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iPhone 3G S Customers Reporting Activation Delays

Ugh!!!

outcast316 said:
activated..took 39 hours.
Click to expand...

Alright, here's my deal: I've been a 2G user since the first week of release. My 32gig 3Gs was delivered on release day. Thinking I was dodging the crowd, I plugged in to activate at 11:55 (Sat. night) and I got the 48 hour notice. Now here's where I'm confused: My 2G is still running, making phone calls, etc. Now am I to assume that all of a sudden, at the carrier's discretion, that my 2G will suddenly be "deactivated" and the new phone will be activated? Shall I be carrying 2 phones at once to make sure I have phone service?? Alright, so GSM phone service throughout time has been a matter of popping your sim card in and out of various different devices....am I missing something?? 48 hours?? Should I just take my sim card out of the 2G and put it in the 3Gs??
Totall confused.......:confused:
 
rsbell said:
This is exactly what happened to me: put in old SIM card last night, woke up this morning and had no service, so I put the new SIM in the phone and it was activated.

Carry the new one and tool with you so when the new card is activated you can switch them out.
Click to expand...

Happened to me today. Go the NO Service message about 6:50pm. When I got home later I had a activation notice from Apple. Mind you AT & T activated me on line when I called with the old simm. apparently the systems sync'd up and the old sim is now dead so......
 
Jamie 360 said:
Alright, here's my deal: I've been a 2G user since the first week of release. My 32gig 3Gs was delivered on release day. Thinking I was dodging the crowd, I plugged in to activate at 11:55 (Sat. night) and I got the 48 hour notice. Now here's where I'm confused: My 2G is still running, making phone calls, etc. Now am I to assume that all of a sudden, at the carrier's discretion, that my 2G will suddenly be "deactivated" and the new phone will be activated? Shall I be carrying 2 phones at once to make sure I have phone service?? Alright, so GSM phone service throughout time has been a matter of popping your sim card in and out of various different devices....am I missing something?? 48 hours?? Should I just take my sim card out of the 2G and put it in the 3Gs??
Totall confused.......:confused:
Click to expand...

There should be no reason for activation delays at this point IMO. I would imagine your problem is the same as mine was. Call AT&T, it could be that your phone isn't in the system and you'll need to give them your IMEI number along with the SIM number of your new iPhone 3G S.
 
not really an activation delay, buts its taking O2 until the 24th to port my old number over! Thats 3 days of carrying 2 phones around!!!

Loving the 3GS though :eek:)

Zim
 
I shouldn't need to give them my IMEI number along with the SIM number.

I wonder if taking legal action would actually result in my subscription with AT&T and along with a law suit. This is ***** BS. Enough is Enough
 
guycocoa said:
Look at the title of the post: "UPS Screwed Up and Now I'm Screwed"

The problem with ordering online is that Apple doesn't control the entire experience. They are at the mercy of the delivery companies.
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Umm.... How did the phones get to the stores? Did Apple take them there or the delivery companies?
 
Jamie 360 said:
Alright, here's my deal: I've been a 2G user since the first week of release. My 32gig 3Gs was delivered on release day. Thinking I was dodging the crowd, I plugged in to activate at 11:55 (Sat. night) and I got the 48 hour notice. Now here's where I'm confused: My 2G is still running, making phone calls, etc. Now am I to assume that all of a sudden, at the carrier's discretion, that my 2G will suddenly be "deactivated" and the new phone will be activated? Shall I be carrying 2 phones at once to make sure I have phone service?? Alright, so GSM phone service throughout time has been a matter of popping your sim card in and out of various different devices....am I missing something?? 48 hours?? Should I just take my sim card out of the 2G and put it in the 3Gs??
Totall confused.......:confused:
Click to expand...

That is exactly what will happen. Either way, wether you switch the cards or not, the old card will die and the new one will activate. I think I got the email from AT&T just before it occurred, but either way, have them both on you if you want no downtime (and the sim card ejector...or a paperclip;)).

I switched the cards friday night after I couldn't wait any more, and the 3GS died some time saturday morning. Switched them back, and all was well.
 
UPDATE:

After I got off work Sat, we went to a different ATT Corporate store. I had come up with an idea that might help...

The manager of the store, who was very helpful went through the same process that was tried, and then had a revelation...

In the previous attempts be the ATT reps to replace the SIM, they had registered the new SIM and then attempted to unblock the iPhone. He took a fresh, non registered SIM, and force activated it. It worked with about a 20min delay total...and I'm up and running!!!

Now that I have a full functioning iPhone I'm very impressed! What a cool, neat device! And compared to my previous Blackberry's the speed is amazing!

Thanks to all on the board who offered suggestions in my dilemma...and to the nay-sayers who were fortunate to not have any activation problems, a little persistance and brain storming with the ATT store manager is what it took to get the phone functional.

I'm sold! :apple:
 
Still no Service

I tried to activate mine on Friday around 12 and now Sunday and still have no phone service. I also received an email from AT&T saying that I do not have an iphone data and will have data roaming and other charges ????? ..... which can't be I have the 2g iphone

I looked at my order and see an $18 activation fee .... I say we all need to ask for a refund of that. It happened last year but the same mistake twice is not acceptable.
 
iMaggot said:
Have some patients guys ;)
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It's really difficult to be patient as an existing Iphone user with a Sim card which you should just be able to pop in the new phone. Am I missing something about needing to activate a new sim card--is it different technology? Don't get me wrong, it could be worse-at least your current sim stays active while you await the new activation. At least they don't zap your old card once you start the process. THEN I'd be causing a scene at AT&T. I'm sure as hell not calling them, so will wait it out. Just hope its up and running for work Monday. :(

I can understand glitches for new accounts, but this is ridiculous. It should have been seamless. It arrived at 9:30 on release day, so maybe I should have ripped open the box and did it right away? I just thought I'd avoid the traffic.
 
ncboater said:
I tried to activate mine on Friday around 12 and now Sunday and still have no phone service. I also received an email from AT&T saying that I do not have an iphone data and will have data roaming and other charges ????? ..... which can't be I have the 2g iphone

I looked at my order and see an $18 activation fee .... I say we all need to ask for a refund of that. It happened last year but the same mistake twice is not acceptable.
Click to expand...

