Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Couple updates:

Right now, I'm speaking with a senior specialist at AT&T and they are saying this issue arises when the customer placed the order on store.apple.com and then changed the shipping address to something different from the original billing address (pulled from AT&T's servers at time of order). AT&T is saying that Apple has a special activation team set up to handle this. My senior advisor at Apple is not aware of this team, so AT&T is trying to track them down for me...

I had a similar situation with Verizon when I got my 5s. Activating it was hell, but eventually a Verizon specialist in the store for the iPhone 5s launch got it sorted.
 
I'm having the same issue here. Was on the phone with apple and att back and forth for last 3 hrs. No result. Funny thing I activated 3 other lines this morning no problem. My last line is having issues and previous 5s went dead
 
Ok. Any peculiarities in our accounts? I know I am grandfathered in with Unlimited Data and someone earlier mentioned this as well.

Here's a catalog of my peculiarities:
  • Grandfathered unlimated data
  • Family plan
  • Corporate employee discount
  • Ordered from store.apple.com
  • Changed shipping address (from AT&T pre-populated billing address) by calling apple after placing online order (part of the order was processed quickly and went to the original billing address)
  • Ordered on night of launch, and received a "reservation number" to complete the order once servers were no longer overloaded
 
Here's a catalog of my peculiarities:
  • Grandfathered unlimated data
  • Family plan
  • Corporate employee discount
  • Ordered from store.apple.com
  • Changed shipping address (from AT&T pre-populated billing address) by calling apple after placing online order (part of the order was processed quickly and went to the original billing address)
  • Ordered on night of launch, and received a "reservation number" to complete the order once servers were no longer overloaded

Did you use a different SS Number to get the reservation number? I did that and had to use that persons SS number and Zip Code.
 
I used the primary account holder's last 4 of the social throughout. :/

As did I. Also, I never changed the Shipping Address. I believe I tried to change it and it said it needed to ship to the Billing Address, so I said fine.

  • Grandfathered unlimated data
  • Family plan
  • Ordered from store.apple.com
  • Ordered on night of launch, and received a "reservation number" to complete the order once servers were no longer overloaded

This is getting old. Guess I'll throw my SIM card in my old iPhone 5 and roll back to that until this BS gets figured out.
 
That's going to be my next move. But it's frustrating because I've talked with Apple twice (not counting the call today placed from the AT&T store FROM the AT&T employee) and Apple insists there is nothing they can do and it's AT&T's issue. I get it there's not much the person on the phone from Apple can do but I have no other choice at this point. Giving it another night and I'll try a few more times. I didn't change billing address at any point. But this was the phone that I received a reservation for on launch night and then completed the order the next day. It's my wife's phone, on the same account as mine and I was able to activate my new 6 plus with no problem. Had to swap out the now activated SIM card from her new, non working 6 Plus back into her old 5 just so she would have a working phone.
 
It was a service box. Apparently each store is shipped so many service boxes, and if they run out of those, they set aside 4% of inventory for instances when someone receives a DOA device.

Interesting. So they didn't need to run the purchase transaction again?

Update on my experience. Apple has submitted a ticket to their engineering team for Apple Store. They will reply in 1-2 days. I also have a case with AT&T for which they'll reply in 3-5 days... They are quite convinced it's the change of shipping address that created the issue, but that doesn't jibe with others here...

Anyhow, they say that if Apple shipped me a new device, it won't repair it, since the replacement would come imaged with the same information. If I were to return it and purchase another one, that might work. That way, the transaction runs through the activation systems again, with the correct information. Unfortunately, I think I'd have to wait for AT&T to reset my contract to get the upgrade subsidy again, right?

Given that's what they're explaining to me, I'm surprised a service unit worked (without pushing the purchase through the systems again)... What was the activation process for the service unit?

Separately, has any one tried wiping and restoring? Does that make a difference? I can't find the option in iTunes.
 
Interesting. So they didn't need to run the purchase transaction again?

Update on my experience. Apple has submitted a ticket to their engineering team for Apple Store. They will reply in 1-2 days. I also have a case with AT&T for which they'll reply in 3-5 days... They are quite convinced it's the change of shipping address that created the issue, but that doesn't jibe with others here...

Anyhow, they say that if Apple shipped me a new device, it won't repair it, since the replacement would come imaged with the same information. If I were to return it and purchase another one, that might work. That way, the transaction runs through the activation systems again, with the correct information. Unfortunately, I think I'd have to wait for AT&T to reset my contract to get the upgrade subsidy again, right?

Given that's what they're explaining to me, I'm surprised a service unit worked (without pushing the purchase through the systems again)... What was the activation process for the service unit?

