The new iPad constantly losing cellular data connnection

it could also be a faulty sim card or network registration.

In my case, it was not a sim card problem :

- I tested the new sim in my 2nd gen iPad and work correctly

- The sim of the 2nd gen iPad had the same trouble in the New iPad

The full restore and set it as a new device was the only solution and works great (but it's very annoying, you have to dowload all your app for a second time).

I have the AT&T 64Gb LTE + Wi-Fi (iOS 5.1.1) that I purchased 7 weeks ago to the day.

This morning, I lost my data connection, for the first time under these circumstances. It cycled through LTE--> 4g--> no data --> no service and back to 4G and repeated the sequence. But LTE never came back up (and I know I am in an LTE coverage area and have been VERY pleased with the speeds). What set it off was when it was trying to switch from the 4G to LTE. That's when it became unstable.

After trying airplane mode, powering off, etc, I turned off LTE in the settings and viola, I got my data connection back.

I am not pleased about not having LTE though. It was the sole reason why I upgraded from the 1st generation iPad (because AT&T's 3G coverage is awful, even in the big east coast city I work in). I hope this gets fixed fast.

Continue to monitor. maybe it was just a fluke. you are running the latest os, right?

--Sam

This is what worked for me which I saw on a earlier post...

If you are not in an area with LTE go to settings, celluar data, and make sure you turn LTE off. I can now leave the 4G and wifi on and my ipad has been switiching between the two without a problem.

Still a problem for me Sam. Checked yesterday. Yep, I am running the latest (5.1.1)

I was at the Apple store this weekend, and did a full OS restore to the latest version. I was told that if that didn't work, (which it didn't ) I would have to go to AT&T and get the sim card replaced. If that doesn't work they will replace the iPad. seems like there is a known issue going on here. If the sim card fixes it I'm going to start a blog called, "my iPad runs great" people will sign on and agree and tell others how great their computer stuff works.

Toggling LTE to Off has also seemed to have worked for me. So far. Only began playing with it yesterday. For the record, two lengthly discussions with AppleCare Plus(!) did NOT include them mentioning this as a fix. Thanks to this forum I get some help. What a relief!

I do have some crazy conspiracy theory type hypotheses about how Apple Support appears to handle this, but I won't go there. Suffice it to say, the customers time appears to have no value in their approach. What does seem to matter is to avoid admitting that the product doesn't really perform as promised. ...

Ok, now I'm curious. Has anyone had anyone from Apple suggest the LTE toggle as best fix? I do love a good conspiracy theory! ; )

Let us know how we can help you obtain support. Apple is good at investigating problems and coming up with solutions, although it may not be within the span of a single call. Call back and your case will be escalated, and you may hear a response back.

What country and carrier are we talking about?

The LTE toggle is not a fix, it is a workaround, which is usable for those who don't want or need 4G but not acceptable as an apple-approved solution, just like downgrading your engine would be a bad solution for a car manufacturer.

Thanks, Sam, for your response. I suppose in an ideal world Apple World would ship me new units overnight, preloaded with all The Apps i painstakingly loaded and se up just the way i want them until the problem is solved. Being told on the phone to try a restore, to go to the genius bar, very time consuming activities, was frustrating as i have spent way too much time on this already.

Especially frustrating to be told to try those things after having read accounts here about folks going through those steps, without success. When I mentioned this forum to the apple associate and it's reference to this stories about going through all the steps he replied that you only hear the negative stuff online or something to that effect. There may be a bit of truth to that, but after scanning through page after page after page about this problem, it is frustrating to be told that I shouldn't believe everything I read...

Second, yes I know it is a workaround, not a fix! When I used that word, I really meant that it "fixed" my particular functionali requirement, namely that the iPad behave about as well as my AT&T iPhone does, in terms of cellular data connectivity. And believe me, I will settle for less than perfection, having faithfully used AT&T for years now! ; )

I am not a sophisticated user don't need blazing speed from a cellular connection. I know 4g is mostly marketing. I don't want to have to become an engineer to have to learn how a product works. I just want reasonably functional connectivity. Does that make sense? I do love all the things this amazing new iPad does right. It's my first one and I'm blown away by it. So, for the next few weeks I'm going to try to live with the workaround I was thinking and get back to a true fix quest when I can.

