Carrier iPad Air (AT&T) data connection stopped working (Does nobody care anymore?)

[Phrasikleia]

All was fine as of about three hours ago. Since then the iPad has been unable to use its data connection, despite having a full LTE signal and gobs of data left on the account. I have tried the following:

• restarted the iPad
• removed the sim and re-inserted it
• turned on Airplane mode for a few minutes
• turned off cellular data for a few minutes

I can confirm through a WiFi connection that I still have plenty of data on my account (about 4GB left), but if I turn off WiFi, I get no internet. If I even just try to check my account, I get a message that "the connection to the server was lost."

 

[Phrasikleia]

I have to say that I'm really disappointed that this forum is no longer a good place to go for help. There was a time when people would at least try to solve a problem here. The last several times that I've needed help, I haven't received a single reply to my thread. Same thing here. 42 views and not one reply.

Well, here's an update, for what it's worth. About 10 hours after I first noticed the problem, nothing had changed. The iPad could see a cell tower and was showing a full LTE signal, but it was getting no data. So then I turned off cellular yet again, but this time for two full hours. When I tried again after that, cellular was working again.

I remain concerned about what happened. Could the iPad have a hardware problem? Is it more likely that AT&T had a problem on their end? For 10 hours? Could switching off cellular for two hours have had any effect or is it probably just a coincidence that the problem was resolved after that?

If anyone knows enough about cellular to make an educated guess about what happened, I would be very grateful to hear the explanation. If it is likely to be a hardware problem, then obviously I want to do something about it.

 

[TheAppleFairy]

Things get buried pretty quick, you posted it when most people in the USA are sleeping. I don't have an answer for you so now that makes 43 views, 2 replies (1 being yours) and no help. Give it time, have a little patience.

 

[blueroom]

Try a DFU restore, this often cleans up any iOS oddities.

 

[Phrasikleia]

Things get buried pretty quick, you posted it when most people in the USA are sleeping. I don't have an answer for you so now that makes 43 views, 2 replies (1 being yours) and no help. Give it time, have a little patience.

I appreciate the reply, but my last request for help is now 20 days old and still has no replies. I managed to resolve that problem on my own eventually, no thanks to anyone here.

Try a DFU restore, this often cleans up any iOS oddities.

Now that is something I had never heard of before, so I will definitely try that if the problem returns. Thanks much for the suggestion.

 

[TheAppleFairy]

I appreciate the reply, but my last request for help is now 20 days old and still has no replies. I managed to resolve that problem on my own eventually, no thanks to anyone here.

There are certain times of the day this site is full of traffic. If you post at odd times it might not get seen, or seen by someone who can help. It's not good to "bump" a message just for the sake of bumping, but posting a follow up of what you might have tried to resolve your issue a few hours after posting would probably be a good idea to get new eyes on the message. I don't think people are just ignoring you, they probably didn't see it.

 

[Tyler23]

I have to say that I'm really disappointed that this forum is no longer a good place to go for help. There was a time when people would at least try to solve a problem here. The last several times that I've needed help, I haven't received a single reply to my thread. Same thing here. 42 views and not one reply.

Well, here's an update, for what it's worth. About 10 hours after I first noticed the problem, nothing had changed. The iPad could see a cell tower and was showing a full LTE signal, but it was getting no data. So then I turned off cellular yet again, but this time for two full hours. When I tried again after that, cellular was working again.

I remain concerned about what happened. Could the iPad have a hardware problem? Is it more likely that AT&T had a problem on their end? For 10 hours? Could switching off cellular for two hours have had any effect or is it probably just a coincidence that the problem was resolved after that?

If anyone knows enough about cellular to make an educated guess about what happened, I would be very grateful to hear the explanation. If it is likely to be a hardware problem, then obviously I want to do something about it.

Not every member of the forum is viewing the forum 24 hours a day. As another poster mentioned, if you post something at a time when many are sleeping, it may go unseen, and may get pushed down very quickly.

