iPhone 3G with NO 3G service!

[Jshwon]

Whats up with this? I bought my phone this morning and every time I try to switch on the 3G it says "No Service"! I'm not sure if this has anything to do with the fact that the activation in the store was messed up do to itunes servers being down etc. I can make and receive calls fine just no 3G.

Anyone else have this issue? Maybe when I get home and try to "finish" the activation it will work?

[thor79]

Are you sure you are in an area covered by 3G? The vast majority of the US is not witin the area covered under 3G...and if not you will operate on whatever else is available...meaning you'll still be able to call people and probably use the internet but it will work on Edge or slower.

[rareflares]

maybe you're in an area that doesn't have 3G service available. 3G is really only available in big population areas.

[tico24]

I don't know where you are geographically located, but my local o2 store had to manually take our details and will be entering it in to their computer once their systems come back up.

Until then, we will have no service apparently. (they said 24-48hrs until its all gone through)

[Jshwon]

Oh I'm in a 3G area, Houston, TX. I confirmed this way before I got the phone. My hope is that it is an activation issue. The servers were intermittently active going up and down this morning. I'm hoping this is the cause and the activation is not completely finished. This does not look good on Apple's part. How could you not anticipate this kind of hit coming?

[ehaugk]

you need to call at&t and tell them to correct the problem. Tell them you are unable to access your data plan and have them double check everything. I had the same problem this morning - no data at all, not even edge. I called and after waiting 15 minutes he reset everything and it worked fine.

[boomtapp]

Originally Posted by Jshwon

Oh I'm in a 3G area, Houston, TX. I confirmed this way before I got the phone. My hope is that it is an activation issue. The servers were intermittently active going up and down this morning. I'm hoping this is the cause and the activation is not completely finished. This does not look good on Apple's part. How could you not anticipate this kind of hit coming?

I'm in Houston as well. I was first in line at the local AT&T store and have had my phone synched since 8:10... Still no signal.

This is horrible

[eplchamps0304]

I am in houston by westheimer and beltway 8. My 3g is fine.

[huntnboy04]

http://www.wireless.att.com/coverageviewer/

click on the 3G coverage area map.

[boomtapp]

Originally Posted by eplchamps0304

I am in houston by westheimer and beltway 8. My 3g is fine.

well then what the crap? I can surf via wi-fi, put songs on, movies, tv shows, download apps... but still no signal.

[razorgator]

I can sync my iPhone 3G, as well as use Wi-fi. However, I can't receive, or make, calls. I'm not sure what's going on.

FYI...I'm in Gainesville, FL.

[boomtapp]

well it turns out that my iphone is fine and the only reason it said "no signal" was because the crappy cashier was clueless and forgot to ID my new simcard.

Hooray training!

I love my new, wonderfully functioning, iphone

[Jshwon]

Originally Posted by ehaugk

you need to call at&t and tell them to correct the problem. Tell them you are unable to access your data plan and have them double check everything. I had the same problem this morning - no data at all, not even edge. I called and after waiting 15 minutes he reset everything and it worked fine.

Yeah, I'm going to call right now. I'm sure they are inundated with calls right now.

[xpolicy]

I have the same prob no service all day no matter where I go. Called customer service but they had no clue. Went back to AT&T store and they said I would have to call apple to send in phone. I made them make a new sim but I have to wait to get home to try it out. Every thing esle works fine just no phone service. Typing this from iPhone wifi.

[imoguy789]

I had the same problem and called ATT corporate, they told me I had registered my phone on my old sim card. I swapped it out and it has service now, but won't register in itunes. I'm going to do a restore and see if that works. Here's an article that might help http://www.tuaw.com/2007/07/01/two-p...ation-problems

[xpolicy]

Still no luck for me. I will have to go to ATT again tomorrow and see if they can fix my SIM card. I tested out a friends ATT sim card on my iphone and it worked fine, I could make calls! FYI i'm a new customer to ATT so this is the first phone/sim card I have had with them. Must just be activated wrong on SIM???

[fridgeymonster3]

yeah...i have similar problems. I'm at home smack in the middle of 3G coverage and all I get is Edge. Also, my phone keeps bouncing between No service and good service!! I'll have to go to an ATT store tomorrow I guess. This sucks after waiting in line for 5 hrs!!

[Jshwon]

It's the freakin SIM's man! I just got back from the Apple store where they exchanged my iPhone with another and put the same SIM in the new one. And it was the same problem. So I take the phone out and go to the ATT kiosk in the middle of the mall and he gives me a new SIM and WHAM! Clear service WITH 3G! Came right up. So it seems like there is an issue with the ATT SIM's that were put in some of the phones. Whats worse is that none of the phones in the Apple store showed a 3G icon. And here I am in the same exact location with a new SIM and 3G icon.

[ehaugk]

Originally Posted by Jshwon

It's the freakin SIM's man! I just got back from the Apple store where they exchanged my iPhone with another and put the same SIM in the new one. And it was the same problem. So I take the phone out and go to the ATT kiosk in the middle of the mall and he gives me a new SIM and WHAM! Clear service WITH 3G! Came right up. So it seems like there is an issue with the ATT SIM's that were put in some of the phones. Whats worse is that none of the phones in the Apple store showed a 3G icon. And here I am in the same exact location with a new SIM and 3G icon.

