iPhone Activation Issues

[iamhammill]

Anyone else get this error in iTunes. Says I will get an email when it's finished.


Kinda frustrating to hear.

[toneloco2881]

I got this too. WTF!!!!!! I'm so pissed right now. My iPhone is sitting there staring at me and I can't use it!

[iamhammill]

Not what I want after waiting 6 hours.

[psychofreak]

Not what I want after waiting 6 hours.

Only 6 hours? I've been waiting since January, and it won't be here in the UK for ages!

[djbeeker]

My friend and I bought one, brought it to his place, and both of us got the same message. We're waiting.... impatiently.

[ghall]

At least be grateful you have them. I don't even have the money to buy one yet. :mad:

Oh well, at least I get to laugh my ass of at you! :D

[skoops]

anyone have a screenshot?

[bignumbers]

I've been stuck on the "this may take up to 6 minutes" AT&T activation screen for about 25 minutes...

[McBain2]

Sorry, but this is absolutely hilarious. Hang in there, guys.

[hamedatl]

same thing for me. if u call at&t they say its because they are backed up. no offense, but i cant imagine many ppl who waited in line expected this

[Captnroger]

add me to the list. Not a happy camper.

edit - oh look, there's a iphone activation support number. Holy crap answered in 1 ring!
"could take up to 6 hours" is what the chick said


EDIT - BINGO, got the email, this puppy is LIVE

[bignumbers]

I've been stuck on the "this may take up to 6 minutes" AT&T activation screen for about 25 minutes...

Now got the "needs more time" message. Will try later!

[McBain2]

same thing for me. if u call at&t they say its because they are backed up. no offense, but i cant imagine many ppl who waited in line expected this

Given all the hype and the long lines, why wouldn't you expect this? Hell, I wouldn't be surprised if Apple's entire site crashed or ATTs network crashed.

[hamedatl]

Given all the hype and the long lines, why wouldn't you expect this? Hell, I wouldn't be surprised if Apple's entire site crashed or ATTs network crashed.

Dude, I am only on the east coast, that means even more ppl are going to have problems if this is really a load issue. I'm pretty sure they knew exactly how many iphones they had in stock. I mostly blame AT&T for this as everything was fast in the activation until the last part. Either way, its still no excuse.

[constant L]

what was this process like...was a credit check ran? i am on my dad's account and was wondering what info i needed to do the activation.

[schuerman]

What Is The Support Number?????

I Am Stuck With A 1 Min (30 Minutes So Far) Wait Time!!!!


Ar"ogj"lkjglfk"jgdfl"kjgfd...

[TurboPGT]

Same issue here, needs more time to complete....is it just going to start working when its ready? Should I leave it plugged in?

[MBHockey]

Grr.......waiting too..... Why does the manual say you can use other features, when you can't?! Hehehe......the waiting game!

it sure is pretty though!

[twoodcc]

yeah, i've got the same thing. i'm getting angry......up to six hours?!

[TurboPGT]

add me to the list. Not a happy camper.

edit - oh look, there's a iphone activation support number. Holy crap answered in 1 ring!
"could take up to 6 hours" is what the chick said


EDIT - BINGO, got the email, this puppy is LIVE


I'm sure you're busy playing right now but how did you wait...did u leave it plugged in, did the phone just come alive?

[twoodcc]

I'm sure you're busy playing right now but how did you wait...did u leave it plugged in, did the phone just come alive?

i'm wondering the same thing. i noticed my current cingular phone doesn't work anymore

[spicoli]

iTunes was really slow for me too. Then it finally worked.

Posting from my iPhone now!!!

This thing is sweet!!!!!

[Captnroger]

You have to wait to get the email, there's a link on it you click and it activates the phone, that's all.

[TurboPGT]

You have to wait to get the email, there's a link on it you click and it activates the phone, that's all.

Thank you.


Has anyone disconnected theres while waiting?

[glxyjones]

You have to wait to get the email, there's a link on it you click and it activates the phone, that's all.

So i can't even unplug my iphone and have it be activated wirelessly? I have to sit at my computer waiting for an email so that I can click some link?!?

PS...funny thing, you can add media to your iphone while it's waiting to be activated in itunes. Then, if you plug in the headphones and push the button on the wire, your music will start to play. Pretty much a glorified ipod shuffle at this point!!!

[terrrrrible]

My phone is activated, iTunes is taking it's sweet time syncing all of my stuff though.

[TurboPGT]

My phone is activated, iTunes is taking it's sweet time syncing all of my stuff though.

and how long did u wait? im goin on about 30 min

[glxyjones]

and how long did u wait? im goin on about 30 min

I'm going on an hour and still nothing >:o

[terrrrrible]

and how long did u wait? im goin on about 30 min

My account is a small business account, so I had to call AT&T and have them set up some stuff, but I didn't have to wait for an assistant at all, and the whole process only took about 15 minutes. The activation itself through iTunes took probably 5 minutes at most. I have the "iPhone is activated" message on my screen right now.

[NeuronBasher]

I'm 57 minutes in, and nothing. I suspect I'm going to get to do this same fun dance again when I activate my wife's phone. :rolleyes:

[TurboPGT]

This is SUCH crap. At&t has truly put a damper on today. Truly.

First at the At&t store their credit card processing went down almost immediately.

Now, activation is horribly behind. They made absolutely no preparation for this release. None. It's embarassing.

[BEASTMAN]

wait since january

wait in the rain for 12:30 hours

WHY NOT WAIT MORE AHHHH!

[runninmac]

Hour and 15 minutes!!!

heres a pic


but still im stoked to have it!

[luckystephens]

It took about 3 minutes to activate. Existing customers just need their current number, billing zip code, SSN, and iTunes store username/password. Once you enter that information you except the iPhone data plan for $20 and AT&T activates the phone. Very simple process.

[TaylorB]

I was activating my iPhone and on the very last step when it sends everything to att, after a few minutes it said it failed, and right when that happened the iPhone lit up and said activation complete. Visual voicemail works, i'm getting my e-mail and everything so I don't know whats going on. Anyone have any suggestions?

[odinsride]

It took about 3 minutes to activate. Existing customers just need their current number, billing zip code, SSN, and iTunes store username/password. Once you enter that information you except the iPhone data plan for $20 and AT&T activates the phone. Very simple process.

What if you already have a Data Plan (I have one for my Cingular 8125). Does the activation process automatically drop your current data plan and replace it with the iPhone data plan, and make the appropriate billing adjustments?

I'd hate to have to pay for 2 data plans..

[TheAnswer]

How many people with long activation times are porting numbers over from other carriers?...something tells me that while at&t is probably undergoing some strain on their side, that the really long delays might be the fault of the other carriers slowly processing number transfer requests...Verizon, T-Mo and Sprint are gonna try to make this process are painful as possible for the switchers.

[Karpfish]

sounds like AT&T has been having server issues, if the phone says things are good and its actually working, don't worry.

[TaylorB]

Well, i'm trying to look at my account information to see if it acknowledged the plan I chose.

On att.com it hasn't updated that I even have an iPhone yet.. guess I will have to wait awhile to see what plan it gave me.

[Briellz]

I got the same crap! I wanna use my phone!:mad:

[TurboPGT]

How many people with long activation times are porting numbers over from other carriers?...something tells me that while at&t is probably undergoing some strain on their side, that the really long delays might be the fault of the other carriers slowly processing number transfer requests...Verizon, T-Mo and Sprint are gonna try to make this process are painful as possible for the switchers.

I'm still waiting and I'm porting a number. My verizon phone is still working.

45 minutes plus now

[Squidly]

Also waiting. Over an hour.

[luckystephens]

Yes, it automatically drops your old data plan and adds the iPhone plan, your voice plan remains unchanged. I added the 1500 SMS for an extra $10.

[fosters2]

I'm not so lucky. I opted to add another line to my existing service and for some reason the activation failed. I got a screen that asked me to call ATT. I called them and they couldn't figure out why it wasn't activating. They gave me another number and I am currently on hold. :mad:

[Jeffrey903]

Does anyone else get the "Your activation requires additional time to complete" message? Mine has been going like that for over 30 minutes now and my iPhone will not allow me to do anything yet until it gets past that (I can only make emergency calls).

BTW - I am transferring over from Verizon.

