iPhone 4S activation proves to be difficult for AT&T

By Mike Flacy October 14, 2011

iphone-4-vs-4s — Image used with permission by copyright holder

Customers of AT&T that purchase an iPhone 4S earlier today experienced a variety of problems when attempting to activate the new smartphone. Users that failed to activate the phone on the first try were placed in a queue and were sent an email when the activation process was complete. Many customers were stuck on the activation process for hours and were unable to utilize the phone’s features until the process finished. Customers also took to Twitter and other social networks to complain about the lengthy activation times. However, Verizon and Sprint customers didn’t report the same amount of activation issues during the launch today.

AT&T’s inability to properly handle activation on iPhone launch days isn’t a new problem for the wireless company. In 2008, iPhone 3G owners were sent home on launch day after activation servers crashed leaving customers without access to a mobile phone for the majority of the day. During the launch of the 3GS, many disgruntled AT&T subscribers reported activation times that lasted up to 48 hours. During the launch of the iPhone 4, Apple attempted to spread out the distribution of the smartphone over three days and AT&T sent out text messages regarding activation to help subscribers through the process.

AT&T officials released the following statement regarding the activation issue: “As of 4:30 pm ET today, AT&T had already activated a record number of iPhones on our network – and is on-track to double our previous record for activations on a single day. These record volumes may produce slower activations for some customers, though our systems continue to run at record levels.” Previous to the release of the iPhone 4S, activations required users to plug the phone into a Mac or PC via USB and completing activation through iTunes. However, iOS 5 allows users to complete activation without having to connect the smartphone to a computer.

Check out our iPhone 4S review.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics

Contributing Editor

By day, I'm the content and social media manager for High-Def Digest, Steve's Digicams and The CheckOut on Ben's Bargains…

Mobile

Best refurbished iPhone deals: Get an iPhone 14 for $513

An iPhone 13 in white color option.

The Apple iPhone is one of the best phones on the market, and because of it they don’t often come cheap. There are some great iPhone deals out there, but it’s rare to find significant discounts on newer models without having to commit to a longterm contract with a carrier, and it’s even less frequent you come across one of the best iPhones with a major price drop. This is where shopping refurbished can come in handy. Refurbished iPhones — for the most part — will come backed with a functionality guarantee or extended return window, making refurbished iPhones as safe of a purchase as shopping new. There are a lot of refurbished iPhone models seeing great price drops right now, which is why we’ve done the heavy lifting of rounding up all of the best refurbished iPhone deals. You’ll find them below, as well as some information on which refurbished iPhone might be best for you.
iPhone XR -- from $136

A refurbished model but one that's unlocked and comes with a full one-year warranty, the Apple iPhone XR is still pretty stylish for its age. It has a large 6.1-inch LCD screen with 1,792 x 828 resolution with Liquid Retina technology ensuring it looks super sharp. Powered by the A12 Bionic chip, it's starting to show its age but still has potential. There's also a 12MP back camera that can shoot 4K videos while the front-facing camera is 7MP and ideal for selfie-taking.

Mobile

Nomad’s new iPhone case and Apple Watch band may be its coolest yet

Nomad Glow 2.0 Sport Case and Apple Watch Sport Band in daylight.

Though the world of Apple accessories is a dime a dozen, one of the better brands that you can buy is Nomad. Nomad has a variety of amazing leather Apple Watch bands and cases, as well as non-leather options, too. In August 2023, Nomad released a one-of-a-kind Glow in the Dark Apple Watch band that sold out in about 12 hours.

Since that Glow in the Dark band was a limited edition, no one was sure if Nomad was going to re-release it, and this explains the high resale prices you’ll find on eBay. But Nomad just released the Glow 2.0 Apple Watch Sport Band as well as a new Glow 2.0 Sport Case for the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max. And, yes, they're just as wonderful as before.
The new and improved Glow 2.0

Mobile

An Apple insider just revealed how iOS 18’s AI features will work

An iPhone 15 Pro Max laying face-down outside, showing the Natural Titanium color.

As Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) inches closer, the chatter around the company’s AI work has taken a feverish turn. In a year when smartphone and computing brands have focused solely on AI niceties, Apple has been uncharacteristically silent around the AI hype — eliciting concern about the brand missing the train.

However, a new report has given us a closer look at how Apple's AI dreams may come to fruition with its iOS 18 update later this year.
New details on Apple's AI plans