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iPhone Activation Issues

OK, so, I called the 419-4500 number and was able to get the guy to contact porting and cancel the request. He said that I can insert the new SIM card from this morning start over as a brand new customer to AT&T without porting a number. I did it and the process took all of 4 minutes. I'm up and running right now, syncing the phone with calendar/contacts.

So, if this is an option for you call 877-419-4500 and then ask for the porting request to be cancelled (their number for future reference 888-898-7685). Insert new SIM, go for it.

Now, the only thing I'm worried about at the moment is that they still push through an account under the number I was trying to port and I have two accounts at the end of all this ****. It would not be cool. But, the guy made it seem like I'd be ok. I will call on Monday and discuss this with them as well - I'm going to let the weekend rush die.

Hope this can help someone out, I truly appreciate the help others gave me too. THere really needs to be a petition or something as well to get the activation fee waived from this debacle.
 
jbomber said:
I just waited on hold for 30+ minutes before getting thru to them and INSISTING they manually force it thru, but they said they were absolutely unable to do it. I even escalated it to managers and supervisors. They said it wasn't possible.

Right now i'm on a 2-hour wait, because according to them, it's all set up. If it doesn't happen for me, iIll have crossed the 24 hour mark, and I swear on all that is good and holy- ATT will not only pay for the 2 days I've gone without a phone, but somebody high on the foodchain is going to send me a hand-written apology and pay for half my service.

I am livid in ways that I can't even begin to get into....
Click to expand...

you see the trick is that some places are not employees of apple or ATT

its outsourced random people so its possible those guys including managers/supes have no damn clue what they are doing

honestly if going to aTT store and getting new sim to start over works for most thats what I was going to do if it didnt happen tonight

now i can finally move on to using it and enjoying my 796 dollar total purchase

good luck guys
 
Activation: Listen Up!

OK, This is my first post. I had to create and account and post since I've been reading and bearing this burden with you all.

I just got off the phone and got my iPhone activated. The Rep was about to give me the 24-72 hours song and dance, then I got an email saying registration was complete. I told her and she was like "hmm.. I didn't think that would work" so I told her it worked and I already synced my iPhone and asked her what she did. She said that she "Deactivated, then Reactivated the Sim Card". She was trying it just for the heck of it, but as soon as she did, I got my email. She has dispatched an email to all of her coworkers regarding this. Her name is Marti and I reached her by calling the 877-419-4500 number. So if you call that number, you may get it activated due to the fact that she mass-emailed her coworkers about it.

Good luck... I'll be checking back to see if this actually does work for you guys, or if it was just a coincidence.

Now, time to go play with my iPhone!
 
Right now i'm on a 2-hour wait, because according to them, it's all set up
Click to expand...
I was also told this too... 2-hours (or a few minutes)... they insist the phone has been activated. I've rebooted it several times, nothing.

So that was 2 hours ago, still nothing.
When they told me this on the phone, I told the rep I was skeptical about the 2 hour thing and asked if she was *sure about this*. Yes she was... So I what to do if, in 2 hours it is still not activated, should I call back again?? She told me that wouldn't happen.... that the phone just needed time to "refresh".

Yup... 2 hours later and nothing.... getting ready to go to the ATT store soon, these phone reps are useless.
 
25.5 hours later, my verizon service has shutdown and my iphone is still unlocked. now i'm really s.o.l.

on the phone now to the activation dept. but who knows how long ill be on hold for. this is beyond ridiculous. it was ok before because at least my old phone worked, but now i am without a cell phone period.
 
I've been speaking with a very helpful AT&T rep this afternoon.

He's called me back twice to see how things are going. During his last call, he sent emails and made phone calls to a bunch of other departments to try to get information. From what he's heard from the higher-ups it's just a mater of waiting for the backlog of activations to process.

He's not in tomorrow, but said he'll call me Monday to make sure everything is working by then. Hopefully it will be!
 
sdotbailey said:
OK, so, I called the 419-4500 number and was able to get the guy to contact porting and cancel the request. He said that I can insert the new SIM card from this morning start over as a brand new customer to AT&T without porting a number. I did it and the process took all of 4 minutes. I'm up and running right now, syncing the phone with calendar/contacts.