[twoodcc]

I got the same crap! I wanna use my phone!:mad:

me 2! and i'm a current cingular customer! and my other sim doesn't work anymore....so i have no phone right now :mad:

[sbrownla]

I'm not so lucky. I opted to add another line to my existing service and for some reason the activation failed. I got a screen that asked me to call ATT. I called them and they couldn't figure out why it wasn't activating. They gave me another number and I am currently on hold. :mad:

when you talk to em, ask them what happens if you need to switch phones to a razr or something else at any time, but you will switch. ask if you can still use unlimited data or if you will be charged.

[Briellz]

Mine says It needs more time to complete:mad: This sucks

[Jsimon9633]

I am an existing customer and it says the same thing


i called the number they give on the itunes page

the girl said cause so many are doing it its taking 2-6 hours to activate :/

[Dwarf84396]

Same here, I ported my number from Verizon, and it's taking forevah!

[TurboPGT]

Same thing here...I'm soooooooooo mad right now

[kuyu]

I got a screen in iTunes that says "Your activation requires additional time to complete" then asked me to wait for an email saying the process is done.

AT&T has since cut-off my old phone, but it's been about an hour. This thing is so sexy! I want to play with it. Hurry AT&T!!!!

[dagger55]

Im Not Happy

[hamedatl]

I have the same problem, called AT&T, took about 10 minutes, came back and said it can take up to 24 hours to activate. That's just crap for ppl who waited that long.

[Diode]

Heh activation is taking longer then the actual purchase.

I think AT&T are having computer problems .... 10's of thousands phones activating at once ....

[elevatedesign]

Same thing..I am transfering from verizon. Except the lady said it could take a couple of days!!!!

[glxyjones]

About an hour and a half here...I was an existing Cingular customer and my old phone is now dead. Therefore, I now have no phone and I can't leave my house to go on a camping trip I'm already late for because apparently, you need to click on a link in the email they send you.

PS: Anyone else notice you can put media on the iphone through itunes even before it's activated?

You can also plug in the earbuds and click the button to make you iphone into a glorified ipod shuffle!!!!!

[Briellz]

I waited in line for 5 hours, and now this crap.... ERRRRRR! :mad: They should of been better prepared for this. :mad:

[Lazernet]

Same thing..I am transfering from verizon. Except the lady said it could take a couple of days!!!!

I got a similar response. Ughh first all the computers go down at the AT&T store while trying to run my credit check (they ran it 3 times) and had to enter all my info 3 times... now this! I'm a bit tired of waiting so to speak... *sigh*... guess I'll have a drink.

- Eric

[TurboPGT]

Same thing..I am transfering from verizon. Except the lady said it could take a couple of days!!!!

Me too.....its seem to be a commonality with Verizon porters.

This is ridiculous!!!!!!!!! How can they be this unprepared? How can they make a video showing EASY acitivation in minutes?

This is officially the LONGEST cell phone activation in my 12 year history of owning a phone.

Unreal. They lied to us, and nothing we can do.

[Diode]

Yea my old phone went dead too ... this sucks!

[ichii]

Same here I activated mines when I got home and uploaded all my contacts,photo, music, and when it was my brother's turn he had this message. I was planning to call AT&T til I saw this post.

[binaryslave]

Has anyone who got the "Your activation requires additional time" gotten their email yet?

My old cingular phone doesn't work now, but I haven't gotten an email yet. So I am trying to guage how long I wont have a phone.

[innyaface]

A new frustration... iTunes is telling me that my "iPhone activation has expired" and below that it says "To restart your activation, please disconnect and reattach your iPhone now."

Anyone else getting this? Think I should just wait for the email? or do it all again?

ARG!

[TurboPGT]

Now the support line is down! Are you kidding me?!

I can just see Steve Jobs trying to explain this, "Yes its the easiest, revolutionary activation process....and will take hours, thanks to At&t being completely unprepared."

Thanks At&t. Really. I'm highly enjoying my first day with you.

[sppatel]

I got this too. WTF!!!!!! I'm so pissed right now. My iPhone is sitting there staring at me and I can't use it!

Me too. This is frustrating. I've been waiting for the email for close to 2 hours.

[sppatel]

Has anyone who got the "Your activation requires additional time" gotten their email yet?

My old cingular phone doesn't work now, but I haven't gotten an email yet. So I am trying to guage how long I wont have a phone.

I am in the same exact boat. My old cell phone is now disabled.

[dagger55]

Looking at this Activate iPhone screen is making me EXTREMELY unhappy

[TurboPGT]

For those porting from Verizon.....are you phones still working? Mine still is....i wish it would drop dead, honestly.

[kuyu]

I'm an hour and 15 minutes deep and still waiting...

It wouldn't be so bad if AT&T hadn't cutoff the sim in my old phone. Bush league

\already AT&T subscriber

[Aniej]

I got two emails, one from AT&T and one from Apple. The one from AT&T said the following:
Phone service is scheduled to be disconnected on your current phone at or after 7:33 PM EDT on June 30. Please check your email and be prepared to reconnect and activate your iPhone before that time. Please call 877-800-3701 if you'd like to make other arrangements

[TurboPGT]

Anyone else just playing with the emergency call slider? :p

F this phone

[Jsimon9633]

hahahah hilarious

i love buying a new product :)

luckily i only waited 2 hours for this thing including the time it took me to walk ou the door

now if i could figure out how the hell this belkin rubber thing works :confused:

[innyaface]

A new frustration... iTunes is telling me that my "iPhone activation has expired" and below that it says "To restart your activation, please disconnect and reattach your iPhone now."

Anyone else getting this? Think I should just wait for the email? or do it all again?

ARG!

So apparently activations can expire. I called up AT&T and they said I had to start the entire process over. This is beyond frustrating. The only thing worse than not having an iPhone is having to sit in front of one for 2+ hours and all you can do with it is slide the emergency bar back and forth.

[Jsimon9633]

So apparently activations can expire. I called up AT&T and they said I had to start the entire process over. This is beyond frustrating. The only thing worse than not having an iPhone is having to sit in front of one for 2+ hours and all you can do with it is slide the emergency bar back and forth.

when it told me it expired I just restarted Itunes and it told me to wait for that magical ATT link to activate :)

[Aniej]

just checking that in addition to having to wait forever for the activation to go through, the business about still being able to use the iphone and load stuff is not true? All I can do is stare at the iphone asking me if I want to make an emergency call. has anyone been able to get its other applications to work while you wait?

[Lazernet]

I got two emails, one from AT&T and one from Apple. The one from AT&T said the following:
Phone service is scheduled to be disconnected on your current phone at or after 7:33 PM EDT on June 30. Please check your email and be prepared to reconnect and activate your iPhone before that time. Please call 877-800-3701 if you'd like to make other arrangements

I too got these messages. Very encryptic... not quite making much sense. So will the phone work before or after June 30th!? I too have Verizon, but my Verizon phone is still working. ...and I too wish it would drop dead.

Activated phones for Apple customers coming this Tuesday! Yay!

- Eric

[dagger55]

Can we call Verizon?

That has to be what is holding this up.

[glxyjones]

Can we call Verizon?

That has to be what is holding this up.

I'm a current AT&T/Cingular customer and I'm waiting. I don't think Verizon is holding anything up, unless they're the bottleneck and clogging the system

[dagger55]

I'm a current AT&T/Cingular customer and I'm waiting. I don't think Verizon is holding anything up, unless they're the bottleneck and clogging the system

My friend who is a cingular customer went through the process at the exact time, and he is next to me chatting on his iPhone... and i am looking at this damn screen

[pulpdoc]

My friend and I bought one, brought it to his place, and both of us got the same message. We're waiting.... impatiently.

Porting from Verizon--so far it has been an hour of wait. Nothing happening

[twoodcc]

My friend who is a cingular customer went through the process at the exact time, and he is next to me chatting on his iPhone... and i am looking at this damn screen

i'm also a cingular customer, and i'm still waiting....2 hours now

[imationx]

just checking that in addition to having to wait forever for the activation to go through, the business about still being able to use the iphone and load stuff is not true? All I can do is stare at the iphone asking me if I want to make an emergency call. has anyone been able to get its other applications to work while you wait?


Yes, I am in the same position. Says it will transfer my number from Sprint @ 7:30 pm TOMMOROW and i have to wait for the link in my email to complete activation... Don't you think this was tested??? cmon At&T!!