Also, perhaps those that viewed did not respond because they didn't have an answer for you.

What's with the sense of entitlement? This forum is very helpful. If someone sees your thread and has an answer or suggestion, I'm sure they'll respond. They're not witholding just to spite you. If you don't get an answer, it's just that the right people haven't seen your thread.

 

[Night Spring]

This forum is very helpful. If someone sees your thread and has an answer or suggestion, I'm sure they'll respond. They're not witholding just to spite you. If you don't get an answer, it's just that the right people haven't seen your thread.

Exactly. I just went and looked at OP's other unanswered threads, and I don't know the answers to any of them. Obviously, I'm not going to post just to say, "Sorry, I don't know the answer."

As for the data connection problem, it sounds like something was wrong on AT&T's end, but who knows? Does OP have or know someone else who has another phone or device on AT&T she can compare to? Was this in a major urban area, or out in the woods?

 

[Phrasikleia]

Not every member of the forum is viewing the forum 24 hours a day. As another poster mentioned, if you post something at a time when many are sleeping, it may go unseen, and may get pushed down very quickly.

Also, perhaps those that viewed did not respond because they didn't have an answer for you.

What's with the sense of entitlement? This forum is very helpful. If someone sees your thread and has an answer or suggestion, I'm sure they'll respond. They're not witholding just to spite you. If you don't get an answer, it's just that the right people haven't seen your thread.

"Sense of entitlement" is being pretty unfair. The feeling I get is not that people are ignoring me but that the culture of this forum has shifted away from helpfulness. Attention has gravitated increasingly towards topics that allow people to express opinions rather than wisdom. Anything regarding gear purchases, gear criticism, political issues, social issues, etc. is where the vast majority of the action goes. Those types of threads have always been popular, but recently it seems as though the community support ethos is dwindling away.

 

[Tyler23]

"Sense of entitlement" is being pretty unfair. The feeling I get is not that people are ignoring me but that the culture of this forum has shifted away from helpfulness. Attention has gravitated increasingly towards topics that allow people to express opinions rather than wisdom. Anything regarding gear purchases, gear criticism, political issues, social issues, etc. is where the vast majority of the action goes. Those types of threads have always been popular, but recently it seems as though the community support ethos is dwindling away.

I literally have no idea where you're getting that from if you even spend 5 minutes looking through threads on this forum. Nearly every one is someone needing help and getting responses attempting to solve the issue.

As I said, there are tons of people getting help on here every day. If someone opens your thread and has some insight or a valid suggestion, they'll throw it your way.

The reason opinion threads are so popular is because everyone can have an opinion. Only certain people will have an answer/suggestion for your issue.

 

[MacManTexas56]

All was fine as of about three hours ago. Since then the iPad has been unable to use its data connection, despite having a full LTE signal and gobs of data left on the account. I have tried the following:

• restarted the iPad
• removed the sim and re-inserted it
• turned on Airplane mode for a few minutes
• turned off cellular data for a few minutes

I can confirm through a WiFi connection that I still have plenty of data on my account (about 4GB left), but if I turn off WiFi, I get no internet. If I even just try to check my account, I get a message that "the connection to the server was lost."

i know what you mean. someone starts a negative thread about a screen issue and people jump on it like wild fire. it's become a place for people to vent than actually receive help.

 

[rui no onna]

Also, perhaps those that viewed did not respond because they didn't have an answer for you.

This pretty much.

There were already a number of troubleshooting steps listed in the first post that didn't work. I don't think 42 posts of "Sorry, can't think of anything." would have helped you anyway.

 

[Phrasikleia]

i know what you mean. someone starts a negative thread about a screen issue and people jump on it like wild fire. it's become a place for people to vent than actually receive help.

I'm afraid you're right. I've been here long enough to remember when things were not so skewed towards those kinds of threads.

I literally have no idea where you're getting that from if you even spend 5 minutes looking through threads on this forum.

