iPad 3 + 4G - Rogers - No Service

I too have experienced the 'great' Rogers service, starting with out-of-date information on their website that indicates you can self-signup on the device. I wasn't a Rogers customer, but I am a customer of their wholly-owned subsidiary Fido, so Rogers seemed a reasonable choice amongst the available networks.

Having received and plugged in the LTE SIM, I had no service. I tried to sync with iTunes with SIM installed in an attempt to get a carrier download for signup, but no dice. So I hunted for the customer service number, which isn't exactly easy to find. Getting set up (credit checked, phone number assignment, SIM/IMEI registration) was straightforward enough, but once I completed the call I noticed that the iPad was not displaying LTE - despite the fact that I'm on an upper floor of a downtown Vancouver building. So, I called back.

I was then on then on the phone for 2.5 hours (seriously). That was exactly 4 customer care agents and 4 tech support agents - batted back and forth like a tennis ball and mostly not placed in the priorty queue either... so waiting ages between each engagement. About 30 minutes into this process, my iPad stopped receiving any data, despite showing a connection to "Rogers 3G". I figured that they had messed up the configuration, but various agents poked and prodded my account and switched in and out various plans. The lack of the LTE flag on my account came up several times, and several times I was told it was now "in order", only then to have this queried again by later agents. Various times I was told that the network was fine, but in the end, I was told that their entire 3G and LTE networks had gone down in BC and Alberta, which was apparently the explanation for the complete lack of data to the device (even 3G). I was then advised that the network would be working again "in the morning" and my iPad should then work correctly with LTE. We'll, they were right about the 3G network coming back, but AFAICT I'm still on 3G.

So, I have a simple question. I am told that my iPad should display "Rogers LTE" when it is properly connected to the LTE service. The data rates I'm getting definitely suggest I'm only on 3G, as displayed, but can someone confirm that the machine will display "LTE" on Rogers when it is properly configured? Thanks.

Indeed, you will see Rogers LTE. I get around 25mbps up and down with 4 LTE bars.

I had to get Rogers to manually add LTE to the LTE flex plan. Their plan is broken in the library and right now most Rogers users getting on the LTE plan only get 3G. I am starting to think that it is intentional.

I had what appears to be a similar problem. iPad showed only 3G and could not obtain data connection. In a desperate attempt I restarted my iPad. Re-registration into the network? Maybe... Whatever, after a restart I had the "Rogers LTE" in the top left corner. :)

Stéphan

OK. Thanks for that confirmation.

Tonight I do further battle with Rogers' tech support then... or get them to cancel my account and I'll go to Telus or Bell. Not sure from these networks' various coverage maps what the relative LTE experience is between them, but it's probably a wash as long as remain in the metropolitan Vancouver area.

This is precisely why I returned my lte iPad for a wifi one. Not worth the hassle with Rogers.

*sigh*

Another 40 mins tonight with Customer Care. A very nice, friendly lady who was genuinely trying to get me sorted out and claims to have changed me (on several attempts) to an "LTE plan". Goodness knows what it was set to at the end of yesterday when I was told the very same thing several times during my mammoth 2.5 hour session.

Anyway, whatever plan she set me to now appears to have my iPad only being served with an Edge connection from their network, so I've actually gone backwards from the 3G I started with this evening.

I challenged with the note about the 'special LTE manual enabling flag', but she didn't seem to know anything about that and just insisted "this should work". Maybe one more try tomorrow? (I'm an optimist with, evidently, too much time on my hands!).

Yeah this is insane. I'm done with Rogers. Went to a Virgin kiosk and was up and running inside of 15mins. The girl had me grab a coffee then come back, just to make sure the account activated before I left. I was so impressed that I switched my iPhone to them on the spot. She gave me a temp #, put in the number port request and sent me on my way. Within 2hrs my number had moved over and now my Rogers account is closed for good. Never again. I know Virgin is owned by Bell, but their customer service and abilities are 1000x better than Rogers any day of the week.