[Jsimon9633]

what is hilarious is that my current cell phone doesnt work now either!

the girl told me that i could still use my cell phone...so much for that

[pulpdoc]

I too got these messages. Very encryptic... not quite making much sense. So will the phone work before or after June 30th!? I too have Verizon, but my Verizon phone is still working. ...and I too wish it would drop dead.

Activated phones for Apple customers coming this Tuesday! Yay!

- Eric

I have been waiting since 7:00. Porting from Verizon. Same message from them. The wait goes on.

[imationx]

got the email! good luck all


What does the email say?

[HotdogGiambi]

gotta wait a little longer. Oh well. It'll all work by tomorrow sometime I'd bet. Got my phone in Charlottesville, VA (home of Thomas Jefferson). No line. Got to AT&T store just after 6pm and walked out 10 minutes later with an 8Gig iPhone. Glorious!
:)

[seamuskrat]

Got the the Bridgewater NJ Mall at 6:05. Waited 40 minutes. In and out in under 5 minutes. All in all, awesome Apple experience.

Get home, download iTunes 7.3. Fast. Easy instal, no reboot.

Connect iPhone. I am existing ATT customer, and all goes well until........

Your Activation Requires Additional Time to complete.

2.5 hours later...... I called ATT they said their system crashed and while my old phone is DOA (non functional as smart card inactive) my iPhone is also DOA( meaning not yet functional).

I must say not a super smooth launch. I hope Steve is fuming at ATT for dropping the ball on this. Looking at the forums, it looks like a decent number of customers are experiences issues, and its only going live now on the West Coast. So its only gonna get worse.

Although, I now see why they staggered the release times to give that 3 hour processing window.

Good luck all. At the moment, I am the not so proud owner of 2 useless cell phones.

[iSaint]

Waiting over an hour here in Mississippi now. This does suxorzz!1

I'm only changing an existing line to an iPhone. You would think this would be a smooth process.

[ThanatosId]

I'm not really patient when I am eager to try something new...Never has that been more true than tonight with the iPhone. Waiting 24 hours for Verizon to cancel my plan wasn't an option. I called AT&T to expedite the process (luckily I got mine fast and called at 6:15 before the insanity). They called Verizon to port the old number to them. Verizon responded that my account number was incorrect and refused to work with them. I called Verizon and discovered that there was a mystery "0" that has never shown up on any statement in front of the account number. I called AT&T and gave them the update. They then quickly activated my phone. I would have never known this if not for calling Verizon. Please call and check for yourself...otherwise it could be more than 24 hours of looking at that brilliantly beautiful iPhone and not using it.

P.S. AT&T has been great thus far and incredibly helpful and professional. Verizon...not so much!!!

[Lazernet]

I have been waiting since 7:00. Porting from Verizon. Same message from them. The wait goes on.

I want to make sure I am doing this right... I activate the phone/port my verizon number over correct? Once the phone works... then I call Verizon and cancel my other one right? Just trying to get this in the right order.

- Eric

[MBHockey]

How did you determine your iPhone is DOA?

[zioxide]

wah wah waaaaah you guys are so impatient. Their servers are jammed and they're going as fast as they can. You've waited for six months so another couple of hours isn't going to hurt anything.

[iSaint]

2.5 hours later...... I called ATT they said their system crashed and while my old phone is DOA my iPhone is also DOA.



I just noticed my old phone has no signal, so, like you, I'm DOA on two phones. One was just a bit more expensive than the other. :D

[Diode]

How did you determine your iPhone is DOA?

He meant he can't do anything until it activates ... well playing with the slider too

[Island Dog]

They want both me and my wife to "come in" to an AT&T store because we couldn't get past the check. We have never had to pay deposits or anything, this is BS.

My iPhone is going back tomorrow. Luckily I only had to wait 5 minutes.

[CDugan]

well I was just informed that bare minimum this will take 24 hours to port over? Worst case, 72? What a joke. ATT, Sprint, they're all a bunch of hacks.

[seamuskrat]

How did you determine your iPhone is DOA?

My bad, poor use of the term DOA. Its just my old phone the smart card was deactivated and the iPhone is not yet active. So in essence, you call my number and get voicemail, which I cannot access. I cannot receive or make calls, so in essence DOA. However, I am confident it will work, but in a few hours.

[seamuskrat]

Plus, 2 to 4 weeks shipping online store. WOW. 60 minutes of wait and purchase was worth it.

[MacMan33]

I have loaded it with all my songs and videos and am awaiting activation..

[AtariAge]

Does anyone else get the "Your activation requires additional time to complete" message? Mine has been going like that for over 30 minutes now and my iPhone will not allow me to do anything yet until it gets past that (I can only make emergency calls).

BTW - I am transferring over from Verizon.
I got the same message and am a bit peeved, but what can you do. And I am an existing AT&T customer. I suspected I might have problems when they pulled my account up at the AT&T store where I bought the phone and said, "Ahhh, a conversion account.." Meaning I had an AT&T Wireless account before it was converted to a "Cingular" account.

After I got this dreaded message, I then got an email stating, "AT&T is now processing your activation. You will receive an email confirmation once your activation is complete." I'm not expecting that to happen anytime soon, but you never know!

..Al

[glxyjones]

wah wah waaaaah you guys are so impatient. Their servers are jammed and they're going as fast as they can. You've waited for six months so another couple of hours isn't going to hurt anything.

I would have NO problem waiting a few more hours if I had nothing else to do. I have 5 people waiting for me to go camping until Sunday. I can't exactly leave and go till Sunday without a cell phone and since my old one is dead and the iphone isn't activated yet, I'm stuck here till whenever. :mad:

[Briellz]

I have loaded it with all my songs and videos and am awaiting activation..
How did you do that? Are you on PC?:confused:

[metalhawk]

Well, AT&T is bungling my experience (despite my in-store experience being good...)

I activated at 6:43 EST (pretty early, i'd think). I did a number transfer from VZW. When iTunes got to the final screen it said "your activation requires additional time to complete" and that I'd receive email when it was done. Now it has been 2 1/2 hours and I've got no iPhone (I can't even play with it, except it'll let me dial an emergency number). To top that off, VZW has gotten the request, so they killed that phone to, and I've now got no phone at all. :mad:

The phone help was usesless "we're very backed up" me: "yeah, but I was one of the first ones to activate, how can it take this long" Sheesh... They shouldn't send the number transfer request until my phone is actually activated, imho. Leaving me without a phone is pretty unacceptable.

I'm sure I'll be very happy once they fix this. When playing with them in-store, they were awesome..

[confirmed]

has anyone gotten their iphone activated within the past hour?

just wondering if it's everyone, or just most people.

[slippery-pete]

Well, AT&T is bungling my experience (despite my in-store experience being good...)

I activated at 6:43 EST (pretty early, i'd think). I did a number transfer from VZW. When iTunes got to the final screen it said "your activation requires additional time to complete" and that I'd receive email when it was done. Now it has been 2 1/2 hours and I've got no iPhone (I can't even play with it, except it'll let me dial an emergency number). To top that off, VZW has gotten the request, so they killed that phone to, and I've now got no phone at all. :mad:

The phone help was usesless "we're very backed up" me: "yeah, but I was one of the first ones to activate, how can it take this long" Sheesh... They shouldn't send the number transfer request until my phone is actually activated, imho. Leaving me without a phone is pretty unacceptable.

I'm sure I'll be very happy once they fix this. When playing with them in-store, they were awesome..

I am in teh same boat, but with one big exception I am an existing AT&T customer. They cut my old phone off in 10 minutes and I am still waiting for my activation e-mail

[glxyjones]

How did you do that? Are you on PC?:confused:

Just open up itunes, go to your music/video library, then drag and drop what you want to put on the iphone to the iphone (under "Devices") symbol. The iphone should say "Sync in progress."

[Stayfrosty]

It won't even let me past the initial porting screen. It say that "The number you entered cannot be transfered" I called ATT and they said reboot and try again (big help that was) and I called t-mobile and they said that there is nothing odd about my account that should hold it up. Meanwhile I am sitting here with a very expensive paper weight.

StayFrosty

[SlideforEmergen]

Is anyone else getting this error?

"We're sorry, AT&T has determined that your current account cannot be used with the iPhone."

I called customer service (1-877-419-4500) and they said others are having the issue and would call back, maybe tomorrow.

Grrrr

[WillJS]

reallly now? I didn't have any problem activating mine. Smooth as could be, although i was worried about the servers going down.

[Stayfrosty]

Nevermind, for some reason the system wanted my old Billing Zip code.

