I purchased an iPad Pro 9.7 LTE directly from Apple and activated it on my ATT unlimited data plan. It works perfectly and is not locked. I even can use it as a personal hotspot!!
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iPad Pro 9.7: Embedded sim carrier lock?
- Thread starter mcgroarty
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Yeh they may lock the internal sim now...but you can still put whatever external sim you want. As one of the posters said....you want the att incentives....you have to deal with a locked internal sim. Is it right? Probably not. Is it right that Apple only put 2gig of ram in the 9.7"?
RECAP: if you plan on using your iPad on AT&T's network and don't want the internal sim locked to AT&T, buy from Apple. If att incentives are worth more than the inconvenience of having the internal sim locked...buy from AT&T.
RECAP: if you plan on using your iPad on AT&T's network and don't want the internal sim locked to AT&T, buy from Apple. If att incentives are worth more than the inconvenience of having the internal sim locked...buy from AT&T.
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My bad....was just thinking how they sold carrier specific iPads when they first started offering cellular iPads.
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So here's a question that I don't believe has been asked: Can the internal/embedded SIM be unlocked? If one purchases an iPad from AT&T and fulfills all agreed upon obligations (e.g. paying off installment plan, fulfilling 2-yr contract), will AT&T then unlock the embedded SIM so that it can be used on another network?
I am betting not. Thing is even if you buy it outright from ATT it seems like they lock the virtual sim to them. It's not locked per say but the sim cannot be re-used for another carrier. They do the same with the apple sim that comes with the iPhone. Once you pick ATT the sim cannot be re-used for another carrier. The phone may still be unlocked or could be unlocked, but you would need a new apple sim (or another carrier) to sign up for another carrier.
What I think would need to be done, is apple would need to somehow create (flash?) a new virtual sim inside. I think the trick that ATT employs is they refuse to release the IMEID and so once they get that they have it forever. If apple has a way to create a new IMEID it could be re-used. All this is hypothetical and likely would not happen.
True unlocking is done on apple servers and is something different. As far as I know iPads have always been carrier unlocked, though I think the original iPads were carrier specific because of radio frequencies / cellular technology.
I bought my pro direct from apple and re-used my nano sim from my air 2. That way the internal virtual sim is still open. I know I have read several places here and elsewhere stating that att activation on an apple sourced pro did not lock it, I did not want to take any chance. I did test the internal by signing up for the T-mobile 200meg free for life plan. It worked fine but I still have the option to select another plan. What I am wondering is how that works? Since my virtual sim is registered to t-mobile if I picked another plan, would it de-register my t-mobile plan? Sadly there are not any other free or cheap plans I can test this with. I will have to wait till I am out of the country and hope that it works. If anyone else knows how that works I would love to know about it.
greg
[doublepost=1460158783][/doublepost]ok so I answered my own question. I poked around a little more and sprint has a 1 day 300 meg plan for $5.00. So I activated the sprint plan and I now have three carriers. 2 are on the embedded sim and 1 is on an actual ATT sim. So now I need to understand how an IMEI works on a virtual sim? When I pick either t-mobile or sprint the IMEI shows the same. Must do some searching to see how this works!
IMEI/MEID is for device identification. SIM card ID is ICCID. That said, that's an interesting question. I just checked the about page on my Pro (haven't activated cellular yet). There's no entry for ICCID but there's a hexadecimal CSN where the ICCID entry was located on my non-Apple SIM capable cellular iPads. Maybe Apple generates a virtual ICCID for the Apple SIM? Either that or perhaps they've worked something out with carriers to use an alternate system to ICCID for carrier identification.
Think of IMEI as a unique serial number that all GSM devices have while ICCID is a unique serial number that all SIM cards have.
The code for IMEI follows a certain format and I believe the first few digits identify the manufacturer.
The code for ICCID also follows a specific format. I think the first few digits identify type, country code and carrier.
Sorry I wasn't clear in my previous message. What I was getting at is this:
With 3 cellular plans activated my iPad pro shows:
Two different IMEI numbers under "general/about" depending on which plan I have activated. Both the imbedded sims show the same IMEI and the external one shows a different one.
Also all three plans show a different ICCID under "general/about" when activated.
I do believe this is standard for dual SIM devices. I remember my Sony Xperia M dual having two IMEI numbers also, one for each SIM slot. And yep, it's probably gonna generate a separate ICCID for each carrier on the embedded SIM.
So, when I bought my Pro 9.7 at Apple and activated it last week, I inserted my AT&T sim from my older IPad. It is unlimited data from the first generation IPads. I am on AT&T service with unlimited data.
My embedded sim is still assignable, correct?
My embedded sim is still assignable, correct?
yes that is what I did. I had a mobile share and not an unlimited on ATT but otherwise the same. You could add a plan at anytime to the embedded sim and you will see both and be able to switch back and forth between them. T-mobile has the free 200meg for life deal that you could add as a backup to see how it works.
I have the same experience.... I bought my iPad Pro 9.7 from Apple directly and I was able to transfer my unlimited Apple plan to the internal Apple sim, then I added the t-mobile 200MB free for life plan, then finally I added an external local carrier sim to use during my international trip, so I ended up with 3 active plans (2 on Apple embedded sim & 1 on external sim) all active and selectable showing up under my chose data plan. I think it is possible to add yet more plans on the embedded sim if I chose to do so. Really great to have all this flexibility. I think most if not all the issues are isolated with people purchasing their iPad Pro through AT&T. I think if you buy through Apple you should be able to have the flexibility. Hope this helps. Mark
Yes, that is what I did when I updated to the 9.7 from the ipad air. No issues whatsoever.
No, only AT&T locks the embedded SIM. In any case, you can always go back to using a regular SIM card from any carrier. You choose in Settings which account to use.
Thanks. I do understand if I switch T-mobile to embedded SIM and want to go back to regular SIM card I just need non-activated T-mobile SIM?
I don't think so, I had a t-mobile SIM, then had to do the embedded sim to T-mobile and also now have my ATT sim in there (which doesn't lock anything) so that seems to work
You would just cancel the T-Mobile account on the embedded SIM and then insert a non-activated T-Mobile (or any other carrier) SIM. For that matter, you could theoretically use both the embedded SIM and a T-Mobile SIM (if you want to get two accounts with 200MB of "free" data per month, for instance).
Thanks.
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I'm sorry, I don't understand you added T-mobile to embedded and later Att also to embedded ?