iPad 3 Verizon LTE sim issues

No, I wasn't asked for a credit card number. The T-Mobile person that I talked with said that I'd be notified when I used up the 200MB of data, and could buy more then. I assume that's when you would give them your credit card information.

I agree, I also really like the idea of cutting Verizon out of the loop. Don't have to replace too many unusable SIM cards before that becomes a pleasure.

And yes, that's the agreement that I thought I was under was T-Mobile as well (200MB per month of free data, pay for added data above that), but the email that they sent me when I activiated the SIM card made me ask...I also would not have taken the offer if I thought it was only 200MB of free data, that would be the most expensive free data I've ever seen *smile*.

I read earlier in the thread that it cuts off at 200mb automatically, previous attempts at logging to my account using the sim number and password yielded a site down message. So the rep said they would contact you when its out? or how do I know how much I used and when the 200mb renews?

If you go to Cellular Data in your iPad settings, it says there how many MB of data you've used. When it reaches 200MB, you're done *smile*.

The T-Mobile person actually said that they'd send me a text message, but I don't think that they have my cell phone number to do that (I'm on Verizon, not T-Mobile), so unless you're on T-Mobile, you'll very likely have to watch your cellular data usage (in Settings), and when you're close, get in touch with them and buy more data.

Hi Jacg123.

T-mobile free data plan and pay in advance plan (prepaid passes) also include personal hotspot too. I tried it and it works very well for my friend's wifi ipad.

T-mobile is still very new to this ipad data plan business's arena, so its website is still being worked out to accommodate iPad data customers. I am sure its website should work eventually and we can add data and buy those prepaid passes as we need more after we use up the monthly free data.

I have been annoyed by the VZ sim expiration issue for over a year and so regretted about getting a VZ ipad. If I had known the VZ sim issue since it debuted in March 2012, I wouldn't have bought it in the first place. I wasted money a few times just to keep the VZ sim alive by buying data plan even I didn't need the data at all. Totally waste of money. Now I know my t-mobile sim will always be active with those free monthly data for the life of my ipad 3, I will never go back to VZ for data plan. T-mobile solved my VZ SIM card issue and won me over. I will start buying data from t-mobile as I need it during my up coming trip.

Yes, I cant agree with you more. I'm done with VZW pseudo-no-contract-turn on/off data-plan. TMO LTE coverage may not be as widespread, but saving 15.00 to 20.00/mo for emergency use data AND a hotspot has won me over big time as well.

I do hope they update the website so I can see my usage, and detailed info about my current plan, as well as changing it when Im on vacation or when I need to.

I'm still overjoyed with the fact I sucessfully converted both VZW ipad and ATT ipad mini to TMO with no problems. Also, it took them just 2 days to get my sims in hand! Awesome. I hope more ppl switch over.

Thanks for the info about Tmobile .Thanks to all that share their ipad exoerience.

Here is my latest .

I learned that verizon has a share everything plan . so since my family is on Verizon i could add my ipad to the account for $10 a month. I am on the road a lot and only Verizon will work where i go.

Anyway the tech support i called told me to add my ipad onto a phone line that i had on my account that was not under contract and not currently used. ( it was under what is called 90 day suspension.)

The next day i was at the Verizon store to get my IPad added to my account,by placing it on the unused cellphone line ( number).

He said that can not be done but he could add it to my plan for only $10 a month. He assured me three time it would only be a $10 charge. so he took my IPad to the back room and emerged about 20 minutes later. all seemed well.

When i got home an email from Verizon said i had a bill for $53 dollars because of the new line he started on my account.

So i call Verizon prepaid at 888-294-6804 and the person there told me he did not have to do that ,he could have added it to the unused line i already had with only the $10 month charge for i already had a line . he also said that he could not remove the line and thus charges that the Verizon store created and that i would have to go back to the store to get it removed.( 70 miles round trip)

So i had with me a Verizon sim card that i had got on eBay .i put it in my IPad and added the Ipad to my account using the unused phone line (phone number) in less than five minutes.