Good call! I will try that out...you did it at a mall kiosk? Don't need to goto a corporate store?? And did they have to touch my phone, I don't want some mall moron messing with it. Maybe I can just ask for a replacement SIM because I think mine is not working properly??

[Jshwon]

Originally Posted by ehaugk

Good call! I will try that out...you did it at a mall kiosk? Don't need to goto a corporate store?? And did they have to touch my phone, I don't want some mall moron messing with it. Maybe I can just ask for a replacement SIM because I think mine is not working properly??

Yes it was a mall kiosk. I just went there because I didn't want to drive down the street. If it is not a corporate store they may charge you $24 for the SIM and all they do is associate your account with the new SIM. Better bet is to do what I did to confirm it is the SIM (have apple put it in another phone) and if so go to a corporate store and have them switch the SIM and just transfer your account to that SIM. Hope it works for you.

Oh and what else is weird is that I don't have 3G inside my house but as soon as I step out the door it's there in all it's goodness.

[fridgeymonster3]

Originally Posted by Jshwon

It's the freakin SIM's man! I just got back from the Apple store where they exchanged my iPhone with another and put the same SIM in the new one. And it was the same problem. So I take the phone out and go to the ATT kiosk in the middle of the mall and he gives me a new SIM and WHAM! Clear service WITH 3G! Came right up. So it seems like there is an issue with the ATT SIM's that were put in some of the phones. Whats worse is that none of the phones in the Apple store showed a 3G icon. And here I am in the same exact location with a new SIM and 3G icon.

yeah i'll have to try that out...i did get a blip of 3G today, but only for like 10 to 20 sec! I live in the middle of a huge 3G area!! I'll have to go to some ATT store tomorrow and have them swap my SIM card.

[Jshwon]

Yeah, it's worth a shot. Has anyone not had 3G when indoors? That seems to be the case for me. When inside my house I don't get it (which is fine cause I have wifi) but when I step outside in there it is.

[TXCraig]

Originally Posted by eplchamps0304

I am in houston by westheimer and beltway 8. My 3g is fine.

I'm in Pasadena TX and even though we are all blue here on the 3G map... I have the big E on my phone... AT&T has really lied about having this stuff rolled out! I really want to go back to my old phone.

[stone315]

The guy who activated my iPhone did tell me that sometimes sim cards go bad for no reason, but if you take it to them they'll replace it for free. He also said that 3g is gonna be universal later this fall, so hopefully everyone will have it soon. I'm 45 minutes away from coverage, so edge is annoying, but at least it's Internet.

EDIT: of course, my old phone was a piece of junk with zero capabilities outside calling and texting, so I'm just stoked to have edge.

[mkoesel]

Here's a good one.

My situation is that I got the IRU error when trying to buy at an Apple Store on Friday morning. So, after many calls to AT&T to try to get my account fixed and many failed attempts to upgrade, I finally punted and just signed up a brand new AT&T account and brand new numbers (two numbers because I bought two phones - one for me, one for my wife) with the intention to work it all out later. I did activate the phones when I got home because I wanted to play with them, even though they were under new phone numbers which I would ultimately not want to keep. Well, I've since got the extraneous account cancelled with no fees (or so they say - we shall see), and today I obtained two new SIMs at an AT&T store. These were supposed to get me up and running with my iPhones on my original account with my original phone numbers. Great.

But no. Naturally when I put the new SIMs in I got "No Service" message at the top of the phone. No problem I thought - they just need to be activated. Well, I just tried to plug one of the phones in and reactivate but could not do so. iTunes simply saw the phone just as before - in the same state it was in as when it had been activated with the old number. In other words, it was already registered and activated. At first, I thought I just needed to reinstall the OS and start from scratch. I tried that. But no go. It did wipe the phone, but upon trying to reactivate it just immediately jumped back to the iPhone sync screen, came up looking like an activated phone, and actually did not appear to attempt to communicate with Apple at all. But still "No Service". Damn.

I saw the link to the page at TUAW in this thread and thought, hmm, its worth a try I suppose. So I pulled the SIM out of my old phone (and BTW, this is an ancient SIM, it says "Cingular" on it) and put it in the iPhone. And... BAM - Service! No need to do the double-activation as suggested by TUAW, and in fact, no need to activate at all! The ph**cker just up and worked. Immediately. How bout that? I made a test call with the wife's old phone and it connected just fine. And what's more amazing - the thing is getting a 3G signal. A 3G signal with a two-and-half year old Cingular SIM. How is that even possible?

So I've got a pile of four 3G SIMs that I dont' need. And a brand new iPhone with an ancient SIM in it. But now, now I am even more curious... Maybe, just maybe, this phone is somehow unlocked? I mean the thing just took a SIM and worked. Now I really wish I had a Verizon SIM to throw in the thing and test with.