Zit Seng's Blog

A Singaporean's technology and lifestyle blog

The New iPad 4G Will Not Work In Singapore

What a bummer. The new 3rd generation iPad will work in Singapore, of course. You can turn it on, use it, connect to the 3G network. But one of the features touted in this new iPad is the 4G LTE capability, and unfortunately, the LTE frequency bands used by the new iPad are not supported in Singapore. So, there’ll be no 4G LTE connection in Singapore for this new iPad. It’s a little of a let down?

But, this might not be such a big issue. Who’s ready to jump unto LTE right now? You’ll have to pay more for an LTE subscription, and then still find that the real-world network speed you get over our telcos are still nowhere near what LTE is supposed to deliver. You might as well stick with 3.5G HSPA.

Oh, then don’t forget… you can’t actually get a 4G SIM card on its own. SingTel’s LTE subscription plans are with USB dongles. There is no SIM-only 4G plan. So, it’s still no-go even if you’re willing to pay for a 4G plan.

This mis-feature was overlooked by most people during the initial excitement over the new iPad’s announcement. But well, now everyone’s talking about it.

At launch, the new iPad’s LTE works with AT&T’s network. This is the same model that is being sold internationally. There is also an exclusive version of the new iPad designed for Verizon’s network.

Can we expect to see an internationalized version of the iPad with LTE that supports frequencies used in the rest of the world?

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