Q: The new iPad constantly losing cellular data connnection

I'm having the same "4G dropping repeatedly but still see signal strength" issue in the Boulder/Denver area. it drops 3-4 times on a 30 minute train ride. I switch airplane mode on and off, and that fixes it for about 10 min. The genius bar reformatted it the first time, and gave me a new iPad the second time. It is completely up-to-date, yet the problem persists.

I've turned off LTE, we'll see it this helps until there is a real fix. At least I know that I'm not the only one...

Good to know I'm that I'm not  the only one of the Boulder / Denver people with this.  I also forgot to mention that when the 4G drops I still have signal bars too.  I'm turning off the LTE option as well to see how that works.  - just while typing a response, (and staying in one location) I also lost 4G signal, (resulting in total loss of cell network) and still had 4 bars of signal, just South of downtown Denver by i25. Soon as I turned off the LTE the 4G signal came back on its own.

No camperdav I'm up in the Loveland, co area on a Verizon iPad 3. I went through 4 or 5 AT&T iPads. Before switching as a last ditch attemp to the Verizon one. While it has helped immensely I still sporadically loose data when driving around for work. However it does reconnect itself right away so that's an improvement. I'm just confused as to when sprint(iPhone) holds a more stable data connection than Verizon or AT&T?

In fact I am having the same issue. 3G is screwed up plus overheating.

Sadly apple gives shity support for this issue, I guess the unit should be replaced as it hardly can be used as supposed.

I tend to go for Samsung galaxy and sell that uncompleted piece of crap apple sold me.

Please do not post complaints. If you would like to share your experience with apple, we can help you figure out how to get support if you desire it.

I am curious as to who you contacted at apple, how they responded, and whether you are interested in getting a working unit.

Temperature and the 3G hand-off issue are both covered by applecare, which is provided 1 year with any ipad sold, although telephone support will cost $30/incident unless you have an applecare protection plan. This entitles you to a tech in the united states, and unlimited calls about an issue. You may also contact a third-party apple service provider if you would like a second opinion. They negociate with apple all the time.

Hi, I've contacted re:store in Moscow (Russia) and then authorized apple service provider. Both times they couldn't confirm it is a problem because this problem doesn't fall under any of replacement-fix programs.

So, now I am waiting until I will flight back to Zurich and refund it (they neither can fix nor refund it in russia)

If you can help to fix this problem by myself, I would appreciate it.

PS. Auto backlight disabled, iOS updated to latest version. No apps installed, clean shiny unit.

How did you disable the auto-backlight? What is the status of location services? what about timezone? Is it set correctly? Is it set to automatic or manual? What about push notifications? Mail?

Does it get hot after charging or throughout use?

Those are some ideas. But in general, I would say that you should get it replaced.

I would call applecare and ask them to ship you out a new one and a box to ship the old one back.

I'm having the same issues with 3rd Gen iPad with cellular AT&T. The software is up-to-date, running iOS 5.1.1. It drops the '4G' status in the upper task bar but maintains what shows a signal. It also has issues switching networks from 4G to 3G and Edge or just switching towers. Switching from 4G to LTE seems to be ok. When traveling I constantly have to go into Settings and turn on Airplane mode and then off and then it will reconnect to the network. Is there any kind of fix for this yet because iOS 5.1.1 did not fix the issues. Does the Verizon model have this same issue? I might try to exchange it for a Verizon model.

If you turn off LTE this seems to correct the issue.  You should be able to drive all over town and not loose signal.. Try that. Im not sure that LTE ever makes anything faster from what I have seen. Though I know it's advertised to be faster and it's a quasi 4G network.

Thanks for the reply! I've tried that, and it does seem to help but even with LTE switched off it has issues switching between towers when traveling. Plus my town does have LTE and I shouldn't have to turn it off in order to go to 4G just to get a cellular signal. You definitely see huge speed benefits on LTE. It averages 45 MB/s on LTE in my area, whereas 4G averages around 9MB/s. It's a huge difference.

Thank you for the reply. It's good to know that LTE has some benefits. I only had a chance to use it in DCA airport, but it was cutting in and out between the airports free wifi, so never noticed any great performance.  I went through apple care and had my iPad switched out after the AT&T switched out my simm card so not sure if it's a hardware issue at this point.  I think Apple is going to have to resolve this through a software update.  I still have to go back to apple care and let them know that switching th iPad out didn't resolve the issue.  I will post the outcome once I have the time to do all that.

@Gno1229 -- Just heads up, I've read many threads on this issue as I'm having it myself (3rd gen iPad, AT&T). I'm sure you're not going to see an improvement switching to a Verizon iPad, so I wouldn't waste your time. I believe this to be a software issue. I'm hoping Apple is aware of it and looking for an iOS 5 patch, or maybe something come iOS 6. Although for what I paid for this thing I would prefer not to wait that long.

Also, I'm starting to wonder if this issue manifests more in certain 4G coverage areas. I've had a good deal of trouble with the Denver area. But I just took a road trip to Missouri and was able to connect relatively problem free throughout the bigger cities along the way. Anyone else finding that certain areas are more problematic?

Thanks for the reply!! I actually live in Missouri and travel through part of the state often and also Illinois. I don't think area has anything to do with it because I was having issues all across the state. I just exchanged my AT&T version iPad to a Verizon one and so far it has worked beautifully, transitioning from 3G to LTE. Now I don't know if it's because I went with Verizon, but I think it has more to do with that 5.1.1 was already installed on the device new. I don't know if it's possible to do a fresh install to the latest version of iOS but I think that would make the difference. I drove around this evening already and tested in areas where I had issues before and I didn't once have to go into Settings and toggle Airplane mode on and off. So far so good!! Hope this helps! I really think it is a software issue like you said, but it's like something doesn't seem to get reset properly if you already had a cellular account setup before iOS 5.1.1 was released.

I don't know if this will help much, but up until about a month ago this thread was viral with our comments from Germany. Nothing worked, Apple stonewalled, everybody was frustrated and mad. Then, out came 5.1.1 and - important! - apparently the providers did some homework in the background, too. Voilà! Since then, there is apparently no trouble at all (I certainly have had perfect service since then and the rest of the German posts on the thead have disappeared).

Granted, we (Telecom D1 users) have no 4G and therefore our iPads have no setting for 4G to fiddle with, but everything else is about the same as yours. And we have not done any exchanging of iPads (well, some people did, but it didn't help one bit).

So what's my conclusion? Apple went a step too far too quickly, without testing the world-wide implications of its product and the software (this may also apply to 5.1.1.). One solution does not fit all, as we see.

So, okay Apple, you've heard the problems. So, okay providers, you've heard the problem.

Please fix 'em.