Want to use T-Mobile SIM, which carrier iPad can I get used?

[MaxBurn]

I want to pick up a used IPad mini and I have one of the old T-Mobile promo SIMs I want to take advantage of. Which carrier locked/branded IPad minis can I use with it?

For example I could have sworn the Verizon models were unlocked? True?

 

[Bart Kela]

I'm under the belief that no iPad is carrier locked. You just pop in a valid SIM and it'll work. However, some carriers have locked a newly activated SIM to a specific device, that's a different story.

My 200MB "free data for life" T-Mobile iPad SIMs were not transferrable between iPads the last couple of times I upgraded hardware. I was forced to acquire a new SIM to activate the service on a new device.

What do you mean by "old T-Mobile promo SIMs"? Unactivated SIMs don't have any special features built in, those are added to the account after the SIM is activated; it's just a dumb identification chip.

If you are trying to get the 200MB/month "Free Data For Life" tablet service well you are out of luck since T-Mobile US stopped those activations about a month or two ago. Even if you acquired a SIM earlier for said free service, T-Mobile will no longer accept any new activations.

iPads with previous activated "free data for life" SIMs continue to function beyond this new signup cutoff date.

 

[MaxBurn]

Ok, so basically I'll shop for any LTE capable iPad then?

Yes it's that T-Mobile SIM. I've moved it to other devices in the past and they shut me down after a few days for having it in a phone (against the terms, only good for tablets) but I didn't realize it was only good for one device ever. That would be annoying to learn as they just killed the plan, it's currently in an old nexus 7.