Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Does Verizon's extended network not work on the Ipad?

J

Jacoblee23

macrumors 65832
Original poster
Nov 10, 2011
1,504
752
I am temporarily living in an area where I don't get very good Verizon service at my home, but I do at work and at school. Anyway, while at home Verizon uses US Cellular towers to provide me with cellphone service through their extended network. I have noticed that my Ipad doesn't show the extended network at all, and a lot of times while I am at home it either says searching/no service, or maybe 1 bar of Verizon (pretty much no service and when it is on extended network it says extended).

So is their extended network just through their phones or what is the deal with that? Thanks in advance.
 
Extended area is supposed to work if you add your iPad to your existing Verizon Wireless account vs. signing up for data through the iPad itself. I opened a ticket with Verizon this morning.
 
wimac said:
Extended area is supposed to work if you add your iPad to your existing Verizon Wireless account vs. signing up for data through the iPad itself. I opened a ticket with Verizon this morning.
Click to expand...

Can you elaborate on this? Does this mean I would have to do the more expensive post paid plan, where I can't cancel at anytime?
 
wimac said:
Extended area is supposed to work if you add your iPad to your existing Verizon Wireless account vs. signing up for data through the iPad itself. I opened a ticket with Verizon this morning.
Click to expand...

It should work. Log into MyVerizon and add the ipad cell number to the extender.
 
ckiggins said:
How do you "add the cell # to the extender?"
Click to expand...

Login in to MyVerizon! You know your account site where your usage and pay your bill. From there go to My Services. You will should see network extender section to manage the device.
 
i went insane trying to figure out how to get 4g in a 4g extended coverage area. i eventually returned it for a att model. cant believe its that easy to get a signal if its like how youre describing
 
mac.cali said:
Login in to MyVerizon! You know your account site where your usage and pay your bill. From there go to My Services. You will should see network extender section to manage the device.
Click to expand...

Am I unable to do this with my prepaid plan?
 
I finally got a ticket opened with the networking team at Verizon. They confirmed that the iPad 3 (whatever you want to call it) has an issue and will not currently work in the Extended Network areas. Apparently there is something wrong with the way the provisioning is being updated on the SIM card. On Monday they told me they would be pushing a carrier update to resolve the issue but nothing yet.

As far as adding your iPad to your Verizon account, just give them a call, not contract or anything it just gets billed monthly versus auto debited from your credit card.
 
wimac, any update on this? We have our iPhones on AT&T but I bought my wife the 'new' iPad w/Verizon LTE and she's not been happy that she can't get any 4G coverage at work. According to the map, her work office is in an '4G LTE Extended' area. I've been reading from some people saying that this requires roaming, which requires being on a contracted plan, but I'm hoping that's not the case. Did they ever push a fix to you that worked?
 
If you choose the post paid option, you get extended network. Prepaid, no extended. When they told me that I chose to add to my monthly bill. No contract, still month to month.
 
That's my understanding as well. Sucks, though, because the prepaid plans included a 1GB for $20 option. With the post-paid (?) plans, we'd have to move up to a 2GB for $30 plan.

If you're thinking of going prepaid, know also that Verizon will botch things up if you actually want to use it as an occasional use thing. If you sign up for prepaid, then cancel it the next month, you can't then re-activate it again in the future. That's because the SIM becomes effectively unusable when you canceled it the first time. You'll need to go and buy a new SIM. Ridiculous.
 
hipnetic said:
If you're thinking of going prepaid, know also that Verizon will botch things up if you actually want to use it as an occasional use thing. If you sign up for prepaid, then cancel it the next month, you can't then re-activate it again in the future. That's because the SIM becomes effectively unusable when you canceled it the first time. You'll need to go and buy a new SIM. Ridiculous.
Click to expand...

There is a way to deactivate service and then activate it again with the same sim card. You jus can't let the card be inactive for 5 months or it will kill the sim.

See post 45 on this thread: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1351655/
 
Last edited:
hipnetic said:
If you're thinking of going prepaid, know also that Verizon will botch things up if you actually want to use it as an occasional use thing. If you sign up for prepaid, then cancel it the next month, you can't then re-activate it again in the future. That's because the SIM becomes effectively unusable when you canceled it the first time. You'll need to go and buy a new SIM. Ridiculous.
Click to expand...
You have it wrong.

If you are on POSTPAID and you want to skip a month you must call VZW and fully cancel the account and your SIM is killed. You can NOT suspend or skip a month on POSTPAID and you can NOT manage a POSTPAID account through the settings feature on the iPad. While there is no contract on iPad POSTPAID you can't stop using it without canceling the account and killing the sim requiring a new one.

If you are on PREPAID you CAN suspend for UP TO 5 months through the iPad itself between monthly purchases and still use the same sim & account.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back