cancel
Showing results for 
Search instead for 
Did you mean: 

iphone activation not working after switching carrier

phonestuff
Good Citizen / Bon Citoyen

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.

21 REPLIES 21

@phonestuffI would call or contact Sasktel with a screenshot or your issue, there are times where service provides "forgot" to unlock a device.

phonestuff
Good Citizen / Bon Citoyen

it was more than a day for sure. It's ok, I was planning on getting a new phone anyway just didn't want to just yet

88cranston
Model Citizen / Citoyen Modèle

@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. 

CalgaryBen
Deputy Mayor / Adjoint au Maire

@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.

 


@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.

phonestuff
Good Citizen / Bon Citoyen

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?

88cranston
Model Citizen / Citoyen Modèle

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. 

88cranston
Model Citizen / Citoyen Modèle

@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. 

@phonestuff 

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

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

phonestuff
Good Citizen / Bon Citoyen

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

phonestuff
Good Citizen / Bon Citoyen

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.

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

ecowen
Model Citizen / Citoyen Modèle

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.

phonestuff
Good Citizen / Bon Citoyen

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

phonestuff
Good Citizen / Bon Citoyen

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.

ecowen
Model Citizen / Citoyen Modèle

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.  

@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.

phonestuff
Good Citizen / Bon Citoyen

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

phonestuff
Good Citizen / Bon Citoyen

it is connected to wifi

geopublic
Mayor / Maire

@phonestuff  Was your iPhone purchased through Telus?

GinYVR
Mayor / Maire

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

Need Help? Let's chat.