StayFrosty

[wiithan]

My device simply never activated. The first time I went on iTunes, it directed me directly to the synch screen. I synched my music, and now nothing. I have no idea what's going on. I thought the first time you went on it was supposed to direct you to the activation? This is really pissing me off. Screen capture of status screen:
http://img340.imageshack.us/img340/1783/picture1ao9.th.png (http://img340.imageshack.us/my.php?image=picture1ao9.png)

Do I just wait or something?

[iSaint]

Is anyone else getting this error?

"We're sorry, AT&T has determined that your current account cannot be used with the iPhone."

I called customer service (1-877-419-4500) and they said others are having the issue and would call back, maybe tomorrow.

Grrrr

This is not a good sign!!!

[Diode]

Is anyone else getting this error?

"We're sorry, AT&T has determined that your current account cannot be used with the iPhone."

I called customer service (1-877-419-4500) and they said others are having the issue and would call back, maybe tomorrow.

Grrrr

You get that error immediately or after some time (as in through a email)?

[slippery-pete]

I got the same message and am a bit peeved, but what can you do. And I am an existing AT&T customer. I suspected I might have problems when they pulled my account up at the AT&T store where I bought the phone and said, "Ahhh, a conversion account.." Meaning I had an AT&T Wireless account before it was converted to a "Cingular" account.

After I got this dreaded message, I then got an email stating, "AT&T is now processing your activation. You will receive an email confirmation once your activation is complete." I'm not expecting that to happen anytime soon, but you never know!

..Al

Same here....2+ hours and waiting

[glxyjones]

I like how they hyped it up to be the quick and painless method for activating. And since you'll be doing it on itunes at your own time, the buying of the phone would go a lot smoother (which it did).

I for one would've rather the AT&T store taken an extra 10 minutes and activated it themselves. What a joke this is!

[CaptainCharisma]

Is anyone else connecting there iphone and when iTunes starts just getting a screen asking you to name the phone and if you want to sync contacts etc. I never get the option to select a plan or anything? My phone is synced with everything, but everytime I start it up it it just says waiting for AT&T activation this may take some time on the phone, and then nothing happens.

[Stewie]

has anyone gotten their iphone activated within the past hour?

just wondering if it's everyone, or just most people.

Been going on 2 hours now and still waiting for the activation. Sadly I don't have any other phone to call and complain to anyone, but I am chatting with a very helpful at&t rep, who believes they just can't keep up with all the new activations. You would have thought they would have been better prepared for this. So now it is 9.5 hours waiting for my new iPhone today, including the wait at the Apple Store in North Point, GA.

[MBHockey]

You get that error immediately or after some time (as in through a email)?

I'm also curious if that error was given immediately or not. I've read one other report of this -- a T Mobile user couldn't port it, apparently.

[SlideforEmergen]

You get that error immediately or after some time (as in through a email)?

Its after 15 seconds.

[wiithan]

Is anyone else connecting there iphone and when iTunes starts just getting a screen asking you to name the phone and if you want to sync contacts etc. I never get the option to select a plan or anything? My phone is synced with everything, but everytime I start it up it it just says waiting for AT&T activation this may take some time on the phone, and then nothing happens.

That's exactly what happened to me!

[MBHockey]

Its after 15 seconds.

Is your previous carrier T-Mobile?

[emanaydin]

Same here, I ported my number from Verizon, and it's taking forevah!

same thing here man! ive been waiting for 2 hours or so now.. and am i the only one playing with the emergancy slide on the bottem? i have nothing else to play with!! and do we need to keep it connected?

[Heart Break Kid]

same thing here man! ive been waiting for 2 hours or so now.. and am i the only one playing with the emergancy slide on the bottem? i have nothing else to play with!! and do we need to keep it connected?

I called ATT

The lady said that you do NOT need to leave it docked....

I guess Ill take her word for it

- HBK

[fosters2]

Is anyone else getting this error?

"We're sorry, AT&T has determined that your current account cannot be used with the iPhone."

I called customer service (1-877-419-4500) and they said others are having the issue and would call back, maybe tomorrow.

Grrrr

Same exact problem. I called ATT and they could not figure out why I couldn't just add a line (I'm already a customer). They gave a different number to call (866-907-3484) and I have been on hold for 1 hour and 20 minutes now. :mad:

Well Apple, you sure botched this one with AT&T. The one thing Apple is known for is the streamlined setup process for their equipment. This is not acceptable.

Apple should ask for somebody's head at AT&T.

[buddha1iron]

and am trying to upgrade my current phone with 4gb iphone. I keep receiving an "unable to verify identity" message when trying to activate. I placed a call to AT&T and was told that it is happeneing to a lot of people and that I should try again every 1/2 hour or so. WTF!

[RockStarATL]

Mine supposedly activated, but I've not gotten off the apple logo screen since. I was able to add my media and stuff, but it never leaves that screen. I have restored twice and rebooted a dozen times. Anyone else have this issue?

[iNewbie]

Is anyone else connecting there iphone and when iTunes starts just getting a screen asking you to name the phone and if you want to sync contacts etc. I never get the option to select a plan or anything? My phone is synced with everything, but everytime I start it up it it just says waiting for AT&T activation this may take some time on the phone, and then nothing happens.


I'm getting the same thing...

[imationx]

This is unbelievable really... Steve Jobs must be very angry at this point... I can't imagine how much worse it is going to get with the west coast taking their iPhone home...

[D1G1T4L]

Getting "Could not complete the iTunes store request. The store may be busy."

:rolleyes:

[Jeremy Gray]

I'm a new AT&T customer, and the guy at the store said it'd take three hours or so to activate when I got home. About at an hour now. I'm content just staring at the thing...*drool*

[VCD20]

Sorry some of you are having problems.

I changed over from Sprint Nextel, I updated to the latest mac and itunes versions, entered my info and it worked and even transfered my account.
I am sending and receiving calls.

Be patient and it will come together.

It is everything and more... Seamless internet, beautiful bright screen, responsive and the best of all... it is the easiest phone I have every operated.
My 9 year old knows more than I do.

I rate it over a 10+++++

[TheScappian]

I am in the same boat. Waiting for activation email. But really, everyone needs to take a breath and try to muster up just a little bit more patience.

[coolbreeze]

Wow, my new activation (will eventually port Sprint number over) took all of 4 minutes. It's already active!! SWEET! :D

[sixth]

This isnt my first 'phone' that i am porting from verizon. it takes time with them for some reason...i ported 4 blackberries once and it took almost 6 hours. So dont be surprised, esp if your with verizon...may be different for others but thats my experience with it. i am expecting tommorrow morning to wake up and it be fine...

no biggie.

[s1zeRo]

what you do? let it do it thing????..leave the phone in the dock and let itunes do it work?

[fosters2]

Okay, I finally got it activated. It turns out that if you have multiple lines with an older family plan, there is a flag in their system which causes the activation to fail. You have to call 866-907-3484 to get it rectified.

I was on hold for 1 hour 30 minutes but I did get through. The lady was very nice and was able to clear the problem in a few seconds. After that, everything went smoothly. I got a lousy new number but at least it is activated. :D

Now I go play.

[jlanuez]

Got home at 6:20pm and went to activate the iPhone...

Beisdes itunes being very hard to get on.

CANNOT ACTIVATE THE iPhone as the website looks slammed!!!

After waiting 11 hours today (customer #1 in Tucson, AZ), this is not good!!!

[sixth]

what you do? let it do it thing????..leave the phone in the dock and let itunes do it work?

to be honest i dont think it matters. i disconnected mine and plug it back in and itunes automatically detected that it needs more time to activate. i mean you cant do anything with it. just wait. everyone just needs to wait alittle..you know how many of these were sold today??? try activating 100,000 or so blackberries at once..or whatever phone.

[HA5TY]

Been going on 2 hours now and still waiting for the activation. Sadly I don't have any other phone to call and complain to anyone, but I am chatting with a very helpful at&t rep, who believes they just can't keep up with all the new activations. You would have thought they would have been better prepared for this. So now it is 9.5 hours waiting for my new iPhone today, including the wait at the Apple Store in North Point, GA.

God! North Point was crowded as Hell!!

I went to the Cingular Store by the new Home Depot on Holcomb Bridge. There were no more than 50 people there!! Also this guy that worked there came out side at 4:30 and let us see the iPhone! I bet they still have iPhones left over. NO one knew about the hidden Cingular store!!!

