Search My Techie Guy

Tuesday, February 17, 2015

iPad mini - Network carrier successfully registered but always in searching mode

Problem:

My client gave me her new iPad mini to setup her email, i opted for Airtel Uganda 3G service so i bought they normal SIM and cut it to a nano SIM because these devices use nano SIMs.
I went ahead and setup the cellular data and APN settings.

I was able to latch on to Airtel Uganda network but i observed one weird issue; on the top left corner of the display, the iPad was showing "searching Airtel" and would not lock to 3G and there were not network bars. whenever i would check under "Settings > Carrier" it was set to Automatic and registered on Airtel. And whenever you would try a manual search, it would fail!

what baffled me most is that the browsing was working thou terribly slow and sometimes the pages would not load! email failed totally.
first i suspected the SIM card and i tried using other SIM cards but the results were the same.
iPad Mini
Solved:

I did a Software Update from the default iOS version to iOS 8.1.3

I hooked up the device to a Wi-Fi network and downloaded the latest iOS software and installed it.
Go to "General > Software Update"
I observed one important thing during the upgrade, you have to keep the device connected to Wi-Fi even after completing the download because the software is verified before it's successfully installed on the device.

Another important point was; make sure the date & time is correct otherwise the software verification might fail.

After the update was successful, the device was able to display network bars and the "searching" disappeared, and 3G was displayed next to the network carrier " ..... Airtel 3G"

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