FaceTime??? What gives it won't activate

[joekawasaki]

My phone now says Verizon on top next to 3G and Facetime activated. Haven't tried it yet though. Apparently Verizon is pushing out a fix.

 

[jb1dsl]

Mine is up and working as well

 

[Rene Ritchie]

Guys, we have the TiPb.com blog for a reason

How to fix the Facetime waiting for activation error:

How to fix FaceTime waiting for activation error on iPhone 4 | TiPb

 

[DoctorK]

Sorry to interject, but that article does not help most of us, who are still suffering the problem after trying those suggestions and more. I have logged about 5 hours on the phone with AppleCare and Verizon Tech Support. There is a problem with some non-former-Alltel Verizon customers who did an ESN swap. Engineers from both companies are looking into it.

 

[wcarlson40#IM]

Guys, we have the TiPb.com blog for a reason

How to fix the Facetime waiting for activation error:

How to fix FaceTime waiting for activation error on iPhone 4 | TiPb

Thanks Rene. It didn't work, though. I think there may be more than one problem going on here. I don't even get a "waiting for activation" message. I'll switch FaceTime on in the Phone settings menu, but nothing happens. When I go back to the same Phone settings menu, the slider for FaceTime is back in the Off setting (it won't stay On)...

I originally restored my new Verizon Iphone from an Ipod touch backup. Maybe that is my problem. I guess I'm going to wipe everything on my Iphone ( ) and try setting it up again as a new device.....

 

[DjDrew#IM]

make sure you are on wifi when trying to use it

 

[wcarlson40#IM]

Thanks, but of course we know we need wifi to use it (read beginning of thread).

Anyways, doing a hard reset and erasing everything, and then setting up a NEW device in iTunes (rather than restoring) seemed to fix everything. It was a big pain, and I lost a lot of settings and configurations, but FaceTime is working great now!

 

[DoctorK]

Another update, if anyone is still facing this issue...

I haven't heard back from AppleCare about the Apple/Verizon engineer pow-wow that was supposed to fix me. So I went to the local Apple store to swap out phones to see if the hardware was the problem. It didn't make a difference - FaceTime is still "waiting for activation." So the issue is definitely somewhere between Apple and Verizon. Because Verizon completely re-provisioned my entire service, I am thinking this is an Apple issue.

 

[DoctorK]

OK, my final update. FaceTime works today. While I was on hold with AppleCare, who was talking with a Verizon Tech person claiming that Apple was the problem, my "waiting for activation" message went away and FaceTime started working.

I don't know if it's related to the hardware swap from yesterday, if a Verizon or Apple engineer "flipped a switch" or whatever, but I'm grateful to the AppleCare guy for helping me out, and I'm glad to finally have access to all of the features of my phone.

 

[Jf15]

I love FaceTime but skype is so much more clear even over 3G vs wifi.