New AT&T iPad 4G only connects on EDGE outside of US

Hello, just to inform and sorry for my bad English.

I am from Costa Rica and buy the new IPad last week in New York and worked well, to get to my country and see the error I thought it was my new iPad but thank God it is not so because it would have been be sent to USA for warranty, now I see I'm not the only one and I hope this is fixed with a simple software upgrade because in my country there is no 4G networks.

For Users of Costa Rica: operator Movistar prepaid SIM works but sometimes fails with Kolbi intermittently or not.

Works with EDGE or 3G in Movistar ? KOLBI and CLARO only connects with EDGE although both networks are 3G

Valentin, with Movistar working with 3G but also switch to Edge, only that for some reason not as often as Kolbi, with Claro I do not know why I have not tried. Greetings!

Now if you are in CR, you can go and buy this router in Escazú is a great solution while an update is released, is a portable router that connects to the 3G network, with battery and only needs a data card for access.

http://shop.zyxel.co.cr/router-wifi-portatil-mwr222

This world is full of wondera for no reason my ipad 3 jump on the uniqa network 3g network where previous i could not connect 3g at all.

Well i switched ipad on/off and lost 3g i cannot get it back no matter what. The differance is that i went from a non 3g area to 3g area with cellurlar data on. I was outside 3g coverage.

Well after trying every single solution that some people have posted from other threads I have to say that my iPad still not working. Called Apple and talked to a tech who advised me to do a restore even though I told her that this is my first iPad so there was no back up from a previous one; that didn't work of course. Called again a week after and was passed to a senior tech and went through all settings with no results. He connected me with someone from Verizon to see if they can diagnose the problem. I know what is the problem, The iPad!!! Even the carrier update from iTunes didn't work. WiFi works like a charm and 3G works as long as I stay in my "home" area (about 45 miles radius). Once I am in "extended" area my service goes to ****. It sücks that I've been paying for a service that I haven't been able to use when I am not at home and it is not Verizon fault. I sold my Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 4G/LTE (Verizon), which worked perfectly no matter where I go, to buy the new iPad. I'm not regretting getting the iPad, I actually love it, but it would be nice to have something that worked from day one. I'll be out of state in a week and a half and I am pretty sure that the cellular data connection won't be working at all. I will have to find places with WiFi so I can use it. I'll be traveling light and won't be taking my laptop. This is very frustrating!!!

Your answers with respect to Costa Rica can be found here.

http://www.donhalbert.com/dont-take-no-for-an-answer/

not really. Claro and Kolbi provided me with an original factory cut microSIM card, it is perfectly cut onall sides. It is a software issue apple has, they simply do not want to accept it yet, I guess they need a million complaints or so to make it official and issue a software update.

I have noticed that whenever you move in "Cell" coverage area, the iPad connects to 3G, as long as the new cell in question has five bars it will remain in 3G for longer periods of time, if the coverage is four or less bars (due to wahtever reason the signal decreases a bit), it will drop after a few seconds to EDGE. After that, there is simply no way to get it back to 3G, unless you go to another area where there is a "cell" change, the iPad connects 3G again, if the signal goes below five bars then drops to EDGE, same result, no way to get it back to 3G. Make a note that if you turn off the iPad and Power up again while it was on 3G, it will NOT connect to 3G again in that same "cell", repeat the proccess and you will get 3G again. Sound ridiculous, but that's how its working, passed this infor to a "Senior" iPad engineer and they are working on it, ofcourse they recommended to change my iPad for a new one, which I will do, never decline such offer, but I can almost be certain that without a software upgrade, the results will be the same

I played with this all weekend with very consistent results, Costa Rica is pretty much bombarded with full signal allover the place by all three supported carriers, the iphones/iPad2G never drop a 3G signal (I have never ever seen it on EDGE on those in San Jose), so one can pretty much conclude is not a provider/carrier problem. One more note, when it does connect to 3G, speed is outstanding (as it should be).

hope this info helps.

I also live in CR, and can confirm what Valentin is saying. i got a AT&T iPad 3. The iPad gets into Claro's 3G after loosing signal, for example a basement, but a few minutes after goes back to Edge; basically it prefers Edge over 3G. Valentin, please let us know if changing for a new unit fixed the issue, and how did you do that in Costa Rica?

no exchange in coaa rica, only at an apple store in the USA, in costa rica you can take it for "servicing" at an apple authorized distributor, I asked "what are they are going to do to and iPad when even Apple desn't have a clue as where the problem is ?", I got a bit of silence.... and then they offer the exchange in the US

I recommend you open a case over the phone with apple so that your case is documented and if any of you manage to get the ipad to an apple store in the US, just reference the case where it will be noted that the unit is elegible fpr exchange... makes it easier

then again, this is a software bug, not hardware related, the units works fine 3G with ATT in the USA, it is abroad the problem... hence software...

I found a partial solution that has worked so far with a prepaid Movistar sim, not with a Claro Turbonett sim. With the Movistar, i get Edge for a few seconds and then I get 3G automatically, with Claro's sim there is no change. You may want to try this, I paste the text:

On another thread, a member called AntonUK posted the following solution. It's worked for me and several other people in the UK on T-mobile and O2. I have no idea why it works, but it certainly seems to.

The fix is:

1. Go to settings > mobile data > SIM PIN

2. Turn on using default PIN for your carrier (see below)

3. Choose "Change PIN" re-enter the default PIN and the change it to one of your choice (that you can remember) and save it.

CleaverT did yiu have luck with the update?

Yes and no. We have two carriers here in the Cayman Islands. LIME (Cable & Wireless) and DIGICEL. Both offer exactly the same network options and frequencies, including HSPA+ (2100MHZ). Up until the 5.1.1 update I could only get EDGE on my new iPad, regardless of which carrier SIM I used. Both SIMs are 3G enabled and tested in an iPad 2 and iPhone 4S. DIGICEL is my primary carrier and so yesterday, after applying the 5.1.1 update, I was hoping to see a 3G or H connection. Unfortunately there was no change. So I figured the update had done nothing. Just for kicks I tried my LIME SIM this morning and was surprised to see it connect via 3G (this SIM is not HSPA+ enabled because LIME have a separate plan for this). So now my LIME SIM gives me 3G in the new iPad but my DIGICEL one is stuck on EDGE. Considering the iPads are all carrier unlocked, and the two local carries use exactly the same networks etc, I cannot understand why it will now work on one and not the other. I am going to get LIME to enable 4G(HSPA+) on my SIM to see if that works. I am pleased that it is working on one carrier but am now more confused and concerned that it doesn't work on both.

I am going to Grand Cayman in a couple of weeks. I want to pick up a prepaid SIM to use with my iPad. It sounds like LIME will be the best choice. Are their prepaid SIMs widely available? Can I pick one up the Kirk Supermarket?

kjohnston8. Yes, LIME would be your best choice if you are bringing the new iPad. Here is the link to the prepaid plans:

http://www.time4lime.com/ky/personal/mobile/plans_prepaid.jsp