Like many other AT&T customers, I am having great trouble getting my new iPhone 4S activated. It is stuck on the screen that reads:
>Could Not Activate iPhone
>Your activation is still pending. You will receive an email notification once your activation is complete.
>We’re sorry. There was a problem connecting to the server. Please try again later.
### Here’s what I know from the horses mouth (AT&T) ###
I was able to get through to AT&T customer care and the first representative could not get the phone activated even though the system showed it was activated. Now it is important to note that he was operating without any iPhone 4S and (likely) iOS 5 manuals. After ~15 minutes of trying he sent me on to a technical support person.
The technical support lady could not get the phone working either and was not familiar with the error message. She called down to their specialized Apple staff and reported back to me: “The servers are really busy I am told, and your phone *will* activate in an hour.”
I clarified that she was saying that it would for sure be active in an hour, and again she said “yes”. She said to just leave it as it is and wait. We hung up, but I arranged for her to call back in an hour to see if it worked. Its been about 25 minutes and still no activation.
Check back as I will update this post with information as I get it.
*(Side note: I am hearing Apple expected to sell 5 times as many AT&T models as other carriers. This problem also seems to have arisen once the West Coast of the U.S. started getting their phones. AT&T was also very helpful and nice — I still just want the phone working.)*
**UPDATED** (on Oct 14, 2011): AT&T just called me back and the phone was still not activated even though they say everything looks fine on their end. The call was disconnected while I was on hold with them and they have yet to call back. This seems like a load issue on their network and best to just wait it out if you can.
**UPDATED** (on Oct 14, 2011): AT&T was no help, but my internet went down (Comcast blows) and so I tried activating over 3G — that worked. And [I am not alone](http://www.ipatrix.com/3812/att-woes/).
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