Well then you "literally" haven't read anything I wrote about this being the third thread in a row where this happened to me (my previous question sat for weeks and never did receive a reply). I appreciate your concern, but if this thread devolves into yet another opinion thread, then it will have exemplified my point about the culture of the forum.

So if anyone has any real information or help to offer here regarding the cellular data problem, I welcome it.

 

[Tyler23]

I'm afraid you're right. I've been here long enough to remember when things were not so skewed towards those kinds of threads.



Well then you "literally" haven't read anything I wrote about this being the third thread in a row where this happened to me (my previous question sat for weeks and never did receive a reply). I appreciate your concern, but if this thread devolves into yet another opinion thread, then it will have exemplified my point about the culture of the forum.

So if anyone has any real information or help to offer here regarding the cellular data problem, I welcome it.

Again, maybe no one had valuable responses for your threads. Look how many threads there are on here. The ratio of other threads to yours is incredibly high, and many thread starters are getting valuable help. Using your own 3 threads as a benchmark is unwise as there are literally hundreds of threads posted each day. Some go unanswered as either no one has an answer or they post at a busy time of day where their thread is pushed down quickly.

As mentioned, an opinion thread will get tons of responses because every can have one. Everyone can comment on what their screen looks like. Not everyone knows the details about AT&T data connections. Also, time of day can factor in, as can complexity of the issue and the users that actually see your threads.

And you started with the opinions in your own thread by making statements about the helpfulness of this forum. If you don't want rebuttle opinions, don't throw out ones to which many people will have a response.

I do not have a solution to your problem - just merely wanted to share that this forum can be very very helpful.

I do hope someone is able to assist you, if nothing else, this conversation has kept your thread near the top, increasing the likelihood that someone with an answer will notice this thread.

 

[Aspasia]

Out of curiosity, when you said you "restarted" your Air, did you mean a hard reset-reboot?

Also, did you try clearing your cache, history and cookies?

If so, then am guessing the problem was on AT&T's end since everything is working now.

In closing, your comments remind me of something my mom used to say: You can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar.

 

[deeddawg]

Again, maybe no one had valuable responses for your threads.

Agreed, the question is pretty deep and not many will have the knowledge to answer with anything but speculation.

The first sentence of the second post sets a negative tone that doesn't much induce anyone to donate their time to help. Especially if they're not 100% sure of their answer.

 

[Phrasikleia]

Out of curiosity, when you said you "restarted" your Air, did you mean a hard reset-reboot?

Also, did you try clearing your cache, history and cookies?

If so, then am guessing the problem was on AT&T's end since everything is working now.

In closing, your comments remind me of something my mom used to say: You can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar.

Very appropriate quote, indeed! Thanks for the questions. Yes, it was a hard reset (where the red slider for powering down shows up). No, I didn't clear any cache, history or cookies. Wouldn't those relate only to the browser, though? I couldn't even get data to work when I tried to "view account" in the cellular data settings. That also returned an error message about not being able to connect to the server.

 

[Tyler23]

Very appropriate quote, indeed! Thanks for the questions. Yes, it was a hard reset (where the red slider for powering down shows up). No, I didn't clear any cache, history or cookies. Wouldn't those relate only to the browser, though? I couldn't even get data to work when I tried to "view account" in the cellular data settings. That also returned an error message about not being able to connect to the server.

A hard reset is where you hold the home and power buttons together until the phone restarts. IF you're seeing the red slider to power down appear, that means you're just holding the power button to turn the phone off as normal.

Give a hard reset a shot, see if that helps at all.

 

[Phrasikleia]

A hard reset is where you hold the home and power buttons together until the phone restarts. IF you're seeing the red slider to power down appear, that means you're just holding the power button to turn the phone off as normal.

Give a hard reset a shot, see if that helps at all.

Yes, I was holding down both the home and power buttons to reset. I just tried it again twice, and each time I did get the red slider.

 

[Tyler23]

Yes, I was holding down both the home and power buttons to reset. I just tried it again twice, and each time I did get the red slider.

