U.S. Regional Carriers Gearing Up to Begin Offering Cellular-Capable iPad Air [Updated]

[NMBob]

>>>John said: Not a stupid question at all. The iPad Air and iPad mini aren't carrier locked, and there is only one LTE iPad Air model (A1475) and one LTE iPad mini Retina model (A1490) for all networks.
In the small print of the link above: 3. iPad models are unlocked and may support LTE networks outside the country of purchase when using a valid SIM from a supported carrier. Contact your carrier for more details.

Thanks, John. Now I'm really confused.

I saw that page and, yeah, it looks like there is only going to be one model, but then they make the statement about 'outside the country'...well what about INSIDE the country? This phone stuff is NEVER straightforward. That's why I don't have one. I walk into one of the the stores every so often and bring the little boys and girls to tears, because they don't really understand what's going on, either.

>>>You should be able to buy a nano SIM card from any of the listed carriers and simply sign up for service.

I'll see if I can get away with not buying one tied to a particular carrier at the Apple store next week.

>>>The difference will mostly be in fall back speeds...

I'll probably have to go with Verizon here in the wilds of New Mexico. Rats.

>>>Do be aware that Verizon will kill the SIM card that comes with the iPad if it goes unused after a period of time (months?)

Dogs.

Thanks!

 

[John.B]

I think we'll know a lot more once the iPad Air models start shipping next week, since they appear to be identical to the new iPad mini Retina except screen size.

My guess is that the only difference will be which SIM card you put in them, but I'm not sure how they will go about that since there will only be one model number for cellular + WiFi. I'm thinking they'll just include the SIM card for the carrier of your choice separately, but until they release the SKUs, we won't know for sure...

 

[John.B]

Clicking through the iPad Air configuration options on Apple.com just now, I see that the color/storage+cellular/carrier options gives a vendor specific product, for example:

iPad Air Wi-Fi + Cellular for AT&T 128GB - Space Gray

That makes me think Apple is actually going to configure 16 separate SKUs for the cellular iPad Airs and 16 for the cellular Retina iPad minis (16GB/32GB/64GB/128GB x AT&T/Sprint/T-Mobile/Verizon). Hopefully the only differences beyond storage will be which carrier SIM they pre-install...

 

[macs4nw]

I would love to know why there is no such thing as a cellular capable MacBook for MacBook air.

Been considered, and rejected. Too much convergence maybe? There's always tethering if you need the bigger screen of a laptop.