sunny416
Level 1 (0 points)

Q: Wind Mobile Activate iMessage / Facetime

iPhone 5 AWS

 

 

Cannot activate imessage and facetime with my phone number on Wind Mobile here in Canada. I have international text and it still wont activate. Wind Mobile doesnt carry the iPhone. I thought any carrier can get imessage??

iPhone 5, iOS 6.1.4, AWS

Posted on Jul 17, 2013 6:44 PM

by smcclay,Solvedanswer
smcclay smcclay
Level 1 (25 points)
A:

I am a Wind Mobile customer in Canada, and I found out what the problem is.

 

The process Apple uses is as follows:

 

When you turn iMessage on, the iPhone sends a text message to Apple. It will go to one of several numbers in the UK. When Apple gets the message, they generate a response. This response uses something called Application Port Addressing to direct the message to a specific process running on the phone.

 

The only way to see these messages is to dump your baseband logs. Apple has instructions for doing this on their developer site under bug reporting.

 

The initial problem with Wind Mobile was you would never see the reply message from Apple. One could login to myAccount on the Wind site and check their usage and only see the outgoing messages. This recently changed, and at least for me, I started seeing the reply from Apple. Still, no iMessage activation with phone number.

 

In the iPhone baseband logs, the SMS messages can be read in PDU format. This is basically just a HEX representation of the message with some other data about how it should be delivered and where it came from. There are several online decoders that can interpret the message and give you something readable. Decoding the SMS PDU that came from Apple showed that something was wrong with it. After some minor manipulation of 2 of the fields in the PDU, the problem turned out to be with the encoding bit for the USER DATA of message. It was set to 8 bit and should have been 7 bit. Because of this problem, the length bit for the USER DATA was also wrong, as you can fit more data in the same number of bytes using septets than you can with octets. After changing these two bits, the online decoders displayed the correct message.

 

Where does this data change? Hard to say. We have to assume that Apple sends it correctly. Therefore it must be getting corrupt somewhere between Apple and the iPhone on Wind's network. There are applications called SMPP gateways that allow messages to be sent across networks. I suspect the problem is with one of these.

 

Can this be worked around without the help of Wind? The short answer is yes, but it's complicated. You can take the corrupt message from the baseband logs, reformat it as an SMS Submit PDU, and send it to your iPhone's phone number.

 

This requires that you have another phone with a working SIM that can be used as a GSM modem. Not all phones have this capability. I used an old Nokia 5230. I was able to plug it in to my Mac and used the Shareware app ZTerm to send AT commands to it. I sent the re-formulated response message from Apple to my iPhone number via the old Nokia and now iMessage works with my phone number on Wind. I then did the same for my wife's iPhone and now hers works as well.

 

After going through this process, who do I point the finger at? I point it squarely at Wind. It is their responsibilty to ensure a message that uses Application Port Addressing is not corrupted on their network.

Posted on Jan 25, 2014 8:58 AM

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sunny416

Q: Wind Mobile Activate iMessage / Facetime

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  • Helpful answers

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  • by smcclay,

    smcclay smcclay Jun 11, 2014 12:54 PM in response to Leaaann
    Level 1 (25 points)
    Jun 11, 2014 12:54 PM in response to Leaaann

    Leaaann wrote:

     

    I found the "GSM SMS Point to Point PDU (as hex str)", I follwed every step and I did this for the final step:

    • Go to the "Activate" page of the website and paste the hex number sequence into the window. Click "Submit" and you're done! Your phone will be activated in about one minute.

     

    BUT ITS STILL SAYING "WAITING FOR ACTIVATION" I DONT KNOW WHAT ELSE TO DO! SOMEONE PLEASE HELP ME AS FAST AS POSSIBLE !

     

    Most of the time this is caused by the string in the log not being the very latest one or it is older than 30 minutes. My suggestion is to toggle iMessage off/on and capture a new log and try again with a new string. Make sure you are checking the whole log file as there may be more than one string in a log. The newest will be the one closest to the bottom of the file.

