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iPhone Activation Issues

Success

After just under 46 hours, a nice gentleman from Prince Edward Island got it done for us. We reached him at 877-800-3701. A nice gal at the Stamford Apple store gave us the number.
 
yes! i took it in the store i put my foot down and said i'm not leaving until this is resolved. anyway, they told me a special att rep would me before 12:30 pst. at 1:00 pst i was just about to call and complain that they didn't call me. i decided to plug my iphone into my macbook for the last time and IT WORKS!
FINALLY!
my stuff is syncing now.
 
I just returned from my Apple Store 1 hour away with my iphone. I live in an area where I have had cinguar service and phones. In fact I have a tower in my back yard. When I tried to activate my new phone I could not as it said service was not available in my area. However, I have had cingular phones here as have many others. So after several calls to AT&T and Apple I live in an area that has "partnered" service. Apparently AT&T does not like this and won;t provide me with service. If you live in a partnered area you must not spend more than 50% of your time on the phone in that area or AT&T will cancel you. So I have to return the phone to the Apple Store. Wow what a day and this was after returning my new MacBook pro for a Yellowish screen. Hope this saves someone else from being disappointed.
 
Ok, after nearly 43 hours I finally found a rep who could help me. When I called 877-419-4500, the rep was MOST helpful in recognizing that my old data plan, called Media Max, was still listed on my account. It seems that my account had both the iPhone data plan and the Media Max data plan listed, causing some sort of conflict. Unfortunately, the previous reps I spoke with did not notice this. He removed my Media Max and transferred me to the Synchronos dept (877.800.3701). He instructed me to tell them that I:

- Was transferred by AT&T iPhone activation support
- That there were conflicting features that Activation support had just removed
- That I was instructed to give them my order number for a manual push


We'll see what happens. The wait time is 60 minutes at this Synchronos. Dept.

There is a way to see for yourself if you have this specific conflict. If you log into the AT&T Wireless website and look at your plan details, you can see if both the Media Max plan and iPhone plan are listed together. Mine was.
 
Finally found my "problem". Well sad news is I will still have to wait till 11:30 tomorrow but the good news is my phone isn't activated is because the port of my old number was scheduled to be done tomorrow and after that I should be good to go.

Now why did it take me two days to finally find someone who was able to find me answer I have NO clue :(
 
44hrs and an ipaperweight...

I'm glad to see that the magic number is helping some as are the new sim card attempts. Too bad that even if i get my services ported to a new sim card, my billing code is still screwed up in the at&t system until customer care division reopens tomorrow. Sux that I have no option to do anything until tomorrow..

How the f*** does AT&T, on such an important weekend, allow an entire division to be completely void of staff considering they're the only division who can change an internal billing code?

By the time I can get that resolved I will be reaching the 60hrs mark...
 
ciscokidd said:
did everyones cellular service turn on right away after receiving the email from itunes for activation??? i'm still 2 hrs after activation happily still playing with the toy but no service (can't call or be called)

anyone else experience this?
Click to expand...

This is exactly what's happening to me. In some kind of activation limbo. I get a "Waiting for AT&T Activation" message whenever I start up the phone.
 
One more here for the getting a new sim card from the ATT store. 45 hours of waiting for them to get their crap figured out, and with the new sim, it only took 15 minutes to activate. Syncing now. Already received text messages and a call to my phone. So happy this is over.
 
Aniej said:
43 hours later I finally have a working iphone. If anyone has had it take longer than this please post and PM me. I would be very curious if it really took anyone longer.
Click to expand...


I'm at 44 hours and counting. No service, no activation. Nothing.

iTunes strikes again.
 
I am waiting at the "your activation requires additional time to complete." screen.
My question is, when you get the email confirmation, do you have to accept it to activate or is the confirmation just a receipt telling that activation is successful?
 
activated - after 40 hours

elgruga said:
Apple Insider has a 'workaround' for a specific number transfer problem - might be worth a look.....



http://www.appleinsider.com/article...ligible_mobile_numbers_to_att_and_iphone.html
Click to expand...

here were the issues why i believe i couldn't activate (besides shameful planing on at&t/apple's part):
  • i was on an old at&t plan
  • my area code was from a different market than my billing zip code

here's my sequence of events (over the course of 40 hours):
  • after waiting at the apple store for 4 hours tried to activate iphone with my at&t account as is (hurt)
  • on the advice of an att rep waited for activation email (hurt)
  • called att, updated plan off the old att to a new att plan (helped)
  • noticed my old business discount still showed up. left it alone (no effect)
  • swapped sim cards around (no effect)
  • on the advice of an att rep paid my att balance which wasn't even due until next week (no effect)
  • went to an att store got new sim card, had them call the relocation dept to assign sim card a new phone number that was in my billing zip code (helped)
  • armed with new sim card i connected my iphone to itunes. instead of saying "request takes time...blah blah blah...you'll get an email...", i was given the opportunity to enter all my info again. i entered all my info like before but used the new phone number i got from the relocation dept. my iphone was activated in less than 5 minutes.
i am thinking about porting a number but i will do that later. first priority was to get the phone activated. if your current area code and billing zip don't match and you want to keep your current number you could try what the link in the post i am replying to says.

after all that hassle even now that it is activated and sync'd my iphone has lost most of its appeal. maybe i'll grow to like it but i will never forget this experience.
 
