If you have a 3G/LTE capable iPad (basically, it has a SIM card tray, much like an iPhone does), and you need mobile internet access, consider:
- Would it make sense to simply tether (leverage your mobile phone's data) and run off a local hotspot ("Personal Hotspot" in iOS parlance)? You create a WiFi access point from your phone that your tablet connects to, and it uses your phone's data plan. This alleviates the need for a separate account, another SIM card, etc. I don't go into too much detail, but touch on the topic in this post. If there's a need/desire, I can dedicate a post to tethering at a later time.
- Does the iPad need to have standalone mobile internet (i.e. it will be operating without the benefit of a nearby iPhone)? If so, then having its own SIM card with a separate (data) plan may make sense.
- You can swap your SIM card between your iPhone and iPad without any issues if having data on your iPad isn't a regular necessity. Just keep in mind that the iPad will not work with voice calls to your number, nor will it do true SMS/MMS through the carrier (it'll do iMessage, as always, using regular data). While the SIM card is in your iPad, any inbound SMS will vanish into thin air, and calls will go straight to voicemail.
When you insert your Public Mobile SIM card into your iPad for the very first time (i.e. the iPad has never seen a Public Mobile SIM card before), you will need to configure the APN manually. Unlike on iPhones, where the Carrier Profile sets up the APN, this is open to configuration by the user, and by default is not correct for Public Mobile.
Once you've inserted your SIM card, you should see the signal bars show up (replacing "...." if no SIM is inserted). If you go into Settings --> General, you should see TELUS xx.x under carrier, along with other details pertaining to your wireless subscription:
Now, go into Cellular Data --> APN Settings. If there is nothing under Cellular Data (often occurs if you've just inserted the SIM card), close the Settings app (double-press the Home button and then "flick" away the Settings), and then re-launch it.
In the APN Settings, you'll see the default APN for TELUS, which you should replace with the proper Public Mobile APN: sp.mb.com (note: I previously mentioned using isp.mb.com because of this being the default for personal hotspots (usually used for tethering), but it seems to prevent LTE data connections and only allows 3G to work):
That's it! Go back, and you should now have cellular data available! The easiest way is to turn off WiFi and then try accessing the internet using Safari or Chrome. Since there is no phone dialer on the iPad, there's also no Field Test mode (described in this post within this thread), so if you want to find your IP address, you'll have to download an app to do so (I recommend the free System Status hw monitor lite).
You'll only need to do this once... as long as you don't insert another carrier's SIM card into the iPad, you won't need to reconfigure the APN even if you're moving your Public Mobile SIM card in/out of the iPad.
Note: You're going to be disappointed if you want to use the iPad to provide a "Personal Hotspot" (access point) for other devices, as you basically can't do this on Public Mobile. It's not because of a rule or policy at PM, or a limitation of the iPad. It's due to the lack of a Public Mobile Carrier profile for iPads to configure the Personal Hotspot APN (or allowing it to be configured by the user). If you go Settings --> Cellular Data --> Set Up Personal Hotspot, you'l see a prompt indicating "To enable personal hotspot on this account, contact TELUS". The TELUS carrier profile that gets loaded on the iPad allows the user to configure the data APN, but pre-configures the Personal Hotspot APN (under the hood) to isp.telus.com, hence the iPad indicating that it essentially cannot get an IP address from PM using this APN and to contact the provider to provision the account/line to use this APN (which PM of course can't).
@CalgaryBen a question...what does that mean if I have 0.0.0.0. for the ipv4? What can I do to receive one and is it important?? Thanks for sharing
If your APN is correctly set, your iPhone should acquire an IP address, which is needed to do anything on the internet.
There are a couple ways to check:
With an app. I recommend downloading the free "System Status: hw monitor lite" from the App store. Upon launching it, and scrolling down to the bottom, you can quickly see what dynamic IP address Public Mobile has given your device:
If you don't want to download the app (or can't, because you're running an older version of iOS which the app doesn't support), you can use the next method...
Access the APN and IP address via Field Test mode. Launch your phone dialer, and dial *3001#12345#* and then press the green "Dial" button.
This will put you into Field Test mode. Select PDP Context Info:
Then, tap "0" on the next screen:
This will reveal your current APN and IP address, if it's assigned (to confirm that you've got the correct APN, and you're receiving an IP address):
You can go back and check the other indices (1, 2, 3, 4, if they exist) but most should be blank, or may be present but simply show an IP address of 0.0.0.0 indicating it's not being used. If there are APNs other than sp.mb.com, then they could be preventing the establishing of a data connection, but seeing these will give some clues as to what's happening "under the hood".
If you don't see sp.mb.com for your APN, then this is what needs troubleshooting... see earlier posts for details!
Oh, and to exit this mode, simply press your Home button
This is a walk-through for configuring the APN on iOS devices running iOS 7.2.1 or older (i.e. iPhone 3GS and 4). I'd like to emphasize that it is not applicable to devices running iOS 8 or later, which essentially applies to the iPhone 4S and up; for those models the carrier profile (see first post) will take care of the APN.
In case you're not sure which iPhone (4 or 4S) you have, the quick physical identification is to look for the antenna split lines (refer to picture below for clarity):
- If there's one above the silence toggle switch on the side, then it's a 4S (and model on back is most likely A1387) -- and therefore you simply need to update your iOS (if applicable, to iOS 9.3.6) and Carrier Profile (the latest for iOS 9.3.6 will be Public Mobile 24.0).
- If there's a split line beside the microphone hole on top, then it's a 4 (and model on back is most likely A1332).
This procedure will let you use Safari and other apps that rely on the internet, but it will not enable MMS on Public Mobile. Sorry, if MMS is a must-have, you'll need to upgrade to at least an iPhone 4S or newer (or jailbreak the iPhone and figure out how to set the MMS proxy and other settings manually -- instructions which are outside the scope of these instructions).
- Ensure there aren't any configuration profiles currently installed, since they could interfere with proper functioning of cellular data. To check, go into Settings --> General, and scroll down to the bottom of this section. Above "Reset", you'll either see "Profile" or not. If it's there, it's recommended that you tap on it to go into the installed profiles, and Remove each one.
- Next, ensure you're connected to a Wi-Fi hotspot and can access the internet. Launch Safari and go to the URL http://unlockit.co.nz, and click on the "Create APN" option (icon looks like a file box, circled in red below) at the bottom, then select "Canada" for Country, and "Public Mobile" for Carrier. Then click on the "Create APN" button:
This will open a new tab/browsing page, similar to the one below (Received date will be the current date). Click on the "Install" button. You'll be prompted to confirm installation of the profile.
- Click on "Install Now". If your device is passcode locked, you'll be prompted to enter the passcode here.
- You'll then see the caption "Profile Installed", and you can then click on Done.
You shouldn't need to restart your phone for the settings to take effect, but doing so wouldn't hurt.
- Check to ensure the new profile has been installed, by going into Settings --> General, and scrolling to the bottom and selecting Profile. You should see something resembling the following:
Turn off your WiFi and ensure that you see "3G" at the top of the screen, to the right of "Public Mobile". In Safari or another browser, ensure you can access the internet to confirm that the APN has been properly set.
