Comment by fishywang
2 years ago
We purchased an iPad with cellular, with the plan to put my home country's sim card in it so I can still receive SMS (as most of the banks there still requires SMS verification when you login), and it turns out that iPad with cellular does not really show you SMS's that's not from the carrier of the sim card.
> iPad with cellular does not really show you SMS's that's not from the carrier of the sim card.
Does iPad support SMS? The cellular line is usually only for data, https://www.howtogeek.com/710767/how-to-send-sms-text-messag...
Apple's own user guide (https://web.archive.org/web/20201223140550/https://support.a...) suggests otherwise:
>In the Messages app , you can send text messages as SMS/MMS messages through your cellular service, or ...
Also my own experience is that it at least can receive SMS text messages, just it won't show you if it's not from your carrier (if it's from your carrier, it shows you via a popup window or something, can't really remember as that was several years ago).
No direct experience to share, but that sentence may be referencing Continuity via iCloud, which is optional:
> if it's from your carrier, it shows you via a popup window
If it's not shown in Apple's Messages app, maybe it was a carrier-specific app?
iPad can neither send nor receive sms. The only way it can is through a nearby iPhone, or iMessage
I've never understood why iPads can't be used as phones with an ordinary cellphone SIM. Is it simply because Apple doesn't want to pay a Qualcomm licensing fee or some equivalent? Who is it in the chain/ecosystem that does not want tablets being used as full phones, the carriers? Apple?
I'm guessing it doesn't fit well with the carriers' price structure. Adding a tablet / smart watch / etc. is cheaper than adding another phone to your account. I wouldn't have a cellular iPad if it was a lot extra per month, but I think I pay $10 for both the tablet and the watch, which is fine with me.