My iPhone could not be activated because the activation server is temporarily unavailable. what can i do for activation

That's usually a symptom of a phone that was jailbroken or hacked to unlock it, and then updated.

what to do then ???

If it was jailbroken or hacked to unlock it, look elsewhere for assistance. We can't help you here.

Is that the punishment??? :D

Yes.

It's not punishment, it's just the way it is. Unauthorized modifications to the phone void any warranty and forfeit all rights to support from Apple and on these forums.

Mine hasn't been jailbroken and I've got the same problem! ???? SO what do I do?????

1. Retry after some time.

2. Official Carrier's sim must be inside to activate.

I've been retrying all night. And the SIM card has not been messed with. I attached my old iPhone 3G and it downloaded the update-BUT that said something bout the SIM card and couldn't finish update. While in the process of downloading and installing update-not sure exactly where it was in the process-my computer shut off. This issue of activation server unavailable began at that time. I've tried by connecting to iTunes and when I plug my phone into the computer now (and since the issue first occurred-I didn't discontent until THIS problem kept coming up) I get-you're request cannot me completed at this time. this has been going on since yesterday afternoon also. I keep going between the two hoping something changes. I have a number to use when I call apple-but am sure I will be charged for them to even hear the problem. And have tried calling this morning but no answer so I'm not sire they work on weekends. What now????

melaniefromcrane wrote:

BUT that said something bout the SIM card

- Check the sim in another phone.

This issue of activation server unavailable began at that time. I've tried by connecting to iTunes and when I plug my phone into the computer now

- This issue invariably crops if the iDevice has been jailbroken or unlocked unofficially or the computer has been used to jailbreak any iDevice.

Use another computer. Put your phone in DFU mode (Google How to put iPhone in DFU mode) and restore in iTunes again.

Assuming sim is fine and iPhone has been not jailbroken.

Like I stated earlier - phone has NOT been jailbroken and my computer has NOT been USED to jail break. No offense but I'm ot that stupid. When you jailbreak you lose all help on it.....I tell my students all the time NOT to do that to theirs. So - no idiot here. It is an issue between the server and my phone - been on landphone with Apple manager all day. There are working to fix the problem and said will have it fixed within 48 hours. And because was an issue with an update, I was not charged for the time and help.

The sim card issue is with my much older phone so not a big deal. THAT phone doesn't work well so don't care. Update went through with it.

"There are working to fix the problem and said will have it fixed within 48 hours."

You have your answer.

Same issue with my wife's iPhone 4S. Has not been hacked in any way. It failed to come up after she updated the iOS. Attempted a full restore but that failed as well. Took it to the Genius Bar, they were able to install an OS on it but couldn't get the phone to come up and sent her to the AT&T store or sell her a new phone. AT&T store was baffled as to why Apple couldn't fix the phone, replaced the SIM card, but couldn't get the phone to come up. Consistantly getting the Activation Server message.

Any thoughts?

I am having the same issue. I did an update on the iOS that I have been procrastinating a long time, and it did a restore, and brought me to the language options, wifi, and won't activate. Same exact message. I plug it into the computer and iTunes says 'Your request couldn't be processed."

Not a jailbroken phone.

iPhone 4s. Completely annoyed right now.

I won't be able to get to an Apple store for 4 days because of work.

Mark Hodges and darciekim- finally have my problem fixed. Called apple support. it was an issue with update and my phone was NOT jail broken, make sure you tell them those two things. Man on phone did not really believe me. Told him I was a mature adult and did NOT jail break for this very reason. He could tell I was getting upset so turned me over to a guy above him. This young man was excellent. Did everything he could to help and he LISTENED to me. Issue was with their server not recognizing my phone. Was like a new phone before its sold. Had to find original receipt, has some information needed to activate phone for first time. Luckily I bought from apple.com and sent the purchase confirmation email. Was fixed quickly after that. Unfortunately, the engineers said without the receipt info, there was nothing they could do. I was lucky. Hopefully this helps.