So, if this is an option for you call 877-419-4500 and then ask for the porting request to be cancelled (their number for future reference 888-898-7685). Insert new SIM, go for it.

Now, the only thing I'm worried about at the moment is that they still push through an account under the number I was trying to port and I have two accounts at the end of all this ****. It would not be cool. But, the guy made it seem like I'd be ok. I will call on Monday and discuss this with them as well - I'm going to let the weekend rush die.

Hope this can help someone out, I truly appreciate the help others gave me too. THere really needs to be a petition or something as well to get the activation fee waived from this debacle.
Click to expand...

I'm not paying for any activation fee. In fact, I am not going to pay them **** until it gets activated. I am probably going to call my bank on Monday and put a hold on the purchase as well.

-mark
 
I waited about 2 hours for my activation from Apple, and the activation from ATT took about 3 minutes after that. It started syncing and is now frozen. I can't stop the sync or eject it. I guess I'll just pull it off the dock and put it back on and hope for the best.
 
avkills said:
I'm not paying for any activation fee. In fact, I am not going to pay them **** until it gets activated. I am probably going to call my bank on Monday and put a hold on the purchase as well.

-mark
Click to expand...

I'm with ya there man, power in numbers though I think.
 
Ok i have something else for you guys to try. I got through to the 877-800-3701 number again after a 30 minute wait and told the guy that I'd heard there were some codes that were causing problems with the 1500 text message plan. He said he couldn't see the features but there was a code on there they were having problems with. When you call ask if you have billing code MMV2 (I think it's for the 1500 text messages) on your account. If so you need them to change that. I think what it's changed to depends on where you live. May not work for everyone but hopefully someone. By the way, I spoke to Edward and he was EXTREMELY helpful compared to everyone else I spoke to today. I'll let you know if this works but this sounds like where other people were right before they got "the holy activation email." I'm still holding for him to finish with it..

Well he finished making the change an still no activation yet...
 
G'nite all.

jbomber said:
I just waited on hold for 30+ minutes before getting thru to them and INSISTING they manually force it thru, but they said they were absolutely unable to do it. I even escalated it to managers and supervisors. They said it wasn't possible.

Right now i'm on a 2-hour wait, because according to them, it's all set up. If it doesn't happen for me, iIll have crossed the 24 hour mark, and I swear on all that is good and holy- ATT will not only pay for the 2 days I've gone without a phone, but somebody high on the foodchain is going to send me a hand-written apology and pay for half my service.

I am livid in ways that I can't even begin to get into....
Click to expand...

Just went through the same thing, and I have long past the 24 hour mark... They said the same things to me as well. Not to jinx you, but I doubt you'll see your email anytime tonight.

I'm going to bed, and I will be @AT&T tomorrow to see about the sim card thing, but I just can't let this iCircus rent anymore space in my head for another minute tonight. I just have to sign off, and put the iBrick down. I'm done playing with the emergency slide, and I can't seem to make any killer music with the dial tones, except for Mary Had A Little Lamb.

Until tomorrow, as the iWait continues......

PS. Hope Steve already peed in the toilet before he drops his iPhone in. Damn him for locking these things like this. :D
 
xckid87 said:
So if you bought the iphone from att, you get the check code and can input it on itunes when it asks. i bought from apple there is no code on the receipt how do i get it??
Click to expand...


THis worries me. I got the credit check at the AT&T store and have the number, but I don't think it was asked for anywhere in my "activation" process (26 hrs ago).

Am a Cingular/AT&T customer, just changing one phone out three on a family plan.

Just called and a nice woman said my new data plan wasn't listed on my account. She also removed the Blackberry data plan I'd had previously. She was so nice I decided not to press for a supervisor, but to give it another hour or two.

Since my iPhone SIM card works in my old phone (SLVR), I'm figuring some large part of the problem is Apple. It's the device itself, not the service, that is not being activated. The service is operational (demonstrated by the SIM card working fine in another phone).

People want to blame AT&T, but it looks as if the blame is all Apple's.
 
24hrs... umm I am on 28 hours.

