Frustrating problem with brand new ipad, help needed!

[HildaTablet]

Hoping some of you knowledgeable people can help with this....DSis is isolating with our DM and we thought it would be good to get DM an ipad so we can FaceTime, she can play games, read her Kindle etc.

It arrived (after a long postal delay), brand new and boxed. DSis is moderately techy and set it up no problem with an Apple ID.

But on wanting to start FaceTiming, she finds that the new ID won't work on the new iPad. However, DSis can sign in to her own iPhone using that new ID so it's clearly a valid one. And even more frustratingly, DSis can sign into the new iPad using her own Apple ID.

She's spent a good chunk of time today on the phone to Apple Support who just advised her to reset the iPad and create a new ID - which she did.......still the same problem.

Are we missing something completely obvious or is the iPad faulty and needs to go back? which will be a complete and utter pain in the fundament

If someone can suggest a solution it would be such a relief....

Would it be that the iPad is WiFi (Like a computer/kindle) whilst the iPhone is a phone. So like what’s app - which you can only use on a phone not a tablet/iPad. ?
Therefore FaceTime is a telephone data base as opposed to a WiFi base using a WiFi not a telephone connection?
I’m not a techie person but if FaceTime needs a telephone number to work - like what’s app, I wonder if this is the reason??

What do you mean by "won't work"? What error message do you get?

Thanks for the replies. DSis is trying to use FaceTime so DM can call me (this should work without any problem, either on phone or iPad - it's pre-installed on the iPad). She gets an error message saying FaceTime can't be activated. The message just says 'an error occurred during activation. Try again.' No matter what she does, same message.

Apple Support are saying the iPad is likely to be faulty.

Okay try these steps first if you haven't already.

support.apple.com/en-gb/HT201422

I imagine FaceTime uses a telephone number . When my iPhone rings my iPad does too . Can you get hangouts maybe on the iPad if you both use gmail ?

Have you registered an email address on Facetime?

Turn on FaceTime
Open the FaceTime app and sign in with your Apple ID. You can also do this from Settings > FaceTime.

If you're using an iPhone, FaceTime automatically registers your phone number. To also register your email address on your iPhone, go to Settings > FaceTime > Use your Apple ID for FaceTime, and sign in with your Apple ID.

If you're using an iPad or iPod touch, register your email address by tapping Settings > FaceTime > Use your Apple ID for FaceTime, and sign in with your Apple ID.

FaceTime doesn't need a phone number to work, just an email address and a WiFi or data connection.

I agree, iPad FaceTime used an email address. Add your Mum's email address to your own iPad "Contacts" and tell your sister to add your email address to the new iPad's "Contacts" and see how you get on.

If you are using BT for your WiFi connection, iPad can sometimes be a bit sticky about accepting BT, but you can follow instructions to correct that.

Good luck!

Thanks for these useful suggestions everyone. peachgreen, we’ve tried the things in that Apple link but with no success. Will double-check the email but I’m 99.9% sure all our email addresses are already in each others’ contact lists....