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The new iPad constantly losing cellular data connnection

My new iPad (3rd gen), 4G (AT&T) cannot seem to maintain a cellular data connection. The AT&T signal meter is still there (and shows 3 bars), but the "4G" disappears, and I get a "could not activate the cellular data network" error. I know it's not my location because it happens both at work and at home, and because my iPhone 4S and 1st gen iPad don't have the problem. I have already toggled cellular data on and off, restarted the iPad, reset network settings, and restarted again. No luck. Each time I restart, the connection works for about 30 seconds, and I can check my email, but then it immediately goes out again. Has anyone else had this problem?

iPad, iOS 5.1

Posted on Mar 19, 2012 1:50 PM

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606 replies

Mar 30, 2012 5:32 AM in response to scholarwilliams

I transferred service from iPad1 to ipad3, but when I was having issues that first week with connecting, AT&T replaced the Sim card. So I don't think it's about transferring service. Turning off wifi seems to make my cellular connection hold also, like others have stated above, so I'm thinking we just need to do that until apple sends an update with a fix. Thanks for your replies everyone.

Mar 30, 2012 7:51 AM in response to scholarwilliams

Same problem. There is no way that I can handle having to switch manually all the time and with LTE coming to my town probably some time this year I think I'll return this thing and wait until it's all worked out. From what I can tell we don;t even really fully understand the problem yet. To confuse things more when this was happening yesterday pulling off the smart cover allowed it to cnnect but I haven't been able to replicate that "fix". Bummer---love the screen and processing bump from my 1st generation. Other than being slow on occasion the 1st gen has been great. I'm also not a fan of the smart cover for the record.

Mar 31, 2012 4:13 PM in response to jdenmead

Factory reset and backup did not work. Already tried this. I tried all possibility resets, restores, sim exchange, another carrier sim. Nothing helps. Sooner or later issue comes back. 100% iPad bug. Hopefully it is only a software bug and Apple will quiet (as usual) fix this in next iOS update. If this is a hardware issue (like antennagate)- we are in deep s....

BTW. How it is possible to log this issue to Apple? I have never done this before. Can someone explain?

The new iPad constantly losing cellular data connnection

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