSM version has a APN changer. And AT&T one has the account management screen. I would not find APN changer anywhere on the US VZW or AT&T iPad. But the EU users keep talking about this APN changer, and they have no idea how to change APN settings when they see a US iPad, because there is none. That's why we hear so many Europeans complaining about US iPad's are locked. Nope - it's not locked, it's just lacking the APN changer.

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I have a Verizon New iPad. When I stuck in a SIM from Japan and wnt to cellular under settings, I saw APN settings and entered the cellular data to get the SIM activated. Is this the same thing as an APN changer?

cfs said:

I have a Verizon New iPad. When I stuck in a SIM from Japan and wnt to cellular under settings, I saw APN settings and entered the cellular data to get the SIM activated. Is this the same thing as an APN changer?

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Yep, that's the APN changer utility.

So, it looks like the cellular data screen is pretty intelligent, and the options can change depending on the SIM and it's provider.

I remember reading a post here from Germany, a customer walked in to his cellphone store with an AT&T iPad, inserted a German SIM, but he could not find the APN changer utility.

I think we will have to wait until all the carrier to be on the same wavelength to have a true easy global experience.

dchao said:

What I meant was the AT&T iPad 3's that are sold in the US.

Even though, I suspect there is a small difference. It's in the carrier settings screen.

Generic GSM version has a APN changer. And AT&T one has the account management screen. I would not find APN changer anywhere on the US VZW or AT&T iPad. But the EU users keep talking about this APN changer, and they have no idea how to change APN settings when they see a US iPad, because there is none. That's why we hear so many Europeans complaining about US iPad's are locked. Nope - it's not locked, it's just lacking the APN changer.

Click to expand...

It depends on what SIM is installed whether you see the account manager or "APN changer." Even with that the SIM should "install" the correct APN without intervention. When I put an ACTIVATED AT&T SIM in my VZW iPad I do not have to change the APN and the VZW account management screen disappears.

dchao said:

I am going to London with my VZW iPad next week. I am going to get a SIM card from THREE mobile while I am there, I hope to get hotspot working as well. I have tried the AT&T SIM already, and it works here in the US, so I know our iPad's are unlocked. I am pretty confident it will work (not sure about tethering).

There are posts here suggesting that the AT&T iPad is not unlocked ( maybe to prevent T-mobile SIM used in their iPad). And I see no one confirming the AT&T one can work in any GSM countries.

Conclusion, it's safer to buy the VZW iPad if you are planning to travel to GSM countries.

Click to expand...

Keep us updated. I'm doing the same thing but in September. I already have a THREE sim that I got from Ebay that has the 3 GB data on it. I ordered it because I won't have a chance to go to the THREE store for at least a few days. Let me know if there were any changes that you had to make. Thanks.