Not quite my friend. Don't you remember the ordeal last year where a bunch of 2G iPhones were bricked because when they upgraded the OS the day that the 3G came out, it has to re-activate the phone through the server as well. Hence OS update and activation are tied together.
not like itunes hits only one server
there are different servers for activation, file hosting, payment processing, account authentication, etc
i wouldn't be surprised if this is not a server issue, but a bandwidth issue. this morning around 10:30am it suddenly took me several clicks to download an app. probably due to people activating their phones. it has to be different servers processing this so my guess is that the network pipe into Apple's data center is overloaded. hardware is dirt cheap and not very expensive to buy new hardware for the flood of activations. network costs are still fairly pricey.
and it's probably the reason apple is building a new data center on the east coast, to localize the traffic
I don't think anyone could have really predicted just how huge the demand was going to be for the 3G S.
All we've heard for the last month was about how Palm will steal a good chunk of former iPhone users or potential iPhone users - how everyone will be flocking to the Pre.
Didn't happen. In fact, exactly the opposite happened. It's as if the Pre is some distant memory. Anyway, Palm's dog and pony show will come to an end soon enough. We're already seeing disappointing sales figurs for the Pre, it's off to a slow start, and Palm does seem to *still* be buyout-bait.
Okay its one thing to be a fanboy but its another to provide misleading information because you hate a product you have never used. Nobody said the pre was going to 'take' huge chunks of iphone users... Second the phone is selling really well... Sprint is putting out its quarterly earning next week so we cann all see... 100,000 phones sold every 3 days are not bad sales numbers especially considering the fact that its on sprint... Arguably the least liked carrier in the states. Regardless of how well the pre sells the iphone will continue to sell well because it is a great phone... Just like apple has not sold as many phones as windows mobile yet or as RIM and apple is still selling iphones... Same will happen with the pre. Even though other companies are succeeding the pre will still sell.
Excellent question! But going on experience from the launch in 2007, it was fun to hang out with other nerds and relatively painless. Today however was not the same...
I waited once in line for the release of Jaguar way back when. Now that was fun- it was for an OS.
If I'm not mistaken I think NYC had one of the few Applestores then .
so I'm going to buy the 3GS later and I understand I may have to wait for activation, but I have an older Blackberry Pearl now....so I guess I'm asking will my BB work until it switches over to my iPhone?
iTunes is just the front end. It connects to many servers for media, software and the activations. Whether these are all housed near other or not is irrelevant, the activations are from AT&T, even if they might come via an iPhone DB on Apple?s side that is being synced with AT&T servers, though that sounds like more trouble than it?s worth.
Does iTunes communicate directly with AT&T's servers for activations, or are the iTunes requests routed through Apple servers first? Where's the bottleneck?
I just got back from picking up my 3GS where it had been delivered to my house and the first thing I did was activate and sync it, which took no time at all, then I saw this post and had to laugh.
Of course, I was already a customer, so maybe the problem is with new activations?
I got the same 'Waiting for activation' message and no signal on the iPhone when I tried thru' iTunes. Then I called ATT, the ATT rep asked for SIM card number (need to take SIM out - note that there is a pin in the package for this purpose) and IMEI number (on the iPhone package cover). In about two minutes it was activated.
This WORKS!!!! Thanks for the tip. Called AT&T and took about 5 minutes. The rep was not aware of the iTunes issue and had to make sure that she could do it... a couple of minutes later she called me to test and call out to test and get on Safari to test... now restoring through iTunes...
Even if it was available on other carriers there would still be activation required so I don’t think the problem would go away, just dissipate across more carrier servers.
I was sort of implying that subsidy and locked to carrier is the root of the problem. If all phones were unlocked and full price it would make the activation problem go away. However the subsidy allows people who are bad with math to think they are getting a good deal. Of course that would mean the monthly service would have to be a lot less. Apple gets a slice from that part of the program as well but how much that actually is, we will likely never know.
there are different servers for activation, file hosting, payment processing, account authentication, etc
this is [probably] a bandwidth issue [?] my guess is that the network pipe into Apple's data center is overloaded. hardware is dirt cheap and not very expensive to buy new hardware for the flood of activations. network costs are still fairly pricey.
and it's probably the reason apple is building a new data center on the east coast, to localize the traffic
Not that this issue affected me this go round, but it makes me that much more eager for the new data center to go online.
