New iPad data not carrier-locked, runs AT&T 3G on Verizon
updated 01:35 pm EDT, Fri March 16, 2012
iPad HSPA works on either US carrier
New experiments from a MacRumors forum member has confirmed that the new iPad's cellualr access isn't carrier-locked. Although frequency differences prevent LTE access, a Verizon iPad will use an AT&T micro-SIM to connect at HSPA+ speeds. The change requires changing APN (network profile) settings, but it doesn't require jailbreaks or forced unlocks.
Apple has usually kept earlier HSPA-based 3G iPads unlocked, but the inherently incompatible nature of EVDO 3G on Verizon made it technically impossible to jump carriers. The new cellular chipset not only needs a SIM card by nature for LTE but is a world roaming chipset that supports HSPA+ as well.
A reverse instance, of a Verizon SIM in an AT&T iPad, won't work. Verizon only provisions SIM cards for an LTE network, and EVDO isn't usually switchable, even if exposed in the hardware.
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Apr 2009
Didn't they say
that the 3G would work everywhere throughout the world regardless which carrier you selected? That's why they say the chip set carried the most bands of any mobile device.