But is the sim card in your 2G still working like mine is? My new one has been "awaiting activation" since midnight but I'm afraid to experiment since my 2g is still running. I don't want to lose all service.
 
Hmmm... sucks that AT&T were having so many issues. I ported a number from Rogers to Fido on the morning of the 19th. By the time the phone rep was done going over paperwork and I was done signing, the phone was active and the number was ported... My plan is awesome too for what I use the phone for (since I have skype)...

100 Daytime Min (per second billing)
Unlimited Texting
Unlimited Evenings after 7pm
500MB of data ( I spend almost all day in WiFi)
Caller ID
Visual Voicemail

All for $63 a month after tax!
 
I solved my 3GS Activation Delay

I received my 3GS on Friday via a pre-order from AT&T. I was stuck on the activation screen and no matter how many times I refreshed or unplugged it kept coming back with the message - Activation Delay this may some time.

Problem-solved. I went to the AT&T Store and the rep called a special phone number and my phone was instantly activated. Even though they have been telling me it was because of overwhelmed servers, this was not true.

If you can't activate go to the store and they can do it instantly.
 
No problems here

Me and my wife managed to snag a pair of new 32gb iPhones the morning they came out. We were on vacation in vt and so our new activation involved porting an Fl number and getting a new FL number from VT. Had no problem getting either done and we were all set within a half hour. Overall pleasantly surprised by AT&Ts service! (just moved from vzw because their bb offerings suck with our macs...and they are a bunch of lying, penny-pinching, overpriced bastards.)
 
I had gotten my 3GS working/activated by swapping in the SIM from my old phone. I figured that when they finally got around to activating that it would stop working. Woke up this morning and sure enough it says "no signal", swapped back in the new SIM and it works fine.

So somewhere over 36 hours for me to get activated.
 
Jamie 360 said:
Alright, here's my deal: I've been a 2G user since the first week of release. My 32gig 3Gs was delivered on release day. Thinking I was dodging the crowd, I plugged in to activate at 11:55 (Sat. night) and I got the 48 hour notice. Now here's where I'm confused: My 2G is still running, making phone calls, etc. Now am I to assume that all of a sudden, at the carrier's discretion, that my 2G will suddenly be "deactivated" and the new phone will be activated? Shall I be carrying 2 phones at once to make sure I have phone service?? Alright, so GSM phone service throughout time has been a matter of popping your sim card in and out of various different devices....am I missing something?? 48 hours?? Should I just take my sim card out of the 2G and put it in the 3Gs??
Totall confused.......:confused:
Click to expand...

Yes on both counts. Swap your sims to get your new 3GS activated, and carry around your "new" sim for when the old one stops working. Your old sim will stop working when they get around to activating the new one.
 
I think I am noticing a pattern here (sorry if someone already pointed this out).

My iPhone activated in about one minute and I am a new iPhone user. My brother in law experienced the delays and he was upgrading from an old iphone.

Is this what people are seeing?

We should take a poll, whoever experienced delays, were you a new iphone user or upgrading from an old version of the iPhone?
 
KinOfCain said:
So somewhere over 36 hours for me to get activated.
Click to expand...
Well, for those of you who waited, there's a rumor that you might get lucky:

http://www.everythingicafe.com/news/iphone/apple-offering-$30-itunes-store-credits,-apologize-for-activation-issues-200906211389/​

I didn't wait, and just called AT&T to activate, and so I'm probably not eligible. :rolleyes:
 
2 minutes and flawless

I got by Fedex my 3GS at noon on Friday 19th and took literally 2 minutes to activate. It was replacing a 3G. Passing the Apps took 5 + minutes.

The phone has all my contacts, email and all information. It works great.

Bravo Apple.
 
I got my phone just now and tried to activate it. No dice. I got the message that it could be up to 48 hours for my new iPhone 3G S to activate. My question is, will I be able to receive the $30.00 credit? I didn't get any email from Apple or AT&T after I attempted the activation. My old iPhone still works, but I can't use EDGE for data because it keeps telling me that I don't have a Data Plan...strange!

Is this No Data Plan thing normal? What about emails, should I be receiving an email soon from Apple or AT&T about the lack of activation?

Thanks!
 
travistaylor said:
I got my phone just now and tried to activate it. No dice. I got the message that it could be up to 48 hours for my new iPhone 3G S to activate. My question is, will I be able to receive the $30.00 credit? I didn't get any email from Apple or AT&T after I attempted the activation.
Click to expand...

I waited the two days and got activated this afternoon. I could tell because the old SIM stopped working. The account is in my girlfriend's name, and she just got back to town and mentioned lots of 'sorry you're screwed' emails she got in my name. Maybe one of them offered me some free tunes - I'll have to ask nice.:rolleyes:

My old iPhone still works, but I can't use EDGE for data because it keeps telling me that I don't have a Data Plan...strange!

Is this No Data Plan thing normal?
Click to expand...

That's odd. I set up the new plan when I ordered the phone. I used my old SIM in the new phone all weekend and got 3G, et al.
 
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