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hbmex

macrumors member
Original poster
Feb 28, 2009
31
6
Huntington Beach
I just received my iPad 2 in the mail yesterday. I have an original iPad which I have given to my wife. I set up my new iPad from a backup from my original iPad and everything worked fine except 3G. I was unable to set up a 3G account with AT&T because there was no cell number assigned to my new iPad 2.

I thought it was operator error so I restored the iPad 2 and set it up as a new iPad. Same problem. When I look under general settings>about>cellular number it says unknown. Is it possible Apple never assigned a cellular number to my new iPad 2? Anyone else have this problem? Called AT&T and they were no help. I have a genius bar appointment this afternoon, but would like to be able to fix this myself. Please help!
 

Ashwood11

macrumors 65816
Nov 10, 2010
1,153
0
US
I don't have a 3G but I doubt they come from Apple with a number assigned. You probably have to log-on to either ATT or Verizon and set up an account before you are assigned a number.
 

hbmex

macrumors member
Original poster
Feb 28, 2009
31
6
Huntington Beach
I tried to set up an account when I first set up my ipad2, but it did not work because there was no cellular number assigned to my device. When I set up my original iPad there was already a cell number assigned to it. Now the field is just blank. In talking to personnel at Apple last night they told me each 3G capable iPad has a cell number assigned to it. This was confirmed by a representative from AT&T. For whatever reason, my iPad 2 does not have a cell number assigned to it. I hope this is just a glitch Apple is experiencing because they are shipping out the iPad 2 so rapidly.
 

BobbieM629

macrumors regular
Mar 25, 2011
149
0
Midwest
Yeah they don't come from Apple with a cell number.. You have to set that up with AT&T or Verizon (whichever carrier is for your iPad).
 

T0MMYBOY4

macrumors regular
Sep 29, 2013
100
20
Just got back from the Genius Bar. As I suspected, it was operator error.

What was the 'operator error' that you were doing wrong? I'm trying to do the same thing you were doing, and also getting "unknown" listed for the ipad phone number. Any insight would be appreciated!
 

Aspasia

macrumors 65816
What was the 'operator error' that you were doing wrong? I'm trying to do the same thing you were doing, and also getting "unknown" listed for the ipad phone number. Any insight would be appreciated!

Since this thread is over two years old, not sure if the original OP is still around.

However, as an iPad2 AT&T user, I can vouch there is no number assigned to the device. It's not a phone. Once I activated and paid for my cellular service, AT&T assigned a number - but I certainly never used it for any purpose.

Since I only buy cellular when I need it, I let the service lapse. When I have to reactivate it and plug in my credit card info, etc., a different number is assigned.

Not sure what Verizon or other carriers do, but that's how it works with AT&T on both the iPad 2 and the Mini.
 

T0MMYBOY4

macrumors regular
Sep 29, 2013
100
20
Since this thread is over two years old, not sure if the original OP is still around.

However, as an iPad2 AT&T user, I can vouch there is no number assigned to the device. It's not a phone. Once I activated and paid for my cellular service, AT&T assigned a number - but I certainly never used it for any purpose.

Since I only buy cellular when I need it, I let the service lapse. When I have to reactivate it and plug in my credit card info, etc., a different number is assigned.

Not sure what Verizon or other carriers do, but that's how it works with AT&T on both the iPad 2 and the Mini.
Thanx for the info!
 
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