Hmm, that seems strange. On every iPhone I've owned, and the iPads I've used, the red slider never appears when performing a hard reset. Strange.

Either way, as long as you're holding both buttons together at the same time, and waiting for the screen to turn black (not having to swipe the red slider), then the Apple logo to reappear before letting go, you're doing a hard reset.

Beyond that..do you have an iPhone or another device that would have a cellular connection to test to see if it's a network issue in your area?

 

[Phrasikleia]

Hmm, that seems strange. On every iPhone I've owned, and the iPads I've used, the red slider never appears when performing a hard reset. Strange.

Either way, as long as you're holding both buttons together at the same time, and waiting for the screen to turn black (not having to swipe the red slider), then the Apple logo to reappear before letting go, you're doing a hard reset.

Beyond that..do you have an iPhone or another device that would have a cellular connection to test to see if it's a network issue in your area?

I get the red slider every time. Maybe the device needs to be frozen before a hard reset will go right to the Apple logo? I dunno. Anyway, no I don't have another device here that has a data connection. I use my phone so rarely for data that I just tether it to the iPad when I want a connection.

 

[Tyler23]

I get the red slider every time. Maybe the device needs to be frozen before a hard reset will go right to the Apple logo? I dunno. Anyway, no I don't have another device here that has a data connection. I use my phone so rarely for data that I just tether it to the iPad when I want a connection.

Nope, definitely doesn't need to be frozen to go straight to the Apple logo. Are you swiping on the slider when it appears, or do you continue to hold both buttons at the same time? (not trying to get off topic, just trying to understand why you're seeing that behavior!)

Maybe it's worth calling AT&T to see if anyone else is reporting issues in your area.

 

[Phrasikleia]

Nope, definitely doesn't need to be frozen to go straight to the Apple logo. Are you swiping on the slider when it appears, or do you continue to hold both buttons at the same time? (not trying to get off topic, just trying to understand why you're seeing that behavior!)

Maybe it's worth calling AT&T to see if anyone else is reporting issues in your area.

I don't know what the deal is with the red slider. It comes up every time, and if I keep holding the buttons, it's as if I just clicked cancel. Either that or I accidentally make a screen capture (which also involves holding down both buttons) or else I accidentally invoke Siri.

Yeah, I thought about calling AT&T this morning, but it is always such a huge time sink to try to get a human on the phone; and even if I could, I would then be asking about a possible historical outage, not something currently occurring. Not sure if anyone would want to put money on some AT&T operator being able to confirm that information. I did check their website this morning, and was completely unable to find any source for cellular outage information. U-Verse, yes, but I don't have U-Verse.

 

[Aspasia]

I don't know what the deal is with the red slider. It comes up every time, and if I keep holding the buttons, it's as if I just clicked cancel. Either that or I accidentally make a screen capture (which also involves holding down both buttons) or else I accidentally invoke Siri.

That's really odd. While I don't have an Air, I do have an iPad 2, a mini (in the family) and assorted iPods, including the T5 on the most recent iOS. Every one of them can be rebooted by holding down the home and on/off button at the same time for 10 to 15 seconds and the red slider never shows up. The device just goes to the black screen and reboots. The reboot clears up lots of cobwebs and gets things running normally again.

I wonder if all Airs react that way.

 

[MacManTexas56]

I'm afraid you're right. I've been here long enough to remember when things were not so skewed towards those kinds of threads.



Well then you "literally" haven't read anything I wrote about this being the third thread in a row where this happened to me (my previous question sat for weeks and never did receive a reply). I appreciate your concern, but if this thread devolves into yet another opinion thread, then it will have exemplified my point about the culture of the forum.

So if anyone has any real information or help to offer here regarding the cellular data problem, I welcome it.

yeah i've been around since 2005 on here and noticed the past couple years have been nothing but complainers. i quit making threads awhile back bc of no responses. only way to get a response is to be negative in your title and you will get lots of hits. the ipad section is the worst...