Can't turn off alert to set up cellular plan

Just got off phone with Apple.. they asked me to try TWO things!

1. turn on airplane mode then turn ON wifi and bluetooth. This did work, but it is just a workaround.

2. TELL SIRI : TURN OFF CELLULAR DATA... so far this has seemed to work! Good luck!

Try to get an old SIM card - no need that it's actually activated. You can actually cut down bigger standard or Mini-SIMs to the required format. Or use the one from your phone if it's also a Micro-SIM.

After installing the SIM card you should have the option to turn "Mobile Data" off in the iOS "Settings" menu. Once it has been turned off you can remove the SIM and the parameter will retain the "OFF" setting. Concurrently no more "Set up Mobile Data Plan" reminders should pop up.

Just another of iOS's oddities - not being able to turn off something I do not even want to use at the moment from the get go...

You say that you currently have an "old SIM" in the iPad which would be the one triggering those prompts to set up a data plan. As it has not been activated yet there's probably no option to turn mobile data off as you have experienced so far. This might be similar to the status of a 3G/4G iPad which has been restored with no SIM installed. There it says "No SIM", but it remains grayed out and you can't access mobile data settings including the option to turn mobile data usage off completely.

Regarding a SIM-lock to a certain service provider like AT&T I have never heard of one that's on the SIM itself. The locking to the provider is done in the firmware (provider-specific "branded" custom iOS in Apple's iDevices) so that only SIMs of this particular provider are accepted. This is common with phones or tablets one can buy from a mobile provider at a discount in return for signing up for a long-term contract. But a rogue SIM hijacking a device for its service provider seems pretty far-fetched and also makes no sense from the provider's point of view. All they are interested in is that the customer uses their services not a particular device.

So I would say you are pretty safe using your AT&T SIM in your iPad to get access to the mobile data settings and turning mobile data off entirely. After that you can remove the SIM without reinstalling any other as mentioned before. iOS will remember the OFF setting. The status bar line on the leftmost side that usually displays the mobile service provider's name will change to "iPad". No more reminders for setting up data plans only a message "No SIM installed" after rebooting the device or going from Flight Mode back to normal. On my iPad 3 it occasionally but very rarely also happens when accessing other applications that require internet access (less than once a week; so no real nuisance).

If you ever want to use mobile data again just insert the SIM and iOS will prompt you with the unlock code entry field and subsequently activate mobile data usage.

Thank you very much! #2 did it for me. The setting is not available under Settings - Cellular Data, but Siri knew the special trick - whatever that is.

Even thou I used Siri to turn off cellular data, and I see it as off in Settings now, I still get the notification to setup cellular data...so no joy.

The same thing happened to me for a while. I called Apple Care yesterday, but just before I did, I tried powering down and powering back up. After that, I have not experienced the annoying alerts at all. It was probably my first restart since turning off cellular data. I have my fingers crossed that the curse has gone away.

While speaking with Apple Care, I had to wait 45 minutes to get to a senior specialist. He said that the new Apple SIM, which allows you to select a carrier, is new and issues like this are just coming into the knowledge base. I asked what I should do if the problem came back, even though cellular data is turned off. He said I should try selecting a carrier OTHER THAN AT&T and going as far as possible through the process without purchasing a cellular plan. That should eliminate the alerts. If you select AT&T, you can no longer select a different carrier with that SIM. Supposedly, you CAN still select a different carrier later if you choose anything else.

My solution to this very annoying problem was to just choose T-Mobile as my carrier and then go through the setup and choose their FREE 200MB/Mo plan. If I ever want to change it to be on my plan with AT&T for extensive traveling, I can, but for now I get a "little" bit of free data for an emergency and no more annoying message to set up cellular data.

II've tried all these options. Reminiscent of jamming U2 down my throat.