is Apple customising the 4G iPad country wise ?

[augustya]

I was wondering the Time Table that Apple has released for its new iPad to be released in the respective countries, not all of those countries mentioned in that schedule have a 4G service or if they have it have it on the same frequency as in the U,S so is Apple customising the 4G iPad for those countries and do all the countries mentioned in that list have a 4G service ? Or will Apple only release th Wi-Fi model in those countries ?

 

[Seadog]

It has been mentioned before, but here goes. Apple is selling the iPad in two flavors of 4G. The AT&T model and the Verizon model. The AT&T version is compatible with most 3G international services. Outside of North America, 4G LTE has not been adopted. When it is, it would be logical that it will be offered on the iPad. Hopefully, before too long, there will be a chip available whih combines Verizon and AT&T spectrums, but it is not available now.

 

[augustya]

It has been mentioned before, but here goes. Apple is selling the iPad in two flavors of 4G. The AT&T model and the Verizon model. The AT&T version is compatible with most 3G international services. Outside of North America, 4G LTE has not been adopted. When it is, it would be logical that it will be offered on the iPad. Hopefully, before too long, there will be a chip available whih combines Verizon and AT&T spectrums, but it is not available now.

So what it means countries where 4G is not available as yet, it can be used on the 3G service there but there will be no hardware changes on the 4G models of iPad countrywise !

 

[Rends]

Well here in germany Apple ship the 4G LTE version but it won´t work because of different LTE frequencies we have here.
And Apple confirmed that it won´t be possible to fix that in any upcoming IOS updates.

 

[Seadog]

That is the problem with the status of 4G LTE. Very few nations have adopted it in amounts worth mentioning, if at all. China has stated that they will not approve any LTE licenses for 2-3 years. And even when they are in place, the number of formats and frequencies is daunting. Qualconn is suppose to have a new chip that will met the demands of all future networks, but unless Apple finds a need for a mid-year modification, it will likely be the next generation that gets it.

 

[twerppoet]

Both the new Verizon and AT&T iPad models will contain the same world compatible GSM 3G capability. It's in the specs.

Apple - The new iPad - View all the technical specifications.

The LTE will be mostly useless outside the U.S. and Canada. But if you do have LTE in your area, check with your carrier to see what frequencies they are using. The Verizon and AT&T models use different frequencies, and so are not cross compatible on LTE. If you're carrier has the same frequencies the iPad "might" work on LTE some time in the future. As of now (note 3 in the specs) no carrier is supported outside of the U.S. and Canada.

The frequencies are also in the spec sheet.

I understand there are a few places in Europe with LTE, but not many.

 

[augustya]

Both the new Verizon and AT&T iPad models will contain the same world compatible GSM 3G capability. It's in the specs.

Apple - The new iPad - View all the technical specifications.

The LTE will be mostly useless outside the U.S. and Canada. But if you do have LTE in your area, check with your carrier to see what frequencies they are using. The Verizon and AT&T models use different frequencies, and so are not cross compatible on LTE. If you're carrier has the same frequencies the iPad "might" work on LTE some time in the future. As of now (note 3 in the specs) no carrier is supported outside of the U.S. and Canada.

The frequencies are also in the spec sheet.

I understand there are a few places in Europe with LTE, but not many.

So what I wanted to know was as of now iPad will release the same 4G LTE + Wi-Fi model worldwide as in the U.S ?

And even in countries where 4G LTE is not there right now, and even if it starts in future chances are that these 4G models which are made keeping in mind the U.S & Canadian Frequencies will not work in other countries unless the Network provider in that country has the same frequency which looks very unlikely !!

 

[twerppoet]

All indications are that the World Wide iPad will be the same as the AT&T iPad; but no, I do not have a definitive source for that. It will all come down to whether it is cheaper for Apple to create yet another model, or leave a bit of useless hardware in the iPad for those countries.

We will not know for sure until they become available in those countries. Apple almost never says anything in advance.

