Comments on: Are Apple and AT&T failing on iPhone activation?

By: Mac_browncoat

Mac_browncoat — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 23:13:16 +0000

Updated my old iphone to new version this am with no troubles! Loaded lots of new apps too! Hope it goes as smoother for others today.

By: Anthony Ha

Anthony Ha — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 01:40:41 +0000

Yeah, let's hope so.

By: Rodman

Rodman — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 01:06:18 +0000

I think that this has been a lucky day for me. I stood in line at a local AT&T store this morning and after a relatively short 4 hour wait, I was the proud owner of the new iphone. The AT&T rep told me that I would have to activate the phone once I got home, through iTunes. Once I got home I quickly connected my phone to iTunes and ran into the same “network” problem that everyone else has written about. After 2 hours of trying, I finally got through and my phone is now activated. I am in California so I hope that my ability to activate my phone is an indication that the iphone activation process is getting better in the Eastern and Central time zones.

By: Sandy

Sandy — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 23:41:15 +0000

Yeah my “classic” iPhone was bricked for a few hours…left it plugged in to my laptop trying to connect to iTunes…went to lunch, came back and it was in the middle of the restore phase of the software update…all is well now…(quite annoying however)

By: MG Siegler

MG Siegler — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 23:38:37 +0000

it's still not 100% clear but i have some expanded thoughts on the situation here http://venturebeat.com/2008/07/11/the-great-iph...

By: Stu

Stu — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 23:38:17 +0000

Hilarious. And people wonder why Apple can't make a dent in the corporate marketplace…

By: frustrated

frustrated — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 23:34:15 +0000

I'm so glad major companies can keep up with the consumers. I have the original iPhone, downloaded the update no problem, but have been waiting 3, yes 3, hours now trying to get to phone to come back to life. I am so frustrated with Apple and AT&T right now. Its a good thing I'm not a doctor!!

By: Adam Turetzky

Adam Turetzky — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 22:41:31 +0000

Does anyone have any word on whether the activation server (usually run by the carrier) is controlled by Apple or AT&T?

My understanding of the process is when you plug the phone into the cradle and it does the "activation checking/setup" step, it's connecting to the carriers authorization servers to register the radio serial number on their system.

So the downtime is AT&T's fault (again!).

By: Robert Seidman

Robert Seidman — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 22:13:21 +0000

Yep, I've heard from three people in the same boat as webrwright so far. They updated the firmware for their old phones and then couldn't activate and for now have a brick.

By: MG Siegler

MG Siegler — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 22:09:40 +0000

Yep, I have a conversation on video with someone on that issue this morning, will get it up soon. Thanks.

By: Aymerik

Aymerik — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 22:09:05 +0000

I had a similar problem earlier this morning, but refreshing the iTunes Store a few times finally resolved it. Once iTunes was able to connect to their server, the rest of the upgrade went fine. They're basically getting overloaded on the server side, between all the folks upgrading, and all the new activations.

By: webwright

webwright — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 21:19:24 +0000

It gets worse.

For old-style iPhone folks, updates are failing… My phone is non-functional right now and iTunes is timing out. I'd sure love to be able to make a phone call.