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DougFNJ

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Jan 22, 2008
1,485
1,212
NJ
It is amazing the lack of training Verizon gives their people.

I went to the store yesterday to get a 5g sim for my new iPad 11 Pro M1 2021. The rep insisted Apple doesn’t make a 5g tablet. She was adamant about it. When I showed her On Verizon.com she rolled her eyes. I gave her the IMEI, she couldn’t give me the sim.

I took the sim out of my 2020 iPad, put it into the new one, it initially worked, even showed 5g, but I’m still confused if it’s the right one, it’s an LTE card. Now in settings…cellular…it shows 2 options. It had the check mark in front of Verizon Active, this gave me no service. There was the option above that that showed Verizon Sim. That shows 5g service.

I called the Verizon store today, it gives you an answering service. Told the guy I wanted to pick up a SIM card, or at least confirm the right one is in there, he insisted as hard as the rep yesterday that the new iPads don’t have a SIM card tray. I told him I removed the sim from the previous one, opened the tray on the 2021, he told me again, there is no tray! Augh!!!

So could someone in the know maybe tell me? Is the 2020 iPad sim ok in this, or do I need to get a true 5g SIM card?

Thanks in advance for any help.
 

chscag

macrumors 601
Feb 17, 2008
4,622
1,946
Fort Worth, Texas
So could someone in the know maybe tell me? Is the 2020 iPad sim ok in this, or do I need to get a true 5g SIM card?
Are you receiving 5G (where available) with the sim card that you removed from your 2020 iPad? If it shows 5G then it's working and you likely do not need a new sim.

I had the same experience with my iPhone 12 with T-Mobile service. Turns out I did not need a new sim card. 5G is working with the older sim I removed from my iPhone 8.

But I am amazed at how out of touch some carrier's support can be.
 

JoshVB

macrumors regular
Dec 28, 2002
180
85
Here in Canada if you’re on Rogers Wireless don’t bother buying the iPad Pro 2021 model in cellular if it’s just to get the 5G. I spent the better half of the day today trying to get 5G working on my new iPad Pro 12.9 with Wifi+Cellular. My iPhone 12 Pro would show 5G, but the iPad was only showing LTE. After my first call to Rogers support it was determined by the support engineer that I needed an updated SIM card to enable the 5G. After a quick run to the local Rogers store and swapping out the SIM for the newer one the issue still persisted. So back on the phone to Rogers I went. The second call resulted in the support engineer telling me that my wireless profile for the tablet didn’t show 5G option in their system. I indicated that I had the Infinite package and it stated on their website that 5G was included for devices. He left me on hold for a good 15 minutes and when he returned he said that he was sorry but he just learned that Rogers does not provision any tablets with 5G, only LTE.

So there you have it for folks with new 5G iPads they would like to have going with Rogers 5G service - it won’t be happening. My concerns have now been escalated to upper management and they have submitted my complaint to the “Office of the President”. My gripe is that nowhere on the Rogers website does it state that 5G is only available to phones and excludes tablets. Rogers even features tablets being used in some of their commercials which advertise specifically their 5G network.

Regards,
 

Pathfinder3

macrumors member
Feb 26, 2010
99
13
Okinawa, JP
I just went through this since yesterday afternoon. Apparently, you do not need a physical SIM in order to be connected to VZW 5G. I’m on that Verizon Active in the Cellular Plans section of Settings. You should see Cellular Data Number and all the other information under Settings > General > About
i took out the physical SIM and saw I still had network connection.
 
Last edited:

DougFNJ

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Jan 22, 2008
1,485
1,212
NJ
Are you receiving 5G (where available) with the sim card that you removed from your 2020 iPad? If it shows 5G then it's working and you likely do not need a new sim.

I had the same experience with my iPhone 12 with T-Mobile service. Turns out I did not need a new sim card. 5G is working with the older sim I removed from my iPhone 8.

But I am amazed at how out of touch some carrier's support can be.

It’s definitely confusing, when I tried the iPhone 12, it required the 5g card.

Here in Canada if you’re on Rogers Wireless don’t bother buying the iPad Pro 2021 model in cellular if it’s just to get the 5G. I spent the better half of the day today trying to get 5G working on my new iPad Pro 12.9 with Wifi+Cellular. My iPhone 12 Pro would show 5G, but the iPad was only showing LTE. After my first call to Rogers support it was determined by the support engineer that I needed an updated SIM card to enable the 5G. After a quick run to the local Rogers store and swapping out the SIM for the newer one the issue still persisted. So back on the phone to Rogers I went. The second call resulted in the support engineer telling me that my wireless profile for the tablet didn’t show 5G option in their system. I indicated that I had the Infinite package and it stated on their website that 5G was included for devices. He left me on hold for a good 15 minutes and when he returned he said that he was sorry but he just learned that Rogers does not provision any tablets with 5G, only LTE.

So there you have it for folks with new 5G iPads they would like to have going with Rogers 5G service - it won’t be happening. My concerns have now been escalated to upper management and they have submitted my complaint to the “Office of the President”. My gripe is that nowhere on the Rogers website does it state that 5G is only available to phones and excludes tablets. Rogers even features tablets being used in some of their commercials which advertise specifically their 5G network.

Regards,

I’m in NJ in USA. Plenty of 5g available. Just a confusing setup with no answers.

I just went through this since yesterday afternoon. Apparently, you do not need a physical SIM in order to be connected to VZW 5G. I’m on that Verizon Active in the Cellular Plans section of Settings. You should see Cellular Data Number and all the other information under Settings > General > About
i took out the physical SIM and saw I still had network connection.

Is this your first time using an active cellular plan on iPad? I didn’t want to start an additional line to activate it, that’s why I swapped the sim out.

T-Mobile is no different. I hate their guts.

I don’t understand the concept of being in sales and customer service and knowing that little about products and service. Even if they just didn’t know, I would slightly understand. But to be so arrogant…
 

JoshVB

macrumors regular
Dec 28, 2002
180
85
I’m in NJ in USA. Plenty of 5g available. Just a confusing setup with no answers.

What’s more ridiculous is that I just found that my carrier, Rogers, is now selling the new iPad Pro with 5G on their website. They specifically call out that it’s 5G and can provide greater network speeds. Yet Rogers doesn’t even allow a 5G tablet to operate at 5G on their network. I’m currently hobbled to LTE which is very disappointing.
 

Pathfinder3

macrumors member
Feb 26, 2010
99
13
Okinawa, JP
Is this your first time using an active cellular plan on iPad? I didn’t want to start an additional line to activate it, that’s why I swapped the sim out.
No, I have an iPad (7th gen) that’s still active on my account (I like to use that SIM in my dash cam). So I added another line for this IPP
 
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