No Service on iPhone 6S "Not Activated"

[miriam_vdeen]

I activated my SIM card almost a week ago. It took about four days for Telus to finally contact me and say they were sad to see me go. I then removed my Telus SIM and put in my Public Mobile SIM thinking everything would have transferred over. I have not had service since then (over two full days ago). I have tried everything I can think of!

I completed my latest iPhone software update. Then I changed my APN settings. I tried resetting my network settings, but nothing. Changed my APN settings again, nothing. I have tried restarting my phone a few times.

I phoned Telus and confirmed that my phone is unlocked and that they have no holds on it (even though it should transfer regardless). I messaged the mods over 48 hours ago, but no response. 

I can still send and receive iMessages while on Wi-fi of course, but while I am away it just continually says No Service in the corner. When I restart my phone it pops up the message "iPhone is not Activated. Contact your carrier if this problem continues to occur."

Has anyone else had this problem? I am a piano teacher and need to contact parents regularly. I cannot do without my phone for too long.

[CalgaryBen]

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@Luddite wrote:

you may wish to organize Google Hangouts, or that from fongo.com. It provides free calling across Canada from wherever you are connected to wifi (or on cellular data). Even though I have never needed it in 4 years, it's my backup service for these situations.

Google Hangouts will do in a pinch!  I just don't like that it shows up as an unknown caller when calling out from an iPhone.

Fongo is OK for most applications/users, but it has its shortcomings that are worth mentioning.  For example it is unable to handoff when transitioning from WiFi to cellular or vice-versa (call gets dropped).  Fongo supports SMS, but not MMS.  Also, sending SMS from it costs money ($2.79/mo or $9.99/6 mo).  Being Canadian is good (choosing a Canadian number is possible), and it's possible to port in or out (but $25 for a port in either direction).

TextNow is a better choice unless you need to port a number (it's a US company and currently doesn't support porting of Canadian numbers).  They do offer Canadian area codes, which is nice.  Voice, SMS, and MMS are all supported and free, but tons of annoying ads everywhere.  To get rid of ads, it's about $40/year, which actually isn't too bad.  Oh, and seamless handoffs between WiFi and cellular data.

[Luddite]

@miriam_vdeen Pleased you overcame the problem. Just in case you may wish to organize Google Hangouts, or that from fongo.com. It provides free calling across Canada from wherever you are connected to wifi (or on cellular data). Even though I have never needed it in 4 years, it's my backup service for these situations.

If your phone service is crucial, peruse https://productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca/t5/Getting-Started/100-SERVICE/m-p/183753#M33693

[srlawren]

@CalgaryBen oh wow, I did'nt know about that iPhone Hangouts bug 😞  Sorry about that.

[CalgaryBen]

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@miriam_vdeen wrote:

I actually got on the phone with Apple Support. They recommended me resetting my network, which I already did a couple times on my own. All of a sudden it worked!

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Really glad you got it resolved!  Gotta hate those "just try this a few times" types of solutions, where nobody actually knows why it worked!  Thanks for sharing your ultimate "solution".

[miriam_vdeen]

Thanks everyone for your input! I actually got on the phone with Apple Support. They recommended me resetting my network, which I already did a couple times on my own. All of a sudden it worked! The tech support said it's possible that there was some kind of glitch happening and it just needed that extra restart - I have no idea. Not truly a solution, still a bit of a mystery to me, but I am happy my phone now has service regardless of what happened! Still no response from the mods.

[CalgaryBen]

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@srlawren wrote:

FYI Google Hangouts (on iPhone) and Hangouts Dialer (on Android) can do the same trick with outbound caller ID.

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Sweet!  Or not so sweet, yet... 

For me, in Google Hangouts --> Settings --> Phone number --> the "Outbound Caller ID" slider is disabled, and when trying to enable, it shows: "Enable Outbound Caller ID: Currently this option is not available on this device".  This, despite my phone number showing up under the "Verified phone" just above the Caller ID option. 

Just did some Googling (I was under the impression this wasn't available in Canada so I didn't pursue it further!)... turns out this is a bug in the iPhone version of Google Hangouts, that's been around since at least 2015 or 2016, and still hasn't been resolved in latest versions... I'm going to try a workaround and if it works, I'll add to the thread you referenced.

Edit/Update: The workaround suggested was to log into an Android device using your Google account, go to the Hangouts Dialer, and enable the Outbound Caller ID.  For those of us without an Android device, if you have a Windows PC, you can go to https://www.bluestacks.com/ and download/install BlueStacks (basically a Samsung Galaxy S8+ emulator) and then install Hangouts Dialer in there to enable the Outbound Caller ID.  After doing this, Hangouts on my iPhone did in fact have the Outbound Caller ID option enabled (looked promising!!!), but upon trying to dial a phone number, it shows "Outbound Caller ID Not Active: Outbound Caller ID for phone number (403) 8xx-xxxx has been disabled for security reasons. Your call will be placed from an unknown number. You may disable this feature if you no longer have access to the verified phone.  CANCEL | CALL ANYWAY".  So, it seems they're hiding caller ID on iPhones for "security reasons", and it seems this isn't high up on the priority list of things to fix... 

[srlawren]

@CalgaryBen FYI Google Hangouts (on iPhone) and Hangouts Dialer (on Android) can do the same trick with outbound caller ID.  You do need to verify your number ahead of time to turn it on (they send you a code via SMS), but then you can have it show you outgoing # when making calls over WiFi (or mobile data).  https://productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca/t5/Discussions/Using-PM-outside-Canada/m-p/146841/highli...

[CalgaryBen]

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@srlawren wrote:

any suggestions here?  Is this something iPhone-related that can be resolved, or more likely a PM account activation glitch?

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Yeah "No Service" usually points to a provisioning/activation issue (unless it's signal, but assuming all worked perfectly on Telus, then that can be ruled out).  Not much can be done on the device to troubleshoot/resolved, based on what's been described.

Although not helpful for @miriam_vdeen at this point, for new subscribers it's definitely a good idea to activate a new PM line with a temporary "throw-away" number, and then port over a line after everything is working.

As an aside (and unfortunately too late to help miriam_vdeen again) a recommendation for anyone prior to porting (iPhone and Android): download a free app called Voico. It's got a lot of annoying ads (which give you credits -- or I believe you can buy credits to avoid watching ads), but it's handy for making outgoing calls on WiFi, with caller ID showing up as your own phone number (other participants may be aware of other apps that do this, but most of them render your outgoing number with a different number).  Voico doesn't handle incoming calls, of course (those would be routed/handled by the carrier), but it's a way to reach out and "look familiar" to those you're calling, without using cellular airtime (handy for the 50min metered plan, or for times when your cellular service is unavailable).

[Kimclen]

Hi @miriam_vdeen. I had the same issue about a month ago!  I have the same phone as you and was with the same provider.  It took the moderators about 4-5 days to fix my issue!  It is a problem with the porting the # over.  It’s good that you have contacted the moderator.  I assure you, I understand your frustration as I felt the same, but the moderator will get back to you!  My mom just went with PM without a hitch but unfortunately some experience issues.  Hang tight it will get resolved!  

[srlawren]

@CalgaryBen, @Luddite, @Rockdaddy22 any suggestions here?  Is this something iPhone-related that can be resolved, or more likely a PM account activation glitch?

[CellAid]

Do you have data when you're off your wifi network?

[KMG]

I assume that you tried restarting your phone?  Does the Telus SIM still work?

It looks like you hit a porting glitch, in which case you are stuck waiting for the Moderator Team to respond, unfortunately.