OMG Success!

After over 43 hours, it finally works. When talking to the magic number in Canada, 877.800.3701, please ask them to check to see if you have MediaMax data plan listed. Its an old data plan and will cause a conflict with the iPhone data plan.

Something else interesting. Their computers would not update my plan with the "MMV2" SMS messaging service. however, this angel sent from heaven (knowledgable rep) told me that most other reps forget to tell you that you can still activate without it and then call Customer Care tomorrow to have it added separately. Otherwise, you will not activate. You have to give them permission to do that.

FINALLY. Good luck to all.
 
dshadownyc said:
I'm glad to see that the magic number is helping some as are the new sim card attempts. Too bad that even if i get my services ported to a new sim card, my billing code is still screwed up in the at&t system until customer care division reopens tomorrow. Sux that I have no option to do anything until tomorrow..

How the f*** does AT&T, on such an important weekend, allow an entire division to be completely void of staff considering they're the only division who can change an internal billing code?

By the time I can get that resolved I will be reaching the 60hrs mark...
Click to expand...

can't you just login into your at&t account online and change the zipcode? is it not the same?
 
Got mine working

So, after several calls over the last couple of days, I finally got a gal who told me that my ancient AT&T plan was on the "blue" side of the network, and the iPhone needs to be on the "orange" side.

I ended up going into he AT&T store nearby, and after a number of attempts, they managed to, effectively, "give me a new phone" (activated a SIM card without the phone). They also, after a few tries, got he computer to shove me over to the "blue" side.

By the time I got home, my ancient cell was turned off, but the iPhone wassn't working. A couple more calls to the "sync" department, and the iPhone came on - I got the magic email and everything.

Got my Wi-Fi on and everything.
 
Hallelujah! Getting a NEW SIM Card WORKS!!!

Hi,

My situation:

Existing AT&T Customer with business discount plan, blackberry pearl with unlimited BB data plan.

Started saturday, 3 AM with activation.
Saturday at 2 PM called AT&T for help.
Changed all my plan to get rid of Business Foundation ID/Number, get rid of BB data plan, etc. I updated my billing address in iTunes & AT&T to match up. I even got them to waive the $36 activation fee.
Still waited, and waited.
Sunday, tried using Old BB Pearl SIM Card. Went through activation - still required additional time (hell!).
Called AT&T, had 2nd Activation cancelled.
Inquired with AT&T Activation Support line (4500) about getting New SIM Card - was discourage by AT&T from doing it. Was told to just be patient and that the iTunes activation servers were just overloaded. Even though I argued with them that people with brand new AT&T accounts (without porting numbers from other providers), had no problem... that it seems like it account information was a little complicated or didn't match billing addresses between iTunes & AT&T, there was a problem... so I asked them - can I cancel the original request, get a new sim card and start over? "No - you would have to cancel your AT&T Account then" (********, AT&T!)

SO... After reading a couple of posts that stated success with going to an AT&T store & picking up a new SIM that was set with their Account Plan, I drove over. AT&T staff try to discourage me - replying skeptically when I lied to them that an AT&T phone rep told me to get a new SIM card. They also said that changing the SIM card in my iPhone would void my warranty - which I replied - whatever, just give me the new SIM card please. They updated my account for the New SIM card, and I drove back home.

VERY, VERY, VERY HAPPY TO REPORT I AM NOW ACTIVATED & SYNCING my iPHONE! The activation process took all of 5 minutes. :)

A NEW SIM WORKS!!!! :)

Activation Servers are NOT OVERLOADED - that is ********. The servers are BUGGY and can't handled business discount plans, ported numbers, etc.

