iPad2 3G SIM unlocked?

Dear Friends,
According to the website, Apple shall be giving the iPads in US with Verizon(CDMA) and AT&T(GSM). For other countrymen who wish to use the 3G iPads overseas, shall have to buy it with their Regional Micro Sim provider.

I have a question, and probably a very naive one, "+Just How do we contact an Apple Expert Online? Is there a chat feature or something?+"

And about the iPad 2 being career locked, i guess it won't be. That's because there is no contract. You can leave it any time you want + the choosing of career option is from what i understand because of the CDMA and GSM varient.

Message was edited by: virtuosovidit

Message was edited by: virtuosovidit

Is it possible that the iPad 2 will only be locked to AT&T (GSM version) in the US but work with any carrier abroad?

I think this was the case with the first iPad in Japan.

There is a chat feature to contact an Apple Expert Online, only during normal store hours though.

The existence of a SIM tray has zero bearing on whether it's locked or unlocked. Remember the iPhone has a SIM tray too and in most countries it ships locked. You can put another SIM in an iPhone but of the phone is locked it won't work.

I have a bit of a theory on this...

look at the bottom of this page: http://www.apple.com/ipad/3g/

It essentially says that you can sign up, cancel and adjust to a different plan right from the ipad settings... My theory is that while the ipad 2 could well be unlocked it is configured for a specific carrier to allow you to alter your plan for that carrier in the settings?

At the end of the day we still need a 100% confirm from apple that it is indeed unlocked

I went to the Soho Apple Store in NY today and asked if the new iPad was unlocked like the first one, and if it would work when I move back to Europe in a few months. The salesman told me it was unlocked and there will be absolutely no problem to switch SIM cards as long as it is GSM if I buy the AT&T version.

My guess is that nothing has changed, which is why Apple did not communicate on this.

Hope this helps.

Yes. From the US iPad 2 page that the iPad 3G+WiFi GSM version will only work with AT&T. The wording is almost the same for both the iPhone 4 and iPad:

The iPad model you purchase is specially configured to work with either AT&T or Verizon"

"That means the iPhone model you purchase is configured to work only with the network technology of either AT&T or Verizon Wireless, as specified, but not both."

I chatted with an Apple expert a minutes ago and he told me that the information about whether the iPad 2 GSM version will be carrier locked or not is still not available and that I should keep checking the website. This is not a good indication. Last year they mentioned this months in advanced. I won't be surprised if they locked it to AT&T.

If you look at the tech specs on the Apple Website where they compare the 3g+wifi version with only wifi and look at the section on input/output you will see the 3g version mentions micro-sim card tray. To me that means that you should be able to insert any micro-sim card and since Apple are not selling the ipad with a plan at the point of sale my guess is that you should be able to insert any SIM card from any carrier even outside the US. What I don't understand is the part where they say you can sign on from within the ipad. That part obviously must be configured for AT&T at this point and so maybe just that functionality will not exist if you put another SIM card in. But this is just speculation on my part. At first, seeing how you could sign onto the AT&T plans I too thought that maybe the SIM card is built in and there is no way to change it but as mentioned above the tech specs clearly show a SIM card tray.

Welcome!

Having a slot doesn't really mean it's unlocked. My iPhone has a removable sim card, but the phone is locked to the provider.

My iPad 1 came with 3 cards.... it was supposed to be a choice of one, but when I explained that I travel, and there's no single operator here with full coverage, they gave me two more. All could be activated from in the iPad, and the sign up screen changed depending which card you had in (I seem to recall....!).

I think the jury's still out.... it's either sloppy wording on the Apple website, or the iPad 2 is tied when activated. What I find strange is that it's still not crystal clear, which might put some buyers off.