  • by Leaaann,

    Leaaann Leaaann Jun 11, 2014 1:06 PM in response to smcclay
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jun 11, 2014 1:06 PM in response to smcclay

    I just did what you suggested and got no luck its still stuck on "Waiting for Activation" !

  • by orangelime,

    orangelime orangelime Jun 13, 2014 9:40 PM in response to sunny416
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jun 13, 2014 9:40 PM in response to sunny416

    Smcclay, I read though this whole thread. You're amazing!

     

    It seems I haven't been able to recieve a response back from Apple after toggling iMessage as well as Facetime. I've tried resetting the phone, trying it on a new Apple ID, and trying to activate it through facetime. Each time I check the logs and I only see evidence of my phone sending multiple activation text messages to the +44 #.

     

    I can't find any response hex code as a reply. Does anyone else still this same issue? I'm using a ported number from Fido.

  • by Chris.Duong,

    Chris.Duong Chris.Duong Jun 14, 2014 8:15 AM in response to orangelime
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jun 14, 2014 8:15 AM in response to orangelime

    I also ported from Fido...

    I can't find the hex string in the files. I tried the "REG-REQ?" SMS, but did not get a response. I just got the 39$ plan and I am a 5s. Thanks.

  • by ivorfrommississauga,

    ivorfrommississauga ivorfrommississauga Jun 15, 2014 9:56 PM in response to sunny416
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jun 15, 2014 9:56 PM in response to sunny416

    I have activated iMessage on a few iPhones on wind using this website http://www.theonlinemac.com/wind the whole process takes about 5 minutes and is very easy to follow and understand. Follow the instructions EXACTLY as posted under "help" and you should be up and running within no time

  • by Tazfromcan,

    Tazfromcan Tazfromcan Jun 16, 2014 11:20 PM in response to orangelime
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jun 16, 2014 11:20 PM in response to orangelime

    for all those who are having the issue of not getting a response back from apple with "GSM SMS Point to Point PDU" in the file. try going to Settings->Phone->My Number and entering your number in if not already present. i found this to solve my issue, SMCCLAY helped me figure this out. Doing this and using a new apple ID should allow even ported numbers to work.

     

    Also use notepad++ as its much easier to search the file.

     

    Thank you for all the help scmclay!

  • by braxa15,

    braxa15 braxa15 Jun 17, 2014 2:24 PM in response to sunny416
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jun 17, 2014 2:24 PM in response to sunny416

    Thank you smcclay I finally got it to work last week, however last night it just randomly stopped working and it its shows an error while activating and its back to normal. what can i do now? should i try to reactivate it using the same method all over again?

  • by Chan14o,

    Chan14o Chan14o Jun 28, 2014 6:32 PM in response to sunny416
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jun 28, 2014 6:32 PM in response to sunny416

    Hey there, i've been reading the forums for a long time and im still confuse and frustrated!

    is it okay if you make a youtube video, or bbm to make this more understandable! i think for me visualizing will be way easier to learn and to understand!

     

    PLEASE AND THANK YOU!!

  • by hkhan83,

    hkhan83 hkhan83 Jun 29, 2014 1:02 PM in response to sunny416
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jun 29, 2014 1:02 PM in response to sunny416

    I ported my number from Rogers to Wind a few days ago and have tried almost everything. I tried to factory reset the phone as well, but I am unable to find the GSM SMS line in the log file. It seems my phone is sending a message but not receiving anything. I tried everything I could. Can anyone help? Thanks.

