Carrier Unlocked, but simlock or "international" issues?

[wct097]

I bought an iPad mini (A17 Pro) wifi+cellular secondhand off of Facebook marketplace. The seller disclosed that it had some sort of simlock with t-mobile and that's why he was selling and had purchased another. I don't really care because I can do most of what I want with it using wifi anyway, but cellular would be a nice-to-have on a cheap plan like Mint mobile. I tried to get it to activate on Mint but had numerous problems and a promise of a callback after escalation that never materialized. I paid for one of those IMEI checks and I've checked every major carrier but can't find any evidence that it is, in fact, simlocked. The suggestions on Google and various forums that there is a "Carrier Lock" section under Settings -> General -> About doesn't hold true on my iPad. No such thing. No such line. All I have is Carrier: iPad 69.0. I have managed to add it to my Apple Care subscription and it shows as covered under AppleCare One.

Over the weekend I was able to get it activated on Xfinity Mobile with zero issues. When I followed up with Mint, they reiterated that they couldn't give me any detail about the simlock despite my insistence that Apple support tells me it's not locked and I have been able to get it activated with Xfinity. Their latest is that it won't activate because it's an international iPad. The model number is MXPN3LL/A which suggests that isn't the case. I suspect that Mint really doesn't have second level support to escalate to and that this was just a lie to get me off of the support session like the lie about escalating in the first place.

Has anyone else run into this kind of problem and managed to resolve it? I figure I'll give it a month and try again -- maybe having been active on Xfinity will unjam the unknown lock elsewhere? Maybe it's worth taking into a t-mobile store and trying to activate with them before switching to Mint? I suppose I could stick with Xfinity, but I'm not using this enough on cellular to justify $20/mo compared to the Mint $60/yr plan.

 

[arc of the universe]

I bought an iPad mini (A17 Pro) wifi+cellular secondhand off of Facebook marketplace. The seller disclosed that it had some sort of simlock with t-mobile and that's why he was selling and had purchased another. I don't really care because I can do most of what I want with it using wifi anyway, but cellular would be a nice-to-have on a cheap plan like Mint mobile. I tried to get it to activate on Mint but had numerous problems and a promise of a callback after escalation that never materialized. I paid for one of those IMEI checks and I've checked every major carrier but can't find any evidence that it is, in fact, simlocked. The suggestions on Google and various forums that there is a "Carrier Lock" section under Settings -> General -> About doesn't hold true on my iPad. No such thing. No such line. All I have is Carrier: iPad 69.0. I have managed to add it to my Apple Care subscription and it shows as covered under AppleCare One.

Over the weekend I was able to get it activated on Xfinity Mobile with zero issues. When I followed up with Mint, they reiterated that they couldn't give me any detail about the simlock despite my insistence that Apple support tells me it's not locked and I have been able to get it activated with Xfinity. Their latest is that it won't activate because it's an international iPad. The model number is MXPN3LL/A which suggests that isn't the case. I suspect that Mint really doesn't have second level support to escalate to and that this was just a lie to get me off of the support session like the lie about escalating in the first place.

Has anyone else run into this kind of problem and managed to resolve it? I figure I'll give it a month and try again -- maybe having been active on Xfinity will unjam the unknown lock elsewhere? Maybe it's worth taking into a t-mobile store and trying to activate with them before switching to Mint? I suppose I could stick with Xfinity, but I'm not using this enough on cellular to justify $20/mo compared to the Mint $60/yr plan.

it may be that Xfinity works because Xfinity is formerly a Verizon group MVNO that uses the T-Mobile network and that T-Mobile made an a agreement with Verizon to provide Xfinity with full network service as a part of the T-Moble-Verizon deal.

i have no idea why Mint might not be working. it also uses the T-Mobile signal. and definitely should be able to be used, even for data on an iPad. it sounds like something very simple for a T-Mobile physical shop to solve, but difficult for a fix over the phone.

then there is this AI generated (Gemini) piece of info that I got:
quote
Generally, yes, a T-Mobile-locked iPad can often work with Mint Mobile because Mint uses T-Mobile's network. However, recent reports suggest T-Mobile has tightened policies, sometimes preventing locked devices from being used on its Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNOs) like Mint.
endquote

so, according to Gemini you aren't the only one with this problem.