iPad contacts don't work for FaceTime and iMessage.

I can't figure this out. My iPhone and my iPad 2 both are running iOS5, and both have the same set of contacts synced to them. On my iPhone when I send a message to another iPhone, it's sent as an iMessage. My iPad, however, claims that the exact same number isn't set up for iMessage. The same happens with FaceTime. What works on my iPhone claims to be incorrect on my iPad.

Not really sure what to do here. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

wifi or 3G?

I have a wifi ipad and it had same issue with iMessage and I just restore it and it worked fine after that.

(I admit to reset/restore is one of the troubleshooting things I do a lot)

It's a wi-fi model, and as you are the first person that responded to my thread your idea sounds like a good one. Thanks.