So mine wasn't working earlier just like everyone else's. Decided to stop trying for a while (3 hours). Just got home, first try it went right through. Must be back up and running!
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AT&T Activations Servers Overloaded with iPhone 4S Launch
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Mine is working now, yay! I tried all day at work to activate over the cell network but no luck. I brought it home and tried to activate through iTunes. It said it didn't work and would try again later, but within 30 seconds I was activated. Woot!
Receiving the 4S yesterday was a nice way to avoid the crush. Activated easily with no delay.
I find it curious that people would blame AT&T. This is a once a year crush. Why would they expand their ability to activate phones based on a once a year event? Makes no sense. Anyone that can't understand that could use a refresher in grammar school math.
As much as Apple enthusiasts enjoy bashing AT&T, the truth is even harder for them to accept. It's the unreadonable expectations that cause their emotional pain. How quickly they forget the facts. It doesn't take a genius to understand this. Or, maybe it does.
If I apply the same logic people did with Antennagate then my response would go like this:
I had no delay in activating mine, therefore there's no problem. It's all in your imagination. LOL.
I do know this, once everyone has an activated phone this will be nothing but history. It's part of the early adopter experience. Be grateful you got what you wanted, a new phone.
I find it curious that people would blame AT&T. This is a once a year crush. Why would they expand their ability to activate phones based on a once a year event? Makes no sense. Anyone that can't understand that could use a refresher in grammar school math.
As much as Apple enthusiasts enjoy bashing AT&T, the truth is even harder for them to accept. It's the unreadonable expectations that cause their emotional pain. How quickly they forget the facts. It doesn't take a genius to understand this. Or, maybe it does.
If I apply the same logic people did with Antennagate then my response would go like this:
I had no delay in activating mine, therefore there's no problem. It's all in your imagination. LOL.
I do know this, once everyone has an activated phone this will be nothing but history. It's part of the early adopter experience. Be grateful you got what you wanted, a new phone.
For new customers to ATT this is their FIRST experience. You always want to start off on the right foot. You don't want your customer to come in to the 'relationship' pissed off. The next 2 years will only go down hill. What if joe blow also gets pissed off and decides to leave ATT and go to Verizon or Sprint since he can't even get his phone set up.
I don't know what it would cost to upgrade their backend for activations but it can't be more than 50-100k. If I were a billion dollar company, the user day-one experience would be worth more than that.
update:
after trying 12 hours still no joy,
took phone to the att store, they gave me a new sim card, but still cannot activate, they say it has to do with my wires phone number being pre programmed into the phone, and that I need to call
after trying 12 hours still no joy,
took phone to the att store, they gave me a new sim card, but still cannot activate, they say it has to do with my wires phone number being pre programmed into the phone, and that I need to call
ATT Latency Issue - Is This An Answer?
I have an iPhone 4. I preordered a 4S via apple.com last Friday using an eligible line. Got the phone this morning. Tried to activate using iTunes. Failed. Phone said to call ATT about correcting phone numbers. ATT Premier changed the IMEI and ICCID on the 4S and said try iTunes again. Failed. And failed. And failed... It said to wait for an email but to keep trying. (WTH?)
Switched SIM cards, powered up, powered down, used wifi, used cell, used iTunes... Called ATT who said to call Apple who said to call ATT...
Finally, after hours all day on the phone, I called Apple. Gone for the night. I then called ATT. The tech indicated that there was a latency issue with phone purchased on an eligible line then switched to another line. I told him people do it all the time and I did it last year. He said to wait 24 hours.
In the words of the great philosopher of our time, Andy Taylor, "Don't this beat all. This just beats all."
Anyone else in this situation get activated?
I have an iPhone 4. I preordered a 4S via apple.com last Friday using an eligible line. Got the phone this morning. Tried to activate using iTunes. Failed. Phone said to call ATT about correcting phone numbers. ATT Premier changed the IMEI and ICCID on the 4S and said try iTunes again. Failed. And failed. And failed... It said to wait for an email but to keep trying. (WTH?)
Switched SIM cards, powered up, powered down, used wifi, used cell, used iTunes... Called ATT who said to call Apple who said to call ATT...
Finally, after hours all day on the phone, I called Apple. Gone for the night. I then called ATT. The tech indicated that there was a latency issue with phone purchased on an eligible line then switched to another line. I told him people do it all the time and I did it last year. He said to wait 24 hours.
In the words of the great philosopher of our time, Andy Taylor, "Don't this beat all. This just beats all."
Anyone else in this situation get activated?
Last edited:
Has anyone gotten past the unable to reach the server message only to get Sim card does not match record on file?
I had the same situation. Switched the lines with AT&T before activation - big mistake. Ended up manually switching the SIMs so that it attempted to activate with the SIM matching the number the phone was ordered with. Once activated, I swapped it back with the new SIM and it worked!
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After trying for about 2 hours to activate last night I got a temporary activation from AT&T so that I could explore the phone's other features. This allowed me to sync from my iPhone 4's backup and use everything besides the Phone and texting. After waiting awhile longer I called customer care and gave my new IMEI and ICCID and it wasn't 5 minutes before my new phone was up and running.
