Q: My iMessage still says "Waiting for activation..."

Still no luck for me, I am switching between iusacell and telcel sim 'cause I am comparing the network service, and with telcel the activation for facetime and iMessage it's zero problems, and with iusacell never works.

The good part is that I still can use iMessage and Facetime with apple id. ****.

Well apparently it was all a false victory, after a power failure and restart the iPhone, I get to run out IMessage.

It seems that one is to keep trying to see if at some point becomes active

IUSACELL UPDATE:

I went to Iusacell División del Norte, Mexico City, where I have a known and very helpful Iusacell Executive available to me usually, and she didn't know of any solutions. That said, my problem has been resolved...

Things of note that happened:

• Switched from a normal Iusacell sim, Version 3, to a Iusacell MICRO sim, Version 5.
• Switched from an iPhone 3GS (Apple Unlocked, UK) to an iPhone 4S (Apple Unlocked, USA).
• Updated the Carrier version to Iusacell 11.1.
• Activated Facetime manually (as in switch the option on, in Settings) and it worked (e-mail/Apple ID + Phone number).
• iMessage did NOT activate on my phone number initially, but I did a test and shut it down and back on and was immediately verified. It is now working on both my number and Apple ID.

I had read here and in other forums/pages that the Version 3 chip was the one giving problems. I believe given what just happened in my case that this may be true. Other things I'd done before this but that didn't SEEM to help in my case, but may have cleared roadblocks to regaining iMessage use via my phone number are:

• Updated the address on my Apple ID to Mexico.

And... that's all really, all other "extraordinary measures" involved resetting the iPhone 3GS network settings, attempting a fresh install, amongst other inneffectual measures.

Sooo my suggestion is that those of you with Iusacell check if you have V5 chips or not and if none of the above helps you gain access then the problem is definitely somewhere else in the system :-S But hopefully we're onto something. I do not presently know if the normally sized sims have a version 5 though, and I MUST point out that my Version 3 sim on the iPhone 3GS was working FINE up until iOS 5.0.1's release.

If the issue isn't fixed by playing with the settings and you are already on the latest available sim version you can get from Iusacell, I wouldn't recommend buying a new one from Iusacell until after an update is released from Apple that for all we know may fix the problem :-/

Hey guys so I have an iPhone 3gs (without any current service because I just moved to a new country) and I installed the ios 5 and am having the same problem with the messaging (not yet activated).  I already swtiched to the DFU mode, restored and reactivated everything, created a new apple id, got the email to verify the account, did that. And I am STILL seeing that message underneath the imessage activation. Please HELP!

Hello guys! I have been reading this post since I noticed that I couldn't activate iMessage with Iusacell, It was working fine until I updated my sim from v3 to v5, today I tried to activate it and it worked! so I think Iusacell or Apple have already fixed the problem... I hope it works for the others with Iusacell too

Hi guys been reading on this thread all day long trying all the different options with no luck. I am also from mexico and have switched from Telcel to Movistar. Doing all the regular checkups I found that in the Settings > Phone part my phone number appears as "unknown" even though I have created the contact with my name and phone number (being careful of updating it as an iPhone not mobile) done a bunch of resets and restores and it continues the same

I am starting to think that part of the SIM is ok (mine is brand new only arrived yesterday) so I am going to get it changed (or at least talk to someone live instead of on the phone) and try to get them to fix the issue, I do not think it is a general problem (imagine the uproar) but maybe there are a couple of issues that could be fixed.

One of my colleagues told me that they had to give them a "manual-cut" sim card in order for it to work so I guess that could be a good change, will keep you posted

After reading this I tried to activate iMessage again, and it did! So did my Facetime which took a bit longer but works now fine with my phone number. I did NOTHING else for the past month.  I have a 4S with Iusacell, not sure with what SIM though.  Good luck to the rest of you guys!

Just to let everyone know that it is working for me as well. At last!!!! I'm on Iusacell and previously I was on Telcel.

I have a 4S with NO problems right now! I can be a happy customer starting today!

Same here, yesterday at 11pm (Central Time) I tried and it works perfectly iMessage and FaceTime, just take a like 5 mins to response.

No changes on the device or any configuration.

Same here it just started working (so weird and creepy) but I'm really happy now....

Why is everybody writing in english using telcel, movistar and iusacell?. So.. Mejor hablamos español, hoy espero me den mi iPhone 4S y entonces yo creo que con tantas respuestas afirmativas ya no tendremos problemas. Nunca sabremos que paso con el hermetismo característico de Apple.

Saludos desde Cancún, México.

@masterplucas

Hey guys. I hadn't been able to post (a lot of work to do), but I'll tell you what has happened with my iPhone.

After restoring and receiving de "Número destino no recobe Rek2" SMS on my Iusacell iPhone 4S, so I reached Iusacell's support vía their online Chat. There they told me I had to contact the personalized iPhone support, dialing *iPhone (*474663). I called, and it was the same menu like *611 (Iusacell's service number for everything), I selected that I needed to talk with someone, when they answered I told them about my problem, and they immediately transferred me to iPhone support.

Once in iPhone support, I told them about all the problems I had had until that time. They told me that they were aware of the issue, that I wasn't the only one, so they asked for the Iusacell number I use on my iPhone, I gave it to them, and they said to me that they had already notified Apple about the problem, but Apple hadn't answered the email, they also said that my number was being added to a list of numbers which were unable to activate iMessage and/or Facetime, and asked me to try to activate them again in 5 days.

5 days passed and I tried it, with no luck again. Then, this saturday at night (it was almost sunday), I decided to try again, and this time it was succesfull. iMessage activated immedately, while Facetime took a while (about 30 minutes or one hour).

Seems like Iusacell has fixed the problem, at least for the majority of us.

Hey JohhyCH, I am not questioning what you said.. I must say it is fantastic find and lot of people will benefit from your answer. I honestly did not think that it would work like that. I will check it out once I change my carrier till then I agree with you completely. I am going to mark your answer as it is very helpful and people can try and confirm the same.

Thank mate .

Hello friends, I just bought my new iPhone 4S from iusacell here in Cancun, and it is working like a charm iMessages and FaceTime it is activated without any problems and instantly with mail and phone number.

thank you to all. I declared this thread finished.

In my case I have found that the problem is that my number can send but cannot receive international SMS. I think that the reason is that I transfered my number from Comcel to Tigo in Colombia. I checked in http://www.clickatell.com/products/test_gateway.php and my friend's numbers can receive this test SMS but mine cannot. I realized this after I had a lot of issues activating whatsapp, tango and viber.

Now... lets the battle with my carrier begin...