apple store employee confirms ipad 3g will NOT be unlocked

[shapefactor]

hi everyone,

i'm in the uk and was excited that the ipad will finally be coming, but i'm a singaporean and will be moving back in july. i was therefore tempted to buy the ipad here but had a lingering doubt whether an ipad 3g bought here will work equally well in other countries.

so i called up the apple hotline to get an official word on this, and i was surprised to hear him say "the ipad 3g is built to work only on the 3g frequencies from the region it was sold", which logically means the same ipad 3g will not work in BOTH singapore and uk. so a frequent traveller between both countries like myself will need TWO ipads to use the 3g in both countries. how dumb is that?

i then further clarified whether it will "not work at all" or be merely "deficient in performance", and he said it will not WORK at all, at least for 3G. i said "that's strange, since the iphone 3gs bought in singapore works in the UK. why shouldn't the ipad 3g be the same?" he replied "the ipad 3g is built differently."

as if to offer some sort of consolation, he then added "the wifi will work everywhere though", as if i didnt already know that.

there are rumors proliferating online that the ipad 3g will work everywhere, especially since steve himself said so; i'm not so sure who's right anymore.

the big question is whether i should take a leap and buy a 3g here, and gamble that it will not work in singapore, because in any case even if i wait to buy an ipad 3g in singapore according to him it wouldn't work in the uk either. which is realllly sad because i'm an international student in the UK and will likely be travelling back and forth for the next 4 years.

what are your opinions on this?

 

[colmaclean]

Aren't people already using US iPad 3Gs in Europe? I think the employee is talking out his/her end.

 

[MacModMachine]

All are unlocked, Im using 2 from USA in Canada without issues.

Go on apples site and looknat supported frequencies and match them with local carriers if you want proof.

The frequencies it supports are worldwide I believe

 

[Stealthipad]

I have also heard that ipads are getting 3G service outside the USA

 

[shapefactor]

Thanks for the confirmation, everyone! I had a feeling that the person with whom I spoke wasn't very sure himself :/

 

[macduke]

The person you spoke with has no idea what they are talking about. iFixit's teardown shows that the iPad 3g has the EXACT SAME 3g chip as the iPhone 3GS, so wherever the 3GS works, the iPad 3g will also. Furthermore, Steve Jobs said on stage during the iPad unveiling keynote that the iPad will be sold unlocked, but it only has GSM/3g hardware supporting 7.2mbps down and a paltry 384kbps up, just like the 3GS. Those upload speeds are hideous and years outdated.

Link: http://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/iPad-3G-Teardown/2374/1

Quotes from link:

The 3G iPad supports UMTS/HSDPA on 850, 1900, and 2100 MHz and GSM/EDGE on 850, 900, 1800, and 1900 MHz.

In a dramatic shift for Apple, the iPad is unlocked, and not tied down to a specific carrier.

Infineon 337S3754 PMB 8878 X-Gold baseband IC 5Y06115. This part had the Infineon logo in the pre-production unit, but Apple has white-labeled it to obscure the manufacturer. This is the exact same baseband processor as the iPhone 3GS.

Yes they mention it not being compatible with the 3g of T-Mobile in the U.S., but remember, the 3GS isn't compatible either, and both must only use the edge network in that case. Any carrier that runs the iPhone 3GS should run the iPad 3g. Unless that specific carrier is deliberately trying to block iPad users, which may be possible, and relatively unlikely unless they put too much of a burden on their network.

 

[raremage]

i then further clarified whether it will "not work at all" or be merely "deficient in performance", and he said it will not WORK at all, at least for 3G. i said "that's strange, since the iphone 3gs bought in singapore works in the UK. why shouldn't the ipad 3g be the same?" he replied "the ipad 3g is built differently."


what are your opinions on this?

My opinion is that the guy is an idiot. Obviously he has no clue.

Thanks for the confirmation, everyone! I had a feeling that the person with whom I spoke wasn't very sure himself :/

May I suggest you edit the post title? That employee could not confirm the time of day, much less cellular network compatability.

 

[Nintendolinky]

I have a 32gb iPad 3G from the US and I'm using it perfectly on the network 3, in fact I'm using it in the car right now typing this, using 3G on the way to East Midlands airport. Woooooop

 

[CrAkD]

Uhm one of the selling points at the keynote was it was unlocked. How do these people get jobs at apple.

 

[Chupa Chupa]

so i called up the apple hotline to get an official word on this, and i was surprised to hear him say "the ipad 3g is built to work only on the 3g frequencies from the region it was sold", which logically means the same ipad 3g will not work in BOTH singapore and uk.

Good to know the Apple phone jockeys on the other side of the pond are as big imbeciles as the ones in the U.S.

Apple clearly lists the compatible frequencies on the iPad Spec page (obviously too difficult for Apple phone doodlers to find). Here is the UK page, but its the same worldwide. There are no "regional" models of the iPad yet. They are all universal, all unlocked.

 

[aleni]

It will work. My friend is Indonesia and he's currently using the US ipad 3G with a cut out simcard. To bad there is no operators that use micro sim, so he have to cut it out to the exact size of micro sim by himself. It's very terifying

 

[hughden]

It works in Thailand.

 

[Pring]

I'm in the UK and using my iPad 3G on Vodafone.

 

[Jaro65]

If you get a response that sounds silly, just ask someone else. As we all well know, the common is is in fact anything but common.