iPhone 3GS Activation delay...

[blane64]

I am a new iPhone user, coming over from at BB 8310. Well, with great anticipation I drove home over lunch after my son notified me that "The Package" had been delivered....I hooked it up, plugged into iTunes....and got at least part-way through the activation sequence, and got a message that the server was very busy, and that within 48 hrs I should get an email that my new iPhone was activated.

Bummer.

anyone else getting this message?

 

[chobbs1]

Sorry to hear that happened. Once I got everything transferred to my new phone it seemed to be having a hard time finding a signal. So I turned the phone off and on again and it found the signal.

This is probably not related to you issue. But it couldn't hurt to try.

 

[DoubleM]

Hey, this might sound dumb, but mine wouldn't activate, i took it to the store, they just popped the sim card out and in again and it instantly worked, lol.

 

[JOEY NEAT]

I had the same problem, called AT&T, they made sure I had the Iphone plan, took the Sim card out of my Blackberry (must be a 3G sim) and put it in the Iphone 3Gs and it worked fine!

 

[Notlaw]

I'm having a problem thats kind of the same.
Mine just says Waiting for Activation This may take some time.

I can sync it to Itunes and mess with the apps on it but it has no signal so i can't make any calls.

 

[osensnolf]

I've got the phone activated via iTunes but the data plan is still not working. The phone says No Service. iTunes does not ask me to do anything else. What am I missing. I know i do not need to call ATT but I do not have an option to do anything else.

All of you have gone through this before so please provide some wisdom.

Thank you in advance.

 

[Noonan]

I know someone who was waiting for it to activate. They ended up waiting around 3 hours, I told them to call AT&T. She called me from the iPhone about 10 minutes later so I guess they helped her out.

Blane64-
Not to hijack your thread but I am waiting for my iPhone to arrive. I have an 8310 right now as well and I am just curious to know if the 3GS comes with a new sim card or not?

Thanks

 

[osensnolf]

Yes, it does come with a new one. I can put my old SIM in the iPhone and get voice service but not data. I'm using WiFi right now.

 

[blane64]

Update:
Thanks for all the ideas, folks....

I called the "helpful" tech support at ATT, and he made a call to the Activation Center, and they said, "Be patient, it may take up to 7 hrs." Well, I am glad I decided to stop at the ATT store on the way home. Turns out I needed a new SIM card, a 3G SIM. I had first tried my SIM from my BB 8310, and it gave me an error, so I put the SIM that came with the iPhone back in, and started the activation process, and then got stuck as described above. The girl at the ATT store said, "Oh yes, you need to use your old SIM", but then found out I had an old Cingular, non-3G. As soon as she popped in the new SIM, I was good to go. I did have some trouble getting 3G data to work, but a re-boot fixed that.

Hope the update helps someone else out there.

bl

 

[Dyvim]

12 hours and in and still waiting for AT&T to activate my new SIM. Tried ejecting the SIM and rebooting the device several times but no dice. But swapping the SIM from my previous phone works for now, I would prefer that AT&T activate my new SIM like they're supposed to.

 

[miamitreo]

I had some of the same issues coming from a bb 8310 w/ a 3g sim. I was told to use my bb sim because i didnt get a signal. Well it worked for about 2-3 hrs then BAM!! No service. So i had to do a hard reset/restore and put the original sim back in that came with the 3gS.

 

[Dyvim]

Took 18 hours but finally activated. My old SIM went to No Service and my new SIM went live.

Now I just need ultrasn0w to unlock my old 3G so I can gift it without the recipient having to sign a 2 year contract.

 

[Behshad]

Call AT&T and they can activate it over the phone. It takes less than 2 minutes.

 

[ultrasn0w]

I had the same problem. waiting from last 13hrs

 

[buirus]

Strange, we were able to activate my wife's 3gs in within 5 mins of synching with itunes...

 

[DRLyman]

I waited for about 10 minutes and it was not activated. I turned the phone off and back on and it was back to normal. Might be worth a shot if you haven't done that already.

 

[MikeDVB]

Took 18 hours but finally activated. My old SIM went to No Service and my new SIM went live.

Now I just need ultrasn0w to unlock my old 3G so I can gift it without the recipient having to sign a 2 year contract.

You can gift it without them needing a 2 year contract - the only thing an unlock will do is allow them to use it on a network other than AT&T.

 

[blane64]

Well, here is an update to my update....for whatever it is worth.

I woke up Sunday morning, and the "No Service". I did all the usual tricks like reboot, pull the SIM, etc....No joy.

So, I called the friendly customer service rep, and it turns out that the current SIM card (which was my new SIM issued by the ATT store) had been deactivated when the activation was finally executed by Apple, 36 hrs after I tried to activate on Friday. I needed the SIM that had come in the iPhone, but it had been removed at the store....So, I had to drive to the ATT store again.

So, part of the problem was my impatience, but that was coupled with the fact that it took them about 40+ hrs to activate the phone.

Hope this helps someone out there.

bl