AT&T - shame on you for lack of informed customer service, and discouragement at getting my problem resolved. :mad:

So, the only open question I have now is - if my original activation ever finally gets processed - what will happen to my currently working iPhone - and what the hell is AT&T going to have on their billing system?
 
what worked for me.

firstly i just wanted to say thanks to all the people replying in the thread, cause without it my brother and i wouldn't have got ours activated. we were one of the people whos account said "we need additional time to complete..."blah blah blah." heres how our situation worked and we got ours activated after about 12 hours.

we were previous att customers under a business account, so after waiting on the phone for 2 hrs, i got it taken care of. waited about 4 hours, nothing. called 3 different reps and heard 3 different stories.called the "iphone activation line,"it said they needed more information to process our order, and i never got through to a rep. it just kept sending me to voicemail. one rep i talked to even told me regardless of changing a business account to a personal, that number would never work and i would have to change it. i was following up on this thread all day trying things people were saying worked and finally found something. someone said they powered off their iphone, replaced the sim with one from their old phone, connected to itunes, and got an error message. then put the sim back and it worked. well this worked for my brother, but it was different for me. i was a lil hesistant to try it, but in the end it worked. the difference was when i put my old sim in my iphone, it took me to the beginning of the activation process in itunes. i put the sim from my iphone in my old blackberry and it wouldn't boot up. so i went through the whole activation process with itunes again, and it worked right away!

anyway, i hope this helps. i know people keep saying its worth the wait and its hard for you to imagine after waiting 24 hrs to activate, but personally it was for me. i've already forget all the trouble from yesterday. good luck everyone!
 
Chrysaor said:
I am waiting at the "your activation requires additional time to complete." screen.
My question is, when you get the email confirmation, do you have to accept it to activate or is the confirmation just a receipt telling that activation is successful?
Click to expand...

Just a receipt.
 
Preapproval Code???

Preapproval Code???

I've been waiting for 26 hours.

I wasn't an AT&T customer before, and I am NOT porting an existing number so it's basically a clean slate. Very simple I think.

After talking to two sweet-old-granny types at the 4500 number who told me basically nothing, I called again asking them to check my status after giving them my info. The guy said I need to get a Preapproval Code from a local store. The store hours according to the hotline are 11-7, which is funny because the authorized store nearest me is already closed as of 5:30.

Do I need this code? I ask because I have not heard anyone mention at any point on this forum and I remember as being only an option during the iTunes 'activation'...

Thanks
 
The wait is over!

Well....after waiting 48+ I have visited an At&T store, and got a new sim card.
Got home, popped the bad boy in and I was activated within seconds. Absolutely painless, with no waiting time whatsoever. Go figure that.

I am an existing Cingular customer with three lines family plan. Something got botched the first time around or it could have been a bogus sim. Who knows.

Now I got my two up (me and wife) up an running and it's a beautiful thing. Certainly worth the wait but I wish they could have figured out the problems before hand. Good luck to all!!
 
Porting a number

I've seen this solution posted here before, but I wanted to confirm that it absolutely, unquestionably works.

If you are porting a number from another area code than the one you are in and you are getting rejected, do the following:

1 - Know the billing address zip code has NOTHING to do with why you are being rejected.

2 - Where it asks you if the billing address you entered is the same as where you will be using the phone the most, answer NO.

3 - Enter an address from the zip code where the number you are porting originates.

For example, I am in Arizona. My phone number is from NY. First time around, I entered my AZ billing address and checked "yes" for it being the address where I would use the phone the most. I was rejected in 4 hours.

Second time around, I used the same AZ billing address, but entered my old home address in NY as the place where I would be using the phone the most. It took 12 hours, but I received my approval and am now actively using the phone.

I know many people who are looking to port are getting new numbers and hoping to port later. THIS is an effective fix without the hassle.

Best of luck.

Thunder

PS - I know this is probably been posted a million times, but can someone just direct me to a link or a post where I can find out if I can transfer my Nextel sim (or the info on it) to the iphone? Or do I have to reenter every friggin name??? :)
 
May I also add that the very first time around, I was declined because my pre approval code was deemed invalid. Just leave that field blank and move on.
 
Apple is totally Clueless!

This iTunes activation is a total disaster.

Apple should have stayed out of the activation process period.

I can't visit a AT&T store until late tomorrow after work.

Thanks for screwing up my weekend Apple! You sucked big time on this one!:mad:
 
No Longer an iBrick!!

nate1003 said:
I waited in the queue since friday night, but finally got it working, this is how I did it. I called this number:

Apple activation support
877 419 4500

They picked up literally on the second ring. No voice tree, a REAL PERSON. She looked at my account, added 1 piece of info and took my callback number. She then waited on hold with the poeple at 877-800-3701 and called me back when she was off hold and they activated my phone in 5 minutes!

Good luck everyone!
Click to expand...

After about 40 hours of waiting this is the attack plan that finally got my iPhone working. nate1003 is my personal hero.
 
I called that apple activation support line and what a joke it was. They told me the same thing AT&T said....everything on your account looks fine, you just have to wait it out...how long, I cant tell you. :mad: :mad: :mad: Do you think I should just go get a new sim card?
 
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