iPad 3 Verizon LTE sim issues

I had a slightly similar issue with sims cards, but no real resolution--other than my wish for Verizon to be run out of business.

I purchased my 32G Verizon iPad (3) at the Verizon store. (Big mistake.) I was not aware of the 'post-paid' option of $30+ per month (and a $35 activation fee)--however that is what I was signed up for. I thought I was getting a service similar to my AT&T iPad (1), where I can turn off an on as needed. I kept the service the first month, dreading having to deal with Verizon, but yesterday I called the call center. I thought this would be an easy fix. (Ha!)

After 30 minutes on the phone with them I ended up cancelling the 'post-paid' service--but was told that I could only use the iPad now as Wi-Fi only. I couldn't switch to the 'pre-paid' plan.

After a few internet searches I found someone having a similar issue, and after dealling with Verizon they went to the Apple store and got a new sims card. I tried that, but the Apple person told me they couldn't do anything about it--and suggested I go to Verizon.

After an hour at the Verizon store--and several rounds of misinformation from the Verizon employees, I ended up with a new sims card, new number, and the post-paid service. However I had to go ahead and activate the service ($20) so they could get the phone number.

As I was finishing up the person helping me, which had already told me several incorrect things, said if I turned off the service, I would have to come back in and get a new sims card to reactivate. On the way out of the store I asked a more knowlagable employee and she said that if you don't use the sims card for 90 days--that is don't use the pre-paid service for 90-days--your sims card becomes invalid. The only way to reactivate it to take to the Verizon store and get a new card.

SERIOUSLY?

I'll add some fule to this fire, with a similar if not exactly the same issue w/ getting Verizon pre-paid service on my new iPad.

Background: I have a first generation iPad with At&t pre-paid month to month service, which works like a top...flawless. I am also stationed in Germany, and utilize this feature for our travels to the States, as it is very efficient and the iPad is lighter than a laptop. I can pay for a month and then turn it off upon return to Europe.

This past March, I purchase a new IPad w/ a Verizon sim, as before we moved to Germany we had Verizon cell service, which we were quite happy with. So one would think that an iPad w/ a Verizon sim would work just as well, if not better, than the At&t iPad. Negative.

I tried activating the new iPad cellular data in early May 12, only to receive an "Activation Error." Three attempts later, and I call Verizon Tech Support for a remedy, and have all my info taken down with a reassurance that I will be called w/in 72 hours by their engineers to help resolve the issue. They are unable to issue me a trouble ticket, though, for my reference. four days later, I call again, explaining the situation, and there is seemingly no record of my information or situation. I again am assured of a call back w/ in 72 hrs from their engineers, and am informed that Verizon is having a few issues w/ the new iPad.

I decide to activate service on my "old" iPad, through At&t, and do so without issue. Hmmmm....

I also go into a retail store to see if an in-the-flesh Verizon tech can help me out. Long story short-nope, they could not (without charging me a $35 activation fee along w/ a 2 yr contract for the service.) As this was unacceptable to me, I declined their offer and moved along. (At&t never charged me a $35 activation fee!)

Three days later, I call Verizon again with similar results. This tech now recommends that I take my new iPad, which I had sent to me from Apple via an online purchase in March 12, into an Apple Store as it was defective. After a lengthy conversation with the tech regarding this issue, I request to speak w/ her supervisor, as I have yet to have any return calls from "engineers" within 72 hrs and I am a long-term loyal Verizon customer. She places me on hold, and then the call is terminated. Amazing.

We just today returned to Germany today, and never were able to utilize the cellular data function of our new iPad w/ the Verizon sim during our travels. I was also unable to get any assistance from Verizon over the past 17 days to reslove the issue. Not even a call back. Had I a choice to do it again, I'd stick w/ the At&t version of the new iPad as well. Verizon's services are simply unsat, and all the personnel I spoke w/ were clueless and unable to resolve my iPad issue.

I couldn't agree with you more; your story is nearly an exact match to my experience with Verizon. I've called them five times about the same problem with my iPad 3 as you've been having, and their solution is always to open a ticket with a 72 hour window. It seems to be a delay tactic, for no one ever calls back and the problem goes unresolved. When I call back they blame the prior person for not openning the ticket correctly ... and I'm back to square one waiting another 72 hours.

