New or old?
Does this apply to new activations only? What if I'm upgrading from a First Generation phone?
Does this apply to new activations only? What if I'm upgrading from a First Generation phone?
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iPhone 3G S Customers Reporting Activation Delays
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I kept getting a 'wait for activation' message on my phone after getting one in iTunes. After three hours of waiting I called AT&T and the guy got an Apple support tech on the same line as he was unable to assist me. The tech from Apple put me on hold after trying a few things and came back on the line only to say that they were experiencing larger than usual activation requests (who would have thought) and to just keep the phone plugged into iTunes and eventually it will be activated.
Meanwhile I'm staring at my 1st Gen iPhone with the 'E' in the upper-left of the screen wondering if it would work on my 3GS. I popped out the SIM and it had the 3G logo on it just like the SIM from the 3GS so I put it in my 3GS phone and it works just fine 3G and all.
I'm keeping the SIM from the 3GS handy just incase I find my old SIM disconnected. It sucks for my wife who already had a case and everything ready for the hand-me-down 1st Gen 😛
Suppose I'll try again tomorrow and if still a no-go will head over to an AT&T store.
Meanwhile I'm staring at my 1st Gen iPhone with the 'E' in the upper-left of the screen wondering if it would work on my 3GS. I popped out the SIM and it had the 3G logo on it just like the SIM from the 3GS so I put it in my 3GS phone and it works just fine 3G and all.
I'm keeping the SIM from the 3GS handy just incase I find my old SIM disconnected. It sucks for my wife who already had a case and everything ready for the hand-me-down 1st Gen 😛
Suppose I'll try again tomorrow and if still a no-go will head over to an AT&T store.
this may or may not have already been mentioned. i apologize in advance for not having the time to skim through all the comments as i'm still at work 🙂
for the past year i have been using an iphone 3G and this morning purchased a 3G S. they activated the new SIM card (that came with the 3G S) instead of recommending I just swap the old one with the new. as a result, i received the message: "waiting for activation. this may take some times." after an hour, a friend emailed me with the following recommendation to activate my phone and it worked immediately.
first, i turned off my old, 3G phone (don't ask me why i hadn't done this already). then, i power cycled the 3G S (turn off and then on again). within seconds the phone notified me that it was activated.
i realize this explanation is extremely simple and may only apply to people that are activating a new SIM card. this solution probably won't help people experiencing delays with itunes. but hey i thought i'd mention it in case someone is stuck in a similar situation.
for the past year i have been using an iphone 3G and this morning purchased a 3G S. they activated the new SIM card (that came with the 3G S) instead of recommending I just swap the old one with the new. as a result, i received the message: "waiting for activation. this may take some times." after an hour, a friend emailed me with the following recommendation to activate my phone and it worked immediately.
first, i turned off my old, 3G phone (don't ask me why i hadn't done this already). then, i power cycled the 3G S (turn off and then on again). within seconds the phone notified me that it was activated.
i realize this explanation is extremely simple and may only apply to people that are activating a new SIM card. this solution probably won't help people experiencing delays with itunes. but hey i thought i'd mention it in case someone is stuck in a similar situation.
interesting....I activated my phone at 3:30pm ET or so and it took me less than 2 minutes literally.
Activation issues
I did have an issue that I had to take mine into an AT&T. I purchased from Apple and it was shipped, arrived at 10 AM. I called Apple to activate it, they put me through to AT&T, then ran into an issue. I went into the AT&T and they had it activated quickly, I didn't have to wait the 48 hrs. Which there was a message on the activation it could take up to that time. So AT&T fixed it for me on Two iPhones.
I did have an issue that I had to take mine into an AT&T. I purchased from Apple and it was shipped, arrived at 10 AM. I called Apple to activate it, they put me through to AT&T, then ran into an issue. I went into the AT&T and they had it activated quickly, I didn't have to wait the 48 hrs. Which there was a message on the activation it could take up to that time. So AT&T fixed it for me on Two iPhones.
bbrosemer
macrumors 6502a
Did you do it through apple or ATT ... they are both driving me crazy I am really getting mad with both of them ... They sent me the right phone with the wrong number... Att says it is apple's fault apple says its att's fault ... together I am getting nothing done and they are both pushing this... and really bothering me..
So ATT tells me to put the sim from my old 3g into the new ... doesn't work ... apple tells me not to do that ... and to call att to transfer the # but the # is associated with the phone apparently because when I switch sims the phone does nothing different ... This is getting to be reallllly annoying ...
The issue was with both the 16GB and 32GB phones, systems were rejecting the IEMI numbers with a "cannot upgrade" message. I luckily didn't have that problem with mine but it still took three hours of being on hold for the poor people working at Future Shop before they could upgrade my phone. This launch is a mess, just as bad as last year if not worse. Rogers really needs to step up internal communications because no one has a clue what the hell is going on.
bastula
macrumors newbie
This worked a charm. Was sitting around waiting for about 2 hours and just tried it. Worked instantaneously. Thank you! 😛
Best Buys still sucks a fatty
So My girlfriend being the awesome girlfriend she is wants a iphone and dosent care if its 3g or 3gS so she is signing up and getting a 3gs and then going to trade with me for my 3g 16 gig white one. That being said we were going to pre order from att online but by the time we got around to that there they were sold out. So we did the next thing we thought would be the easiest we pre ordered it from best buy. We were asked to make an appointment so we just picked a time in the afternoon that we figured it wouldn't be busy. So we go to the store earlier than are scheduled appointment and they say sorry were too busy but we can move your appointment up to 2:30 so we left and came back around 2:40 (ran a lil late with traffic) to get here to be turned away yet again saying that they didn't have enough time to set it up. WTF Just sell us the phone and let us leave the store. If we pre ordered from att im sure we would just have to set it up through iTunes so let us do the same and stop pissing me off. So i am writing this at best buy on a macbook air while my girlfriend finally is getting to buy her phone and as you can tell they have seriously pissed me off today. Avoid Worst Buy at all costs for you iphone purchase unless you can be punctual and dont mind them trying to sell you all sorts of **** you dont need.