The AT&T clerk took my sim card out and popped in the new phone and bam, activated. No activation delay. I was in and out of AT&T in less than 10 minutes. No line, no waiting. This was around 9:30am.
I just got back from picking up my 3GS where it had been delivered to my house and the first thing I did was activate and sync it, which took no time at all, then I saw this post and had to laugh.
Of course, I was already a customer, so maybe the problem is with new activations?
Last year it was current customers that were switching phones that seemed to have the most problems. So far it?s looking like they are doing a great job.
Quote:
Originally Posted by mstone
I was sort of implying that subsidy and locked to carrier is the root of the problem. If all phones were unlocked and full price it would make the activation problem go away. However the subsidy allows people who are bad with math to think they are getting a good deal.
First of all, if it was unlocked and at full price the issues wouldn?t happen because a lot less people will be willing to fork over $700 up front for a phone. But the ones that did would still not be able to use Verizon or Sprint, and would only get EDGE if they wanted to use T-Mobile. After that, you only have a handful of small MVNOs piggybacking on AT&T?s network.
I just transferred the service from my old 1st gen iPhone to my new iPhone 3gs and everything worked out perfectly.
My new phone arrived this morning from UPS about two hours ago. All I had to do was plug it into my computer, and then it installed the last saved backup from my previous iPhone to upload all my contacts and previous info.
I got the pop-up notice that authorization might take awhile. I left it running for about 10 minutes and still no dice. But when I powered it off and rebooted it, it was connected and authorized in under 30 seconds.
So -- I recommend power cycling the iPhone once it's all set up to see if that will activate it. I didn't have to swap out my old SIM card or anything like that. Was easy peasy.
First of all, if it was unlocked and at full price the issues wouldn?t happen because a lot less people will be willing to fork over $700 up front for a phone. But the ones that did would still not be able to use Verizon or Sprint, and would only get EDGE if they wanted to use T-Mobile. After that, you only have a handful of small MVNOs piggybacking on AT&T?s network.
Yes all true. $700 is a steep price but probably a fraction of what you pay over the length of the contract. Apple and AT&T are making really good money off the data and revenue sharing plan so they like it to be lock and exclusive. Some counties in Europe have different programs but either way I prefer to have all the fees disclosed not tricky accounting and hidden inflated pricing.
I cant even get throught the first part of the activation. I connect the phone to i tunes put in the zip and social and it stops on please wait while we process your request.
Okay its one thing to be a fanboy but its another to provide misleading information because you hate a product you have never used. Nobody said the pre was going to 'take' huge chunks of iphone users... Second the phone is selling really well... Sprint is putting out its quarterly earning next week so we cann all see... 100,000 phones sold every 3 days are not bad sales numbers especially considering the fact that its on sprint... Arguably the least liked carrier in the states. Regardless of how well the pre sells the iphone will continue to sell well because it is a great phone... Just like apple has not sold as many phones as windows mobile yet or as RIM and apple is still selling iphones... Same will happen with the pre. Even though other companies are succeeding the pre will still sell.
Received two iPhones 3GS's from UPS @ 1045 PST. Both saying activation would take time. Using the advice from this thread I restarted both. Both instantly activated... YAY...
all the hype about the preordering and shipping for delivery today, and after waiting for my delivery, it's making me wait "up to 48 hours" to activate and actually USE the phone i just paid $300 for? nice, at&t. if i were you, i would just hang my head in shame. lets' recap:
1. i wont actually count your attempt to overprice the phone, as you relented.
2. no tethering
3. no mms.
4. no activation - effectively wasting my time preordering. i should have just gone to the store.
bet this is your last "exclusive" iphone release. you have done nothing to earn our hearts, mind, or dollars. i cant wait for verizon to carry the iphone.
It's not embarrassing. It shows the volume is exceeding expectations.
Yes all true. $700 is a steep price but probably a fraction of what you pay over the length of the contract. Apple and AT&T are making really good money off the data and revenue sharing plan so they like it to be lock and exclusive. Some counties in Europe have different programs but either way I prefer to have all the fees disclosed not tricky accounting and hidden inflated pricing.