Please confirm if anyone else has had this told to them:

Your activation is in progress, but there is a problem.We must activate a feature, according to AT&T it is called 1apl or 1appl, that enables the web capabilities and until then the activation will not go through. They have placed the activation on hold until the feature is able to be enabled by AT&T technical team. So following the 24 hour wait, they have asked me to wait an additional 6 hours. I am at a level of anger and frustration I have never experienced before. It is like dealing with a cable company, airline, and IRS all wrapped into one big kick in the...
 
At around 6pm today I was told that there was some error in my account that was possibly holding the progress of the phone and that it was re-queued and should be active shortly.

It is now 9:55 and still no dice.


Now I'm officially pissed.
 
Family Share Account WARNING

SteveM8 said:
I got two phones. One for me and one for my wife. We are transferring from Verizon and I plugged mine in to my macbook pro and fired up Itunes. Went thorugh the screens, chose the family plan and that I wanted to activate more than one phone. After 10 minutes it gave a message that they needed more time. No other options to plug in phone#2 so I plugged it in anyway and went through the same process.

Same thing. 2 hours later the phones are not activated and they are useless. I called AT&T and they said they are getting a ton of complaints but have no idea why this is happening! She also told me I created TWO family plan accts at $100 each!

I told her I wanted one and both phones to be on it. After 90 minutes on the phone (I am still on the phone with her, on hold) she said they can merge it to one acct, but as far as the activation goes, she has no idea. She called Apple and they had no idea. I guess we just have to wait 24 hours!

WHAT A JOKE
Click to expand...

Pretty much the same happened to me. I ended up creating 2 family talk accounts.

The only differences are that one of my phones activated within 5 minutes and the other is going on 26 hours now.

Also I called att several times. The first time I was told by a very nice girl that two accounts had been created and that they could be merged but not until the second account was activated. After about 6 hours I called again and was told that I would have to cancel the 2nd (unactivated) account asked how to do this and was told that I would have to wait 60 (SIXTY) days before I could cancel the account. I said that was unacceptable. I was told that I should not have activated both phones until the first phone had been fully activated. I told her that there was nothing in the directions to tat effect at all and I should not be penalized. She said that the only way to cancell it faster would be to return both phones to Apple and stay with Verizon. I asked to speak with her supervisor. The supervisor spouted out the same crap. I then asked her for my complete understanding "Let me get this straight, ATT does not want me as a customer because I activated two phones with them incorrectly?" she said YES. We hung up and called Apple. Apple said that we should go to an ATT store in the morning and see if someone could help us there face to face. And if that did not work to come back to the store and they would help us fix the situation.

At about the 13 hour when were just about to go to the ATT store I received a call from ATT on the old phone for the number still pending activation with att. The lady there told me that verizon claimed the account number I entered was incorrect. This is the same account number that worked for the first phone, mind you. We verified everything and she put me on hold and came back and said that everything went through ok with Verizon and my phone should be activated within 3 hours. I then told her of my experience with the att call I had in the the middle of the night and she was shocked to hear the story. She said she never should of told us that.

At any rate it has been way longer than 3 hours and the 2nd phone is still not activated.

This whole experience sucks. The directions for setting up two iPhones on a family share plan are completely lacking and that is Apple's fault. ATT however is a horrible company to do business with. And I blame ATT for being completely unprepared for this.

Let this be a warning to anyone setting up a Family Talk plan. Set up the first phone first completely before trying to activate the second phone. :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad:
 
Aniej said:
24hrs... umm I am on 28 hours.

Please confirm if anyone else has had this told to them:

Your activation is in progress, but there is a problem.We must activate a feature, according to AT&T it is called 1apl or 1appl, that enables the web capabilities and until then the activation will not go through. They have placed the activation on hold until the feature is able to be enabled by AT&T technical team. So following the 24 hour wait, they have asked me to wait an additional 6 hours. I am at a level of anger and frustration I have never experienced before. It is like dealing with a cable company, airline, and IRS all wrapped into one big kick in the...
Click to expand...

Yes I was told this about 1130am today. They referred to it as mnv3 and then I was given a different number to call to have it enabled. I called and the person who answered immediately (ATT) had no clue.

I was activated at 1130 and still have no service both inbound or out.
 
