I called thw magic number and 20 minutes later im sending this message via i phone yippie
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iPhone Activation Issues
- Thread starter iamhammill
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I called thw magic number and 20 minutes later im sending this message via i phone yippie
Wow. I mean, wow.
It's been incredibly enlightening (albeit in a sad way) to read through this thread and realize the scope of the issues involved in what should have been a simple process.
My saga lasted a good 40 hours, many of those on the phone with various people of varying aptitude.
# of calls to 4500: 10
# of calls to 3701: 4
Results: nada.
I had a legacy AT&T account from before Cingular, and I knew I'd be having to upgrade. What amazed me was how many different excuses I received from people indicating why they couldn't make my phone work:
- "Your account is still blue. We can only handle orange accounts. The blue account center is closed." (apparently a total lie)
- "You need to pay your bill" (it was paid up)
- "You need to turn your phone off for an hour to let the memory clear."
- "I've fixed your account! You're on your way! All you need to do now is wait 24-48 hours for it to work." (They didn't fix anything. I only know that because in lieu of waiting, I kept calling back.)
Finally, someone gave me a NEW number-- 866-801-3600. The woman there was freaking IRATE at the idiots at the other numbers. She immediately credited my account for a month's service, and offered to wait on the 3701 line for an hour with me. I let her off the hook. She also spent a great deal of time documenting my experience with previous agents and sighing heavily as my tale of woe unfolded.
All told, I returned once again to 3701 and got it pushed through. I'm active now and loving it. In my experience, if your account isn't all set, 3701 won't be able to help, even if they don't know that. Try 3600-- they appear to be more adept and there's no waiting.
Bottom line-- when they tell you to "wait a while and try again later," tell them no. The process was designed to have you up and running in a matter of minutes, and as most of these success posts demonstrate, it wasn't computer congestion but agent stupidity that clogged the process.
Good luck!
It's been incredibly enlightening (albeit in a sad way) to read through this thread and realize the scope of the issues involved in what should have been a simple process.
My saga lasted a good 40 hours, many of those on the phone with various people of varying aptitude.
# of calls to 4500: 10
# of calls to 3701: 4
Results: nada.
I had a legacy AT&T account from before Cingular, and I knew I'd be having to upgrade. What amazed me was how many different excuses I received from people indicating why they couldn't make my phone work:
- "Your account is still blue. We can only handle orange accounts. The blue account center is closed." (apparently a total lie)
- "You need to pay your bill" (it was paid up)
- "You need to turn your phone off for an hour to let the memory clear."
- "I've fixed your account! You're on your way! All you need to do now is wait 24-48 hours for it to work." (They didn't fix anything. I only know that because in lieu of waiting, I kept calling back.)
Finally, someone gave me a NEW number-- 866-801-3600. The woman there was freaking IRATE at the idiots at the other numbers. She immediately credited my account for a month's service, and offered to wait on the 3701 line for an hour with me. I let her off the hook. She also spent a great deal of time documenting my experience with previous agents and sighing heavily as my tale of woe unfolded.
All told, I returned once again to 3701 and got it pushed through. I'm active now and loving it. In my experience, if your account isn't all set, 3701 won't be able to help, even if they don't know that. Try 3600-- they appear to be more adept and there's no waiting.
Bottom line-- when they tell you to "wait a while and try again later," tell them no. The process was designed to have you up and running in a matter of minutes, and as most of these success posts demonstrate, it wasn't computer congestion but agent stupidity that clogged the process.
