iPad 1 from USA on Russian carrier without ATT activation

[gray_mouse]

In this thread I will report how iPad 1 works on a 3G carrier in Russia. Will it work or fail miserably? iPad was bought in USA, flown over, and unpacked in Russia. It was never activated with AT&T. Russian carrier chosen for this is megafone.ru, largely because I already have their SIM card. But MTC would have been better because they have more towers.

Today I cut my standard sized SIM card and stuck in inside. iPad says:

Restricted Network
Your selected cellular network is restricted. You can choose a different network in settings.
Dismiss | Settings

I believe this is because there is no plan on this SIM, cause I haven't used it since summer.

So tomorrow at 8 in the morning I will be at megafone's office getting a 100 meg plan. If all goes well I'll upgrade to half a gig.

So what will it be a success or a compleat failure. Tune in tomorrow to find out!

 

[iPadCharlie]

Удачи!

 

[gray_mouse]

SUCSESS!!

It works! They give u a SIM, u stick it in, and that's all to it. Cost me 150 rubles for 100 megabytes.

Thus no ATT activation is required.

 

[Tim SPRACKLEN]

SUCSESS!!

It works! They give u a SIM, u stick it in, and that's all to it. Cost me 150 rubles for 100 megabytes.

Thus no ATT activation is required.

Thankyou for letting us know. That will help a lot of folks who want to purchase iPad2s from the US. Keep in touch and let us know if you have any other issues.

Good to hear from you.

Tim
Scotland

 

[GlenL]

That comes out to 5 USD for 100 MB. cheaper than AT&T!

How's the speed?

 

[gray_mouse]

I've got iPad 1.

Also heard apple is cheaper in Arab emirates.

If you buying iPad or other apple, go ahead and get a case for it right away. In Russia I just spent 1450 rubles for skinny sleeve, I'm sure it cost like 5 buck on eBay.

 

[gray_mouse]

That comes out to 5 USD for 100 MB. cheaper than AT&T!

How's the speed?

Not bad when on 3G. Sucky on edge.