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4G dropping out or faulty iPad

E

Errk!

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Mar 6, 2006
321
6
Got the new iPad on launch day and got my existing data plan transferred over with no problem. 4G (not LTE) worked fine.

The next day the cellular data was dropping out. The signal strength indicator was still there but the "4G" notation disappeared. Anything I tried to do that required an Internet connection failed with a pop up that said I had no Internet connection.

Resetting the iPad seemed to work a couple times but after a few minutes it dropped out again. Toggling cellular data on and off a couple times seemed to do the trick; either that or the signal came back coincidently.

It did this again today in a different area. I live in an area with great 4G coverage but no LTE. After it happened a couple times I thought to turn off LTE since I wasn't using it anyway (duh) and the connection kept. Again, not sure if signal problems were going away and coming back or if something is wrong with the iPad.

I've never seen anything like this with 3G on my previous iPad or on 2 iPhone 4s. Does this happen on 4G a lot? I've never had a 4G device. Or is it because LTE was on and it was trying to connect with no coverage? Or is it a faulty iPad? And if anything but the latter, shouldn't it have defaulted back to 3G (or even Edge)?

At home and work I've got a consistent connection with no problems, for whatever that's worth.
 
I had a similar issue with my LTE. Another member informed me to restart my iPad. It seems to have worked as I haven't dropped LTE since. I haven't been away from WiFi since I've restarted but the quick test I did looks as if the restart has fixed it. I will know 100% tomorrow.
 
How many LTE bars do you have? If its under 3, it will drop every now and then. These networks are brand new and still being built up.
 
aka777 said:
How many LTE bars do you have? If its under 3, it will drop every now and then. These networks are brand new and still being built up.
Click to expand...

Yeah the max i get is 3 and it keeps dropping down to 3g, in fact it sucks.
 
aka777 said:
How many LTE bars do you have? If its under 3, it will drop every now and then. These networks are brand new and still being built up.
Click to expand...

I don't have LTE at all. It's the AT&T HSPA+.

And I mentioned I did restart a couple times. It fixed it for a minute or two then it just dropped again.

And it's not dropping down to 3G; I wouldn't have a problem with that so much. It cuts out completely.
 
macking104 said:
Have you contacted your cell phone company to see if there is a problem with your local towers...?
Click to expand...

It has happened twice; the two times I've been out since buying it. I've had no problems at home or at work - 4/5 bars, consistent signal.

But no, I haven't contacted AT&T. I've found that a lot of times some of the users here are more knowledgable about some of the technical things like this, so I asked here first. I didn't know if it was a quirk of 4g. Plus, both times it happened "after hours" so I couldn't really talk to them.
 
I took the iPad to the Apple Store today and had a surprisingly difficult time with the "Genius" there...he wanted to blame it on a software issue and do a restore. I told him I wasn't real thrilled with the idea of losing all of my app data and he reluctantly switched it out. He also mentioned how no signal was 100% reliable, which is absolutely true, but as this was losing the data connection for several minutes at a time I didn't really think it was a signal issue (especially with my iPhone pulling in a full signal just inches away from the iPad).

So I got the new one and restored from backup and we'll see how it goes. I guess if it keeps dropping I'll know he was right and I won't have much choice than to start from scratch. It will really suck losing my game progress on some of my games though.

He told me that if it is a software issue, restoring from a backup with the "bad" software will only cause the problem to return...but I was under the impression that when you do a restore it's only settings and app data that is restored, nothing at all that would affect the cellular radio. Is that correct?
 
I have to turn LTE off to get a connection and it's not as good as my iPad 1. I restored from backup too but I can't see how that could interfere with cellular connections.
 
Not connecting - requiring reboot about once a day.

I seem to be having similar issues.
After being connected to wifi for an extended period of time (about a day or so), then when going out into the field, the iPad just doesn't connect to the network. The indicator will show several bars of signal strength with either 3G or LTE service, but every app that tries to access the Internet will simply return an error 'not connected to the Internet.'

I've tried going into airplane mode or turning off the cellular connection and back on...to no avail. Only after rebooting the iPad will it get a solid signal.

Sounds like an apple iOS software bug to me.

Fix it apple, fix it!
 
I've had some minor issues with my cellular connection dropping. It's happened a few different days where I will notice a complete signal loss and then it will go to "searching..." then reconnect after maybe 10 seconds. Not too worried but it's just a little strange
 
Mine would drop to 'searching' spontaneously in areas where my other idevices were fine. It wouldn't pick up again until I restored network settings. New sim card and a restore didn't fix it.

No problems with my replacement thankfully.
 
Same here in Ohio

I have the new IPAD also. It connects fine to wifi, it connect fine to 4G, LTE is not available in Ohio yet. It will not connect to anything less than 4G. I called Apple support twice. They offered the usual. Reset Network Settings. Pull out the sim card. Exchange the Sim Card. Restore IPAD completely. or Get a new IPAD.

I am not convinced it is a hardware problem but a software problem and hoping an update fixes it. I actually called apple support and asked if there is a 3G icon on the new IPAD cause I have never seen it. All I ever see is 4G or nothing. The Bars stay as high as 5, but when I lost 4G I lose everything. Only way to get it back is to turn off and on the data cellular network setting...(annoying) that still only get me 4G not 3g or anything less.

I am not going to restore my IPAD until 2 days before my 30 day AT&T plan is up...Will not renew if no update comes around.

Any suggestions would help.
 
cobra2977 said:
I have the new IPAD also. It connects fine to wifi, it connect fine to 4G, LTE is not available in Ohio yet. It will not connect to anything less than 4G. I called Apple support twice. They offered the usual. Reset Network Settings. Pull out the sim card. Exchange the Sim Card. Restore IPAD completely. or Get a new IPAD.

I am not convinced it is a hardware problem but a software problem and hoping an update fixes it. I actually called apple support and asked if there is a 3G icon on the new IPAD cause I have never seen it. All I ever see is 4G or nothing. The Bars stay as high as 5, but when I lost 4G I lose everything. Only way to get it back is to turn off and on the data cellular network setting...(annoying) that still only get me 4G not 3g or anything less.

I am not going to restore my IPAD until 2 days before my 30 day AT&T plan is up...Will not renew if no update comes around.

Any suggestions would help.
Click to expand...


If they offered a new one, I'd take it. You can always switch your current plan to the new unit.

I haven't had any issues with mine once I got it replaced (see my other post above).
 
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