"Regular" 4G VZW sim does not seem to work in VZW iPad for PREPAID account.

[0000757]

Well, they don't "offer" them but they have them or can get one. You just need to work around all the morons in the store until you find one who will give it to you without trying to first scam you into a POSTpaid account without telling you what they are doing.

Exactly. The sim is the same. It's just a matter of activating it on either a post paid or pre paid account.

Except that there can't be any 4G on a prepaid account. Also, the sim does matter. Tell me OP, is THIS the kind of sim you have?

 

[RetiredInFl]

Any updates on your situation?

Funny it says this on apples website on the iPad purchase page:

Easy sign-up
You sign up for data service right on your iPad. And you can monitor your data usage and change your plan at any time, including adding data or canceling service if you know you won’t need it.

OK, here's the deal. I just came back from 1 1/2 hours at one of the "larger" VZW corp stores.

I have a feeling THIS sim may actually be bad, VZW agrees with me, 2nd level tech support agrees with me, activations department agrees with me, "iPad specialist" agrees.

But here is the problem. Come hell or high water they will not replace it for me. They WANT to but they can't. Reason they say is this: Unlike AT&T who is GSM and uses sims for everything they only use them for their 4G devices. THEIR COMPANY POLICY does not allow them (at this time) to sell or give away a 4G sim without an ACTIVE account attached to it and the ONLY way they can do that is with a POSTPAID account. They had the sim in their hand but wouldn't (can't) give it to me.

I'm sure if I yelled and screamed and jumped around and made a spectacle of myself I might have been able to get one, however at the age of 65 that is just not in my nature. I'm sure in one VZW store or another one of the workers might "slip one out" but in the 2 stores, the large "major area" store and a smaller mall store they just will not break the policy.

I have an appointment at Apple tomorrow and see if I can either get a new sim or get the device swapped out. I also have another sim on order off eBay from a different seller than the one that is not working. While it is stupid, it is VZW's policy right now. Eventually it will have to be changed.

While there they verified that the IMEI was in the system and also manually entered the ICCID so the card SHOULD HAVE been usable but it still was not.

So my issues are twofold:

#1) Bad card
#2) VZW won't replace it.

Oh, it must be a bad card because a friends card works fine. I am still going to go to Apple tomorrow to see what they will do and I will still try another "eBay LTE micro-sim" to see if that works which was the whole point of this fiasco.

----------

Except that there can't be any 4G on a prepaid account. Also, the sim does matter. Tell me OP, is THIS the kind of sim you have?

Image

Of course there can be 4G on a prepaid iPAD account, that's ridiculous. Why does my sister-in-law have a prepaid account and she is getting 38MBps download and it says LTE on the top? Yes, it is prepaid because I set it up. Maybe not where you come from but here in the US there most certainly is. Mine says VERIZON on it and looks identical to the one that came with the iPad and identical to the one used in the VZW iPhone and identical as the one used in the VZW Galaxy Nexus and identical as the one used in the 4G MiFi. It's a Verizon 4G micro-sim.

 

[trosa24]

OK, here's the deal. I just came back from 1 1/2 hours at one of the "larger" VZW corp stores.

I have a feeling THIS sim may actually be bad, VZW agrees with me, 2nd level tech support agrees with me, activations department agrees with me, "iPad specialist" agrees.

But here is the problem. Come hell or high water they will not replace it for me. They WANT to but they can't. Reason they say is this: Unlike AT&T who is GSM and uses sims for everything they only use them for their 4G devices. THEIR COMPANY POLICY does not allow them (at this time) to sell or give away a 4G sim without an ACTIVE account attached to it and the ONLY way they can do that is with a POSTPAID account. They had the sim in their hand but wouldn't (can't) give it to me.

I'm sure if I yelled and screamed and jumped around and made a spectacle of myself I might have been able to get one, however at the age of 65 that is just not in my nature. I'm sure in one VZW store or another one of the workers might "slip one out" but in the 2 stores, the large "major area" store and a smaller mall store they just will not break the policy.

I have an appointment at Apple tomorrow and see if I can either get a new sim or get the device swapped out. I also have another sim on order off eBay from a different seller than the one that is not working. While it is stupid, it is VZW's policy right now. Eventually it will have to be changed.

While there they verified that the IMEI was in the system and also manually entered the ICCID so the card SHOULD HAVE been usable but it still was not.