OK, I'm finally up on LTE with Rogers. I have no idea whether their network was slow offering LTE after my last call to Customer Care, or if their agent carried on trying a few things after I'd finished the call. This last agent btw was *much* more pleasant, helpful and empathetic to my plight than all the 9 previous ones. Maybe she was new ;-)

Anyhoo, very poor experience, but I'm hoping that I don't have to interact with Rogers much at all hereafter. They are clearly in an internal state of shambles with their software and the complexity of their packages. One of the guys from my mammoth 2.5 hour session bid me to wait a few times as he rebooted his computer... though I suppose that might have been a stalling tactic while he franticly consulted the manuals, workflows and package tables.

Right, well my career a Rogers customer has just begun. They have some making up to do if I'm going to reselect them as a carrier next time I get to make the choice...

I still say take your iPad to one of the other carriers. You're in no way tied to Rogers, even if that's the SIM you selected when you bought the iPad. The other providers will give you a SIM for free and setup is painless.

Until yesterday, I had been with Rogers for 12 years. There's quite simply always something that goes wrong, or some new way that they come up with to screw you.

Virgin mobile's cell phone plans are hilariously bad though.

I can't believe that people are paying $40 for 5 gb of data. That's good for surfing the net a bit while downloading nothing and watching no hd vids. Why do we put up with these horrible companies?

Really? I don't find their plans awful at all. I'm doing prepaid, as I nearly never use minutes and most of my friends are on iPhones, so I don't need to text a lot... so it costs me $10+tax for the 100mb data. If I go back to using my phone a lot though for voice or txt, the $20/month plan gets a $5 discount since I have my own phone, then add flex data, it comes with voicemail and caller ID free... you're looking at $25 on average a month. Even their heavy-use plans are comparable to Rogers and Bell. Their flex data for phones is pretty fantastic. $0 if I don't use it, or up to $30 if I use 3GB. It's a great offer to have a sliding scale like that.

Heck, even their unlimited everything plan is only $50/month, which is less than I paid with Rogers, and I certainly didn't have unlimited Canada-wide calling.

I realize their plans cater to a specific target audience, but I guess what I'm saying is that they certainly aren't hilariously bad for a lot of people's usage model.

My point was: These companies are depending on LTE enabled devices and they know that you'll go over your limit. Personally, I use 2gb of 3G data per month without even trying. I don't want to feel like I'm actively trying not to use data, like I suspect you do.

We should all be able to use our phones or iPads to their full capacity, without being bankrupted by ridiculously low bandwidth overages or hyper-expensive plans tied to contracts.

If you think I'm wrong, ask yourself why Bell, Rogers, and Telus are requiring customers to attach credit cards with accompanying credit checks for the new LTE plans? They don't want you to sign up "on device" and be warned a week in that you're approaching your bandwidth limit.

Right I don't disagree. I was responding to the earlier comment about terrible cell phone plans. They really aren't any worse than the other guys. Just different.

Your point is a fair one though when it comes to the 3G/LTE usage. Luckily a lot of my use is in wifi-enabled areas that my iPhone/iPad attach to automatically when I walk in. I really only use the data between point A and B. I can see how this would be different for many people. Myself, I just watched my data over the last year and found I'm generally between 90-120MB, which mean the $10/month plan makes the most sense for me. I use the data almost exclusively just for email and iMessage.

Hopefully all of this will change in the future. I'm just really sad as well that the on-device prepaid LTE isn't an option.

FYI for those of you thinking of switching to Virgin:

Picked up a LTE sim a couple of days ago, and had a mix of 3G and LTE service for a day or so. For the last 24 hours I have not had ANY data capabilities on the iPad, even though I see 4 bars, the VIRGIN network, and 3G up in the top left corner. My ipad works beautifully when on my WIFI.

Two phone calls to Virgin's tech support and each time I've been on hold for over 1/2 an hour, only to have a useless CSR tell me to call Apple. I called Apple and did a restore of the ipad, but the problem remains.

I had previously had great experiences with a Virgin mobile prepaid cell phone - great CSR and I never had to wait for more than 5 minutes on hold. I'm on hold now again - it's 34 minutes and counting. So much for their previously stellar customer service.

Was thinking of dumping Virgin and getting a Rogers SIM, but not after what I'm reading here. Maybe it's back to Apple for a WI-FI ipad......