I tried taking it to the Apple genius hoping for some sanity, but all Apple did was to replace the device reinstalling the same SIM and declaring that the hardware was fine and that the problem was not theirs, and refer me to the Verizon store for satisfaction. At the Verizon store I got passed from one employee to the next as their shifts ended, and ultimately was placed on a phone with the same tech support group I had been calling from home. To the Verizon store's credit, they provided a new SIM card for free, but appearently they tied it to the same screwed up account for that made no difference. I was there for nearly 2 hours (until they closed) and the problem remains unresolved. I dread calling them again, but that seems to be my only option.

I have a nine phone family plan on Sprint and was planning to move those phones to Verizon in July when the contract ends, but the experience with this iPad is making me reconsider that.

I'm in a similar situation. Just purchased a Verizon LTE iPad and activated it today for a pre-paid 1GB option. I'm doing some traveling in the next 30 days and wanted to have it ready. Of course I figured I would turn it off as soon as I finish my travels and only turn it on again when I need it.

Anticipating this, I went back in to check the settings for canceling, just to see how it would work at the end of the month (not to actually cancel now), and it shows only one option -- delete account now -- with a note explaining that it will kill the SIM card and I'll have to go to a Verizon store to get a new one.

On the AT&T iPad, I've seen the exact same screen, and it has two options, the same delete now option, and a delete later option, where you have 5 months (pretty sure it's 5) that the service can be dormant before you turn it back on, or else you lose your account. And even at that point, I've never seen anything that indicates you have to get a new SIM.

Now I read this and it sounds as though you can't even get a new prepaid SIM from Verizon, only a post-paid SIM??

It seems the Verizon iPad is only a pre-paid/month to month option if you buy it from Apple directly, activate the service and then never, ever turn it off. Pretty good deal for Verizon!

I really wanted the hotspot feature that is currently only on Verizon, but in light of this, I am very likely going to return this iPad for an AT&T version and have month-to-month options.

I actually had the post-paid and changed to a pre-paid plan, but it was painful--and involved changing out the SIMS card. (Outlined in my previous post on this page.) I now have the pre-paid, but if you turn off and leave off for more than 60 or 90 days (Verizon wasn't sure which), they will deativate the card and you have to go back and get a new one. You will also get a new 'phone' number when they switch out--and you have to go ahead and activate it in the store. You can't get it and turn it on later.

Verizon lead me to believe the reason my old iPad (1) worked differently was it is not 4G/LTE. I don't believe anything they tell me, and haven't researched to find out if that is true.

I was planning on switching my phone service to them when my contract runs out, but that's certainly not going to happen after the experience I've had with the iPad.

Really bad expireces all of you have gone thru, in my case I just purchase the At&t model at the apple store. But I found out it didn't have the hotspot feture so I retured it the next day and got me the Verizon version. To be honest with all of you, all new ipads are the same if your fed up with Verizon's service all you have to do is walk up to an At&t store and request a sim card and their services.

And by the way I don't mess arround by deleting your account, curently I don't have service on my ipad and it's pre-paid. I will be testing the micro-sim from Tmobile just to see if it works. The only downside of tmobile is that with them you do need to get a contract, the plan goes for 10Gig at 69.99 per month for two years I'll tested and find out.

Hey, I just had this exact same problem today. I activated LTE service on my Verizon iPad and used it throughout the month of May. Then I cancelled the service and went to activate it again today. To my surprise, cancelling your service on the new iPad completely disables the SIM card in the iPad. Like others have mentioned, this was not a problem with the iPad 1 or 2. I went to two Verizon stores and was given the run around before someone at their customer service number realized what was going on and called one of the stores I visited and explained everything to them. I was able to go in there and get a new LTE compatible SIM. I spent hours trying to get this resolved. Very very annoying that you can no longer just cancel for a month and pick it back up later.

As I understand it, disconnecting the service "burns" the SIM.

Yes, that appears to be the case now. It was not the case with previous versions of the iPad.

I finally resolved my similar problem:

1) got a new 4G Sim card from Verizon

2) called Verizon and we walked through various steps to reset their system.