Good luck!
canceling activation is the way to go
add me to the list of people who found immediate success by canceling the initial activation and starting over w/o porting.
i had no luck getting a human being at the 3701 number. here's what i did:
call 877 419 4500. you get a human immediately. this person kept me on hold while he contacted the porting department and cancelled my port request. that took about 4 minutes. then, he connected me to another department to cancel my initial activation. i was on hold for about 20 minutes, but the rep knew what i was talking about and helped me out immediately thereafter. the cancelation email came to my account within seconds, and though he told me to wait an hour, i restarted the activation and had service within three minutes.
fwiw, both CSRs i spoke to asked me for my web order number, but the first was able to find me with my ssn and the second found me through first/last name.
now lets see what happens when i try to port by phone.
good luck to all.
add me to the list of people who found immediate success by canceling the initial activation and starting over w/o porting.
i had no luck getting a human being at the 3701 number. here's what i did:
call 877 419 4500. you get a human immediately. this person kept me on hold while he contacted the porting department and cancelled my port request. that took about 4 minutes. then, he connected me to another department to cancel my initial activation. i was on hold for about 20 minutes, but the rep knew what i was talking about and helped me out immediately thereafter. the cancelation email came to my account within seconds, and though he told me to wait an hour, i restarted the activation and had service within three minutes.
fwiw, both CSRs i spoke to asked me for my web order number, but the first was able to find me with my ssn and the second found me through first/last name.
now lets see what happens when i try to port by phone.
good luck to all.
The (Happy) End of the Story
After waiting overnight, I awoke to NO activation email and the same ol' iBrick.
I went to the AT&T store where I bought the phone. I explained the situation. They said, "Everything looks fine, your account is activated." I said, "Um, no."
They showed the number as ported and the phone as activated. Yet nothing was working. I never received an activation completed email.
So, I asked them to give me a new sim. After much consultation and grumbling, they did. I went home, replaced the old sim with the new one, stepped through the activation process, this time asking for a new phone number. And... hit the dreaded "Your activation will take more time..."
And it did. But not very much more time: maybe half an hour. Thereafter I was happily syncing, making phone calls, browsing the web on my home wifi, tra la la. The new machine, j'adore!
I then traipsed BACK to the AT&T store to ensure that they cancel the number that was supposed to be ported, and that I not be charged for a double activation or early termination. I was assured that now all was well, that my account showed (1) line -- the new number -- and I was good to go.
My advice for anyone stuck in activation limbo: bite the bullet and get a new number. I would bet that the vast majority of the people on this forum having trouble were trying to port from a pre-existing wireless number.
Frankly, I wasn't particularly attached to my old number, and I don't mind getting to be selective about who gets hold of the new one!
After waiting overnight, I awoke to NO activation email and the same ol' iBrick.
I went to the AT&T store where I bought the phone. I explained the situation. They said, "Everything looks fine, your account is activated." I said, "Um, no."
They showed the number as ported and the phone as activated. Yet nothing was working. I never received an activation completed email.
So, I asked them to give me a new sim. After much consultation and grumbling, they did. I went home, replaced the old sim with the new one, stepped through the activation process, this time asking for a new phone number. And... hit the dreaded "Your activation will take more time..."
And it did. But not very much more time: maybe half an hour. Thereafter I was happily syncing, making phone calls, browsing the web on my home wifi, tra la la. The new machine, j'adore!
I then traipsed BACK to the AT&T store to ensure that they cancel the number that was supposed to be ported, and that I not be charged for a double activation or early termination. I was assured that now all was well, that my account showed (1) line -- the new number -- and I was good to go.
My advice for anyone stuck in activation limbo: bite the bullet and get a new number. I would bet that the vast majority of the people on this forum having trouble were trying to port from a pre-existing wireless number.
Frankly, I wasn't particularly attached to my old number, and I don't mind getting to be selective about who gets hold of the new one!
I got the same advice from a rep on the phone. Went to the AT&T store (471 Broadway in SoHo) and my "agent" said they don't have them (even though the rep on the phone said they do) and that I need to go to Apple. I saw the agent right next to him hand one over to another customer! My agent insisted that it won't do any good. I put up a stink and didn't leave until I got one. This cancelled my 2nd iPhone activation in iTuens which was a mess and started me all over again. It took 6 minutes to activate my 2nd iPhone - after my first iPhone activation was already established which took all weekend.