But I am stillllllll waiting on mine to activate too!!!

[RockStarATL]

Am I missing something? I have restored three times now. Everything is synced up. I got the activation email, and iTunes shows my phone number. My phone NEVER goes off the black Apple logo screen. No matter what.

No one else has this problem??

[HA5TY]

Mine supposedly activated, but I've not gotten off the apple logo screen since. I was able to add my media and stuff, but it never leaves that screen. I have restored twice and rebooted a dozen times. Anyone else have this issue?

Which Store did u buy yours from?

[Briellz]

Wow, my new activation (will eventually port Sprint number over) took all of 4 minutes. It's already active!! SWEET! :D

You lucky turd! :rolleyes: :D :apple:

[BigReg]

I'm a current Cingular/AT&T customer with a data plan. Got the wait for activation BS email @7:28p eastern. I'm 2.5 hours waiting. I'm pretty darn disgusted right now. I've been an Apple customer since my parents bought me an Apple //c in high school and this is the absolute worst experience ever.

Each and every iPhone commercial that comes on TV just pisses me off even more. I hope Apple reads this thread.

[MacMan33]

2.5 hours waiting for tmobile transfer...

[Jeffrey903]

I have a feeling that this is Verizon's fault, especially since some people are saying that Sprint transferred very quickly. Since we are all leaving Verizon, they have no reason to be nice to us by doing a quick transfer.

[GnarleyMarley87]

I got my iPhone activated via iTunes in under 2 minutes. I was surprised by how easy it was. Phone number, zip code, last 4 digits of ss and a few clicks later, activated!:)

:apple:

[Timbafun]

I just had some shocking news, I purchased four iPhones for me and my family three hours ago, I have a business account with ATT. During the activation process through Itunes I discovered that iPhone does not work with business accounts, so I have to transfer my whole account to a personal account, only that nobody can do this at ATT until next monday, so for now I have four very expensive and absolutely useless pieces of plastic and metal sitting on my desk.
Bravo ATT and Apple for such warm welcome !!!!
Next time think a little harder about ridiculously obvious consumer situations
like this, you had at least six months to consider this very common scenario.
I can only hope that this problem will be solved on monday......

[RockStarATL]

Lenox Square Atlanta

[MBHockey]

I have a feeling that this is Verizon's fault, especially since some people are saying that Sprint transferred very quickly. Since we are all leaving Verizon, they have no reason to be nice to us by doing a quick transfer.

Verizon has nothing to do with the Activation of your new phone -- only the porting of your old number. They are two separate things. Activation = use all the features and not being locked out, Port = use all the features + make phones from your ported number.

[dwsolberg]

Well, it worked once at least for me. The whole process took only about four minutes to switch the line from T-Mobile (although calls are still going to the old phone until T-Mobile releases the number).

By the way, the phone is amazing. I can't believe they did it. Everything works exactly as in the video, at the same speed as in the video. Very nice.

[Gators Fan]

A blogster in MA covering the iPhone release began posting mid-day from the parking lot of his local AT&T store. Got the phone, rushed home, took pictures of each step ---"Opening bag, taking box out of bag, opening box, withdrawing iPhone, showing accessories, and, here it is, at last, the amazing iPhone!"--- his excitement evident.

Alas, this was all followed by another post ---"My iPhone doesn't work! Won't turn on, or nothing! I am, like, ya know? totally bummed, dude!" (or words to that effect).

Stay tuned. We didn't reach the moon the first time we tried, either. As Roger McGuinn (of The Byrds) used to say, "I trust everything will work out all right."

[schalkse]

I just had some shocking news, I purchased four iPhones for me and my family three hours ago, I have a business account with ATT. During the activation process through Itunes I discovered that iPhone does not work with business accounts, so I have to transfer my whole account to a personal account, only that nobody can do this at ATT until next monday, so for now I have four very expensive and absolutely useless pieces of plastic and metal sitting on my desk.
Bravo ATT and Apple for such warm welcome !!!!
Next time think a little harder about ridiculously obvious consumer situations
like this, you had at least six months to consider this very common scenario.
I can only hope that this problem will be solved on monday......

If I recall correctly, it was on ATT's website that the biz acounts would not work...so read up before you buy ;)

[jayducharme]

Me too.....its seem to be a commonality with Verizon porters.

Hmmm...wonder if Verizon is somehow gumming up the works to get people ticked off at Apple and AT&T? :confused:

[MBHockey]

If I recall correctly, it was on ATT's website that the biz acounts would not work...so read up before you buy ;)

100% correct.

[Tazzy531]

2 hours and counting. Still no email. No activation.

Called AT&T and they said it may take up to 6 hours which sucks balls because I don't want to sit in front of my laptop on a Friday night.

As all reviews have said, AT&T is the downfall of this. And they have a 5 year contract.

(I know, there's a lot of people activating all at once, but then don't give the expectations that this will be completed in 15 mins)

BTW: Porting from TMobile.

[alabare]

AT&T's tech number via Itunes is closed. Stating "try again later".

[Bradley W]

_

[hakala01]

After standing in line for only an hour and a half, a most uplifting Apple Store experience, a kinda lengthier than normal iTunes update, it only took less than 5 minutes to activate my phone. Right now, I'm just waiting for a few movies to sync up, so I haven't actually used it yet. Sorry about you guys having activation issues...

On a somewhat amusing note, though, my roommate just got a new Razr today, and was just on hold for 45 minutes waiting to get through to get his new sim card activated...wonder why...

[ryan42]

My iPhone activation took about three minutes. I'm typing from it now

[Briellz]

I just got an email saying my number transfer is not available!?!? hmmm.... :mad:

[imationx]

I have a feeling that this is Verizon's fault, especially since some people are saying that Sprint transferred very quickly. Since we are all leaving Verizon, they have no reason to be nice to us by doing a quick transfer.

I don't think so. I am trying to port my number from Sprint and have the same messages. Right now i'm waiting for the activation complete email.... :cool: at least I have on in my hand on the bright side?

:: Don't worry , be happy ::

:)

[Jsimon9633]

i just hope that this "you have to wait longer for activation"

doesnt mean there is actually something wrong and it wont ever happen

i tried to call that other att number and it flat out said they cant tkae my call rght now

[esquared]

There simply aren't words to describe what a monumental screw-up this is. I hope SJ is tearing AT&T bigwigs a new one right now. Every bit of information was known to AT&T as these went out, so they new how many activations they would be doing long ago. And if SJ was in on it, then shame on you Steve!

[pulpdoc]

2 hours and counting. Still no email. No activation.

Called AT&T and they said it may take up to 6 hours which sucks balls because I don't want to sit in front of my laptop on a Friday night.

As all reviews have said, AT&T is the downfall of this. And they have a 5 year contract.

(I know, there's a lot of people activating all at once, but then don't give the expectations that this will be completed in 15 mins)

BTW: Porting from TMobile.

Porting from Verizon. Started process at 7. still waiting. 3 hours.
When I called they said 2 or 3 hours.

[technicolor]

I got needs more time, not porting any number.

[scubus]

Hmm... I have an older Cingular Family plan and I get a business discount (although it is a personal account).

Does anyone know what issues I will have trying to activate tomorrow morning?

[carve]

Hello, I just recently got my iPhone and set it up. I Went through the whole process of entering your name ans info. I am transfering my phone number from sprint. I hooked up the iPhone to my iBook G4. I got the message on my computer that said I would have to wait "additional time". I looked on my iPhone's screen, it said "Activate iPhone, Connect to iTunes" On the bottom underneith the screen it said "Slide for emergecy", I had my iPhone connected to iTunes, though. So I want to know if it is in the process of activating the phone. Cheers, macluver101

[kernyboy]

So, im on the phone wit ATT, i live in spotswood NJ, but because its "out of market " with ATT, i cant port my number and am FORCED into getting a new one. I cant afford to do this as my number is used for business. So basically, if your zip code is out of market for porting, youre screwed and MUST chanage your number in order to activate and will get "the phone number you entered cannont be transfered" one way i got around this, is by entering all zeroes for the zip code. this takes you to the next window, but i dont know what it will do to you account.

[Gravity]

I can't activate my 8GB iPhone. It will take 24 hours, according to the email I got.

"Phone service is scheduled to be disconnected on your current phone at or after 8:18 PM EDT on June 30. Please check your email and be prepared to reconnect and activate your iPhone before that time. Please call 877-800-3701 if you'd like to make other arrangements. "

WTF!!! False advertising. Without activation, you can only make EMERGENCY outgoing calls on the phone, but cannot use ANY of the other features, or even sync the damned thing!