So i went back to the Verizon store and confronted the same Verizon salesman with my IPad and told him her it is ,i did what you said could not be done.

He said that he could not add it but that did not mean i could not do it .( what a liar)'

So i had him take the line he created off my account and i asked him to give me a sim card to replace the one i used because he did not put the ipad on the unused phone number.He and his manager said that to give me a sim card it would have to be activated ,so he can not give me one.

So i left the store and called verizon at the number you call for problems ( not the prepaid account number) and the lady agreed with the store people ,that i could not be given a sim card that was not activated.

So when i got home i called the prepaid number at 888-294-6804 and told them the story and that i wanted verizon to send me a sim card so if i want to go back to my prepaid account that i could . so verizon Fedex me a sim card to my house. Below are some notes to remember.

1.Always try to avoid going to the verizon store ,alway try to use the prepaid help at 888-294-6804.

2.only about 1 in 4 verizon store people will tell you the truth.

3. if you are at the verizon store to try and get your ipad on a prepaid plan ,then keep in mind only about 1 in 5 stores know how to do it.

4. when taking your ipad into a verizon store for help ,make sure you remove it from any protective cover, store people like to disappear to the back to change your sim card or most likely ask another store person for help.

This is when they can accidentally damage your ipad ( this happened to me)and the cover will keep you from finding the damage till a later time.

5.avoid letting the store people take your ipad to the back ( out of your view.)if they are going to the back ,they probably don't know what they are doing.

6. keep a spare sim card. About $5 on Ebay

7 keep a screen shot of you sim card numbers. go to setting on the ipad ,then general then about, schroll down and screen shot(make a picture) of the ICCID number and MEID number

8. to put you ipad on a line you have on your account ,you just go to the verizon website sign into your account ,got to where you add a new device on a line you have (that is not under contract) Then just put in the MEID number from your ipad into the device number. then you will input the ICCID number (sim card number) and your done .

if you get a message that the sim card is not valid then you will have to gat a new card.

It is a shame Verizon is still can not make getting a sim easy or end the frying of sim after 5 months of non use. I ordered some T Mobile sims during their free sim sale. I will do some tests and see if I would miss the LTE speeds. With T-Mobile does it show 4G or 3G ? with the Verizon Ipad?

On my iPad, it shows 4G when I'm using it with the T-Mobile SIM here. I haven't seen it at full speed yet, since I don't get much T-Mobile coverage at my house (don't need it at my house, I have WiFi *smile*), but I believe that 4G is somewhat slower than LTE.

Hi coair73x,

With t-mobile sim, my VZ ipad 3 is showing 4G. However, the speed depends on the location. I tested in multiple locations including my home and my work areas, it gets around 4 Mbps to 5 Mbps. So, it is not near VZ's LTE speed. However, even with VZ's networks, it also depends on location. I tested before my old VZ SIM card was deactivated. Some time it received 6 Mbps and some time it received 32 Mbps.

I know speed is important, but I can't really feel the difference since I don't use my ipad 3 for music and videos while it is not connect to wifi. I only need the cellular data for news, weather, email communication and researching reviews of restaurants and local attractions or a little online shopping while on vacation while away from wifi. I know I am wasting the LTE feature in the cellular antenna that I paid extra $130 for, but I have no choice since stupid VZ has that "fry your SIM card after 5 months of inactivity" policy.

I just learned that the iPad Air and iPad mini with retina display both have powerful cellular antenna now that the antenna combines all the LTE bandwidths ( I think 17 of them) and signals in USA, so it doesn't matter what provider we choose anymore. The only difference is the SIM cards that come along with the iPads at purchase. For those new iPads, they can be on all the LTE networks in the USA and their owners can switch to any data providers without sacrificing the LTE speed now. For us, we just need to work with what we got on our old VZ iPads.