The AT&T store agent admitted to not knowing anything, so make sure you insist on a new sim card--- ONLY IF A REP TELLS YOU TO DO SO.
Activation Progress: A couple tips
A couple tips that I picked up from talking to a very helpful CSR at AT&T/Cingular:
- If you have a FAN# (corp. discount) on an individual account, this is a problem. Part of the iTunes activation process is to change your FAN# (if you have one) to a "dummy" FAN# for the line you're using for the iPhone. This is later supposed to be fixed, but somehow in the process, it didn't happen on my account.
- Certain rate plans don't qualify for the iPhone, and even if you chose one that did during activation, it might not have been added to your account. You need to make sure that you have a voice rate plan *for the iPhone*.
- The iPhone data plan has to be on the account (obviously). Even though I went through the activation process, this didn't happen either.
- Certain other things need to match (billing zip code on CC to where your account is, etc.)
If you have a corporate discount plan, the people at the regular # can't deal with them - they transfer you somewhere else. I don't know how to get into that queue directly, but you can probably ask to be transfered to business services for iPhone activations and end up in the right place.
Until all these things are true, the activation will not be submitted to Apple - they just sit on AT&T's side. Once they're correct, they are sent over to the Apple side for activation. This can take some time (it's been an hour and I still haven't gotten activated), but it's progress.
Hope this helps someone else.
A couple tips that I picked up from talking to a very helpful CSR at AT&T/Cingular:
- If you have a FAN# (corp. discount) on an individual account, this is a problem. Part of the iTunes activation process is to change your FAN# (if you have one) to a "dummy" FAN# for the line you're using for the iPhone. This is later supposed to be fixed, but somehow in the process, it didn't happen on my account.
- Certain rate plans don't qualify for the iPhone, and even if you chose one that did during activation, it might not have been added to your account. You need to make sure that you have a voice rate plan *for the iPhone*.
- The iPhone data plan has to be on the account (obviously). Even though I went through the activation process, this didn't happen either.
- Certain other things need to match (billing zip code on CC to where your account is, etc.)
If you have a corporate discount plan, the people at the regular # can't deal with them - they transfer you somewhere else. I don't know how to get into that queue directly, but you can probably ask to be transfered to business services for iPhone activations and end up in the right place.
Until all these things are true, the activation will not be submitted to Apple - they just sit on AT&T's side. Once they're correct, they are sent over to the Apple side for activation. This can take some time (it's been an hour and I still haven't gotten activated), but it's progress.
Hope this helps someone else.
Success!!!!
RIGHT!
Its alive and kicking. Was on the 3701 number for about 3.5 hours this morning until they found out a glitch had held me up. they fixed a glitch (basically, pressed a switch) and BANG, there it is.
i waited about 42 hours in total, been absent whilst eating. my friend who i was eating with wanted one, and we ran to the apple store where she picked one up and i yakked with an apple dude for a few. come to find out, she has some strange AT&T account thats tied in with a bumfu** local phone company, that does not accept iPhone service yet and has no plans to. shes really pisse'.
good luck if youre still having problems. my advice is to call 877-800-3701 and bug the hell out of them until they flip you on!
Cheers.
RIGHT!
Its alive and kicking. Was on the 3701 number for about 3.5 hours this morning until they found out a glitch had held me up. they fixed a glitch (basically, pressed a switch) and BANG, there it is.
i waited about 42 hours in total, been absent whilst eating. my friend who i was eating with wanted one, and we ran to the apple store where she picked one up and i yakked with an apple dude for a few. come to find out, she has some strange AT&T account thats tied in with a bumfu** local phone company, that does not accept iPhone service yet and has no plans to. shes really pisse'.
good luck if youre still having problems. my advice is to call 877-800-3701 and bug the hell out of them until they flip you on!
Cheers.
numbers
I had the best luck with the 877-419-4500 number.