So my issues are twofold:

#1) Bad card
#2) VZW won't replace it.

Oh, it must be a bad card because a friends card works fine. I am still going to go to Apple tomorrow to see what they will do and I will still try another "eBay LTE micro-sim" to see if that works which was the whole point of this fiasco.

----------

Of course there can be 4G on a prepaid iPAD account, that's ridiculous. Why does my sister-in-law have a prepaid account and she is getting 38MBps download and it says LTE on the top? Yes, it is prepaid because I set it up. Maybe not where you come from but here in the US there most certainly is. Mine says VERIZON on it and looks identical to the one that came with the iPad and identical to the one used in the VZW iPhone and identical as the one used in the VZW Galaxy Nexus and identical as the one used in the 4G MiFi. It's a Verizon 4G micro-sim.

Image

I just don't like the way Verizon handles the whole Sim card situation. Since I'm still within the 14 day return window I'm thinking about going with AT&T instead.

An extra gig and less headaches.

 

[RetiredInFl]

I just don't like the way Verizon handles the whole Sim card situation. Since I'm still within the 14 day return window I'm thinking about going with AT&T instead.

An extra gig and less headaches.

I probably should have got the ATT model as I had on the iPad 2 but I went with VZW mainly because I can still use my ATT sim in it so, like now, I don't really have any problem and can get the best of both worlds depending on where I am. My ATT HSPA+ speeds are 8-10MBps which is plenty fast. LTE on an iPad for 99% of the use I have for it is really as necessary as a 13 megapixel camera vs. a 10.

 

[bidwalj]

I probably should have got the ATT model as I had on the iPad 2 but I went with VZW mainly because I can still use my ATT sim in it so, like now, I don't really have any problem and can get the best of both worlds depending on where I am. My ATT HSPA+ speeds are 8-10MBps which is plenty fast. LTE on an iPad for 99% of the use I have for it is really as necessary as a 13 megapixel camera vs. a 10.

Try an authorized verizon dealer. When I picked up a galaxy nexus to test out, a non corporate store just sold me the sim for a dollar and said to switch / activate it online. I was able to do activate the sim from home so clearly Verizon has something in the system to allow blank sims to be activated without the need of a store.

----------

Also make sure you aren't getting a microsim designed for the iPhone 4s. That sim will not activate as its designed for roaming.

 

[RetiredInFl]

Try an authorized verizon dealer. When I picked up a galaxy nexus to test out, a non corporate store just sold me the sim for a dollar and said to switch / activate it online. I was able to do activate the sim from home so clearly Verizon has something in the system to allow blank sims to be activated without the need of a store.

----------

Also make sure you aren't getting a microsim designed for the iPhone 4s. That sim will not activate as its designed for roaming.

Good idea on the non-corp store. VZW has only 1 type of Microsim according to the Corp store (he showed me the screen). A sim is a sim is a sim until it gets provisioned when all the info is put on it. He said there is no prepaid vs post paid and no 4G vs 3G despite what any package says. It's a blank card that simply is provisioned OTA based on the IMEI. I kind of believe that because on our ATT & T-Mo devices I use regular sims in prepaid phones and prepaid sims in postpaid phones despite what the package says.

With T-Mo (not sure about ATT) the "prepaid" sim includes a PIN # you must use to activate a prepaid phone but that PIN number is not needed if you put the sim in a postpaid phone.

 

[bidwalj]

Good idea on the non-corp store. VZW has only 1 type of Microsim according to the Corp store (he showed me the screen). A sim is a sim is a sim until it gets provisioned when all the info is put on it. He said there is no prepaid vs post paid and no 4G vs 3G despite what any package says. It's a blank card that simply is provisioned OTA based on the IMEI. I kind of believe that because on our ATT & T-Mo devices I use regular sims in prepaid phones and prepaid sims in postpaid phones despite what the package says.

With T-Mo (not sure about ATT) the "prepaid" sim includes a PIN # you must use to activate a prepaid phone but that PIN number is not needed if you put the sim in a postpaid phone.

I know the ones in the iPhone 4s won't work for a fact on any 4g device and vice versa. The micro sims that come in the 4s are only used when you roam in a different country on a gsm network. They don't work here with a 4g device.

I couldn't activate the sim found in my iPhone 4s on the galaxy nexus and I can't replace my iPhone 4s's micro sim with one found in the new iPad.