I, too, would like the US laws changed to make it a requirement to show the total minimum cost of ownership would be for different plans. I?d also like to see phones unocked after you?ve fullfiilled your obligation for the subsidy.
I?d prefer to pay for the device in full, but it makes no sense when your rate plan isn?t affected and the device is still locked to the carrier. Anyone want to lobby?
Comments
Not quite my friend. Don't you remember the ordeal last year where a bunch of 2G iPhones were bricked because when they upgraded the OS the day that the 3G came out, it has to re-activate the phone through the server as well. Hence OS update and activation are tied together.
not like itunes hits only one server
there are different servers for activation, file hosting, payment processing, account authentication, etc
i wouldn't be surprised if this is not a server issue, but a bandwidth issue. this morning around 10:30am it suddenly took me several clicks to download an app. probably due to people activating their phones. it has to be different servers processing this so my guess is that the network pipe into Apple's data center is overloaded. hardware is dirt cheap and not very expensive to buy new hardware for the flood of activations. network costs are still fairly pricey.
and it's probably the reason apple is building a new data center on the east coast, to localize the traffic
I don't think anyone could have really predicted just how huge the demand was going to be for the 3G S.
All we've heard for the last month was about how Palm will steal a good chunk of former iPhone users or potential iPhone users - how everyone will be flocking to the Pre.
Didn't happen. In fact, exactly the opposite happened. It's as if the Pre is some distant memory. Anyway, Palm's dog and pony show will come to an end soon enough. We're already seeing disappointing sales figurs for the Pre, it's off to a slow start, and Palm does seem to *still* be buyout-bait.
Okay its one thing to be a fanboy but its another to provide misleading information because you hate a product you have never used. Nobody said the pre was going to 'take' huge chunks of iphone users... Second the phone is selling really well... Sprint is putting out its quarterly earning next week so we cann all see... 100,000 phones sold every 3 days are not bad sales numbers especially considering the fact that its on sprint... Arguably the least liked carrier in the states. Regardless of how well the pre sells the iphone will continue to sell well because it is a great phone... Just like apple has not sold as many phones as windows mobile yet or as RIM and apple is still selling iphones... Same will happen with the pre. Even though other companies are succeeding the pre will still sell.
Excellent question! But going on experience from the launch in 2007, it was fun to hang out with other nerds and relatively painless. Today however was not the same...
I waited once in line for the release of Jaguar way back when. Now that was fun- it was for an OS.
If I'm not mistaken I think NYC had one of the few Applestores then .
Thx
iTunes is just the front end. It connects to many servers for media, software and the activations. Whether these are all housed near other or not is irrelevant, the activations are from AT&T, even if they might come via an iPhone DB on Apple?s side that is being synced with AT&T servers, though that sounds like more trouble than it?s worth.
Does iTunes communicate directly with AT&T's servers for activations, or are the iTunes requests routed through Apple servers first? Where's the bottleneck?
Of course, I was already a customer, so maybe the problem is with new activations?
I got the same 'Waiting for activation' message and no signal on the iPhone when I tried thru' iTunes. Then I called ATT, the ATT rep asked for SIM card number (need to take SIM out - note that there is a pin in the package for this purpose) and IMEI number (on the iPhone package cover). In about two minutes it was activated.
This WORKS!!!!
Even if it was available on other carriers there would still be activation required so I don’t think the problem would go away, just dissipate across more carrier servers.
I was sort of implying that subsidy and locked to carrier is the root of the problem. If all phones were unlocked and full price it would make the activation problem go away. However the subsidy allows people who are bad with math to think they are getting a good deal. Of course that would mean the monthly service would have to be a lot less. Apple gets a slice from that part of the program as well but how much that actually is, we will likely never know.
this concerns me. i want to activate my new phone, but i can't be without a phone all weekend.
are your 1st gen phones still usable in all other functionality? i want to use mine as an ipod and remote
Try just swap in your 2g iphone's sim into the new 3GS. It will work.
there are different servers for activation, file hosting, payment processing, account authentication, etc
this is [probably] a bandwidth issue [?] my guess is that the network pipe into Apple's data center is overloaded. hardware is dirt cheap and not very expensive to buy new hardware for the flood of activations. network costs are still fairly pricey.
and it's probably the reason apple is building a new data center on the east coast, to localize the traffic
Not that this issue affected me this go round, but it makes me that much more eager for the new data center to go online.