3) after a reboot, it worked just like new.

I believe that if I use it a month at a time, I have 60 days to restart service or else the same thing happens again.

Definitely not what I expected, but at least it's somewhat resolvable.

Yes, I can confirm that a new Verizon 4G 3FF SIM fixed my problem. To play it safe I ran a backup and restored my iPad to factory default before activating it. I was overjoyed to see it prompting for my information as though it was a new device. It activates with a new data phone number, and the account was managable from the device after that. I then called Verizon's pre-paid department and gave them the new data number and the prior, so they could deactivated the old one, credited me the $20 and transfered the prior data balance to the new account. The tech that helped me claimed that as of this month they have a way to reset the account without switching the SIM, and he refered to my method as "the old way". As far as getting a new SIM, I was able to get one from a Verizon store, though as others have reported, the salesperson kept insisting he needed to activate it on my account and couldn't just give it to me to be activated on the device. I lucked out, since when he tried to do it his computer went down and so he finally relented and just gave me the SIM for no charge. I suspect that if he had tied it to my old account it would not have worked. Anyways, I purchased a couple more off eBay to protect myself against any future issues; which is well worth $12 if it keeps me from having to talk to Verizon again.

I have exactly the same issue with my iPad3 with absolutely no resolution. You are right: Verizon is absolutely clueless. I talked to Support and was told I had to take it to an Apple Store to have the iPad restored by Apple... yeah, right. So, I did that and after an hour or more at the Apple store with a complete restore of my iPad guess what... nothing. Of course, the Apple Genius Bar guy had never heard of the problem. So, off to the VZW store to get them to help... yeah, right! First, I talked to the person in the store who checked the account and saw nothing wrong... so back on the phone with VZW support. The guy at the other end was equally clueless, but he told me the problem was I had to sign up for autopay... why?? But, hoping this would resolve the issue and figuring I could cancel autopay, I did so. Then after a reset, etc., guess what... still cannot manage my account on the iPad. He then tells me he has to submit a ticket to the technical department... so, I ask for a ticket number... he tells me that such a thing doesn't exist but I would get a message when the issue is resolved... yeah, right!! So, I decided to set up an online MyVerizon account to at least be able to manage it from there. Guess what: I cannot set up an online account since it has to be managed from the device... seriously!! So, I can't manage it from my device and I can't manage it on line and no one at VZW has clue about how to fix it. There is more advice in this forum than anyone at VZW could offer. Do not buy a Verizon iPad!! My wife has an AT&T iPad3 and has absolutely no problem managing her pre-paid account from the iPad. Does anyone know if you can swap out the VZW SIM to an AT&T SIM and still get good results?

To resolve the Verizon problem, you really need to find a knowledgeable Verizon representative who understands the issue via their help line. It seems as though some, but not all, reps know how to fix the problem.

Is this a VZW scam or what? I purchased my IPad 3 with VZW due to the flexibility with monthly non-contractual renewals. In May, as my plan was coming to an end, I decided to cancel so I could avoid the auto renewal charge. Dumb me, to think it would work as advertised was ignorant. Once I cancelled, my account was deleted, the sim card was burned, and I lost all the remaining un-used data on my plan. I then called VZW and spent 60 minutes on the phone with a worker and supervisor who had no clue. After that, I spent 45 minutes with VZW that evening, I spoke to a rep in the pre paid department. He told me that the sim card was burned and that I had to purchase a new one. He added that this was the procedure even though Apple advertises you can cancel and renew as much as you want. To top this scam off, I was told they could not credit me the lost data I had remaining on my account. I then went to the Apple store as suggested and found they had no clue about this issue, they don't even sell sim cards. I was directed to a VZW store for a new sim card. I went to Best Buy instead (purchase location) and they told me that this problem does not make sense. They directed me on to VZW because they didn't want to charge me $20 for a new sim card . I'm disgusted with VZW and Apple for not taking a proactive approach to handling this issue. It is clear that VZW's goal is to keep you locked into a monthly plan with auto renewal. Apple was pulled into this scam and it definitely cheapens their product. My last attempt is to try installing an AT&T sim card to see if that works.

Would love to hear how/if ATT works.