Apple confirms Verizon iPad2 technical glitch leaving customers fuming

By Daily Mail Reporter

Last updated at 7:56 PM on 13th June 2011

New and improved? Some of Apple's iPad 2s using the Verizon network have been hit by technical glitches

Apple has recalled a number of iPad2 tablets that are designed to run on Verizon's network due to connectivity issues, the company confirmed today.

Each device is hardcoded with a unique MEID code - which stands for mobile equipment identifier.

This works like a serial number for accessing the wireless network service.

The code is sent out to the carrier, which then allows the tablet on to the network.

However, Apple said some iPad2 devices destined for the Verizon carrier were given the same MEID code, which meant one of them would not be able to go online.

'Duplicate MEID codes were flashed onto an extremely small number of iPad units for the Verizon 3G network,' an Apple spokeswoman said.

She refused to say how many were affected by the issue but said that the devices would be replaced.

Verizon have declined to comment.

MEID, which stands for mobile equipment identifier, is a unique number that is used to identify a mobile device when it connects to the network. Two devices cannot have the same MEIDcode.

Rumours of a problem first arose last week, with reports that Apple was intercepting the tablet computers shipped from China by FedEx.

However, it appears the message was not passed on to Apple's customer services team, leaving customers fuming.

A user called HLS77 told the official Apple Forum: 'ipad2 makes it all they way from CHINA to within 40 miles of our house and they are returning it to the sender!!

'I called Fedex and they said it was an Apple request. Apple says it's a fedex problem - and I quote "why would we ask to return your ipad that you have been waiting for?"'

Apple employees have been scanning the serial codes on newly delivered devices? to see if they carry the problematic codes.

One employee in a U.S store told 9to5mac.com said he sent back over one hundred devices.

It is not the first time that the iPad2 has been hit by a technical glitch.

Apple revealed in April that some Verizon iPad 2 users were having to restart their iPad each time they disconnected from their 3G network.

They said this was because the AT&T iPad and Verizon iPad used different chipsets. The issue was later fixed through a software update.

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