I just got back from picking up my 3GS where it had been delivered to my house and the first thing I did was activate and sync it, which took no time at all, then I saw this post and had to laugh.
Of course, I was already a customer, so maybe the problem is with new activations?
Last year it was current customers that were switching phones that seemed to have the most problems. So far it?s looking like they are doing a great job.
I was sort of implying that subsidy and locked to carrier is the root of the problem. If all phones were unlocked and full price it would make the activation problem go away. However the subsidy allows people who are bad with math to think they are getting a good deal.
First of all, if it was unlocked and at full price the issues wouldn?t happen because a lot less people will be willing to fork over $700 up front for a phone. But the ones that did would still not be able to use Verizon or Sprint, and would only get EDGE if they wanted to use T-Mobile. After that, you only have a handful of small MVNOs piggybacking on AT&T?s network.
If you're iPhone isn't activating within the second you want it to, it isn't the end of the world.
Next time don't get involved in the first-day mad rush to get one.
My new phone arrived this morning from UPS about two hours ago. All I had to do was plug it into my computer, and then it installed the last saved backup from my previous iPhone to upload all my contacts and previous info.
I got the pop-up notice that authorization might take awhile. I left it running for about 10 minutes and still no dice. But when I powered it off and rebooted it, it was connected and authorized in under 30 seconds.
So -- I recommend power cycling the iPhone once it's all set up to see if that will activate it. I didn't have to swap out my old SIM card or anything like that. Was easy peasy.
First of all, if it was unlocked and at full price the issues wouldn?t happen because a lot less people will be willing to fork over $700 up front for a phone. But the ones that did would still not be able to use Verizon or Sprint, and would only get EDGE if they wanted to use T-Mobile. After that, you only have a handful of small MVNOs piggybacking on AT&T?s network.
Yes all true. $700 is a steep price but probably a fraction of what you pay over the length of the contract. Apple and AT&T are making really good money off the data and revenue sharing plan so they like it to be lock and exclusive. Some counties in Europe have different programs but either way I prefer to have all the fees disclosed not tricky accounting and hidden inflated pricing.
Okay its one thing to be a fanboy but its another to provide misleading information because you hate a product you have never used. Nobody said the pre was going to 'take' huge chunks of iphone users... Second the phone is selling really well... Sprint is putting out its quarterly earning next week so we cann all see... 100,000 phones sold every 3 days are not bad sales numbers especially considering the fact that its on sprint... Arguably the least liked carrier in the states. Regardless of how well the pre sells the iphone will continue to sell well because it is a great phone... Just like apple has not sold as many phones as windows mobile yet or as RIM and apple is still selling iphones... Same will happen with the pre. Even though other companies are succeeding the pre will still sell.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?p...d=a5k1RDLAr8cI
We'll see.
all the hype about the preordering and shipping for delivery today, and after waiting for my delivery, it's making me wait "up to 48 hours" to activate and actually USE the phone i just paid $300 for? nice, at&t. if i were you, i would just hang my head in shame. lets' recap:
1. i wont actually count your attempt to overprice the phone, as you relented.
2. no tethering
3. no mms.
4. no activation - effectively wasting my time preordering. i should have just gone to the store.
bet this is your last "exclusive" iphone release. you have done nothing to earn our hearts, mind, or dollars. i cant wait for verizon to carry the iphone.
It's not embarrassing. It shows the volume is exceeding expectations.
Yes all true. $700 is a steep price but probably a fraction of what you pay over the length of the contract. Apple and AT&T are making really good money off the data and revenue sharing plan so they like it to be lock and exclusive. Some counties in Europe have different programs but either way I prefer to have all the fees disclosed not tricky accounting and hidden inflated pricing.
I, too, would like the US laws changed to make it a requirement to show the total minimum cost of ownership would be for different plans. I?d also like to see phones unocked after you?ve fullfiilled your obligation for the subsidy.
I?d prefer to pay for the device in full, but it makes no sense when your rate plan isn?t affected and the device is still locked to the carrier. Anyone want to lobby?