So My girlfriend being the awesome girlfriend she is wants a iphone and dosent care if its 3g or 3gS so she is signing up and getting a 3gs and then going to trade with me for my 3g 16 gig white one. That being said we were going to pre order from att online but by the time we got around to that there they were sold out. So we did the next thing we thought would be the easiest we pre ordered it from best buy. We were asked to make an appointment so we just picked a time in the afternoon that we figured it wouldn't be busy. So we go to the store earlier than are scheduled appointment and they say sorry were too busy but we can move your appointment up to 2:30 so we left and came back around 2:40 (ran a lil late with traffic) to get here to be turned away yet again saying that they didn't have enough time to set it up. WTF Just sell us the phone and let us leave the store. If we pre ordered from att im sure we would just have to set it up through iTunes so let us do the same and stop pissing me off. So i am writing this at best buy on a macbook air while my girlfriend finally is getting to buy her phone and as you can tell they have seriously pissed me off today. Avoid Worst Buy at all costs for you iphone purchase unless you can be punctual and dont mind them trying to sell you all sorts of **** you dont need.
Last year I attempted to buy and activate a 3G on launch day. After almost 5 days (read: 5 DAYS) neither ATT nor Apple could get it activated (and by the end each said it was the others' problem). I returned the unit never having been able to use it.
I try again this year with 3Gs I am hoping for better luck! It appears per fedex to be waiting for me at home, I might wait til Mond or Tuesday to activate just to be safe since Apple servers (once again) are not up to the task.
I try again this year with 3Gs I am hoping for better luck! It appears per fedex to be waiting for me at home, I might wait til Mond or Tuesday to activate just to be safe since Apple servers (once again) are not up to the task.
mine said the same thing then i just took the sim card from my old phone and put it into this one and it said phone activated and started working right away...
ZiggyPastorius
macrumors 68040
I just called AT&T, and the lady called the contract acceptance number for me and within about ten minutes, the phone was activated.
treyjustice
macrumors 65816
i bought mine at the apple store i told them not to open it took it home and had it activated in 5 minutes!
😀
😀
Yep
Bought mine at 12:30 pst.
And now... "Waiting for activation. This may take some time." -_- 🙁
Bought mine at 12:30 pst.
And now... "Waiting for activation. This may take some time." -_- 🙁
I found that by trying to send MMS's twice (they failed) and then switching to airport mode then reactivating cellular - prompted the SMS from O2 saying "we 'll let you know when it's working" Could have just been a fluke but it worked. Tethering working for me to, surprisingly quick. Don't forget not to overuse it as apparently 'unlimited' to O2 actually means 'within reason'
ckurt25
macrumors 65816
No problems for me
It was an upgrade from a 3G. Fired it up, plugged in the usb cable to my macbook, launched iTunes and it worked fine. Had it shipped from Apple to work. It arrived in our mail room (big office) at 9:45 AM EST and had it in my hands by 10:05 and it was probably activated and ready to restore from my old 3G by 10:30. Didn't feel like it took too long. Once that was done I sync'd the apps, music, movies and all that and have been very happy with it so far.
It was an upgrade from a 3G. Fired it up, plugged in the usb cable to my macbook, launched iTunes and it worked fine. Had it shipped from Apple to work. It arrived in our mail room (big office) at 9:45 AM EST and had it in my hands by 10:05 and it was probably activated and ready to restore from my old 3G by 10:30. Didn't feel like it took too long. Once that was done I sync'd the apps, music, movies and all that and have been very happy with it so far.
original iPhone 2g deactivated while talking with AT&T
I activated my iPhone 3gs 30 minutes ago. My original iPhone 2g stopped working 15 minutes ago while I was on the line with AT&T trying to accelerate the activation process (at the suggestion of previous commenters).
Now both iPhones don't work. No worries though. Thank you to Apple and AT&T for a great product 🙂
Warmest regards, Matt
I activated my iPhone 3gs 30 minutes ago. My original iPhone 2g stopped working 15 minutes ago while I was on the line with AT&T trying to accelerate the activation process (at the suggestion of previous commenters).
Now both iPhones don't work. No worries though. Thank you to Apple and AT&T for a great product 🙂
Warmest regards, Matt
jphall
macrumors 6502a
Restart the iPhone
I got mine at the Apple Store, they plugged it into their computer, after which they said I could wait for activation, or take it home and it would likely activate on the way.
Almost home, still not connected, so I restarted the iPhone. Upon reboot it said it was activated. It may have been coincidental, but after reading the above post I'm thinking it was not.
Currently restoring from the backup I did right before I left for the Store. Oh, now it's updating my Apps to the new phone.
Looking Good!
Best wishes to all in Appleland. ::grin::
I got mine at the Apple Store, they plugged it into their computer, after which they said I could wait for activation, or take it home and it would likely activate on the way.
Almost home, still not connected, so I restarted the iPhone. Upon reboot it said it was activated. It may have been coincidental, but after reading the above post I'm thinking it was not.
Currently restoring from the backup I did right before I left for the Store. Oh, now it's updating my Apps to the new phone.
Looking Good!
Best wishes to all in Appleland. ::grin::