If I manage to get some time in my schedule to try more troubleshooting toward a true fix, do you have tips about how to do this in a relatively pain free way? Every hour I spend trying fixes that don't work will just make me angrier and I would rather just settle for a workaround and get on with my life. Many thanks for your input. I do appreciate it.

And I know this is really the best of all possible worlds. I'm just a tired, cranky old woman, especially when I have to go into an Apple store at the dreaded mall!

Sorry for getting emotional. Bottom line: practical advice for a true fix, with minimal time input, would be golden.

@Lisa: Your narrative should be read (and enjoyed) by everyone! You've made the point beautifully and besides, you've made a great contribution to the solid gold reputation of "tired, cranky old wom(e)n"!

Well, I'm back and have learned a lot through this experience, even to the point where I can say, I'm glad it happened. I learned many "tech" things, but maybe even more about the human operating system - that still plays a pretty big role behind all the other systems here....

Sam wrote, "Let us know how we can help you obtain support" above. And I guess for me, I just had to plunge in and not give up until I felt understood....

So, I just was lucky enough to be able to take about 2 more hours today to get up to speed on really nothing more technical than simply how to use support resources.

Most of what I learned was about how inexperienced I am in the art of....asking for help...

Because apple devices are so intuitive I really haven't had to ask for much help with them. Plus I'm so stubborn and proud that it kind of kills me to admit I even need "support"! ; ) Not a good combination of circumstances, especially considering how complicated my goals at this time really are...

In a way I'm glad this whole kerfuffle happened. I have now totally "made-up" with Apple and the relationship is back on track. ; )

Don't know if I should say their names, but I had a wonderful phone experience today with AppleCare this morning, including getting to a manager (without even asking!), who even went one step further to confirm his opinion via a "chat" with 5 other managers. And I suspect he skipped his lunch to do it.

(By this way, and back on topic of this thread, all this care wasn't just in regards to this particular celluar connectivity problem, but a larger challenge involving multiple devices, international travel, att, sim cards, etc!) And - it - is - now ----- resolved. Yay!!!!

I do wonder however, how ordinary folks with a life and a job (which I do not currently have) can possibly make the time to do this stuff!?

So thanks to all who have taken their time to create this "supportive" community.

I have been meaning to come back to this to update my iPad LTE status, but life gets in the way sometimes.

Anyway, all is resolved and I did nothing. Which leads me to believe that it was something going on with AT&T. It's (LTE) been working for about 4 or 5 days now, without one hiccup. Like I said, I did nothing but reenabled LTE just to "test" and it worked. hasn't stopped working since that test.

So even though I am happy it is working, I wish I knew what the issue was. But that's the tech in me...

Hi everybody, I am from South Africa and I am sitting with the same problem. My data connection just dissapears......well the 3G icon dissapears but my carrier name still shows with signal strength, which by the way is pretty strong. So everytime the 3G icon dissapears, I have no cellular data and can not connect. Now I have read this thread and the guys here say to switch off the LTE.....now here is the problem...I don't have that switch, probably due to the fact that I have the European model, is there some other way to get this problem fixed? Cause this is extremely frustrating.

I just went through apple support process, and still no luck.

Here is what I have tried:

Re- formatted iOS from the Apple Store

Replaced SIMM card from AT&T

Replaced iPad.

Still the problem persists.. Where I loose cellular signal when moving between locations in the Denver / Boulder area. I go and flip airplane mode on/ off to work around... Is this how it's supposed to work? So far this has been disappointing, and a lot of wasted time spent. last words from the apple store was that if still prersists they don't think it's a hardware issue.. So I have no idea what is next.