iPad 3 Verizon LTE sim issues

Update....I received two calls from the "Presidents Office" from VerizOnwireless in response to my FCC complaint for deceptive advertising. The gentleman seemed genuinely interested in what my experience included . I directed him to this thread but in the second call he admitted that he did not read it, but I had his attention when I told him there were over 14000 views of this thread. He said he would get more information and return my call which he did the next day. He admitted there WAS a problem when 4g first came out and yes the card would be burned, BUT he assures me the card would be free if requested from a corporate store to replace. They have newer SIM cards post July that can be reprovisioned and assigned a new number if needed and therefore not burned. . .. I told him I just received this ipad early November so apple is still using the older ones. I suggested that they need to address this with apple . . . . Long story short he assures me they will do better to educate their support people and their corporate stores to fix the ipad when this happens to unsuspecting new owners. I also told him apple should update the software to explain the differences of the delete now and delete later choices and he had actually ran this procedure on a new ipad and saw what I was talking about, and agreed that needs improvement. I felt better that a huge operation such as Verizon would take the time to call me TWICE to address my complaint. I did not ask for any special treatment, I just requested they do more to inform their staff to help the next person in this situation. I told him it had gotten so bad that there was a market for the sim cards on ebay!!! He assured me they were taking this seriously and if you place a call to Verizonwireless you should be able to obtain a new card free of charge.

This is a more responsive reply from Verizon then I had back in August. Although my sim card was replaced by the Corporate Office I continued to read, since then, that the same BS at the Corporate Stores was going on.

Hopefully, this response is honest and Verizon will get the word out to ALL retail store personnel. Especially the store managers who seem to only wish to increase their sales numbers without concern for their customers.

I have not activated my cell account since the sim card was reformated with the OS6 update. Nor have I used the sim card sent to me. Thus I cannot add any new experiences since last August. I can only hope I will not have a problem in the future.

This problem has still not been resolved by Verizon. I just cancelled my data plan on 1/5/13, not realizing the hornet's nest that I would stir up.

The pre-paid dept told me to go to a Verizon store and buy a $5.00 sim card. I asked her if I would have problems with this because I had read about some issues at the stores. She assured me that it was doable. Called the store first before making the trip. Employee said that I would have to have it activated there. I told her what pre-paid person advised me but she said that could not happen. If I didn't want it activated now, then, I should wait until I was ready to use the data plan again and then, just come in at that time.

I so wish that I had bought an AT&T iPad. I am certainly going to advise any friends and family to not get a Verizon iPad. Their customer service is a mess on this issue.

There's one reason to buy the Verizon iPad: insert an existing AT&T SIM card in it.

I purchased the Verizon iPad in hopes of a better data network, but after having the same issue as countless other users (plan cancelled, sim card rendered useless), using my existing AT&T iPhone SIM card is the only way I use the device.

I had heard about that but I wanted Verizon coverage but they are making it very difficult to want to use them. I did buy a couple of sim cards on ebay and hopefully, I will be able to use those when I travel.

I filed a complaint with the FCC because I believe that Verizon is guilty of misleading advertisements and so is Apple since they have the statement on their web page about how easy it is to use the iPad on vacation or business and then cancel when you get home. So very misleading.

I also am hoping that maybe Apple will let me switch the Verizon iPad for an AT&T one. I hear that they are doing exactly as advertised and you can start and stop coverage easily and right from the iPad.

I've been following this for many months (you can view my previous posts on pages 1-3), but I thought I'd chime in with some advice as to what finally fixed the issue for me. As I stated previously, I had a very difficult time getting Verizon to give me a new SIM card after the original one that came with my iPad was "burned." However, once I finally did get a new SIM card I set up an email specifically for the iPad.

For instance, if my email is exampleemail@gmail.com, the new address that I set up for the iPad is exampleemailipad@gmail.com. I did this because of something one of the Verizon reps mentioned in passing. This guy had a theory that because I was already a Verizon customer it was causing conflicts in their database when I tried to use the same email address to register an account for my iPad. I know this isn't a solution for everyone, but ever since getting a new SIM card and using that new email address I've been able to use my iPad as intended for the past 9 months or so.

Just wanted to throw that out there as something that finally worked for me.

That is interesting but I do not have a verizon wireless account. I use AT&T for my iPhone because I had unlimited data.

So, when you cancel which option do you choose? Also, do you have to remember to suspend it every 2 months or they start billing you again without asking if you want the cellular service?

I am now trying to get Apple to let me exchange the iPad for an AT&T but I probably won't be successful because I have had it for a little bit over 30 days.

Apple told me i had two weeks to exchange my i pad.

I have a Verizon

When you suspend your prepaid account you choose the DELETE LATER option.

This will stop automatic billing of you credit card and let you continue to use the remaining data you have paid for.

There will be a caption message that read ( after 5 months of inactivity your prepaid account will be deleted.

So be sure and use it at least every 5 months.

Now once your automatic billing has been suspended. If you go back to managing your account settings you will see that he only option you have concerning your account is DELETE NOW

DO NOT DO NOT DO NOT EVER CLICK ON DELETE ACCOUNT NOW . It will cancel your SIM card and you will have to go to the verizon store o get a new SIM card with a new phone number.

