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iPhone 4 Factory Unlocked UK IOS 4.3.3 No Longer Registered on FaceTime - Help

ahoover

ahoover

macrumors member
Original poster
May 11, 2004
77
28
I have a 32 GB Apple iPhone 4 MC605B Factory Unlocked (not jailbroken) iPhone 4 running IOS Version 4.3.3 (8J2) running on T-Mobile Carrier 10.0 Modem Firmware 04.10.01.

This iPhone was purchased directly from Apple in the UK while I was working in London. My iPhone 4 was previously registered/activated in the US via iTunes with the T-Mobile USA Micro SIM and FaceTime was previously successfully activated via T-Mobile SMS while running IOS 4.1. I previously made several test FaceTime calls to/from other iPhone 4 devices as well as my Mac Mini, Mac Pro and MacBook Pro over WiFi.

Now with the recent update to IOS 4.3.3 my FaceTime is disabled and I have the dreaded "Waiting for activation..." message which after a period of time fails and retry is of no help. I also noted that no outbound SMS silent text messages to +44 7786 205094 appear in my T-Mobile recent activity. I can send myself both SMS text and MMS image messages via the iPhone Messages app. If I attempt to send a simple "test" text message directly to +44 7786 205094 which the numner for the Apple UK FaceTime SMS gateway, I do not receive an error although there is no record in my T-Mobile Recent Message Activity. All other manually sent SMS or MMS messages in or outbound show in the recent activity.

T-Mobile tech support says international SMS is not being blocked.

Help would be greatly appreciated by T-Mobile, Apple or others.
No I do not wish to jailbreak my iPhone 4.

Thanks in advance!
 
Last edited:
ahoover said:
Yes, T-Mobile USA carrier.
Click to expand...

Yes, they dont support facetime activation cause its an unofficial carrier that doesnt offer the iphone 4 in the US. So you wont be able to activate facetime with Tmobile USA without JB and installing a hack.
Maybe it worked before cause facetime and the phone in general was activated with your UK sim and then you just put in the Tmobile sim and maybe that's how it continued working before.
 
Thanks but not likely. The iPhone 4 was only ever activated via iTunes with the USA T-Mobile Micro SIM, never UK T-Mobile. The FaceTime was activated with that USA T-Mobile Micro SIM and only that Micro SIM. FaceTime was registered and working under IOS 4.1 for both send and receiving FaceTime calls. I know several people who registered UK iPhone 4 phones for FaceTime with T-Mobile USA prior to 4.2.

Looking for solid help on this please.

Thanks in advance!
 
Last edited:
same situation

i have the same situation. i have UK iphone 4 and using USA Tmobile sim card.
facetime was working great before i upgrade to 4.3.3. I activated it with tmobile sim before but now it couldn't be activated. I JB and try phonedelivery and it's still not working. can anyone help?????
 
I'm beginning to believe that Apple changed the .plist configuration for the Carrier 10.0 in 4.3.3 for iPhone MC605B UK Unlocked iPhone 4 devices in some way making it impossible to activate FaceTime on USA T-Mobile on a UK Apple Factory Unlocked (non-jailbroken) phone. I was previously able to activate FaceTime on my iPhone under IOS 4.1 and I was able to make FaceTime calls to both other iPhone 4 devices and my Mac Pro and Mac Mini.

Now after attempting to activate FaceTime on my iPhone 4 running 4.3.3 by turning FaceTime "On" I first get the dreaded "Waiting for activation...". After several hours it fails with the FaceTime button still "On" but the error message "Activation unsuccessful. Turn on FaceTime to try again."

My T-Mobile Recent Activity report never shows an international SMS message being sent (silent or otherwise) outbound to Apple +44 7786 205094 indicating the FaceTime Activation SMS message never is getting sent. All other SMS messages out/inbound show immediately in my T-Mobile Recent Activity for Text Messages.

My iPhone 4 can send and receive SMS and MMS messages and is enabled for international per T-Mobile tech support.

Something has definitely changed within 4.3.3

Real help from Apple and/or T-Mobile desired but thus far not forthcoming.
 
i didn't even knew you had to 'activate' facetime, always worked right out of the box for me, but I guess using it in the UK on a 'supported' carrier might be why. Anyway, found this, haven't actually checked the vids but try it out?

http://www.pushfix.info/facetime_preview

just looked a bit more into that, and actually don't think that link will help a lot. Doesn't look like you're alone though!
 
Thanks! This link / solution requires the user to jailbreak their iPhone 4. The solution is an app called MiTime. It also appears that MiTime has issues with 4.3.3 (rumored, have not tried this myself).

I'm looking for Apple/T-Mobile to support FaceTime on T-Mobile as they did in IOS 4.1 for international iPhones that are factory unlocked not jailbroken.
 
Latest update.

1- I had a friend in the UK try to send me a SMS text message to my iPhone 4 and I did not receive it via T-Mobile USA. They did get an error trying to send it.

2 - I tried to send my friend in the UK a SMS text message. My iPhone says it was sent (read no error message) but they did not receive it. This also shows in my recent text messages activity as SMOINT.

3 - I can send a SMS text message to a USA domestic AT&T iPhone. This also shows in my recent text messages activity as OUTGOING.

4 - I can receive a a SMS text message from a USA domestic AT&T iPhone. This also shows in my recent text messages activity as INCOMING.

5 - I can send a MMS text & picture message to a USA domestic AT&T iPhone. This also shows in my recent text messages activity as OUTGOING.

6 - I can receive a a MMS text & picture message from a USA domestic AT&T iPhone. This also shows in my recent text messages activity as INCOMING.

Although T-Mobile tech support has assured me that my account is enabled to international SMS text services, actual testing indicates they are wrong and international SMS text messages are not being received.

Something is definitely not right.

Attempting to activate FaceTime still times out and does not appear my my T-Mobile Text Messages activity.

Real help is appreciated.
 
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