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iPhone 4S Activation Problem

S

strausd

macrumors 68030
Original poster
Jul 11, 2008
2,998
1
Texas
Who else is having problems activating their phone?

It is failing every time I try and I have tried about 10 times now.

The error message is also very unclear. It says that the activation is till pending and that I will get an email when complete, but at the top of the phone it just says "could not activate iPhone." So did it completely fail or is it still pending?

Anybody else having better luck?
 
same here

having same issues here. i'm just figuring that at&t's server's have crashed like always. are you trying to activate with at&t?
 
This is maddening.. I tried to activate the phone as stand alone, got message it couldn't process, tried again, same message, recommended trying with iTunes..

Dit the iTunes activation and received the following message:


Your activation is still pending. You will receive an email notification once your activation is complete.
We’re sorry. There was a problem connecting to the server. Please try again later.

Unbelievable!.. I felt like I hit the slot machine jackpot when the phone was delivered, you know, the lights are flashing, the siren is screaming, but the damn thing isn't paying out!.. Like it's constipated or something.. In the meantime, the phone is bricked, and I can't even do anything else with it!
 
Same here

Same message here, activation pending you'll get an email try again later.

Is that not contradictory? I mean, it says it's pending AND try again. So which is it?
 
Same here. Glad it's not just me. I even tried swapping the sim from my iphone 4 which the 4s is upgrading from but that didn't work either.
 
Am in the same boat....Sigh

I sure would love to have a functioning $400 device....
 
Ugh...

I am so sad... Have both of my phones here next to each other... waiting...
 
All the people who HAVE got their phone activated are now doing the iCloud backup and overloading the servers.

This will go on for a while. It took me over 45 minutes to back up to the cloud the first time but after that it only takes seconds.

Everyone will need to be patient
 
it's getting worse

Tried 20 times to activate thru iTunes, only to get that pending message and we'll send you an email. Now, I can't even get a network connection to the activation screen! The store is giving us a network connection error message... Yikes
 
AT&T Customer Service couldn't help.

I was on the phone with AT&T Customer Service. After 45 minutes trying various things, the representative indicated that even manually keying in my new iPhone4S ICCID (SIM Card) and IMEI numbers in her system, we couldn't get my new iPhone activated (purchased through Apple.com). She said it might take a couple of hours to possibly go through..... unfortunately, she can't change the ICCID and IMEI numbers back to my old iPhone3G.... so I'm without my cell phone for at least 2-3 hours. UGH!!! She indicated that I might need to try contacting Apple at: 1-800-myIphone.

Of Note: to be fair, the customer rep tried to do everything she could. Due to these issues, I asked if she could waive the $18 activation fee... she said that the system wouldn't allow a waiver, but would allow her to give me an $18 courtesy credit.
 
Last edited:
borchard504 said:
Tried 20 times to activate thru iTunes, only to get that pending message and we'll send you an email. Now, I can't even get a network connection to the activation screen! The store is giving us a network connection error message... Yikes
Click to expand...

Let's hope that bit about the email advising of activation is true.
 
also can't activate.

Just recieved and have been trying for 20 minutes and I keep getting
"Your iphone could not be activated because the activation server cannot be reached. Try connecting your iphone to iTunes to avtivate it, or try again in a couple of minutes.
If this problem persists, contact Apple Support at blah blah..."

on AT&T (of course)
balls!
 
theangel said:
Just recieved and have been trying for 20 minutes and I keep getting
"Your iphone could not be activated because the activation server cannot be reached. Try connecting your iphone to iTunes to avtivate it, or try again in a couple of minutes.
If this problem persists, contact Apple Support at blah blah..."

on AT&T (of course)
balls!
Click to expand...

Same thing for me here. Trying the iTunes route now...
 
Same damn problem. Spent almost an hour on the phone with a Rep from AT&T and they didn't get me any further into the process. They simply suggested that I get a new SIM card, not that it will help.

I've tried activating at least 20 times from both the phone itself over wireless and from my laptop in iTunes.

I've restarted iTunes, rebooted my mac, and the phone numerous times. Still end up with the stupid message about getting an email.
 
After my second try it semi activated (verified my number, and social), and now seems to be stuck on the "it may take up to 3 minutes to active your iPhone" message...
 
I've tried about 40 times over the past nearly 3 hours. Throwing in the towel for now.

How they haven't learned to anticipate and deal with these iPhone launch demands and loads is a mystery.
 
I'm having the same problem on ATT. Bummer! It will probably activate some time today :(
 
same activation problem here also....problem connecting with server. I imagine that it got to be completely overwhelmed right now...
 
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