Verizon: Nexus 7 (2013) won’t work with 4G LTE until after KitKat upgrade

nexus 7 2013 aa design straight on

Back in September we first learned that Verizon was denying activation on new SIM cards for the Nexus 7 (2013) LTE. At the time, Verizon said it was because the device had yet to be certified for their network, a process that would take a month or more.

Now it’s November, and still the Verizon activation troubles persist. The latest excuse from Big Red is that the they encountered some kind of “systems issue” during the certification process. Allegedly the fault has something to do with the Android Jelly Bean build onboard, and to fix the issue they need Google and Asus’ assistance.

Apparently Asus and Google asked Verizon to suspend the certification process until Android 4.4 KitKat rolls out to the tablet. Here’s the full statement:

During the certification process for the Nexus 7, Google, Asus and Verizon uncovered a systems issue that required Google and Asus to undertake additional work with the Jelly Bean OS running on the device. Since Google was about to launch its new Kit Kat OS, rather than undertake this work, Google and Asus asked Verizon to suspend its certification process until Google’s new OS was available on the Nexus 7.

Yes, we know it sounds more than a little fishy. It’s also interesting timing, considering Verizon’s own low-end 4G LTE Ellipsis tablet officially went on sale today.

On the bright side, you aren’t without options for your Nexus 7 LTE. First, you could always get your hands on an already activated Verizon SIM, which plays nicely with the tablet. The next option is to make the switch to a new carrier. If you absolutely must wait for a new SIM card activation on Verizon, all you can do is sit it out and hope that the wait isn’t much longer — though we’d guess the absolute soonest would be a month from now.

Verizon’s handling of the Nexus 7 LTE just further shows us why the Nexus 5 made it to Sprint’s network while bypassing Big Red. We’ve reached out to both Google and Verizon for further clarification as to what kind of system error is causing issue here and when things are likely to be resolved. We’ll be sure to update if and when we hear back.

By | 2013-11-07T22:00:03+00:00 November 7th, 2013|Android Related, Just the Tablets|0 Comments

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