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AT&T Activations Servers Overloaded with iPhone 4S Launch
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Same thing as this guy. Maybe I'm now stuck in some sort of technological limbo? AT&T sees my phone, but apple doesnt think it has been activated and won't let me get through the activation service! Love it.
kinda off topic but do I need to do anything with my old SIM card from my 3GS? I assume the 4S has the new SIM already installed?
At&t :-(
Just got off the phone with a very apologetic AT&T customer service guy. His advice was stop trying the activation, basically once you do it your in a queue, leave the phone at the screen that says "Sorry" and as the queue clears, the phone will activate... OK.. We shall see.
Just got off the phone with a very apologetic AT&T customer service guy. His advice was stop trying the activation, basically once you do it your in a queue, leave the phone at the screen that says "Sorry" and as the queue clears, the phone will activate... OK.. We shall see.
This is insane. I've been at it for 4 hours now to no avail. I've tried every available option (iPhone, iTunes, ATT site) and can't get this thing activated. Informationweek claims CDMA users aren't experiencing the same issues...
If that were the case then wouldn't all iPhone carriers have the same problem...no, Verizon and Sprint are reportedly activating people without any problems, even with the iPhone sim card issue that your talking about.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13506_3-20120568-17/iphone-4s-buyers-complain-of-at-t-activation-issues/
Let's not deflect this - AT&T has failed historically in it's ability to prepare for an iPhone release and 2011 is no different.
Thanks for relaying that. The message is most unclear and I just kept trying, probably resetting my place in the queue. Drat!
Here I sit, brokenhearted
Came to activate
but then we parted....
Yeah, there is another version of that.
Finally activated
A summary of my iDay activation fun, for those looking to compare:
Pre-ordered a 64GB iPhone 4S from the Apple Online Store last week. Chose AT&T as my carrier, and chose to replace my old iPhone 3GS (same number).
The phone arrived today, and was out of the box at noon (CDT).
Tried activating several times, through cellular, wi-fi and iTunes--nothing.
Tried rebooting the phone several times--nothing.
Tried shutting off my old phone before activating--nothing.
Continued trying throughout the afternoon, lost count of attempts.
Phone finally activated at 3:30 (CDT), through iTunes.
Never received an email from AT&T or Apple.
Finally... Now I can start syncing the phone.
And wait more...
A summary of my iDay activation fun, for those looking to compare:
Pre-ordered a 64GB iPhone 4S from the Apple Online Store last week. Chose AT&T as my carrier, and chose to replace my old iPhone 3GS (same number).
The phone arrived today, and was out of the box at noon (CDT).
Tried activating several times, through cellular, wi-fi and iTunes--nothing.
Tried rebooting the phone several times--nothing.
Tried shutting off my old phone before activating--nothing.
Continued trying throughout the afternoon, lost count of attempts.
Phone finally activated at 3:30 (CDT), through iTunes.
Never received an email from AT&T or Apple.
Finally... Now I can start syncing the phone.
And wait more...
Noooooo!
I just got off the phone with AT&T tech support, whom I was transferred to after the original lady had no clear idea about the failure of activating, he told me that their activation servers in cooperation with iTunes set up on a relay between them and Apple are facing scheduled queues of 24-48 hours at this moment in time.
*sigh*
I've been trying since 10am(CST) when I received my phone and it is now 3:41PM.
Grrrrrr!
I just got off the phone with AT&T tech support, whom I was transferred to after the original lady had no clear idea about the failure of activating, he told me that their activation servers in cooperation with iTunes set up on a relay between them and Apple are facing scheduled queues of 24-48 hours at this moment in time.
*sigh*
I've been trying since 10am(CST) when I received my phone and it is now 3:41PM.
Grrrrrr!
Hilarious and bizarre I was just humming the same song (the real one) as I was trying to get my mom's phone to activate. Lucky for her I happened to be in town the week she got her first iPhone. I keep getting an error message saying my mom's acct is overdue when it isn't. ATT is "working on it," but in the process they killed her blackberry so now she has no phone going into the weekend. Reeeediculous.
Did it just work during an activation attempt, or did it just start working at some point a few hours after you first tried?
I believe my phone activated but I couldn't get out of the iphone on screen thing.... So maybe it did not? But I got four bars of service at some point but now they are gone.
I believe my phone activated but I couldn't get out of the iphone on screen thing.... So maybe it did not? But I got four bars of service at some point but now they are gone.
I tell you what..
Apple darn well better have sold 20 million phones with this stuff happening.
Otherwise it's the dreaded android for me in 18 months.
On a different carrier.
Apple darn well better have sold 20 million phones with this stuff happening.
Otherwise it's the dreaded android for me in 18 months.
On a different carrier.
I called ATT and the person would only repeat over and over that everyone is having this issue. So apparently as long as ATT messes up big time it is okay, case closed.
Attachments
OMG FINALLY! I was on the phone with an Apple rep, he put me on hold, came back, asked me to try the activation in iTunes again, and instead of the 'pending' message I got:
Congratulations, AT&T is activating your iPhone.
Your new mobile number will be: xxx-xxx-xxxx
ROCK!! good luck dudes
Congratulations, AT&T is activating your iPhone.
Your new mobile number will be: xxx-xxx-xxxx
ROCK!! good luck dudes
So waiting a couple of hours for your phone to activate is the deal maker/breaker? Interesting.
Yay!
Try a different WiFi connection. I just went to Starbucks after numerous failed attempts and it worked!!
Try a different WiFi connection. I just went to Starbucks after numerous failed attempts and it worked!!
I live in Denver and am MST. It is 2:45 here now. My phone is activated.
In my opinion (total conjecture) users are put into a queue and you are able to activate on iTunes or through the phone once AT&T processes your initial activation attempt. Anytime after that, the process with iTunes will work.
Those that say "keep trying, i finally got mine to work" are merely finding success because they were on the East Coast and therefore were high in the queue or waited long enough.
I tried to activate constantly from 10:05am to 2:00pm MST. I went to get lunch and came home. I tried to activate and on the first attempt succeeded at 2:35 or so. I can't believe I simply had amazing luck. I think it's that after 4.5 hours in the queue, AT&T finally processed my initial attempt.
Take that for what you will. I'm not pretending it's cannon.
In my opinion (total conjecture) users are put into a queue and you are able to activate on iTunes or through the phone once AT&T processes your initial activation attempt. Anytime after that, the process with iTunes will work.
Those that say "keep trying, i finally got mine to work" are merely finding success because they were on the East Coast and therefore were high in the queue or waited long enough.
I tried to activate constantly from 10:05am to 2:00pm MST. I went to get lunch and came home. I tried to activate and on the first attempt succeeded at 2:35 or so. I can't believe I simply had amazing luck. I think it's that after 4.5 hours in the queue, AT&T finally processed my initial attempt.
Take that for what you will. I'm not pretending it's cannon.
Same boat as both of you guys.
Checked with AT&T and they have the line fully ready to go on their end mapped to the new phone number. I have been on hold now for 15 minutes with Apple to see if they need to update their end as the phone keeps trying to activate as the old phone number.
Honestly just staggering activation is fine is what should be done. They (Apple or ATT) needed to manage expectations a little bit better.
