iPad 3 Verizon LTE sim issues

I would be interested in knowing how the AT&T SIM card works. I haven't tried going that route yet but I am considering it.

I don't know about their postpaid, but the prepaid you pay via credit card on your iPad, you can start and stop all you want, the sim is never 'burned' and there is no activation fee.

I got a Verizon iPad because I was going to be in the desert a lot where that is the only good service. But dealing with them was such **** I actually gave up. They will send you to Apple for things that are clearly account issues etc because they are either stupid or lazy or maybe both. It's pathetic.

I just experienced an identical problem on a Verizon enabled Ipad purchased directly from Apple. My first month of 4G service was set up on the Ipad without a hitch. Verizon charged me for a second month of 4G which I did not want so I went into my new Ipad and cancelled the service "Now." It deactivated the SIM card forever. After an initial call to Verizon Customer Service , I was told to go to a Verizon retail store and buy a new Sim card for $4.95. I was then told to re-setup the account for cellular service on my Ipad when I wanted 4G again. So I go to the Verizon store and am told by the Manager I cannot buy "just" a Sim card as their system won't allow it. They would sell me a SIM card but I'd have to buy the 2GB service for $30 as they don't sell the 1Gb for $20. I would also have to pay a $35 activation fee for the new card. So now I am going to be $65 in the hole for trying to cancel my auto-renewal 4G service. Also, if I buy the Sim card from the Verizon store and activate it there, I will not be able to manage my account from my new Ipad which is an absolute necessity. Furthermore, I see from a prior post herein that you cannot manage a pure Ipad account online. Did I just turn my 3 month old 4G Verizon cellular Ipad into a Wi-Fi only Ipad? Any thoughts will be appreciated. Something needs to be done about this Verizon lunacy.

Sounds like I am not alone in my Verizon woes. I purchased a Verizon 4G LTE iPad a month ago. I was traveling the next week, so I tried to set up my 4G account on the iPad from the road. No word had been said at the Apple store about needing to be on wifi to set the account up. In fact, I was assured a few times that I could turn the service on and off from the iPad with little problem. I assumed somehow the iPad could connect to the 4G network to be set up. Apparently not. My account was somehow partially created - somehow my name and a few other bits of information went through to Verizon - but I got an error message saying I needed to call customer service.

I called customer service from the road and spoke with a tech person. He manually set up my account and said someone would call in 72 hours to verify some information (or perhaps get an e-signature). He warned that if I canceled my account right away, I'd have to get a new SIM card which is not something anyone would want to do. He got my service working immediately but days went by with no call. I also coudn't access my account info on the device at all.

The next week I went into a Verizon store and asked them about it. They seemed confused. I talked with another tech specialist on the phone from that store and he said they'd try to fix my account in 72 hours (didn't happen), but again said that I might need to cancel my account after a montha and get a new SIM card. During all of this time my 4G LTE service worked fine.

Today - one month after starting service - I went to a Verizon store and spent 2 hours on the phone with a customer support person who consulted with tech support and seemed to be on the way to helping me out when he had me click "deactivate now." Immediately, my SIM card was "ruined" just as I had been warned earlier. He couldn't roll that back even though we were on the phone together at the time.

The people in the store were incredulous and said they'd never heard of a SIM card getting changed in an iPad. Eventually, the manager took the iPad into the back room and came back saying he has figured out a way to switch the SIM card. I left after 3.5 hours feeling confused and annoying but somehow still grateful that I could start afresh?!

Verizon and Apple do not seem to be on the same page at all about how these things should work. I feel sorry for the Verizon employees who seem clueless, but I'm even more sorry for the customers who are not given any clear info and who face such strange software/activation issues.

If you could find out the fix and publish it here you would be helping 100s of Verizon screwed new Ipad owners. I just learned you cannot register/manage an Ipad account via My Verizon's online site. You can only manage it from the Ipad. OMG!!!!!