 

[bidwalj]

it looks like you do have the correct sim though.

attached are two verizon micro sims. the bottom s from an iPhone 4s (for global roaming purposes) and the top is out of a new iPad. These are not interchangeable for whatever reason.

because they are so hard to get a hold off, i think I'm going to go back to the store that sold me the sim for the nexus to see if i can get some more to hold onto incase i need another sim.

 

[AllieNeko]

I know the ones in the iPhone 4s won't work for a fact on any 4g device and vice versa. The micro sims that come in the 4s are only used when you roam in a different country on a gsm network. They don't work here with a 4g device.

I couldn't activate the sim found in my iPhone 4s on the galaxy nexus and I can't replace my iPhone 4s's micro sim with one found in the new iPad.

The SIM in an iPhone 4S (or other global phone) is NOT a Verizon SIM card. Global phones have Vodafone NL or Vodafone UK SIM cards and have automatic call forwarding and some caller ID trickery. Presumably this is to avoid the need for GSM/ANSI interoperability.

 

[bidwalj]

The SIM in an iPhone 4S (or other global phone) is NOT a Verizon SIM card. Global phones have Vodafone NL or Vodafone UK SIM cards and have automatic call forwarding and some caller ID trickery. Presumably this is to avoid the need for GSM/ANSI interoperability.

That's a negative. Look at the picture I posted. It has both the iPhone 4s micro sim and the new iPad lte sim. No Vodafone branding anywhere.

 

[AllieNeko]

That's a negative. Look at the picture I posted. It has both the iPhone 4s micro sim and the new iPad lte sim. No Vodafone branding anywhere.

Umm, so? What's the home MCC-MNC? What's the SIM's phone number (I bet it's not YOUR number...)? Who cares what the printing of the day on the SIM is? I'd be shocked if it's anything other than a Vodafone NL or MAYBE (older non-micros were) Vodafone UK SIM card.

 

[patricem]

But here is the problem. Come hell or high water they will not replace it for me. They WANT to but they can't. Reason they say is this: Unlike AT&T who is GSM and uses sims for everything they only use them for their 4G devices. THEIR COMPANY POLICY does not allow them (at this time) to sell or give away a 4G sim without an ACTIVE account attached to it and the ONLY way they can do that is with a POSTPAID account. They had the sim in their hand but wouldn't (can't) give it to me.

Honestly...that is just unbelievable. Unbelievable in that they won't/can't give you the proper sim. C'mon Verizon.

 

[RetiredInFl]

I know the ones in the iPhone 4s won't work for a fact on any 4g device and vice versa. The micro sims that come in the 4s are only used when you roam in a different country on a gsm network. They don't work here with a 4g device.

I couldn't activate the sim found in my iPhone 4s on the galaxy nexus and I can't replace my iPhone 4s's micro sim with one found in the new iPad.

I would agree you can't use the i4 sim in 4G VZW devices however that is probably only due to the way the sim has been provisioned in the i4 which makes it incompatible with the other devices. If the i4 sim were to be reprovsioned (which can be done by VZW OTA) it could very well be made compatible. There is also a "reprovision sim" and "reset account" function in the iPad which probably would modify the VZW i4 sim and possibly made it work in the iPad (but no longer in the i4).

 

[randymac88]

OK, here's the deal. I just came back from 1 1/2 hours at one of the "larger" VZW corp stores.

I have a feeling THIS sim may actually be bad, VZW agrees with me, 2nd level tech support agrees with me, activations department agrees with me, "iPad specialist" agrees.

But here is the problem. Come hell or high water they will not replace it for me. They WANT to but they can't. Reason they say is this: Unlike AT&T who is GSM and uses sims for everything they only use them for their 4G devices. THEIR COMPANY POLICY does not allow them (at this time) to sell or give away a 4G sim without an ACTIVE account attached to it and the ONLY way they can do that is with a POSTPAID account. They had the sim in their hand but wouldn't (can't) give it to me.

I'm sure if I yelled and screamed and jumped around and made a spectacle of myself I might have been able to get one, however at the age of 65 that is just not in my nature. I'm sure in one VZW store or another one of the workers might "slip one out" but in the 2 stores, the large "major area" store and a smaller mall store they just will not break the policy.

