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tormac21

macrumors member
Original poster
Jan 24, 2021
37
105
I have a M1 Ipad and I'm trying to set up the cellular service. This iPad has eSIM as well as a physical SIM tray, so in theory I should be able to use either, right?

However, Settings > General > About only shows one IMEI number (this appears to be the one associated with the eSIM). On my Iphone, I see two IMEI numbers - one for the physical SIM, one for the eSIM.

My iPad is not locked (bought from the Apple store, full price, no carrier locks).

Because it's only showing one IMEI number, I can only activate the eSIM. I can't activate the physical sim as my carrier wants the tablet sim to be locked to the IMEI, so when I give them the IMEI I see, they say that that's for the eSIM, please give us the other IMEI.. and there's no other IMEI?

If I take the SIM from my phone and put it in the iPad, it does work because my phone SIM is not IMEI locked. But I still see only one IMEI.

So - question for iPad Pro owners.. Does your iPad only show ONE IMEI? Or do you see two?
 

tormac21

macrumors member
Original poster
Jan 24, 2021
37
105
Update - I checked with Apple Support and they told me that the iPad only has one IMEI since it can't do a dual-network - the carrier has to associate the IMEI with either the eSIM or the Physical SIM. In my case they associated it with the eSIM.
 

tormac21

macrumors member
Original poster
Jan 24, 2021
37
105
Get the sim provisioned on another device, then swap the SIM card to you iPad. it will work ...
Yeah, my phone SIM works in the iPad. But it's alright, I'm not that stressed about it. The eSIM works fine, I was just curious to know if I could use both, and apparently not.
 

Shirasaki

macrumors P6
May 16, 2015
15,623
10,927
Quite the contrary, the service provider I use don’t officially support eSIM, despite me using it for over a year back in 2018.
 
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