Separately, has any one tried wiping and restoring? Does that make a difference? I can't find the option in iTunes.

Yes. I did a full restore last night and it did not fix the issue.
 
I also was instructed by apple to do a full restore, they walked me through it, and that didn't do anything.

Also never changed the shipping address just upgraded with at next
 
Just got off the phone with a senior advisor for Apple. He wanted me to advise those having this issue to call into Apple and ask for a senior advisor to escalate this to engineering. He has escalated my case so we are hoping for a resolution by Monday.
 
Guys, I signed up for a MacRumors account to comment on this:

After spending 10 hours on the phone with truly fantastic teams at both Verizon and Apple, I can confirm that the best way to handle this is to go to the nearest Apple Store as soon as possible. They will swap out your device and activate it themselves. As of this moment, this is the ONLY way to solve the issue. No amount of tinkering at Apple or your carrier will fix this.

There is clearly an error with reconciling the billing/shipping addresses with the billing address on the cell plan. The problem is, they have no idea how to successfully bypass this or remotely address the problem.

The Apple Store immediately took care of my issue, and I can confirm that at most stores, there are service parts (aka replacements) on hand. They'll need to run through some diagnostics and bore you with all the same methods you've already tried, but eventually, my original phone was taken and is now headed to engineering where they can try and figure out what's going on.

In the mean time, go get your device swapped. I was told it could be a while before there's a successful resolution for this.

I appreciate everyone's contributions to this thread, it's been a real help.
 
Guys, I signed up for a MacRumors account to comment on this:

After spending 10 hours on the phone with truly fantastic teams at both Verizon and Apple, I can confirm that the best way to handle this is to go to the nearest Apple Store as soon as possible. They will swap out your device and activate it themselves. As of this moment, this is the ONLY way to solve the issue. No amount of tinkering at Apple or your carrier will fix this.

There is clearly an error with reconciling the billing/shipping addresses with the billing address on the cell plan. The problem is, they have no idea how to successfully bypass this or remotely address the problem.

The Apple Store immediately took care of my issue, and I can confirm that at most stores, there are service parts (aka replacements) on hand. They'll need to run through some diagnostics and bore you with all the same methods you've already tried, but eventually, my original phone was taken and is now headed to engineering where they can try and figure out what's going on.

In the mean time, go get your device swapped. I was told it could be a while before there's a successful resolution for this.

I appreciate everyone's contributions to this thread, it's been a real help.

My problem is that the closest Apple store is 3 hours away. This is simply not an option for me as my schedule does not allow for a 6 hour round trip. Im hoping that we can find a resolution through a software fix. Otherwise I will request for a new phone as all options have been exhausted.
 
Oh man. This will suck. I had to have the shipping address because somehow my street name was garbled when Apple's systems looked it up on AT&T's at 3am EST on release day. I called the day after the order to have the shipping address street name fixed. Updated my address info with AT&T's website, too, just to make sure it was correct. Zip code was correct (as is my SSN) at the time of order, so praying that this issue doesn't strike me.

----------

Same thing happened exactly one year ago with the 5S launch. You'd think Apple would know about this by now.

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5366527?start=0&tstart=0
 
My problem is that the closest Apple store is 3 hours away. This is simply not an option for me as my schedule does not allow for a 6 hour round trip. Im hoping that we can find a resolution through a software fix. Otherwise I will request for a new phone as all options have been exhausted.

I'm pulling for you!!!
 
Well they told me to try activating it every hr or so because system jammed. Well I did and still no working. I called in read off the sim info again and they told me it looks to be working just fine. Told me to go into att store tomorrow. Great help.

----------

----------

[/COLOR]Same thing happened exactly one year ago with the 5S launch. You'd think Apple would know about this by now.

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5366527?start=0&tstart=0[/QUOTE]

I'll try pulling sim from 5s and shove it into 6 like that guy did
 
I went to my local Apple Store. Didn't even tell them about the activation issue i was having. Simply told them I wanted to exchange my gold iPhone 6 for a slate gray 6 (gold 6 doesn't do it for me like the 5S did).

They exchanged my phone and we activated at the store easily... The Zip and social # question didn't even pop up during activation..
 
Counting me there are over 20 people with this issue on this thread alone.

I have had my same address for 20 years. Same SS number. I ordered my phone with apple.com using a "reservation " i received early Saturday morning when Apple online was down. I have been getting the run around from Apple for almost two days. I wanted to go to the apple store on Friday afternoon and the Rep from Apple said that would not help. What are my chances of the local store still having replacement phones still available when I go ?
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.