I have an appointment at Apple tomorrow and see if I can either get a new sim or get the device swapped out. I also have another sim on order off eBay from a different seller than the one that is not working. While it is stupid, it is VZW's policy right now. Eventually it will have to be changed.

While there they verified that the IMEI was in the system and also manually entered the ICCID so the card SHOULD HAVE been usable but it still was not.

So my issues are twofold:

#1) Bad card
#2) VZW won't replace it.

Oh, it must be a bad card because a friends card works fine. I am still going to go to Apple tomorrow to see what they will do and I will still try another "eBay LTE micro-sim" to see if that works which was the whole point of this fiasco.

----------

Of course there can be 4G on a prepaid iPAD account, that's ridiculous. Why does my sister-in-law have a prepaid account and she is getting 38MBps download and it says LTE on the top? Yes, it is prepaid because I set it up. Maybe not where you come from but here in the US there most certainly is. Mine says VERIZON on it and looks identical to the one that came with the iPad and identical to the one used in the VZW iPhone and identical as the one used in the VZW Galaxy Nexus and identical as the one used in the 4G MiFi. It's a Verizon 4G micro-sim.

Image

What a nightmare. I went through the same thing. Ended up swapping out the iPad at the apple store for a new one off the shelf and that got me past this situation. I then talked to an advanced support person (or something like that) from apple on the phone. Unfortunately, she seemed totally on-script with my situation. I was just trying to tell her that someone high up needs to get with Verizon because the claims being made in their product documentation and advertising are straight up false. She unfortunately kept denying responsibility and calling it a Verizon issue. It was very disappointing.

Frankly, as much of an apple fanboy I may be, this has class action written all over it.

 

[bidwalj]

Umm, so? What's the home MCC-MNC? What's the SIM's phone number (I bet it's not YOUR number...)? Who cares what the printing of the day on the SIM is? I'd be shocked if it's anything other than a Vodafone NL or MAYBE (older non-micros were) Vodafone UK SIM card.

I'm not denying what you are saying isn't true, just telling you that it does not have any Vodafone markings on it and that it very much resembles a 4g lte sim. Buying a sim from someone other than verizon might get you the wrong sim if you are not careful enough.

 

[RetiredInFl]

What a nightmare. I went through the same thing. Ended up swapping out the iPad at the apple store for a new one off the shelf and that got me past this situation. I then talked to an advanced support person (or something like that) from apple on the phone. Unfortunately, she seemed totally on-script with my situation. I was just trying to tell her that someone high up needs to get with Verizon because the claims being made in their product documentation and advertising are straight up false. She unfortunately kept denying responsibility and calling it a Verizon issue. It was very disappointing.

Frankly, as much of an apple fanboy I may be, this has class action written all over it.

As I was leaving the VZW store earlier today there was a guy walking in with an iPad with the same issue. I told him to fugetaboutit.

 

[trosa24]

What a nightmare. I went through the same thing. Ended up swapping out the iPad at the apple store for a new one off the shelf and that got me past this situation. I then talked to an advanced support person (or something like that) from apple on the phone. Unfortunately, she seemed totally on-script with my situation. I was just trying to tell her that someone high up needs to get with Verizon because the claims being made in their product documentation and advertising are straight up false. She unfortunately kept denying responsibility and calling it a Verizon issue. It was very disappointing.

Frankly, as much of an apple fanboy I may be, this has class action written all over it.

We should start to gather people for some type of class action lawsuit. It seems Verizon is stuck in its ways and are screwing people.

 

[AllieNeko]

I'm not denying what you are saying isn't true, just telling you that it does not have any Vodafone markings on it and that it very much resembles a 4g lte sim. Buying a sim from someone other than verizon might get you the wrong sim if you are not careful enough.

I would NEVER suggest sourcing a SIM card from outside of the carrier regardless. One, it'll almost certainly be more expensive (carriers rarely charge you for replacement SIMs, and when they do it's as simple as going to the right person to avoid it). Two, it might well be the wrong SIM or a previously activated SIM (even if never touched, scanned onto an account or something) - once service has been disconnected, for security and convenience reasons, SIM cards are never reactivated - just replaced (though in theory there is a way to reactivate an old SIM).

