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4s SIM activation issues

D

DrPlantain

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Mar 18, 2009
15
6
Ok so I bought an iphone 4s brand new sealed and everything from a dude on craigslist. I went to ATT to activate the phone because I have a 3GS, So they told me that the phone couldnt be activated because its registered under another persons number.I have tried also activating it with itunes, with out a SIM and with a SIM, i have even tried formatting it. I dont know who this person is and im not trying to ask them their billing zip code and last four of their ss. I have been to 3 ATT store i have called several times ATT customer service and i have even ended up in the Genuis bar ( which according to them isnt their problem, since its not a hardware issue) a still no luck. I have lost faith with this iphone and i dont know what else to do. Has anyone have has any problems similar to mines or know any solutions?
 
I am having problems activating mine also. I reset it because I had sync problems and now it won't activate. I have been trying for a couple of hours.
 
Apple retail store, I had iTunes repeatedly crash and decided to reset. Not sure it was a good idea :confused:
 
But does your show a different number when you are trying to activate it?
 
No, I called AT&T and they forwarded my call to apple. I am still on hold. Will let you know what they say.
 
Apple suggested that I do a restore and try again. I live out of the city and my internet is not great and so it says it will take 74 minutes to download. I will let you now what happens, if anything.
 
I was able to put it in restore mode and restored it and then it activated fine. It is strange how it couldn't activate until I restored it.
 
The reason your unable to activate is for the fact that you bought a locked iPhone 4s from craigslist, this year apple has pretty much linked the persons number with the phone somehow. So the person that sold you the iPhone 4s their number is linked to the iPhone 4s. You can always try buying a new micro sim since I'm guessing but I'm not sure entirely sure, the buyers number is coded into the micro sim before its packaged and shipped out, its worth a try. If that doesn't work I think your out of luck and that iPhone is a nice paper weight unless your able to return it.
 
That's what I am guessing to, that this iphone is linked to someone else's account and I pretty much cant do anything about it. I guess I will hold it until maybe a JB comes out and hopefully some magic can be done. In the mean time I will use it as a paper weight. I have tried inserting a new sim card various times and still no luck with that.
 
My phone activates fine now. It was purchased with my sons line and used with mine, which are on the same account but different numbers. I got it into restore by turning it off and unplugged and then holding the home button for five seconds and plugging in the cable and continuing to hold the home button until it says to connect to iTunes. I then downloaded the restore software and restored and then I was able to activate it. I tried at least 20 times before I did that and it didn't work.
 
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