topic Re: iphone activation not working after switching carrier in Get Support

iphone activation not working after switching carrier

phonestuff — Wed, 05 Jan 2022 13:05:01 GMT

I called Telus this morning and they contacted your tech support to get working on this problem, but I also wanted to write it up here too. After almost 24 hours my phone is not activating with the new sim card. Even tried a full restore through itunes and it still doesn't work. The message on the phone is: "Your iPhone could not be activated because the activation server is temporarily unavailable. Try connecting your iPhone to iTunes to activate it, or try again in a couple of minutes." After hitting the try again button it says it's activating and may take a few minutes but then goes right back to the same screen. When I plug it into itunes now a message pops up that says: "The iPhone "iPhone" could not be activated because the activation information was invalid. Please try again later". There's an ok button and when pressed nothing happens.

Re: iphone activation not working after switching carrier

GinYVR — Fri, 22 Nov 2019 15:47:07 GMT

@phonestuff Connect your iPhone to a wifi network so it can access the activation server.

Re: iphone activation not working after switching carrier

geopublic — Fri, 22 Nov 2019 15:48:03 GMT

@phonestuff Was your iPhone purchased through Telus?

Re: iphone activation not working after switching carrier

phonestuff — Fri, 22 Nov 2019 15:51:16 GMT

it is connected to wifi

Re: iphone activation not working after switching carrier

phonestuff — Fri, 22 Nov 2019 15:52:09 GMT

no, sasktel, got them to unlock it, did that not get to apple?

Re: iphone activation not working after switching carrier

geopublic — Fri, 22 Nov 2019 15:55:40 GMT

@phonestuff Do you have access to another WIFI connection to try? In rare occasions depending on how a router is configured for NAT and firewall it could be dropping some of the returning packets.

Re: iphone activation not working after switching carrier

ecowen — Fri, 22 Nov 2019 15:59:53 GMT

After contacting Apple Support, I was sent to an Apple Tech at our local London Drugs store. He did a factory reset and now my iphone works fine.

Re: iphone activation not working after switching carrier

phonestuff — Fri, 22 Nov 2019 16:03:55 GMT

Ok I'll try that. Got this all set up at london drugs too so maybe that one doesn't have an apple tech? Their tech guy there didn't know what was going on and told me to restore it.

Re: iphone activation not working after switching carrier

phonestuff — Fri, 22 Nov 2019 16:04:48 GMT

No not nearby, but it was connected to two different wifis at sasktel and london drugs yesterday and same problem

Re: iphone activation not working after switching carrier

ecowen — Fri, 22 Nov 2019 16:05:41 GMT

I think it was just coincidence that the tech at our London Drugs was also an Apple Tech. I was sent there because it was closer than the Apple Store.

Re: iphone activation not working after switching carrier

GinYVR — Fri, 22 Nov 2019 16:37:18 GMT

@phonestuffYou need an active connection either wifi or data in order for your phone to connect to Apple's activation servers.

Re: iphone activation not working after switching carrier

phonestuff — Fri, 22 Nov 2019 18:43:02 GMT

I bought it secondhand from somebody and it was a phone locked to Sasktel. I got it unlocked and they said that all went as its supposed to.

Re: iphone activation not working after switching carrier

phonestuff — Fri, 22 Nov 2019 18:43:40 GMT

It's connected to my wifi at home, still same problem.

Re: iphone activation not working after switching carrier

Dunkman — Fri, 22 Nov 2019 18:57:36 GMT

@phonestuff

Is it possible the phone got blacklisted? You can check the website.

https://www.devicecheck.ca/check-status-device-canada/

Re: iphone activation not working after switching carrier

88cranston — Fri, 22 Nov 2019 19:40:28 GMT

@Dunkman wrote:
@phonestuff
Is it possible the phone got blacklisted? You can check the website.
https://www.devicecheck.ca/check-status-device-canada/

Assuming the phone was unlocked free from SaskTel, I do believe SaskTel would verify black list and for any money owing on the account before they unlocked it. But I find the money owing "may" not be linked to the phone but the SIM or the customer named in the contract.

Re: iphone activation not working after switching carrier

88cranston — Fri, 22 Nov 2019 19:42:40 GMT

You can try to hook up phone to a computer running iTunes and do a full reset. The last screen of the reset will say....congratulations your iphone is unlocked.....as there will be a connection to Apple during the reset.

Re: iphone activation not working after switching carrier

phonestuff — Fri, 22 Nov 2019 23:02:15 GMT

No, turns out I just needed a new phone. Got one now. Everything's working except now somebody suspended my account because it says I requested it. I did not. How do I reactivate?

Re: iphone activation not working after switching carrier

computergeek541 — Fri, 22 Nov 2019 23:35:51 GMT

@phonestuff wrote:
I called Telus this morning and they contacted your tech support to get working on this problem, but I also wanted to write it up here too. After almost 24 hours my phone is not activating with the new sim card. Even tried a full restore through itunes and it still doesn't work. The message on the phone is: "Your iPhone could not be activated because the activation server is temporarily unavailable. Try connecting your iPhone to iTunes to activate it, or try again in a couple of minutes." After hitting the try again button it says it's activating and may take a few minutes but then goes right back to the same screen. When I plug it into itunes now a message pops up that says: "The iPhone "iPhone" could not be activated because the activation information was invalid. Please try again later". There's an ok button and when pressed nothing happens.

As to the question if this iPhone device is locked to Telus, a Telus-locked iPhone device would work fine at Public Mobile.

An activation server issue does sound like an issue at Apple's end. It's good that you were able to get your service working.

Re: iphone activation not working after switching carrier

CalgaryBen — Fri, 22 Nov 2019 23:57:47 GMT

@phonestuff wrote:
It's connected to my wifi at home, still same problem.

Maybe moot now that you're in service on a different phone, but how long ago was the unlock done? Assuming it was done correctly, the job often stays in a queue and is sent to Apple's servers in batches, so it could be as quick as a few minutes or as long as several hours. SaskTel's volumes might not warrant as frequent a queue flush as some of the bigger carriers. Beyond a day, I'd conclude the unlock wasn't successfully submitted.

Re: iphone activation not working after switching carrier

88cranston — Sat, 23 Nov 2019 02:57:37 GMT

@CalgaryBen wrote:
@phonestuff wrote:
It's connected to my wifi at home, still same problem.
Maybe moot now that you're in service on a different phone, but how long ago was the unlock done? Assuming it was done correctly, the job often stays in a queue and is sent to Apple's servers in batches, so it could be as quick as a few minutes or as long as several hours. SaskTel's volumes might not warrant as frequent a queue flush as some of the bigger carriers. Beyond a day, I'd conclude the unlock wasn't successfully submitted.

Check here.

Enter imei number and it will show unlocked or what carrier it is locked to.