I've found that the Verizon people don't lie out of malice or to deceive you, a lot of them just don't know the right answers, and they don't know that the answers that they're giving are wrong. While that doesn't change the fact that you've gotten wrong answers, I don't think that Verizon employees are evil, I just think that they don't know what they're talking about when it comes to these fringe issues that they hardly ever deal with. They're doing the best that they can, and, as usual, Verizon is at fault for not making sure that their employees are fully informed in how to deal with customer problems (or how to avoid creating them).

This is not limited to Verizon, I've found the same problem at Comcast, many other companies where the people in contact with the public give wrong answers because they think that those wrong answers are correct.

Thanks for that info on the 4G. I think it is worth losing the LTE signal

and have a sim that stays on plus the 200mb free plus international! I just got the LTE just incase I needed it. My Sim arrived today from T-Mobile and plan to use it. They have great plan options and now you can use it at slower speeds in most parts of the world with no roaming! I will report back how that works when I leave the US. I have one more year with AT&T with 2 iPhone 5 and plan to switch to T-Mobile after my contract is up in early 2015.

I'm dealing with this same problem now. I note that this thread goes back amost 15 months, and yet Verizon is still playing the same games, and pretending that this issue is rare.

Even armed iwth the knowledge of the above (and other) threads, the Verizon store insisted that I needed a 2 year contract to re-activate my iPad. I showed them a screen shot where it said "No activation fee, no penalty (etc) to turn on and off your plan." The managers response "I don't care what it says, if you want to use your iPad you need to buy a contract."

Their story was the pre-paid activation only worked with the sim card that "shipped with" the device, and once it was dead, so was that deal. They didn't care that there was no mention of a 5 month expiration time that was never told to me.

I'll *NEVER* do business with Verizon again under ANY circumstance.

Yes, I filed an FCC complaint at http://www.fcc.gov/complaints for deceptive practices. We'll see how this works.

We understand your pain Ellis Z.

Its best to only deal with the verizon prepaid at the number previously stated.Last time i called prepaid and told them my situation they Fedx me a sim card .

How ever if you have Verizon cell phone serivce ,they now have a deal where you can share the data in your plan between all devices but there is a catch.

It now cost $10 a month to add your ipad to your verizon cell phone service.Ther maybe be tax and other small charges ,i just added my ipad to my plan two weeks ago so we will see.

Now here is the catch. the ipad has its own line issued to it so there is a new line charge of about $53 dollars for the first month.

However if you have an extra line on your account you are not using then the ipad can use it with no start up fees,.

I had a phone not used under suspension so i used it with no extra charge above the $10 per month fee.

I find i only use about 20 mb a day when i use the verizon service and so i only use about a half a gig of data per month.

I dont do videos or send many pictures when on verizon, i wait till i get to a wifi hotspot

Hope this helps .

"I've found that the Verizon people don't lie out of malice or to deceive you, a lot of them just don't know the right answers, and they don't know that the answers that they're giving are wrong."

Maybe yes.. maybe no.

I've been with VZN since before they were VZN.. when they were Airtouch. That's a long time. For the most part, my experience has been good. I don't lose calls and rates are about the same as I would have to pay at AT&T. If I have an issue, they take a look at my long term relationship with them and have been pretty reasonable.

HOWEVER, last year when I tried to buy a Mini that had data capabilty, they FLAT OUT REFUSED to sell me the last unit they had unless I turned on the data directly with them right then and there. Two different salespeople. I showed them the webpage where it said I could initiate VZN service on the mini without going through the VZN store and do so on a month to month basis. The MANAGER of the store said that only works if you buy the mini at an Apple store. It's hard for me to believe that he did not know what he was talking about. I walked out. I refused to sign up through them knowing full well I could pay $10 a month less if I did it myself. I called customer service. Of course, they agreed that I could have purchased the data capable mini and did not have to turn on ANY service if I did not want to, let alone have to do it at the time of purchase in the store. They would get back to me with a full apology from the store. HA... I'm still waiting!! I ordered my mini online from Apple, but had to wait a week or so to get it.

I'm usually a pretty loyal person, but I'm thinking hard about moving the mini to T-Mobile if all it takes is a new SIM.