No, your iPad 2 is defective.
Let me walk you through my experience - and hopefully it will sum it up a bit. If you want, skip the Days (below) and go straight to the next paragraph.
Day -28 - I paid ~$900 CAN for the iPad 2 + accessories. Had to wait almost 4 weeks for iPad 2.
Day 1 - Arrival. The iPad 2 worked great with the SIM card.
Day 2 - Upgraded the firmware via iTunes and the SIM card could not be detected anymore after the reboot.
Day 3 - Removed / Re-inserted SIM card to no avail. Factory reset - no change. Phone support refused to replace unit for me until I try a new SIM card. They told me I need to go to a Rogers for a new SIM card.
Day 4 - Went to Rogers, who refused. They sent me to the Apple 'genius' bar.
Day 5 - Went to the 'genius' bar, they booked me an appt for next day.
Day 6 - Met with 'genius' bar representative, tried several SIM cards, none would detect. Refused to replace my iPad because it is 'engraved'. Made me go back to phone support.
Day 7 - Phone support had to 'send me a box' to send it back in because they want me to 'repair' my new DOA unit
Day 12 - Fedex problems. Had to drive to edge of city to get packaging and ship iPad 2 in for repair.
Day 19 - Apple notifies me they recieved it and 'cancelled' the repair. Had to call and talk to three different representatives to find out what they meant by 'cancelled'. Turns out, it meant because its DOA they sent a new one.
Day 28 - Finally found someone from Apple who give me an update. After many emails finally got a tracking number.
Day 33 - Today - recieved 'new' iPad 2. Without so much as an apology. Again, had to go to the edge of the city to pick it up because of Fedex problems. Fedex blames Apples 'rules' for their delivery practices with iPad.
Now, before I sent my 'defective' unit in, I took a very close look at the contact points for the SIM card inside the iPad. It isn't properly lined up inside the unit and was loose. If you remove your SIM card, and put it in/out a few times, and put it in very carefully --- it will probably stay lined up for a few days. But the problem is, that some of the iPad 2's seem to have a native defect in how they handle the SIM cards. Not all seem to have the problem. Probably only a specific group of them.
So, what to do? Get a replacement. If they weren't so cheap on their quality with the SIM cards contact points and performed on-the-line quality control - you wouldn't have this problem. But then again, thats what happens when they rely on an underpaying company in a poverty stricken country to create and manage a thousand dollar item for a tenth of the price in manufacturing costs.
I'm not terribly happy with everything - but trust me get your iPad replaced before those contacts move around too much and finally just break internally. Once that happens, it will never find your SIM card again. And pray you didn't engrave it, because at least then Apple might decide to replace your product at the Apple store.
- Ed