Why did I wait in line for five and half hours at the mall?

Erik

[Ninja_Turtle]

sux0rz but i think it might be a network over load problem, maybe.

hope you guys get them fixed tho :)

[HA5TY]

Lenox Square Atlanta

How many people were there. That would be the last place in Atlanta that I would buy mine! Too many people!

[kuyu]

I already have an AT&T number so the Verizon/Tmobile/Sprint thing is not an issue.

I understand there are delays but I'm really pissed that AT&T already cut off my other phone ON A FRIDAY NIGHT AT 7!!! I'd love to go meet my buddies at a bar and check this later but I have no way of knowing where they all are.

It's been 3 hours with no phone. Weak...

[imationx]

I can't activate my 8GB iPhone. It will take 24 hours, according to the email I got.

"Phone service is scheduled to be disconnected on your current phone at or after 8:18 PM EDT on June 30. Please check your email and be prepared to reconnect and activate your iPhone before that time. Please call 877-800-3701 if you'd like to make other arrangements. "

WTF!!! False advertising. Without activation, you can only make EMERGENCY outgoing calls on the phone, but cannot use ANY of the other features, or even sync the damned thing!

Why did I wait in line for five and half hours at the mall?

Erik

As far as I understand.. the email about disconnecting your service in 24 hrs is when the actual phone number port will take place. AS the 2nd email I got states.. we will receive an email before 24hrs letting us know ACTIVATION is complete meaning we can actually use the iphone.

[MBHockey]

I just got an email saying my number transfer is not available!?!? hmmm.... :mad:

Which carrier?

[mahermusic]

I just had some shocking news, I purchased four iPhones for me and my family three hours ago, I have a business account with ATT. During the activation process through Itunes I discovered that iPhone does not work with business accounts, so I have to transfer my whole account to a personal account, only that nobody can do this at ATT until next monday, so for now I have four very expensive and absolutely useless pieces of plastic and metal sitting on my desk.
Bravo ATT and Apple for such warm welcome !!!!
Next time think a little harder about ridiculously obvious consumer situations
like this, you had at least six months to consider this very common scenario.
I can only hope that this problem will be solved on monday......


Silly question... but what did the salesperson say when you specifically informed him/her that you wanted to transfer four business accounts over? You... did... ask, or at least do your homework before you went ahead and made these purchases, correct?

[dalemanning]

here is a screen shot

[buddha1iron]

As previously posted, I was an existing Cingular customer that was having problems activating. Following the advice of an earlier poster, I entered my old billing zip code instead of my current one (I moved one year ago), and I finally got through!

Hope this helps some of you.

[dalemanning]

Well...don't call the number....I have been on for a half hour of permahold. Not a good start.

[925AS]

iTunes gave me a your phone did not activate message because of internet connection. But my iPhone said it was activated and I received a confirmation email as well. But I keep getting the same message.

My iPhone works great and i've had no other issue besides that, although it is miniscule compared to other issues in this thread.

[HA5TY]

This SUCKS!!

I own a iPhone, but I am having to look on YouTube so I can see it working!!!!

[BigPrince]

I cannot activate my phone today.


Basically, I'm 19, not a long enough credit history to get a contract. However, they were still kind enough to sell me the phone and I would just go home and use my moms information.

Well, I go to iTunes, they can't find my physical address(I use a PO BOX for mail). I try my work address, but then the credit check fails for my mom(presumably because the physical address is wrong)

I call, they say I have to go to the store.

I go to the store and they try to send me home to call t-support. I say no, itunes and the people I called sent me here. This time with my mother, we get a credit check and she passes.

Problem is its not an "iPhone pre-approved credit check" and thus iTunes won't except the number the nice lady at ATT gave me to try and use. They only knew how to get the iPhone credit check at the time of sale and they were not able to furnish one without trying to checkout an iPhone, which they were out of stock of by the time I got back. I can't return mine and buy it right back because the system inventory won't update.


Tommorow or Sunday I have to go back and sort things out.

This ****ing blows.

Phone support is broken at ATT right now :(.

[Jsimon9633]

I dont get it, they dont even take phone calls now

that one activation number is useless they have no info and tell you to wait 6 hours?

i mean i at least want to know theres no particular issue wtf

[imationx]

I just received the following email:

We are unable to locate the address you entered.


Please call AT&T at 877-800-3701 to complete your activation.


hahah.. I know it was the right email..

[fireworks501]

same activation issues......... waiting for AT&T to process my activation

[MacMyFast]

Porting from Verizon. Started process at 7. still waiting. 3 hours.
When I called they said 2 or 3 hours.

Also porting from Verizon. Two phones and ATT says 24 hours. WTF?:mad:

[vansouza]

I waited in the heat here in Las Vegas for a couple of hours only to get 20 feet from the door and they are sold out of 8gig units a the ATT store ... so I am going to order it on line... I am hearing that local ATT stores here in LV only have 30 units... 30 ...

[Jsimon9633]

I just received the following email:

We are unable to locate the address you entered.


Please call AT&T at 877-800-3701 to complete your activation.


hahah.. I know it was the right email..

I called that number and there were 3 options. option 3 was to check status of activation.

asks for some order number wtf?

[jrlcopy]

I am waiting as well.... bastards...

Bought at 6:30pm est, now it is almost 11pm. My friend bought an iphone, so I have to deal with him playing with it.

He switched from sprint took all of 5 mins. I am a current customer and have to wait. Gah!

[Peace]

I have the same problem..It's AT&T..

I spoke to a "person" and was told ONE MILLION iPhones are being activated at this time.

Hang in there kidz!!

[imationx]

I called that number and there were 3 options. option 3 was to check status of activation.

asks for some order number wtf?

I just called that number 3 times.. presses option 1 as I did recive an email asking to call.. says it was trasnsfering me.. and it just goes dead air everytime like someone hung up... looks like At&T lines are blown :) NICEEEE

[macintel4me]

I get the same 24 hour message. Let me get this straight. I paid Apple $600 to buy the phone. I paid at&t $36 to activate it. I paid Verizon $175 to deactivate my old phone. AND I STILL CAN'T USE IT?!?!?! Whatever happened to instant gratificaiton....lol.

[louden]

The software required for iPhone is not installed. Run the iTunes installer to remove iTunes, then install iTunes again.

But I have the new iTunes on my machine! What gives? Is there an issue running this on 64 bit Vista?

[Chupa Chupa]

Ok here is my story: Picked up an iPhone today. I still have a year left on my Sprint Treo, which I plan on cancelling...but I'd like to test out the iPhone before I do so (baby steps. I know Sprint, I don't know ATT).

So can I:

1) Activate the iTunes w/ a brand new number

and when I'm comfortable w/ the service

2) have them port my Sprint number to the iPhone (I assume I'd have to get another SIM.)

[Jsimon9633]

I just called that number 3 times.. presses option 1 as I did recive an email asking to call.. says it was trasnsfering me.. and it just goes dead air everytime like someone hung up... looks like At&T lines are blown :) NICEEEE

Its funny I actually got to talk to someone

and he said that without some mysterious ass "web order number"

he cant help me or even pull up my account...wtf?

[christarry]

3 hours, still waiting for activation.. transfering from T-Mobile. This sucks..!!

[nevesis]

I too just tried activating my iphone and I am getting the same error message as many other people.

Still waiting for my activation to be complete (i am porting from Verizon)

I live in Westchester County NY, and when I called AT&T they told me my number was in process and could take up to 3 hours.

Here is my issue...

I have my iPhone docked and I am feverishly playing with the slide for emergency bar, but for some reason I can't make any out going calls, the phone is registering it "no service".

Anyone else having the same problem?

[miguelq]

Is anyone else getting this error?

"We're sorry, AT&T has determined that your current account cannot be used with the iPhone."

I called customer service (1-877-419-4500) and they said others are having the issue and would call back, maybe tomorrow.

Grrrr

don't listen to them....

check out this thread...lots of info about this...

http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=322152

[strangelogic]

I expected to have trouble, but - whole process took less than 5 minutes. (not current att customer, and did not port old number) Too bad att signal goes from 5 bars to zero every so often at my house... may have to give it up if I can't use it at home :(

[esquared]

only 4 min hold time, ha. he said it's an iTunes problem, passing the buck? also, 24 hour guarantee of service, MAYBE earlier. kept saying unexpected high volume of activations, NO, unprepared for expected high volume of activations. I asked for credit for phone down time as well, we're paying for maybe one full day of phone service that we aren't getting. He put in the request, have to check my next bill.