So when it comes managing you prepaid plan always when given an option choose DELETER LATER.If not given two options ,then do nothing.

If you are only given one option then do nothing for you credit card is not set for automatic bllling.

NEVER NEVER NEVER CLICK ON DELETE ACCOUNT NOW.

To answer the question of what I choose to cancel now that I have mine working properly, I use the "delete later" option. Previously I only had the "delete now" option, but I get both after getting my new SIM and setting up the new email address. The only thing about the "delete later" option is that you have to sign back up for service within 5 months or it will deactivate your SIM permanently.

Deleting Later is the "proper" way to stop the billing. The problem I think everyone is having is not only do you have to activate the service every 5 months, but it isnt what is being advertised and Verizon has no clue (albeit, they are more aware now than previous months) how to, and what to do to fix it. It's a joke to deal with this, and you will run into problems if you ever give your ipad or sell your ipad to a different person with a burnt sim or potential of burning the sim themselves eventually. I have extra SIMs, but really it's not what I was led to believe when I purchased the VZW Ipad. Because of this I purchased an ipad Mini with ATT instead becuase of this issue.

Jacg123

How has your experience been with AT&T and the iPad mini data plan. Is it as confusing as Verizon's? Do you have to suspend it and then remember to activate it every 5 months like Verizon? I really like Verizon's LTE coverage and am having a hard time deciding whether or not to switch to an AT&T iPad.

It's been fine, I havent had to deactivate it yet because Im on the lowest plan 14.99 for 250mb/mo and have yet to use more than that. The reason I purcahsed VZW ipad3 was because their plans include the hotspot. AT&T only has the hotspot feature available on the most expensive monthly plan - 5GB for 50.00 which will include the hotspot feature on the ipad mini I dont know about the iPad. This is okay considering I will only need the hotspot on vacation, so I figure I can pony up the 50.00 once in a while for the peace of mind of having the hotspot (which I need to log into work on the laptop from anywhere) and alot more of data to use away from home. I haven't heard of any SIM card issues with ATT, and from what I've read they dont have the burnt sim card or deactivating issues like VZW.

*SOLVED* (Totally not an Apple Issue BTW)

(please like if this helps you, I spent a lot of time figuring this out lol)

It's unfortunate that so many people are having this problem, but during my 24 hr process to get it resolved I came across quite a few TS steps that should help a few of you out.

Solution 1: Reprovision your iPad (link)

Settings -> General -> Reset -> Subscriber Settings -> Enter Passcode -> Reprovision

• alts: try resetting network settings before and/or after reprovisioning, as needed
• always reboot after reprovisioning to force the device to reaquire a cell tower
• you can try throwing reset authentication key in there, but I haven't verified that helping any

Solution 2: Replace SIM Card

• this one is a pain because you will hear different things from different people, but this shoudl help
• Apple Store: they do have extra SIM cards, it's just not common practice to give them out as the issue is usually with Verizon
• Verizon Store: They can and have given these out to people for free; They should give you one for free as well.
  • Phone Support might tell you they cost $5.00
  • In Store they might try to charge you $5.00 or less; they might also say they can't give it to you unless you activate in store as they did me; I didnt do that because they didnt have the 1GB plan available in-store.

Solution 3: Call Customer Support/Tech Support 888-294-6804 (Open 24/7)

• this is last because it is extremely time consuming; I spent over an hour on the phone and talked to 3 people, but it finally worked.
• If customer service cant help you, you need to go to tech support; if they don't offer, ask for it
• If tech support can't help you, you need to request to speak to a supervisor
• After basic troubleshooting have them try to delete/readd account or send account reset password (thats what finally got me going)

My Situation and Exactly What worked for me

• Activation: I choose to wait beyond initial purchase to activate; After a few days I tried to activate on the device, I got to the plan selection screen and canceled the process. When I went back in, I got an error message saying contact CS. CS sent me to the store, the store couldnt help.
  • After a SIM swap (from ARS) I was able to get back to that screen choose a plan and enter all my info, but instead of confirmation I got an error that activation couldnt be done, try later (I later found out Verizon did receive that CC/address/email info and partially created an account)
  • several restarts and a reprovision/restart my device started stating that it was activated; I finally got a cell # to show in gen settings but view account just gave me message saying account was active and to log in with My Verizon or app; App couldnt find account and My Verizon said I couldnt use it with my type of account
• Registration: after an hour of TS with CS I was kicked over to tech support; TS just told me they were going to create a ticket; I called BS and requested a supervisor; the supervisor and I went through more TS and finally she sent email to reset account password with temporary password
  • I got the option to log in; used the temp password and everything else was butter
  • I then verified with her that if you want to cancel autopay, you use cancel account -> delete later (the defualt now) and that wont burn your SIM

Solution 1: Reprovision your iPad (link)

Settings -> General -> Reset -> Subscriber Settings -> Enter Passcode -> Reprovision

• alts: try resetting network settings before and/or after reprovisioning, as needed
• always reboot after reprovisioning to force the device to reaquire a cell tower
• you can try throwing reset authentication key in there, but I haven't verified that helping any

Doer reprovisioning resurrect a dead (burnt) sim?

I highly doubt that. My understanding is that once you choose delete now thats all she wrote. Like the SIM is removed from the verizon system or something. You should be able to get a new SIM though for free.