I called this about 6 times in the past 32 hours, 4 of which provided me with substantial progress (including the magical call that activated BOTH phones while on the line with him). Twice I got BS answers and not given solid answers so I just called back and got better trained help. The longest I had to wait was 2 rings! NO PIANO MUSIC!
Oh and if anyone says the port office is closed on weekends, this 4500 number will contact them directly for you.
Good luck!
I had the best luck with the 877-419-4500 number.
I called this about 6 times in the past 32 hours, 4 of which provided me with substantial progress (including the magical call that activated BOTH phones while on the line with him). Twice I got BS answers and not given solid answers so I just called back and got better trained help. The longest I had to wait was 2 rings! NO PIANO MUSIC!
Oh and if anyone says the port office is closed on weekends, this 4500 number will contact them directly for you.
Good luck!
I'm still waiting: 47 hrs.
Wife has been using hers since yesterday. Needless to say I'm pissed. I've called every number (including 3701) and they say "just wait". When I call into the automated system with my "order number" it says my phone is activated. What a complete waste of time to wait in line for one.
Wife has been using hers since yesterday. Needless to say I'm pissed. I've called every number (including 3701) and they say "just wait". When I call into the automated system with my "order number" it says my phone is activated. What a complete waste of time to wait in line for one.
After waiting close to 40 hours
I finally get this email....
We're sorry. AT&T has identified a problem with the information you provided.
For more information, call 877-800-3701.
What crap, I've been a paying Cingular, non-business, customer for 5 years. I can't call your friggin number until tomorrow because you deactivated my old cell phone.
I finally get this email....
We're sorry. AT&T has identified a problem with the information you provided.
For more information, call 877-800-3701.
What crap, I've been a paying Cingular, non-business, customer for 5 years. I can't call your friggin number until tomorrow because you deactivated my old cell phone.
Okay...tried activation with the new SIM card per AT&T recommendation, no dice. Utterly pissed, I went to return the iPhone for a refund, so I went back to the Apple Store at Sagemore in Marlton, NJ. However, when I went in, I decided to give it one last try with the Genius Bar. I explained the issue, and the genius waited on the phone for about 45 minutes. After doing everything over the phone, he said the phone should be activated within an hour and a half. The genius was quick to blame the process on AT&T.
I went to dinner, and came in about 2 hours later, and saw an email saying that AT&T was transferring the number, and that I should be able to make outbound calls and use the phone. However, when I sync with iTunes, I still receive the "Your activation requires additional time to repeat." I called one of the numbers provided on the forum (thanks guys!) and got a live rep. He confirmed that the SIM card was indeed activated. In fact, he said I could take the SIM out and put it in any other phone and I would be able to place calls. However, he said that the iTunes activation is severely backed up and it is unable to unlock the phone. Unlike the Apple genius, he was very conscientious of his words. He said that its not an Apple problem, or an AT&T problem, and that they share responsibility as it is a joint venture. He sounded much more professional than the genius and was much more helpful as well.
So, as a lot of folks on the forum initially said, this is Apple's problem, not AT&T. Right now, I'm on hold in the queue to try and unlock my iPhone manually. We'll see what happens.
**** Apple. If this doesn't work after this, I'm taking it back. And you better believe I'm not paying some god damn restocking fee.
I went to dinner, and came in about 2 hours later, and saw an email saying that AT&T was transferring the number, and that I should be able to make outbound calls and use the phone. However, when I sync with iTunes, I still receive the "Your activation requires additional time to repeat." I called one of the numbers provided on the forum (thanks guys!) and got a live rep. He confirmed that the SIM card was indeed activated. In fact, he said I could take the SIM out and put it in any other phone and I would be able to place calls. However, he said that the iTunes activation is severely backed up and it is unable to unlock the phone. Unlike the Apple genius, he was very conscientious of his words. He said that its not an Apple problem, or an AT&T problem, and that they share responsibility as it is a joint venture. He sounded much more professional than the genius and was much more helpful as well.