[imationx]

I think the web order # they are rerfering to is the " Activation ID" you receive in the emails. I am on the phone with them now and that worked.

[Jwalker9]

I too just tried activating my iphone and I am getting the same error message as many other people.

Still waiting for my activation to be complete (i am porting from Verizon)

I live in Westchester County NY, and when I called AT&T they told me my number was in process and could take up to 3 hours.

Here is my issue...

I have my iPhone docked and I am feverishly playing with the slide for emergency bar, but for some reason I can't make any out going calls, the phone is registering it "no service".

Anyone else having the same problem?

Welcome to the club. I am porting from verizon...its been almost 4 hours for me now...no email....i am so f.ing pissed at ATT for not being prepared for this mess.

[iarejedi]

This is ****ing ridiculous, we have had our phone since 7 and now, 4 hours later we still have no activation. I am pissed!

[Jsimon9633]

I think the web order # they are rerfering to is the " Activation ID" you receive in the emails. I am on the phone with them now and that worked.

well hell the only damn email i got is

"

AT&T is now processing your activation."

i didnt get any activation ID or anything from ATT

bastards

[declen007]

Yup... I guess i'll chime in now and join the club of the activationally challenged.... sucks... can't do crap but boy were they ever quick to disconnect my old phone... nice AT and T... you guys were reallllly on top of the deactivation... probably should have reversed the order of importance there but hey... I got an iPhone...two actually, hoping to recoup some of the of my time... its nice that I now have no form of communication but am now being charged for service, of which ...did I mention I have none of right now, and a new data plan that i can't do anything with either... oh well... the trials and tribulations of being the first to own something so new... more later....
waiting in anticipation....
ps... you can drag a playlist to your iPhone icon even though you may have the activation pending screen and it will synch and you can play songs via the mic button... oh boy.... $ 600 bucks well spent.....

[qwertygirl]

Alright guys, let's let the world know how AT&T has blown it:

http://digg.com/apple/AT_T_Activation_Clumsiness_hurts_iPhone

[gcrowell]

I got the "gotaa wait, sucka" message at 7:14 CDT- called AT&T right away, as I have (had) an old AT&T Wireless plan from 5 or 6 years ago. The nice lady redid the plan, entered the ICCID and IMEI numbers for my iPhone, and ....nothing. My account has been manually set up correctly, but no activation. It appears the radio is not even on, so all activation must occur via iTunes- not via the wireless radio, as with every other phone on the planet.

I had figured you connected to iTunes, got authorized, and then AT&T sent a typical network registration message to authorize the phone on it's network. Must be an additional step that is fu-barred.

My guess is the connection from Apple to AT&T is hosed, and so iTunes is not getting the "turn the iPhone on" message/

2 hours, 35 minutes later (and after 4 hours in line), and no iPhone. Just a really expensive paperweight.

[imationx]

well hell the only damn email i got is

"

AT&T is now processing your activation."

i didnt get any activation ID or anything from ATT

bastards

The id was contained in the 3rd email I got saying unable to locate my address even though it was correct. On the phone with them now and she says she is activating my phone... been on call for about 20 minutes..now with LONG pauses.. sounds like they have NO CLUE what is going on... I think this is funny.

[HA5TY]

Now apple can see why all the other phones get activated at the STORE!!!

[Jsimon9633]

this is hilarious

apple must be livid

the frustrating part is that the only email i got is from itunes

i mean I GUESS something is happening with my account since my current cell doesnt work either but I have no clue if I go to sleep if tomorrow I will wake up to see nothing

I wouldnt doubt it since its ATT

[SlideforEmergen]

don't listen to them....

check out this thread...lots of info about this...

http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=322152

I don't have a "business plan" I used my business address when I signed up, but I get no discounts and nothing in my account identifies it as a business account. I have been on hold now for 1:20 and hoping AT&T saves the day.

[underwater]

yes i had the same issue with Windows Vista 64-bit. I moved over to the mac and it activated fine.

The software required for iPhone is not installed. Run the iTunes installer to remove iTunes, then install iTunes again.

But I have the new iTunes on my machine! What gives? Is there an issue running this on 64 bit Vista?

[Jeffrey903]

I just called AT&T (again) and was told it can take 3-6 hours total. I am currently at around the 4 hour mark, and asked her what happens if in 2 hours it still is not activated. She told me to call back and she can forward me to the technical support team, but that she couldn't do it until the 6 hour mark. She also told me that they are open on the phone until 3am eastern.

I guess I'll go to sleep now and set my alarm to go off in 2 hours, and then I'm guessing it still won't work, and I will call them back. If they can't help me, I will ask for them to cancel my service (but I won't actually do it)

[BigPrince]

important numbers
for help
877 419 4500
877 800 3701
iphone specifally

[imationx]

Ok.. just got off the phone with at&t because they said they couldn't find my address and to call.. After 30 minutes of rambling.. clueess phone rep.. she says she updated my address and it should be 24 hrs before activation... She said I couldnt use my iphone till then... WHAT??!?! I can understand porting my number but just the activation... I can't stand mixed information..

[Jsimon9633]

those numbers rock when they actually answer cant do **** and other times dont even answer hahah

[technicolor]

My phone just activiated. Unplugged it from itunes and plugged it back in.

Got the congrats message your new mobile number is....!:) :D

[Peace]

This should be front page news

Mods??

I was told by a "person" One Million iPhones were sold today up to 7PM PDT..

[ichickon]

I bought my iphone at the perimeter mall store in atlanta shortly after 6pm tonite... I tried to activate my phone around 6:40pm... I received a msg stating that I needed to GO to a freaking at&t store and obtain a pre-credit screen -OR- activate an (expensive) prepaid account... my credit is GOLDEN... I know for a fact that my credit is outstanding... so I tried a couple of times... I went through the activation process FOUR times and got the same result... then on the 5th time, those at&t *&$#!'s finally gave me a phone number...

It is clear that at&t screwed this up tonite... they screwed up BIG TIME... how many folks between 6pm and 7pm tonite got duped into needing an expensive pre-paid account?!? I'm convinced this is why folks are suddenly getting 6 hour wait emails... because at&t couldn't keep up and were giving this wrong message...

Apple was amazing tonite... I was about the 50th person in line and out of the store by 6:20pm (or maybe even earlier)... amazing that they processed that many people in so little time!!!

and then at&t ruined the experience for me and who knows how many others... I hope this gives Apple a way out of that stupid exclusive deal with at&t... what an idiotic idea to exclusively deal with these dumb a$$'s to begin with!!! They should have sold the phone as unlocked for all GSM networks... who cares about a consistent experience when it is consistently BAD!?!

I have 14 days to return my iphone and avoid the early termination fee... if i lose the restocking fee, big deal... I will return the phone if at&t continues to screw people who stood in line all day with their lack of preparedness... to hell with at&lame... I'm truly sorry for all of you still waiting on activation because at&t didn't come anywhere near the standard of excellence of Apple...

I sincerely hope that there is some sort of litigation against at&t... obviously it is too early for something like that, but i really really do hope they take a big hit for their incompetence!

[Stewie]

Hmmm...wonder if Verizon is somehow gumming up the works to get people ticked off at Apple and AT&T? :confused:

Activating a phone and porting a number are two completely different things and one has nothing to do with the other. Once a phone is activated you can make calls, connect to the data network and do whatever you want with it. Porting a number will allow your old number to ring on your new phone. This is definetely a Apple/at&t issue. Nothing to do with Verizon, T-Mobile or Sprint/Nextel.

[iSaint]

I went by the AT&T store again to ask if they had heard of any of the problems. They had not. They also said it was all on Apple's servers, not AT&T's.

[coreynuro]

I too have windows xp x64 edition and itunes says that it doesnt have the drivers to install the iphone. any help?

[timmypv15]

after 2 hours of waiting, the computers at the AT&T store crashing, i am proud to say


i am the owner of a 600 dollar PAPERWEIGHT

the FU(#*@G THING WON"T ACTIVATE ITS PISSING ME OFF

[thabih]

iTunes tells me that it can't transfer my number from TMobile (813 area code). If I change the billing zip code to a zip code in my home town in Florida it goes through, 33609, 00000 and 95104 also work.