  • by dominique99,

    dominique99 dominique99 Jun 29, 2014 2:14 PM in response to hkhan83
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jun 29, 2014 2:14 PM in response to hkhan83

    Hi hkhan,

     

    If you've really followed all the steps correctly (see my detailed post from June 10 -- or thereabouts) and you can't find the "GSM SMS" line in the log file, the only thing I can think of is that you're looking in the wrong file. Here's an excerpt from that post. (But you should probably check the original as it covers all the common errors. Note also that my particular example is for a Mac. Windows will likely be different)

     

    On a Mac the file you want is on the path:

     

    Note the actual file name in my case was "log-bb-2014............csi.txt

     

    ~/Library/Logs/CrashReporter/MobileDevice/ [Your Device Name]/Baseband

     

    Note the actual file name in my case was "log-bb-2014............csi.txt

    Yours should be similar to this but with the date and time at which the file was created. The path only gets you to the right folder.

     

    Note you won't be able to navigate to the log file through the Finder -- but it's easily accessed directly from the Console app. Just navigate down to it by using the folder directory window in the Console sidebar as shown below. (Note the pic doesn't show the long list of other logs in the folder that you must scroll past to get to the correct log at the bottom. Once you're in the correct file, use the search window to find "GSM SMS Point to Point"

    Screen Shot 2014-06-29 at 4.54.58 PM.png

     

     

    Hope this helps. See my original post for more details and other possible issues.

  • by Kevin~,

    Kevin~ Kevin~ Jun 30, 2014 7:45 AM in response to sunny416
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jun 30, 2014 7:45 AM in response to sunny416

    This worked for me last week but suddenly the imessage stopped working and was "waiting for activation" so i tried to repeat the steps that i followed on the site and when i get to the txt file and search for "point to point" i get nothing. I've tried repeating it and only activating facetime and I even restored my phone and tried it again but every time i get to the new log txt file after syncing, nothing comes up in the ctrl+F search. I am at a loss.

     

    Not sure if this is relevant but when my girlfriend messages me from her phone, it sends through imessage and she receives a "delivered" notice on the message but on my end, I am receiving no imessages at all.

     

    Any help will be greatly appreciated

  • by Chan14o,

    Chan14o Chan14o Jun 30, 2014 4:54 PM in response to Kevin~
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jun 30, 2014 4:54 PM in response to Kevin~

    HHi there, just wondering,

     

    is anyone using the $39 plan and CAN activated with imessge and FaceTime with your number?

  • by pvisser,

    pvisser pvisser Jun 30, 2014 5:43 PM in response to Chan14o
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jun 30, 2014 5:43 PM in response to Chan14o

    Yup.

     

    Have 3 iPhone 5's on the $39 plan.

    Using imessage right now, and the hotspot in the USA.

     

    Works  great everywhere. 

  • by Chan14o,

    Chan14o Chan14o Jun 30, 2014 7:24 PM in response to pvisser
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jun 30, 2014 7:24 PM in response to pvisser

    okay, I'm having so much difficulty to activated iMessage and FaceTime! I have the $39 plan! Great deal but just the Imessage not working with my number! how did you activated?

    Step by step?

     

    please and thank you!

  • by slicko666,

    slicko666 slicko666 Jul 1, 2014 10:56 AM in response to sunny416
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 1, 2014 10:56 AM in response to sunny416

    Hi there! So i switched to Wind Yesterday, been trying to get iMessage working since.

     

    I got my Baseband logs,I did everything step by step and have done it multiple times with different waiting time from activation to getting logs. But there is no "GSM SMS Point to Point" in my logs other than the occasional text message I received during that time, I tried changing my apple ID password/making a new one as well, restoring phone, tried activating via FaceTime only and none of those worked out.

     

    I see in my logs a +44 phone Number, and i see on my Wind page that International Texts are being sent(no extra charge) I am a pay before client and did top up some money just to see if that would be the reason and no success.

     

    When i set up the new Apple ID, and i activated iMessage I saw my phone number with my email under, as the methods of receiving and sending messages, but the phone number was greyed out. but had a check make next to it. I don't know if you have encountered this or if i'm doing something wrong.

     

    As well when I try activating iMessage i get the message saying i may be charged for SMS messages used to activate FaceTime and iMessage. and i get one right after or just before saying There was a problem activating but it activates no problem for my email address

     

    Thank you.

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