I'm pretty sure this is a Verizon scam -- I mean, thousands of iPad 3 owners have been calling them since 30 days past the introduction of this version of the iPad with the EXACT SAME problem.

Here is all I know (or think I know - take it with a grain of salt) right now:

If you have a pre-paid account, you can't manage your account online.

If you have a pre-paid account you need to have it set up for auto-renewal even if you only want it on for a month. Then set it to "deactivate later" and set it to deactivate when the month is up if you want to suspend it (?). Apparently hitting "deactivate now" is a death sentence for the SIM card. Makes no sense, but that seems to be the case.

If you can't manage your account from your iPad, it appears you have to deactivate at some point and get a new SIM card. At least that seemed true in my case.

It is difficult to get a new SIM card. The stores don't sell them and the customer service people don't know where to order them from. Very strange.

Apparently, if you are pre-paid you also can't create a "hotspot" which is something advertised.

Also, there may be some risk if you deactivate your account (using the "later" feature) and don't reactivate it for 90 days then the SIM card might be burned again. Not 100% sure on that.

Staff in the Verizon stores don't have access to any of your real account information. The only people who have access to your account are the customer service reps on the phone, but they don't seem to really know what is going on. The most informed people are the tech people, but they are hard to reach.

I, myself, am going to wait a little while before reactivating my account since I feel sorta burned by the whole thing. I'll stick with wifi for a month or so. I hope that with a new SIM card and a bit more information I might get an account going that I can manage on the device as advertised.

Will check back here in case others have more info/tips.

That's the way it is set up for ATT as well. THat way you can start and stop all you want, never burn the sim and never have to deal with their activation fee nonsense.

The only time you should have to deal with a new sim is if you turn off the service for an extended period, like say 6 months. or if you did the post paid stuff. but Verizon charges a fee for that every time you turn it on so most folks don't unless they are going to want it on for a lengthy time. Like say the 8 months I was going to be in the desert on this tv show. but since Verizon's reps were such a waste I gave up and am sticking with ATT and hoping our producer can get us a wifi truck at least some of the time

Well, here's the scoop. I believe everyone here that is having problems chose the wrong option when canceling data services.

Settings / Cellular Data / Cancel Account

The following options appear:

• Delete Account Now: Select this option if you want to remove this device from the account now.
• Delete Account Later: Select this option if you want to discontinue the monthly service for the next month only; your account information will remain with Verizon.

Anyone who chose the Delete Account Now will have no means of collecting any disputed charges or re-using the SIM card. This effectively closes your account, leaving the Verizon CSRs unable to assist (either online/in-store/chat). At this point your only rememdy for collecting a refund is to call your credit card company. If you want to use Verizon data on your iPad in the future, like was mentioned earlier, purchase a new SIM card off eBay, put it in your iPad and activate.

I'm in the same situation, unfortunately Apple's support page explains the proper procedure.

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4572

The crux of the problem is an extremely inadequate explanation on the device as you described above. Remember, this is all against a backdrop of Apple advertising that you can turn cellular service on and off at your ease and leisure from the ipad itself. It is logical that if you want to remove your ipad from the prepaid cellular service immediately, one would select the "Now" option. Nothing is said about burning your sim card or being required to visit a Verizon retail store and going on a more expensive postpaid service, with an activation fee, as your only way of regaining cellular service. Also, I wanted to remove prepaid service for several months yet the "Later" option suggests your selection thereof will only cancel prepaid service for one month and it will be automatically renewed if you forget to go back and cancel it again each month. Nine out of ten users would logically select the "Now" option. Verizon and Apple really dropped the ball on this one.

Doesn't help me much since I am unable to manage or view my account from my iPad or, for that matter, online. Both VZW and Apple really dropped the ball on this and VZW is completely clueless. I wonder if anyone from either Apple or VZW reads any of this... it would seem not. The only advice I can give is buy the AT&T version... that seems to work fine.

