iPad IOS 6.1 update - lost Verizon connectivity.

Same here GrownUpGirl. I'm now at one hour and still "Searching."

you have to restore the verizon firmeware version.. the CDMA one not the GSM

ok you have to download it manually: Choose the CDMA one

<This Link is a direct download>

• For iPad mini (GSM, CDMA, Wi-Fi)
• For iPad 4th-generation (GSM, CDMA, Wi-Fi)
• For iPad 3rd-generation (GSM, CDMA, Wi-Fi)
• For iPad 2 (GSM, CDMA, Wi-Fi)

And then restore it with iTunes: Shift+restore botton and select the downloaded firmeware

<Edited By Host>

I was not able to selectively restore only the firmware and ended up completing a full restore, including reloading all of my songs, photos, podcasts, movies, and other files. Although it did work and I am now connected once again with Verizon, it was an unanticipated inconvenience to have to deal with just for the benefit of the 6.1 upgrade. Next time, maybe I should wait for others to adopt the latest and greatest upgrades and test the process before I jump in. Or at least wait until I have a few hours to play with the upgrade process before going ahead with it.

Same thing happened to me, 6.1 upgrade broke Verizon connectivity, their tech support couldn't figure it out, needed full erase and restore to get it back. When you do the 6.1 upgrade, be sure to answer NO to "Upgrade Carrier Settings?"

I did... contacted Verizon by iChat... first they asked me to call customer support and gave me a phone number ⚠.

Then she asked me to power-cycle my phone... and it worked!

So try power-cycling. I can't believe I didn't think of that.

I had same problem. As soon as I upgraded to iOS 6.1, Verizon updated carrier settings to 14.1 and bricked my Verizon reception. I used to have good service (4-5 bars all over my town) and LTE in most areas. Immediately after update I had "Searching" or "No Service" 90% of the time, and the other 10% it was 1-2 bars and only 3G.

I tried every suggestion on the support groups and only one helped, which was reprovisioning carrier settings (Setting=>General=>Reset=>Subscriber Services=>'your passcode'=>Reprovision Account --- it goes back to settings=>shut off iPhone/iPad and turn back on). After repovisioning carrier account, the signal improved considerably and I even had LTE speeds again in a few places...for a while. Unfortunetly, within a couple of days I started having signal loss again.

Today I called directly to Verizon support who actually had a seemingly knowledgeable rep. She suggested reprovisioning account which fixed it again (but then for how long). When I mentioned I did this before, she noted that you MUST reprovision account with WiFi shut off, so that it forces your unit to reconnect to the data connection via the Verizon tower. This then links everything back up to their network.

Thinking back, I am pretty sure I had WiFi on the previous time, which may be why it eventually failed on Verizon network. With last reprovision, so far so good. Hopefully, this fixes mine permanently. You may want to try it. Worst case, you can get it working again for a few days and reprovision until a final solution is made.

Lastly, by calling Verizon, the helpful rep indicated that she would note my account that she had me reprovision already and if the fix eventually failed and I was to call back, whoever answered would know to redirect me directly to tech support (probably to force push the previous carrier settings up to the iPad).

BTW: VZ asks for your cell number when calling in to support, but I use non-contract iPad with month-to-month payment, so I entered the iPad cell number (General=>About=>Cellular Data Number) and my call went through no problem. They must link the pay by the month account with the iPad cell number, which was nice.

Update: the fix only worked for about a day, and then back to same problems. After being on the phone with support again for about an hour, the support person finally gave up and talked to their tech support. She came back on the phone and said that tech support told her that they have been having lots of complaints about signal problems on Verizon iPads after an iOS 6.1 updgrade. Their response is that it is an Apple problem and I had to call Apple support. I called the 800 number they gave me and of course it was not 24hr, so I guess I will have to wait until Mon banker's hours to call Apple and see what they say.

Not optomistic. I am speculating that they will waste an hour of my time and then tell me to call Verizon because it is a carrier settings problem. Starting to become very unhappy with Verizon and Apple. I will update after I start from scratch with Apple...

BTW: She did say that tech support told her that they have not had much complaints about the iOS 6.1 upgrade with the iPhones, only the iPads. Not sure how accurate that is, but thought it was worth noting. I reluctanly updated my family's 3 Verizon iPhones (all 4's) and none of them have signal problems. Only my iPad 3. Bricked since I updated to 6.1.

Okay, the saga continued. I finally was able to get through to Apple Care and what a joke! They first tried to sell me Apple Care coverage and then said they would make an "exception" for me for this call only and would help me troubleshoot. The Care tech proceeded to have me reboot the iPad (after I explained all of the comprehensive troubleshooting actions I have already taken) and then said basically that if it is a cell reception issue you have to call the carrier. Ha ha. Thank God I didn't have to pay $20 for that help! Back to Verizon and probably they will point the finger back at Apple iOS again.