 

[augustya]

All indications are that the World Wide iPad will be the same as the AT&T iPad; but no, I do not have a definitive source for that. It will all come down to whether it is cheaper for Apple to create yet another model, or leave a bit of useless hardware in the iPad for those countries.

We will not know for sure until they become available in those countries. Apple almost never says anything in advance.

so right now in countries where 4G is not available and going ahead tommorow if it is available in these countries, but just incase the frequencies do not match. Will releasing an iOS update to tweak the frequencies to match the country's frequency can it happen ?

Via a Software Update this 4G LTE Frequency being different can be brought to the same frequency everywhere ?

 

[twerppoet]

It is not possible to change the frequencies. They are hardware, not software.

There just isn't' any sold answer right now. Or if there is it has not been covered in any of the news I've read, and I read a lot of it. Sorry. You'll have to wait and see what they release when they release it.

 

[augustya]

It is not possible to change the frequencies. They are hardware, not software.

There just isn't' any sold answer right now. Or if there is it has not been covered in any of the news I've read, and I read a lot of it. Sorry. You'll have to wait and see what they release when they release it.

I was reading this on Appleinsider, that countries where 4G LTE is not available later Apple might just tweak the iOS to make it compatible to the 4G LTE frequency there !!

 

[twerppoet]

Well, as always, I could be wrong. Perhaps the LTE radios are different than GSM. If you could change those frequencies via software there would have been much rejoicing over here, at least among the jailbreaking community, I'm sure. It would have opened up a few more carriers to faster iPad/iPhone use.

 

[Seadog]

I could not find anything in the AppleInsider news. If it is in the forums, they do not have any more of a clue than we do. In a few cases, there may be a few frequencies that are within the AT&T chipset that have a few frequencies that can be activated through an update. Most of the other frequencies will not be available on this chipset. As long as it will take for many countries to adopt widespread 4G, it will not matter until the next generation of iPad. By then, I expect the chip to be available that will combine Verizon and AT&T 4G and many others providers.

 

[augustya]

I could not find anything in the AppleInsider news. If it is in the forums, they do not have any more of a clue than we do. In a few cases, there may be a few frequencies that are within the AT&T chipset that have a few frequencies that can be activated through an update. Most of the other frequencies will not be available on this chipset. As long as it will take for many countries to adopt widespread 4G, it will not matter until the next generation of iPad. By then, I expect the chip to be available that will combine Verizon and AT&T 4G and many others providers.

My question then is why is 4G only such a U.S & Canada Special feature. When I look back at 3G when it would have started obviously, only some countries would have owned it but gradually it became a widely used and a common Technology across the world !! Why cant the same be with 4G why the iPad 4G Hardware or whatever it uses designed only keeping in mind that it could be used in a specific country and not worldwide why was a worldwide compatible hardware not adopted for 4G. 3G never had any such problems, all devices compatible with 3G Network anywhere can be used in any part of the country or world which has 3G Networks.

Now the dilemma is even though one by one all countries start having 4G, the Hardware in the iPad-3 is designed to work only with U.S & Canadian Network Service Providers. Why such a short sightedness from Apple, instead of having a world compatible 4G hardware??

 

[twerppoet]

Now the dilemma is even though one by one all countries start having 4G, the Hardware in the iPad-3 is designed to work only with U.S & Canadian Network Service Providers. Why such a short sightedness from Apple, instead of having a world compatible 4G hardware??

If I understand it right, it is because such a world wide LTE radio does not yet exist, or it prohibitory expensive compared to the specific models. Either Apple, or some article I read, touched on this briefly. Remember Apple's reason for not putting 4G in the iPhone 4S was because the technology was not 'there' yet. Mostly a matter of size, I think.

With the iPad it's obviously reached the tipping point for them, but that does not mean it's a fully mature standard that will work world wide. It isn't, and without a market as big as the U.S. (where 4G has become a marketing mantra) they probably would have held off one more generation on the iPad too.