I copied my response to this issue from another help forum;

What surprises me, and maybe it shouldnt; that both parties vzw and apple are passing the buck off on each other. The one says go to apple, the other says check with vzw.

The other thing is the lack of awareness of the problem, seems like nobody has heard of or know how to fix this problem. But they were so quick to say; oh yeah..cancel and reactivate your plan anytime, anywhere no contract fees or anything! As low as 20.00/mo and then stop it and reactivate it...blah blah.

Here's some of the things csr from vzw and apple have told me so far. Whether they've been misinformed, are half truths, or canned answers and/or fixes I dont know. But just left with a feeling that NO ONE knows what they are talking about and none of its helped me.

1) SIM CARD will cost 20.00.

2) We can reactivate your account if you want to start your prepaid plan again

3) Back up and lets reset your ipad.

4) We dont carry sim cards, I dont know where you can get one.

5) Erase your CC info next time instead of cancelling it. (great, what if I sell it?) Ummm...they have to get a new plan then.

6) People usually dont deactivate the service. <--- this one infuriated me for some reason, really thats the best answer you got?

7) Its a problem with vzw, call them.

8) get a new sim card from apple, they should have them.

9) get a new sim card from verizon, they should have them.

and bunch of other stuff I cant think of the top my head, and not to mention the waiting and on hold time, driving to the nearest apple store.

BOTTOM LINE: There's a problem deactivating the verizon LTE plan on the iPad. You kill the sim if you deactivate NOW as most people would logically do. Neither Apple or VZW know how to handle the problem besides giving you a new sim card. Which I have learned is a problem in itself.

Incidently, getting a new verizon micro-sim 3FF card from ebay works. It will restore it like it was before you activated the service. It shouldnt be this way though. and it's been what? 4 months since release, and this problem is still not resolved. And worse no one (apple genius or vzw reps) have a clue this is happening and how to handle it properly. sigh....

This is incorrect. There was no delete account later option when I tried to cancel my service. The only option was delete account now. Verizon couldn't seem to understand this no matter how many people I spoke with.

This is an issue as well, there are some people who dont even have this option to delete later from what I've read from other threads/forums. I'm not sure why this is occuring. A friend of mine who had canceled said he didnt have the option either....I checked mine and I do. However, if you dont reactivate within 5 months you kill the sim anyways, bringing us back to the same problem. The missing DELETE LATER option could have something to do with activating service with VZW as a postpaid plan as opposed to a prepaid plan???....which I dont completely understand either. Anyways, it shouldn't be this complicated. It's pitched as a no contract plan turn on and off like a faucet, no fees, no problem. Apparently, it's not at all that simple.

Im telling you, if they would've stated this problem clearly from the very beginning I would've purchased the ATT version despite it not having hotspot feature.

I had that same problem -- where the Delete Later option was not present. In my case, it came about during the sign-up process. I'd had an account on a previous iPad through VZW, and when I went to sign up it wouldn't take my email address -- kept displaying 'account already in use' or something similar. Of course, I'd canceled the service on the old iPad, but that didn't matter. After going through VZW support, they got it working, but the Delete Later option was never present. I finally returned it to Apple (still within the return window) and ordered a new one, along with 2 backup sims from eBay -- they can be had for $4-$5 dollars each. Signed up on the new one with a different email address and everything worked perfectly.

I wanted VZW service since all of our phones are AT&T, and having that diversity when traveling is very helpful. I must say though, if it were not for VZW's broader coverage in rural areas, I'd have stuck with AT&T for everything. They make the prepaid accounts so easy -- as they should be. VZW is really clueless, or just plain corrupt in handling the iPad prepaid accounts. I believe with AT&T's new Mobile Share plans, the new iPad will finally function as a hotspot, so one less reason to go with VZW.

If you must have VZW coverage, pick up a few extra sims off of eBay, and avoid entering a previously used email address when you set up your service. Seems to work that way.

I really hope they sort this out. Good luck all.