First of all, thanks to all here for the info and moral support, it's made my 22 hour iPhone activation adventure bearable.

Folks, it you've received your "order number" email and are still waiting on your activation email, call the 877 800 3701 number, and choose option 3 for a status check. You'll enter your order number and get an automated response. If there's something holding up your activation, you'll be transferred to a live rep who can manually activate your phone.

My wife & I are long-time Cingular/AT&T customers with a family plan. We picked up a pair of iPhones at the Raleigh Apple store last night (in and out in 5 minutes) and have been trying to get them activated since around midnight EST. We had some problems with our account (a corporate account flag, no idea where that came from) that an AT&T rep helped us iron out, at which point we got the "processing activation" email from the iTunes store. Then nothing until about 3:00 this afternoon, when we both received the "order number" emails within minutes of eachother. A couple of hours later, my wife got the final activation email, unlocked her phone, and there was much rejoicing. While I waited. And waited. After about 4 hours, I stumbled across ther 800 3701 number here and gave it a call. Come to find out, AT&T needs additional account information to activate my line. Would've been nice of them to you know, send me an email to that effect, rather then having to call and find out. But whatever. After a few minutes on the phone with the rep, she manually activate my phone and all is well.

So the moral of the story is, if you've gotten your order number, and you've been waiting for hours to get your activation, give 'em a call. They CAN straighten it out.
 
27 hours and counting...

Just got off the phone with (877) 419-4500, after going by the AT&T store. The person I spoke to checked (again) our account and said that there was a conflicting feature on it, she (supposedly) removed the feature and added the iPhone data plans to the account... still not active, but she mentioned to give it a little bit of time.

At this point, I think something is just woefully wrong with this activation process... dropping by the local Apple store and seeing many people happily playing with their new iPhones makes me think that we've just fallen through the cracks somehow.

rob.
 
I'm at the 25 hour mark as the owner of two iBricks.

Five calls to the Activation Hotline, three times hung up on by AT&T reps or because they left me on hold so long their monitoring system dumped me back to the root menu.

Actually went into the local AT&T store to see if they were willing to help -- they're useless and handed me their phone to call the toll-free number for a 6th time.

Finally called and got an offshore fellow at AT&T who acted liked he was real-time translating what I was saying in a Berlitz English dictionary -- I asked him to kindly kill my activation in queue so I could start over. Didn't understand a word of what I said then tried dumping me back in the Activation Hotline queue but told me it was so backed up I should just call later.

Is this the type of service $1384 buys someone nowadays? Shoot, AT&T should take a page from the JetBlue playbook about how to save face after a service disaster. Here's s a start:

#1 -- No rep transfers a customer or puts a customer on hold EVER, PERIOD. If they need to talk about something they can do it with the customer on the line. There are no secrets here, other than AT&T's terribly dysfunctional service.
 
We tried to activate my wife's phone under a Family Talk plan last night, under the assumption that as soon as her phone was active we would add mine to the account. 24 hours and numerous support calls later, we were stuck with two iBricks.

I decided to just try activating my phone separately, reasoning that we could cancel the pending activation on hers if mine went through. It took thirty seconds to activate. So anyone telling you that you just need to "wait until the backlog of orders is processed" is feeding you a line of ******** -- you could probably get through it almost instantly just by canceling your pending request and starting over.

Of course, now we're on hold about canceling the earlier request, so who knows if this will turn out to be worth it...
 
sdotbailey said:
He said that I can insert the new SIM card from this morning start over as a brand new customer to AT&T without porting a number. I did it and the process took all of 4 minutes. I'm up and running right now, syncing the phone with calendar/contacts.
Click to expand...

4 minutes??? I was not one that tried to activate my phone last night. I started the activation process 3 hours ago. Still nothing! Has anyone else been waiting that did not start activating their phone last night?
 
I'm starting to believe nobody has a clue at AT&T. The reps have been pretty forth coming to the fact that Apple left them in the dark until about 2 days before the launch; and given Apple's level of secrecy.

-mark
 
Does the activation e-mail come from AT&T or Apple?

I got my WebOrder # and talked to a CSR and both say my phone is activated but iTunes doesn't recognize that it is. So I'm guessing I just need that e-mail right?

28 hours here...
 
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