All iPads: iPad mini / retina (4th gen) radio carrier questions

[slitherjef]

So, I am thinking about picking up an ipad, would rather have the mini, but the larger retina display would work well too. Main reason is photography and storm chasing, so the LTE would be great.

My question is, are these devices carrier locked? Are they band specific? If I got an iPad mini from verizon, can I shove a LTE sim card in from AT&T? Or can I only use it on the specified carrier?

Yes, I do realize that the newer ipads use a newer nano sim, so I doubt I could just "swap sim cards"

On verizons spec page I see:

LTE
CDMA EV-DO Rev. A and Rev. B
UMTS/HSPA+/DC-HSDPA
GSM/EDGE

Which leads me to believe the device has pretty much all bands. I just want to verify this.

I guess if the thing is carrier locked, I could still tether via wifi to a different device.

EDIT:

Just dug around a little bit more and found my answer. It is carrier locked.

AT&T, Sprint, or Verizon.
Be sure to select the model that corresponds with the carrier you’d like to use for data service. The iPad mini model you purchase is specially configured to work with one of three wireless carriers: AT&T, Sprint, or Verizon. So while you don’t have to activate service right away, you should choose your iPad mini according to the carrier you prefer. Each carrier offers a range of data plan options. Visit your favorite carrier’s website to see data plans.

[CNeufeld]

Originally Posted by slitherjef

So, I am thinking about picking up an ipad, would rather have the mini, but the larger retina display would work well too. Main reason is photography and storm chasing, so the LTE would be great.

My question is, are these devices carrier locked? Are they band specific? If I got an iPad mini from verizon, can I shove a LTE sim card in from AT&T? Or can I only use it on the specified carrier?

Yes, I do realize that the newer ipads use a newer nano sim, so I doubt I could just "swap sim cards"

On verizons spec page I see:

LTE
CDMA EV-DO Rev. A and Rev. B
UMTS/HSPA+/DC-HSDPA
GSM/EDGE

Which leads me to believe the device has pretty much all bands. I just want to verify this.

I guess if the thing is carrier locked, I could still tether via wifi to a different device.

EDIT:

Just dug around a little bit more and found my answer. It is carrier locked.

I suspect they're not locked, but that the LTE bands are different for the different carriers. So if you buy the wrong one, you won't get LTE speeds.

Up here in Canada, they're not locked. I think they're the AT&T model.

Clint

[twotwo11]

I got the Verizon iPad mini, but I'm using an AT&T data plan on it. I don't have LTE though.