After trying for about 2 hours to activate last night I got a temporary activation from AT&T so that I could explore the phone's other features. This allowed me to sync from my iPhone 4's backup and use everything besides the Phone and texting. After waiting awhile longer I called customer care and gave my new IMEI and ICCID and it wasn't 5 minutes before my new phone was up and running.
FEDEX dropped the boxes off at 5pm yesterday. My wife (the smart one) wanted to wait for hers. I fired up and hooked into Itunes and set it up. 13 hours later still no work. I can play with it, and use the web over my wifi, but no service. I have called AT&T twice and am on hold for tech support....63 minutes and counting.
That is ALL I get. Initially I got the "wait for an email but keep on trying" screen (WTH!). Then it changed to SIM card match error.
I am in the group that ordered from an eligible line on our family plan then switched the phone number from the eligible one to my own. I tried to activate first via iTunes but it failed. That is when I called, per the phone's screen message, to switch numbers.
I called ATT late last night (Apple had all gone to bed). The rep said there was a "latency" issue and to wait 24 hours. I said I did this very thing last year at the Apple store and had no problems. And, by reading this and other forums, lots of folks do this and why wasn't ATT ready. He said techs were working on the "problem". I asked if I would be having this problem if I had "pre-ordered" the phone through ATT and not Apple. He said no, but then what was he going to say.
I tried to activate via wifi this morning at 8am. Nothing. Now to try iTunes.
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I wish I could do this SIM switch. The number I used to order is an iPhone 3GS. The SIM cards are incompatible. I did try using the SIM card from my old iPhone 4. I knew it was a long shot but, heck, I had tried everything else. No dice.
It is 9am as I write this. At 9:30 it will have been 24 hours since UPS did their job so wonderfully and delivered my new phonebrick. I will try again then.
If ATT can do nothing and Apple can do nothing... Hmmmm.
So did you use the SIM card in the iPhone that Apple shipped or switch it before trying to activate?
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Any update on what's going on? I still haven't gotten the email they said to wait for. This is ridiculous!
Any update on what's going on? I still haven't gotten the email they said to wait for. This is ridiculous!
No. iPhone 3GS and 4S are incompatible. Different size. I tried activating the 4S but it failed. I called ATT who placed the IMEI and ICCID on the new 4S phone.
I did try swapping the SIMs in my 4 and 4S, knowing that it wasn't linked to the number I used to order the 4S phone. Failed.
FOLLOW UP:
I just got off the phone with Apple. The Apple tech was in communication with ATT whilst I was on hold. She said ATT told her that NO SIM card would work in my new 4S at this point. She said it was a communication error between the two companies. She is trying to contact a nearby Apple store for me so I can exchange.
An answer and resolution is at hand. Finally. Thank you!
Have you tried to get a brand new SIM from AT&T store put it into the iPhone 4S and complete the setup and activation.
still waiting for email
got the "well send you an email when it's ready" message.
it was a confusing message in that it said failed to activate, but we'll activate the phone so you can play with it and send you an email when we can activate it. so i guess they activated the phone but not the sim.
still no email.
no way to manually retry to activate since the "activated" my phone.
anyone know how i can manually retry the activation of the phone part of my phone.
can make no calls on my new phone. my old 3gs still works.
just stinks. oh well.
got the "well send you an email when it's ready" message.
it was a confusing message in that it said failed to activate, but we'll activate the phone so you can play with it and send you an email when we can activate it. so i guess they activated the phone but not the sim.
still no email.
no way to manually retry to activate since the "activated" my phone.
anyone know how i can manually retry the activation of the phone part of my phone.
can make no calls on my new phone. my old 3gs still works.
just stinks. oh well.
To anyone getting the SIM mis-match error:
You need to go to an Apple store. Your phone is bricked. I visited them, had them get me a replacement, plugged my SIM card in from my iPhone 4 (the same one I was using to activate my 4S) and it worked instantly. The SIM card had already been activated.
Don't let them give you the run-around, GO SEE SOMEONE sooner rather than later while they still have replacements.
You need to go to an Apple store. Your phone is bricked. I visited them, had them get me a replacement, plugged my SIM card in from my iPhone 4 (the same one I was using to activate my 4S) and it worked instantly. The SIM card had already been activated.
Don't let them give you the run-around, GO SEE SOMEONE sooner rather than later while they still have replacements.
You really should have stopped at "I don't know" your guessimate is just silly. How about Apple and other companies ship in phases to replace the whining for delayed activations to WHERE'S MINE, HE GOT HIS. Same problem as rush hour traffic too many people trying to do the same thing at the same time. No consumer company can scale for a one day tech event this big.
ok fix the sim issue and this is how:
applecare told me the phone has to activated under the number on the phone. so I called att and had them program my wife's sim to the iPhone 4s, after I activated the phone then had att program the phone back to my sim, and the iPhone 4S now works my number, lastly, had att reprogram wife's sim back to her iPhone 4
applecare told me the phone has to activated under the number on the phone. so I called att and had them program my wife's sim to the iPhone 4s, after I activated the phone then had att program the phone back to my sim, and the iPhone 4S now works my number, lastly, had att reprogram wife's sim back to her iPhone 4