Yep. Popped in my old SIM, restored from back-up, & I was ready to go. It only took about fifteen minutes. 
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Did your AT&T service activate right away on your 4S?
- Thread starter straleno
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got mine 6 hours ago and have been trying countless times, to no avail.
so, I have decided, based on ZERO evidence that it is true, to believe that there is a queue and that they will email me.
why? well, appleinsider has an article that vaguely hints at that scenario if you read between the lines and dream a bit.
also, my memory from either the 3G or 3GS scenario was that I left it sitting there and came back hours later to find that it had activated. obviously, my constant efforts are doing nothing. worse comes to worse, I'll stay up late or wake up early and try it.
of course, I'll probably try a million times before then, as well.
I think the notification IS vague and contradictory, the thing about "wait for the email" and then "try again later," but I'm choosing to believe in the first part now and ignore the second.
I must get on with my life. I'll get obsessive again later. for me, the glass is half full. at least I got the sucker today and didn't miss the man in brown.
this thread is good entertainment in the meantime.
best luck to all and, to those who got it already, please bugger off after you post your status!
<just kidding....kind of...>
actually, I just came back on here to add that the main reason I'm waiting is that my latest message says:
"Your activation is still pending..." then blah blah blah
That "still" is new, so I figured there might be a record of it.
Life goes on.
P
so, I have decided, based on ZERO evidence that it is true, to believe that there is a queue and that they will email me.
why? well, appleinsider has an article that vaguely hints at that scenario if you read between the lines and dream a bit.
also, my memory from either the 3G or 3GS scenario was that I left it sitting there and came back hours later to find that it had activated. obviously, my constant efforts are doing nothing. worse comes to worse, I'll stay up late or wake up early and try it.
of course, I'll probably try a million times before then, as well.
I think the notification IS vague and contradictory, the thing about "wait for the email" and then "try again later," but I'm choosing to believe in the first part now and ignore the second.
I must get on with my life. I'll get obsessive again later. for me, the glass is half full. at least I got the sucker today and didn't miss the man in brown.
this thread is good entertainment in the meantime.
best luck to all and, to those who got it already, please bugger off after you post your status!
<just kidding....kind of...>
actually, I just came back on here to add that the main reason I'm waiting is that my latest message says:
"Your activation is still pending..." then blah blah blah
That "still" is new, so I figured there might be a record of it.
Life goes on.
P
Last edited:
you gotta go to an att store and the guy will change the sim in your phone back to the number that you ordered it on. then give you a new micro sim with your number on it, and once you activate it on the purchased number you can then switch your sim and be good to go! or so theyve told me. now its just a matter of these servers coming back online.
Still sitting around typing my zip and last 4 every 5 minutes, just like I've been doing since 12:10 eastern (4:20 and counting....)
Meanwhile a coworker decided he might want a 4s after all - left work, went down to the local AT&T store. He found that it had no line at all, but they did have 5 32s and 2 64s in stock. He bought one and got it activated in about 30 seconds, came back and showed me how nicely Siri works, all while I still wait.
At least AT&T assures me it will take only up to 3 minutes for this to finish!
Meanwhile a coworker decided he might want a 4s after all - left work, went down to the local AT&T store. He found that it had no line at all, but they did have 5 32s and 2 64s in stock. He bought one and got it activated in about 30 seconds, came back and showed me how nicely Siri works, all while I still wait.
At least AT&T assures me it will take only up to 3 minutes for this to finish!
I see, but I can't have this phone activate on the original line, because that will deactivate my brother's phone, who is in another state.
New info from another thread
Looks like every time you retry from iTunes, you get sent to the back of the line. I've tried everything else...I'm going to try not doing anything for a couple of hours and see what happens.
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1252181/
Looks like every time you retry from iTunes, you get sent to the back of the line. I've tried everything else...I'm going to try not doing anything for a couple of hours and see what happens.
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1252181/
Wow, so my crazy theory might be correct. I guess I'll try leaving it alone for a while.
Coming from a 3GS, Retina Display seems pretty neat at least, though.
well there lies a problem my friend. i had to kill my moms line so i could activate my phone. what they did was make her a new sim that i can give her after i activate my phone.
So I'm still at work and won't be activating it until I get home. After reading everyone's post (ATT phones, ordered from Apple), do you think I might have better luck if I just bring the phone into an AT&T store from the getgo and have them try to activate it?
I could be wrong, but I'm not sure it matters. I'm syncing it with iTunes as we speak. I don't think iTunes keeps track of individual SIM cards, just serial numbers of phones. People sometimes get their SIM cards replaced and it doesn't affect iTunes syncing.
That's exactly what I thought too. But my iPhone 4S didn't even try to activate as I was setting it up...just skipped right past that step and showed "No Service" in the top left corner. I never got the message "Your iPhone is waiting for activation" or anything like that. I was frustrated and thought "what the heck, I'll just try the SIM from my current iPhone 4" and boom, I had service on the 4S. I ordered from AT&T.
Only concern is that I'll run into issues in a while after AT&T realizes the SIM from my 4 is in my 4S. Who knows if they can determine that though.
I feel like this has to be BS from AT&T. How did all those people activate their phones after trying constantly for hours? Seems like somebody over at AT&T figured this would be a good way to get people to stop slamming their activation server.
Hi all! I'm joining you guys in the AT&T ******** that is our iPhone 4S activation process.
I just noticed something important after the 97th activation attempt.
"Your activation is still pending. You will receive an email notification once your activation is complete."
The word "still" tells me they really do have a queue. I'd say we all give it a few hours, stop trying and see what happens....
Ok I'm trying again.
I just noticed something important after the 97th activation attempt.
"Your activation is still pending. You will receive an email notification once your activation is complete."
The word "still" tells me they really do have a queue. I'd say we all give it a few hours, stop trying and see what happens....
Ok I'm trying again.
Yep. Popped in my old SIM, restored from back-up, & I was ready to go. It only took about fifteen minutes.
That's cause you bought it from AT&T. If purchased from Apple through a preorder, it comes with lockdownd on it, which requires the user to input the last 4 of the account holders social, and the billing zip code, before it activates.
Yep. Popped in my old SIM, restored from back-up, & I was ready to go. It only took about fifteen minutes.
Tried this but my 4S still is asking to be activated. Weird.