Older global roaming SIMs were clearly marked Vodafone, yes. However, to the best of my knowledge the technical and economic reasons for that (instead of using an actual Verizon SIM in global roaming phones) remain (my best assumption is the difficulty of GSM/ANSI interoperability combined with taking advantage of corporate parent Vodafone's already extensive and negotiated GSM roaming agreements). There would also be technical issues with a SIM having the same number used for ESN/MEID authentication on ANSI (CDMA in this case). The CSIM application on a Verizon LTE SIM card, not the MEID of the phone, is what authenticates with the ANSI MAP (CDMA network). Since Verizon iPhone's do not use CSIM (that is you're connected to the Verizon CDMA network based on MEID, you can't just move your SIM card like with a Verizon LTE phone even on CDMA), I cannot imagine they'd have an actual Verizon SIM card due to the technicalities there.

However, the lack of Vodafone branding is odd. I would appreciate it if someone with a Verizon iPhone 4S could determine the home MCC-MNC of the SIM (there's no easy way to do this on an iPhone so you'll need it in another phone with a good field test like a Samsung Galaxy S series). This will tell us what carrier the SIM is actually tied to. Most recently, this has been Vodafone NL with mini-SIMs... but those WERE all branded Vodafone.

UPDATE LOL WOW I was stupid - I realized your picture allows the ICCID to be clearly readable. I was correct, the iPhone 4S SIM is a Vodafone NL SIM:

Network name Vodafone
Operator name Vodafone Libertel N.V
Country or global network Netherlands
MCC-MNC 204-44

For comparison, here's your iPad SIM:

Network name Choice
Operator name Choice Wireless L.C. (former AmeriLink)
Country or global network United States
MCC-MNC 310-480

That result, unlike the iPhone 4S SIM, is actually the one I find darn weird. The Verizon LTE network is 311-480, not 310-480 (both 310 and 311 are US codes).

After thinking, my best guess is that this is a bug in the database I used, and not in any way reflective of the actual homing of the Verizon LTE SIM because that would make no sense. In other words, when creating a database of what prefixes tie to what MCC-MNC, someone accidentally hit 310 (probably out of reflex since that's the main prefix for the US) instead of 311

 

[ZipZap]

We should start to gather people for some type of class action lawsuit. It seems Verizon is stuck in its ways and are screwing people.

You should all be deluging Tim Cooks email address with complaints.

 

[KyleMac]

An Apple employee told me that they've been having a lot of problem with unactivated sim cards. Apparently a whole boatload of sim cards never approved or activated by Verizon got included in these iPads. This is fixed by a hard reboot while plugged into iTunes.

My iPad wouldn't even activate because the SIM was unauthorized. After a hard reboot, everything works great.

 

[imlynxy]

TB07-NJ: I ordered Verizon SIM from the same seller on ebay. When I get it I try to open another account. I know, I spend 20 dollars for nothing, but if it doesn't work I go with ATT.

I changed 3 Verizon iPAD3s and there were 30min-2 hours calls to swap data plans. I've been using ATT for years now and I never had such a bad customer service. The only 2 reasons I jumped with Verizon is 20/1 plan and hotspot. I can live without hotspot, but I don't want to pay another 10 dollars for 2 gB I don't use.

TB07-NJ, please keep us informed on the issue you have. Thank you very much for the thread and good luck.

I

 

[trosa24]

An Apple employee told me that they've been having a lot of problem with unactivated sim cards. Apparently a whole boatload of sim cards never approved or activated by Verizon got included in these iPads. This is fixed by a hard reboot while plugged into iTunes.

My iPad wouldn't even activate because the SIM was unauthorized. After a hard reboot, everything works great.

Hey kyle, can you elaborate on this?

 

[trosa24]

I guess all sim card issues everyone has had are resolved huh

 

[magbarn]

I guess all sim card issues everyone has had are resolved huh

Huh?!! Just like the op, I also went through Verizon HELL and back to get a new sim card. I eventually had to return my iPad and get another one to get pre paid to work as Verizon treats these sim cards like pieces of solid platinum. I also went to 2 different corporate stores and wasted over $30 in gas and 4 hours of my time. To the op, hopefully you're still in your 14 day window, return your iPad ASAP and get another one. Hopefully apple and vzw will start to get the message if this is done enough times!!

 

[jaziCo]

My issue initially like many of you here, could not set up my account at all.. Called VZW a couple of times (all noobs) finally 3rd time was a charm got a dude who knew what he was doing... And got it fixed... Now my issue is when I try to go my account under Cellular Data I get this error...

Any ideas?