As per our report last week, one of the special features of Apple’s new iPads is the fact that it comes with a special SIM card that allows users to choose their carrier from a software menu, as opposed to having to physically swap out SIM cards belonging to other carriers. It sounds like a pretty great idea and perhaps an idea that could become the standard in the future.
That being said, it seems that not all carriers are playing nice. According to reports, it seems that if you were to choose AT&T’s service via the software menu, it would lock the SIM card to AT&T, meaning that users will be unable to swap to a different carrier in the future if they wanted to do so.
However we should point out that the lock is only for the SIM card that comes with the iPad. Users are still free to swap out the SIM card for a different carrier, although this would ultimately defeat the purpose of having such a feature in the first place. In a support document, Apple confirms that this is the case. “When you choose AT&T on iPad Air 2 and iPad mini 3, AT&T dedicates Apple SIM to their network only.”
According to AT&T spokesman Mark Siegel, “You have always been able to switch. The issue is how you switch.” Granted the tablet is still considered to be unlocked, but what do you guys think? Do you think it’s fair that AT&T gets to lock other carriers out of this feature?
Filed in . Read more about AT&T, iPad Air 2 and iPad mini 3.