So, as a lot of folks on the forum initially said, this is Apple's problem, not AT&T. Right now, I'm on hold in the queue to try and unlock my iPhone manually. We'll see what happens.
**** Apple. If this doesn't work after this, I'm taking it back. And you better believe I'm not paying some god damn restocking fee.
my iPhone has been activated!
I had to go into ATT and get a new SIM. Once I got that the process was extremely quick.
Does anyone know a working number for porting? 18888987865 doesn't work.
I had to go into ATT and get a new SIM. Once I got that the process was extremely quick.
Does anyone know a working number for porting? 18888987865 doesn't work.
yay, mine is activated too.
but now I'm faced with wifi problem
My iphone recognizes my router and connects to it, the wifi icon displays at the top bar. But as soon as I use Safari, it would switch back to Edge. I look under the wifi section in iphone setting, DHCP has an ip of 169.254.253.199 instead of of th usual 192.168.2.X
but now I'm faced with wifi problem
My iphone recognizes my router and connects to it, the wifi icon displays at the top bar. But as soon as I use Safari, it would switch back to Edge. I look under the wifi section in iphone setting, DHCP has an ip of 169.254.253.199 instead of of th usual 192.168.2.X
The customer service rep from the porting department gave me this number:
1-888-898-7685
I don't know if your number is a typo or you wrote it down incorrectly.
Call this number:
866-801-3600
After 38 hours of waiting, the most knowledgeable, nicest CSR woman in the world "updated" my account and i received a confirmation email in seconds.
I'm not posting this from my iPhone (its syncing) but it definitely works!
866-801-3600
After 38 hours of waiting, the most knowledgeable, nicest CSR woman in the world "updated" my account and i received a confirmation email in seconds.
I'm not posting this from my iPhone (its syncing) but it definitely works!
Okay, yet another rep tells me its AT&T, not Apple. I don't know what's going on at this point. I received the email saying the number is fully activated, still no dice. Any other ideas folks?
After 46 hours mine works
I went to the AT&T store and got another SIM. No issues with that--just ask. I put it in a restarted activation through iTunes and everything went exactly as it's supposed to. I was up and running within minutes.
NOTE: I had already tried this with my wife's SIM with no positive result.
I am a continuing AT&T customer with 3 phones on Family Plan and this is the primary phone.
As other have said before me, it is worth the wait. Don't let yourself get too frustrated. When it works it's quite qonderful. So far it comes dangerously close to living up to the hype. I've been running off WiFi (home network) since I started. Have not tried EDGE yet. Pictures good. Camera actually might be useable though not too high res. Music good. Video good. Web great. Interface VERY good.
Hang in.
I went to the AT&T store and got another SIM. No issues with that--just ask. I put it in a restarted activation through iTunes and everything went exactly as it's supposed to. I was up and running within minutes.
NOTE: I had already tried this with my wife's SIM with no positive result.
I am a continuing AT&T customer with 3 phones on Family Plan and this is the primary phone.
As other have said before me, it is worth the wait. Don't let yourself get too frustrated. When it works it's quite qonderful. So far it comes dangerously close to living up to the hype. I've been running off WiFi (home network) since I started. Have not tried EDGE yet. Pictures good. Camera actually might be useable though not too high res. Music good. Video good. Web great. Interface VERY good.
Hang in.
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.
That's what I did after 50 hours. I had only gotten the initial email.
Got a new sim and I was up and running within 60 seconds with no errors or wait.
I did the same thing... I canceled my Sprint port.. Then walked into the ATT store, told them my deal and they even recommended a new sim, before I even asked. I didn't have to show em my phone or anything. I walked out and went to the starbucks nextdoor and had my iPhone up and working in 10minutes!!
Happy ending here for me. Attempted activation of the phone at about 4:30 pm yesterday. It is now 8:00 pm.