[imationx]

Calling at&t again because I checked the status at the phone number using my id and it says...they needed more info.. on the phone again and the lady forgot how to answer the phone and is studerring..saying " uhhhh..umm ya let me look at this and that..uhhh..hold on" sounds like they threw the new people out of training on the floor..haha... this is great..i tell ya!

[docal97]

so i am at the 2 hr mark and no activation. I spoke to an at&t service tech, very nice guy, said that they are getting tons of requests for activations and that their computer handles it and it cannot be done manually. He can only help if someone is getting an error message. So he said basically all you can do is just wait it out.

It is tough to sit here with this sweet little piece and just look at it. i feel that Apple probably did their best to get this to run smoothly but it was ultimately up to At&t. I suppose there has never been a situation were probably 400,000 phone users(just a guess) try to activate their phones all at once.

I will post back when i can actually use the phone to post the time it took to activate.

[monkeytap]

been waiting for 3+ hrs. this is a damn shame. is everyone else with this problem transferring a number from a different provider? im switching from sprint, and an at&t rep said to call back if its not activated within 24 hr.

meanwhile, its just a $600 paperweight

[Rangers4me]

Anyone try setting up a family talk plan? It only let me set up one phone which says will take up to 24 hours to activate. Do I have to wait until that is active to set up another one on that account?

[xckid87]

ok so does anybody need that pre-approved credit check code? tried activating and it says i have 3 options . 1 to go in the att store and get the code . 2 get a pay as u go phone plan or 3. start over. ahhh i dont want to go back to an att store...oh well. im pissed i wasnt told about this

[akpdc]

I'm transferring from Verizon and got a message from AT&T that it will take 24 hours to activate.

[gcrowell]

I went by the AT&T store again to ask if they had heard of any of the problems. They had not. They also said it was all on Apple's servers, not AT&T's.

Could be somewhat true- I called Apple iPhone support (after 2 calls to AT&T) ont eh off chance they couyld force my activation through. Nice girl on the phone said their servers are "very backed up" and I just had to wait.

If I got up in the AM and it was till fu-barred, call back.

Oh, and the music on hold at Apples was Beatles "Hard Days Night" - pretty funny.

[kman34]

Talk about odd...I went to hookup my wife's new IPhone and I get the dreaded message that I have to wait (after I call they say 2 hours or so)...So while I'm waiting I figure that I'll just plug mine in and start the process...

I went through the exact same process, and mine was loaded and activated in three minutes!!!

I called and they say that my wife's is still in the "Que" so she'll need to just wait...

I guess that it's just really the luck of the draw.

[D1G1T4L]

ok so does anybody need that pre-approved credit check code? tried activating and it says i have 3 options . 1 to go in the att store and get the code . 2 get a pay as u go phone plan or 3. start over. ahhh i dont want to go back to an att store...oh well. im pissed i wasnt told about this

You can try again as I have seen others say they had gotten that message and had great credit.

Think they are just getting slammed and having problems.

[kpezkpez]

Wifey and I both got iPhones tonight. Neither will activate for different but apparently related reasons.

1) Mine: Definitely a biz account. I knew this would be an issue. ATT says that in the morning, a conversion person will set me up with a consumer account and then move my phone number from the biz account to the consumer account... THEN I can register using the new consumer account number. Anyone doing the same (or done it successfully) or find a workaround for the biz account issue???

2) The wife: She has a discount on her account. The word I am hearing is that at some point, Cingular/ATT declared all accounts with any discounts "business accounts." So we need to workaround that too. She also got the message that it is the wrong type of account.

So, yes, the word on the street was no biz accounts would be covered. I knew that, and I also knew that I could xfer a number. So, basically, since many of us are in the same boat (either b/c it is a biz account or just simply b/c you had some sort of discount)....

Has anyone figured out a good workaround for migrating a biz account to an iPhone account? If so, what is the exact flow of events?

I'll be happy if I get it to work by the weekend. We early adopters must have patience with quirks like this.

[JerNor]

Sounds like ATT & Apple will be pointing fingers at each other, while we're left licking our wounds. Fool me once, shame on you...

Did every one have to pay a $36 one-time activation fee? (I love how they gloss over this in the Activation video-it's there, sure, but no verbal mention of it.) You think it's $6 an hour to activate? Or is it $2 an hour for the activation and $1 an hour for the porting?

Anyone else think we need to be refunded the non-refundable one-time activation fee?

[Furgster]

i am switching from Virgin mobile and have had the same problems. i hope that they get these things activated soon, but they are nice to look at :rolleyes:

[brooklyn]

As far as I know, I think this applies only to previous AT&T/Cingular customers...

To activate your iPhone you have to do this...

1. Make sure you original phone is off (take the battery out just to make sure). If it's on, then your iPhone will not activate.

2. After the old phone is off, take the SIM card out of the new iPhone and wait one minute before re-inserting.

3. Re-insert SIM back into iPhone, Wait a moment and you should get a free text message indicating activation.

I just activated two iPhones with the above procedure. You also have to make sure you get an email from AT&T saying that you new iPhone is activated.

Good Luck!

[BigPrince]

important numbers
for help
877 419 4500
877 800 3701
iphone specifally

[Dfndr90]

I am transferring from Sprint, and total time to activate took 38 minutes. I was in the Apple store longer than that.

[sixth]

Everyone on Verizon got that message. I got it too..still not activated. Prolly wont be until late tommorrow...i know how verizon works and the previous porting from them..

[macanudo]

So like everyone else here I get my iPhone tonight in Philly, only have to wait like 10 minutes in line (which was the best thing) and got a couple of iPhones.

Activated it right away through iTunes. Messages comes up saying your activation takes additional time to complete. Fine

1st iPhone - took 2 hours to activate, but it works fine

2nd iPhone (mine) - I get an email saying call this 800 number since I activation requires more info. So I call and ATT has no clue on how to fix it, my apple store purchase is not in their system and might not register until 24-72 hours from now. They said to call back and said that maybe it will be in the system.

Anyone else getting this same problem?

[Silentwave]

I am transferring from Sprint, and total time to activate took 38 minutes. I was in the Apple store longer than that.

Hm. I'm also porting over from Sprint. After checking my credit for over 2.5 hours, it said I needed to go into the store or do prepaid. Since i'm 18, I think that may be the issue. I went back and put it with my mother's billing details, since she's the one who pays for my phone anyways. Still waiting for the email back on that one.

I've had this phone for over 5 hours and it's doing a great impression of the monolith from 2001: a Space Odyssey :(

This is what I get for waiting in line for *13* hours. And staying up all night.

[xckid87]

Everyone on Verizon got that message. I got it too..still not activated. Prolly wont be until late tommorrow...i know how verizon works and the previous porting from them..

what message?

[lu0s3r322]

i guess there was an incentive to lining up early :rolleyes:

[imationx]

This is terrible.... After waiting 45 minutes on hold the lady says my account has "some error" and they cannot activate it ( nothing unsuaul) and they have to send it off somewhere to fix it. "Someone will call you back within 24-48hrs to have it activated... isn't that great!

[sixth]

what message?

The email stating it can take up to 24 hours to complete activation.

[BigReg]

After nearly 4 hours.

[Jsimon9633]

As far as I know, I think this applies only to previous AT&T/Cingular customers...

To activate your iPhone you have to do this...

1. Make sure you original phone is off (take the battery out just to make sure). If it's on, then your iPhone will not activate.

2. After the old phone is off, take the SIM card out of the new iPhone and wait one minute before re-inserting.

3. Re-insert SIM back into iPhone, Wait a moment and you should get a free text message indicating activation.

I just activated two iPhones with the above procedure. You also have to make sure you get an email from AT&T saying that you new iPhone is activated.

Good Luck!

how do i take out the sim from the iphone?

[plumbingandtech]

People People.

I stood in line since 6:30 am and got mine. It has been an hour since activiating request.

I am still waiting but I understand they are getting whacked with requests.

Honestly, I only half care. As much as I want to use this I am exhausted and may go to sleep and let them catch up by morning.


I waited 6 months. I have beer in the fridge and a dvd I have been waiting for....

Remember how lucky we are as a whole, health, family, country that makes kick as innovation (most of lit localized in Cupertino CA.)...


Relax, good things will come to US when we wait just a little more...

[DerekS]

After nearly 4 hours.

Switching from whom?