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iPad Got a replacement Air, cellular data (T-Mobile) no longer works.

The.Dude

The.Dude

macrumors regular
Original poster
Oct 21, 2013
160
1
Long story short, I got a replacement Air a few days ago and my replacement didn't come with a sim card. I had to go back to the Apple store and they gave me my old sim from my defective unit. I can log in through settings and see my data plan, but every time I try and browse the internet I am sent to a T-Mobile site saying that my pass has expired.

From what the Apple website and a search in these forums show, replacement, or new iPad's should come with a sim card already in them and all you have to do is log in to activate your new iPad, thus deactivating your old sim. Is there an IMEI/iPad serial number confusion here since this thing should have come with a fresh SIM card?

Thanks.
 
The.Dude said:
Long story short, I got a replacement Air a few days ago and my replacement didn't come with a sim card. I had to go back to the Apple store and they gave me my old sim from my defective unit. I can log in through settings and see my data plan, but every time I try and browse the internet I am sent to a T-Mobile site saying that my pass has expired.

From what the Apple website and a search in these forums show, replacement, or new iPad's should come with a sim card already in them and all you have to do is log in to activate your new iPad, thus deactivating your old sim. Is there an IMEI/iPad serial number confusion here since this thing should have come with a fresh SIM card?

Thanks.
Click to expand...


If you are trying to use the data, the sim is tied to the imei. You need a sim.
 
The.Dude said:
Long story short, I got a replacement Air a few days ago and my replacement didn't come with a sim card. I had to go back to the Apple store and they gave me my old sim from my defective unit.
Click to expand...

The.Dude said:
Haha, I know.... read what I said in the first paragraph :)
Click to expand...

IMEI is device specific. Replacement Air has different IMEI than the original.
You may be confusing it with the ICCID which is the SIM's number.

TMO is likely tying the plan to a combination of the IMEI and SIM ICCID. So bidwalj's comment is spot on, you either need a new SIM and create a new plan or you need to talk to TMO and get them to move the account to a new IMEI.

Guess which is likely to be easier and less fraught with frustration? :D
 
You shouldn't need a new sim. You should just be able to use the old one.

This is a little obvious, but perhaps the 200mb has been used up for this month and that is causing the problem?
 
pocketpenguin said:
You shouldn't need a new sim. You should just be able to use the old one.

This is a little obvious, but perhaps the 200mb has been used up for this month and that is causing the problem?
Click to expand...

I checked that, my account information page says I still have plenty of data left for the month.

----------
deeddawg said:
IMEI is device specific. Replacement Air has different IMEI than the original.
You may be confusing it with the ICCID which is the SIM's number.

TMO is likely tying the plan to a combination of the IMEI and SIM ICCID. So bidwalj's comment is spot on, you either need a new SIM and create a new plan or you need to talk to TMO and get them to move the account to a new IMEI.

Guess which is likely to be easier and less fraught with frustration? :D
Click to expand...

Ah yeah, I got the two confused but I figured the two ID's were tied together still. They had to order a replacement for me since they've been out of stock completely, you'd think since they ordered me a T-Mobile version that it would come with a sim card. I ended up having to make 3 trips to the store that day and now I've got to go back.... ugh.
 
You could try calling T-mobile's customer service and seeing if there is some way to move the plan to your new hardware. You'll likely need the phone number assigned to your SIM card, the PIN for your account (this was emailed when you set up the account) and the IMEI of your new hardware. If they can't help you, then go to a T-mobile store and see if you can get them to give you a new SIM card and then just start over.
 
All you should have to do is go to “View Account” and cancel your plan (canceling a prepaid data plan on T-Mobile doesn’t deactivate the SIM). Then set up service again to tie the plan to your replacement iPad. Your email/login will remain active; so if you want to use the same email, choose the option to login with an existing ID when you set up your plan again.

I did this a few days ago to move the free service from my old iPad to my new one using the same SIM.
 
The SIM is tied to the device by the carrier. If you get a new device you need to have them provision your old sim to the new device.

If they cannot, then they will give you a new SIM, tie it to you device and activate it.
 
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