Was on the phone with 877-800-3701 for over 2 hours after being on hold for only about 15 minutes. Ridiculous. Pretty much determined that my phone number (area code 908, porting from TMobile) couldn't be ported, that it was a New York number (wtf?????), and that I would have to go to an AT&T store tomorrow and get a new sim card.
I then called 877-419-4500 and they picked up immediately. Guy agreed that I would have to go to AT&T tomorrow. I told him to make a note that I wasn't paying an activation fee, and he didn't have a problem with that and did such.
About a little under an hour later and I'm doing work on my laptop in the other room... BAM! Email from Apple saying my number has been ported and that my phone now works. Huh? I go and look- sure enough, it works!
Friggin idiots on the phone.
I am loving this thing.
Was on the phone with 877-800-3701 for over 2 hours after being on hold for only about 15 minutes. Ridiculous. Pretty much determined that my phone number (area code 908, porting from TMobile) couldn't be ported, that it was a New York number (wtf?????), and that I would have to go to an AT&T store tomorrow and get a new sim card.
I then called 877-419-4500 and they picked up immediately. Guy agreed that I would have to go to AT&T tomorrow. I told him to make a note that I wasn't paying an activation fee, and he didn't have a problem with that and did such.
About a little under an hour later and I'm doing work on my laptop in the other room... BAM! Email from Apple saying my number has been ported and that my phone now works. Huh? I go and look- sure enough, it works!
Friggin idiots on the phone.
I am loving this thing.
I've been a lurker and following these developments...
Just wanted to say that I after 30 hours and tens of phone calls, I finally got somewhere with AT&T, who were clearly the problem in terms of my activation and I've been with AT&T/then Cingular/back to AT&T for five years. Their customer support has always sucked, so I'm giving Apple a pass on this weekend.
They're now manually pushing activations for anyone whose been waiting over 24 hours. Once they did that, the activation was damn near instantaneous.
Call 877-800-3701 with your six digit activation number and they should do it with you on the phone. Power off the iPhone before your call.
good luck,
KCG
p.s. For the folks pulling your hair out, it is going to be worth the wait. This will cut down the times I bring my computer home by well over half. Load times on WiFi are exemplary and definitely acceptable on EDGE. Much faster and obviously WAY more navigable than with Blackberry. Woo hoo!
Just wanted to say that I after 30 hours and tens of phone calls, I finally got somewhere with AT&T, who were clearly the problem in terms of my activation and I've been with AT&T/then Cingular/back to AT&T for five years. Their customer support has always sucked, so I'm giving Apple a pass on this weekend.
They're now manually pushing activations for anyone whose been waiting over 24 hours. Once they did that, the activation was damn near instantaneous.
Call 877-800-3701 with your six digit activation number and they should do it with you on the phone. Power off the iPhone before your call.
good luck,
KCG
p.s. For the folks pulling your hair out, it is going to be worth the wait. This will cut down the times I bring my computer home by well over half. Load times on WiFi are exemplary and definitely acceptable on EDGE. Much faster and obviously WAY more navigable than with Blackberry. Woo hoo!
Yeah im coming on 30 hours now and I feel that this isn't going to ever resolve itself. Question, when you got the new sim and did this...you did the exact same thing you did the first time right? (registration wise)
woohoo, finally!!!!
I called the 877 419 4500 number, spoke to someone and explained that i had been waiting since friday to be activated, but had issues with mediamax, the fact that i was a blue customer, etc....
they took some additional information from me and needed to change my address. apparantly the fact that i had a p.o. box as the mailing address on my account may have been an issue......
=|
I called the 877 419 4500 number, spoke to someone and explained that i had been waiting since friday to be activated, but had issues with mediamax, the fact that i was a blue customer, etc....
they took some additional information from me and needed to change my address. apparantly the fact that i had a p.o. box as the mailing address on my account may have been an issue......
=|