I was about to call Verizon back, but since I am at step "8" of troubleshooting and everytime I call a support tech they go through setp 1 and then say "sorry", I decided to do a little more research on my own. Here is what I did:

Googled to find the previous version carrier settings before the update broke my reception (in this case Verizon was at 14.0 and then updated to 14.1 which bricked my reception). I downloaded the 14.0 carrier file (with an ".ipcc" extension). I then had to configure iTunes to allow manual carrier settings update (see: http://osxdaily.com/2012/05/13/use-ipcc-files-enable-carrier-testing-mode-itunes / ) . The steps I took on that page did not work the first time -- took me three tries before it worked, so keep trying if doesn't work the first time.

Per the instruciton on the procedure noted above, I manually updated the carrier settings and rebooted iPad. The carrier settings now show 14.0 and everyting is working great so far! I will update if it breaks again. If you don't hear from me again, this fix was permanent for me!

Unbelievable! I told Verizon that everything worked fine for 8 months with zero problems and the signal only bricked after iOS 6.1 update AND their carrier settings went from 14.0 to 14.1. You would think that logic would tell them maybe they should revert my carrier settings back to 14.0 and see if that fixed it. Instead, they just blamed an iOS 6.1 bug. Anyway, it is definitely best to try to take matters in your own hands. Most tech support people think that these issue are user ignorance and just give you a BS answer and send you over to someone else who then starts you from the basics again.

Once I figured everything out, the fix was quick and easy. I am happy again. Hopefully for a long time.

I have two Verizon iPads. One has the problem you described, the other does not. My iPad 3 works fine, My iPad 2 does not. The iPad 2 has Modem Firmware of 2.3.03. The iPad 3 has Modem Firmware of 3.04.24.

I'm curious which iPad you have and what the Firmware version is.

Thanks

I am glad that you kept this thread from breaking! Just to give a quick update, everything that I had performed as outlined earlier has NOT worked and I continue to have serious connection problems. I had not had time since my last post to update, but I will do so after this post.

To get to your point, because you may be on to something, I have modem firmware 2.3.04. Mine is an iPad 3. Maybe a modem firmware update might be in order.

Now for the $1,000 question, does anyone know how to obtain and install iPad modem firmware updates? I am thinking that there should not be a hardware limitation, since my iPad 3 should most likely have the same modem hardware as yours, so it is interesting that mine has older firmware not working.

Now to continue from my previous posts:

My downgrade to the carrier settings from 14.1 to 14.0 only lasted a few hours. Eventually, Verizon force-updated the carrier settings to 14.1 (no option to decline, just notification that it was updated). It has since been force-updated to 14.2, but my problems persist nonetheless.

Now the real rub...I continue with Verizon support until it was escalated to mid-tier support tech. She was pretty good and seemed to know her stuff. We proceeded troubleshooting and she could monitor my iPad from their network and agreed that it was not communicating properly. I even changed my iPad from a prepaid card to a contract hoping the new SIM and number would fix it. No luck and after several different tries over several days, she concluded that it was not a glitch in their network processes and must be the tower.

She escalated my problem to a top tier support by opening a ticket. That all sounded good that Verizon is finally trying to get to the root of the problem! BIG JOKE!

They contacted me a day later that the problem was resolved and I should have service. No service. Called her and she indicated that their had been a fiber cut in my area and that it was repaired, so that is why they said it was fixed. Great, except my problem started 3 WEEKS before the fiber cut AND Verizon service was unaffected anyway (I have 2 Verizon phones both of which have great service and never lost data during fiber cut). Now, all of this would have been clear in my account history, so obviously the "upper tier" techs don't actually read the background of the ticket. But, it gets better...

So I go through another round of troubleshooting and she opens another support ticket. After the "upper tier" tech support reports back to her the second time several days later, she calls me to tell me that they told her "you are in a fringe coverage service" (I am not and she herself confirmed that fact early on), and that "there might be terrain issues interupting the signal" (I am on top of a hill on the second story of my house 3 miles from the tower -- which I had 4-5 bars and LTE for 7 months prior), and that I "should consider buying a in-house signal booster". HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

This would be funny if it did not suck so badly! At this point my niceness was over and I ripped into the tech support indicating the obvious that this was ridiculous: 1) iPad worked fine for 7 months prior with 4-5 bars / LTE in home area and most other places 2) only had connections problems within seconds after updating iOS to 6.1 w/ carrier settings update 3) she verified that I was in good signal area 4) fiber cut had nothing to do with my problem and 5) terrain and signal strength had nothing to do with the problem.

But, while she completely agreed that everything I said made total sense that my problem was not adequately resolved, she basically said sorry, there is nothing else we can do. So I have bricked Verizon iPad 3. Obviously, the escalated Verizon support techs did not even look at my account; they just found some BS explanation that might be it and then regurgitated it.

My last two steps are going to be go to the Verizon store to cancel my contract SIM with full refund and give me a new prepaid SIM for free to attempt to reconnect in a few months (hopefully that will trigger their in-store tech to call Verizon support to cut through the crap) or call Apple to try to get them to replace hardware (not holding my breath since they will likely say it is a carrier problem).

I see a little glimmer of hope that maybe the modem firmware update might be a fix?