Level 1

5 points

iMessage & FaceTime waiting for activation ios 9.1

I am getting waiting for activation on both iMessage and facetime on iphone 5s ios 9.1. I can see my icloud email ID in send and receive but my cell phone number is not even listed there.

It activate imessage and FaceTime only on icloud email ID but for cell number it show waiting activation.

I Called apple support and talked to them for 55 min but they failed to rectify the issue and at the end they said leave imessage and facetime ON for 24 hours we will call you again to know if activation has been done or not so i left my iphone with imessage and FaceTime waiting for activation for 24 hours but after 2 hours i got sms from my cell phone carrier that you are out of your prepaid credit and when I check sms statement i saw iMessage and facetime has sent almost 40 sms to apple server number i.e. 07786205094. I have been charged Pakistan Rupees 6.00 per sms to this number but activation was not done

This is serious issue its time to sue Apple for sending 40 sms to international number for failed activation of iMessage and FaceTime.

iPhone 5s, iOS 9.1, null

Posted on Nov 2, 2015 12:17 PM

37 replies

Nov 9, 2015 10:36 AM in response to faryaz

so as u told just turn off your phone and turn on and after that go to icloud first your email will be off(signed out )

now turn of your factime and then imessage after 2-3 min turm facetime first n press ok this will surely work

faryaz Author

Level 1

5 points

Nov 10, 2015 9:43 AM in response to sareshi

It seems that there is issue with Telenor PK. My brother is facing same issue now. He have iPhone 4 on ios 7.1.2 and his carrier is Telenor as well.

He was not using iMessage since 1 year but we activated iMessage on his iphone today and it only activate on icloud email and cell number is not showing in send & receive.

It look like after 31st Oct 2015 Telenor has blocked iMessage activation or may be some issue at telenor PK. Their support do not know anything about iMessages & facetime. They only say from our end there is no issue you can contect Apple to fix the issue and apple is saying contact carrier to fix it and if carrier say Ok then from Pakistan iMessage and facetime is not possbile now. LOL

I'll try on other carrier tomorrow. Lets see the results and if activation successful then I'll port my number to Ufone or Zong PK

faryaz Author

Level 1

5 points

Nov 11, 2015 10:54 AM in response to sareshi

I just got new Sim from Zong PK and turned ON iMessage and Facetime on it and activation was succussfull on Number and icloud id and I can send and receive on number now.

I'll port my telenor sim on Zong PK tomorrow to confirm it activate on it or not and old number is not blocked in apple server because I want to keep my old number. If activation successful after porting to zong then it means telenor pk has blocked reply from +447786205094 which is Apple UK server number for activation.

When you turn iMessage on, the iPhone sends a text message to Apple server in UK on uk number. When Apple server gets the message, it generate a response. This response uses something called Application Port Addressing to direct the message to a specific process running on the iPhone. The problem with Telenor Pakistan is your iPhone never see the reply message from Apple server because Telenor has blocked it and telenor care support do not have any knowledge about it as Telenor Pk engineers didn't told them or they never ask or bother to confirm from them. In fact Telenor PK care help line do not know what is imessage so calling them is waste of time.

faryaz Author

Level 1

5 points

Nov 13, 2015 4:04 AM in response to sareshi

I was just to reply here but got your reply 1st.

I tried to activate on Telenor Pakistan today and it worked this time. You can try now.

BTW I talked to one of senior technical 3 days ago according to him he do not know anything. anyway this issue is resolved. After wasting PRK 600 on activation SMS's LOL

ChrisJ4203

Level 10

236,321 points

Nov 13, 2015 7:59 AM in response to faryaz

Well, it turned out to be the carrier after all. If it was me, I would demand a refund of the costs that you incurred in attempts to activate the feature. They should not have been charging you, especially when you reported the problem to them, and they claimed there was no problem. That is not the way to conduct business, especially when you have the choice of other carriers.

faryaz Author

Level 1

5 points

Nov 13, 2015 10:52 AM in response to ChrisJ4203

I agree with you. I have contacted Telenor Pakistan and waiting for reply regarding refund of almost 92 failed activation international SMSs.

As for as charges for this activation is concern when I talked with Apple support few days ago they told me it depend on carrier to charge or keep it free of cost. Anyway it is OK if they charge for it but when activation fail due to fault at carrier END that is something serious because in failed attempt iPhone will send another sms after every 15 or 20 min until you turn activation OFF and wait for the solution.

Anyway thanks.

Jan 18, 2016 12:51 AM in response to faryaz

I was using a Ufone SIM card on my old iPhone 6 and ported out my SIM to Mobilink(Apple suppoted carrier in Pakistan) with a new iPhone 6. On my old phone everything was fine including iMessages and FaceTime. However, once I inserted the new ported out Mobilink SIM and tried to activated iMessage and FaceTime but failed . I read every help forum, searched google and apple communities and tried every possible method available on the internet but iMessages and FaceTime couldn't be activated even after 5 days. To isolated the problem at Apple or carried end I today bought a New Mobilnk SIM and was able to activated iMessage and FaceTime flawlessly.

Once I insert the ported out SIM the same problem of failed to activated occur. I have almost wasted Rs. 500(5 USD) on sending message to UK based number. Even after three days, even my ported in SIM no doesn't appear in Send & Receive menu. Any help would be appreciated.

KiltedTim

Level 10

226,284 points

Nov 3, 2015 9:45 AM in response to faryaz

Who, exactly, is your carrier? Are they on this list? Wireless carrier support and features for iPhone in Asia-Pacific - Apple Support

faryaz Author

Level 1

5 points

Nov 2, 2015 12:26 PM in response to ChrisJ4203

My carrier support for imessage and FaceTime and i have used and successfully activated in all previous ios. In our country now iphone is officially launched by all cell phone carrier.

ChrisJ4203

Level 10

236,321 points

Nov 2, 2015 12:28 PM in response to faryaz

Then ask your carrier why you are being charged for international SMS. That should not be happening. If you cannot activate iMessage after 24 hours, then contact Apple Care.

faryaz Author

Level 1

5 points

Nov 3, 2015 9:05 AM in response to ChrisJ4203

Carrier said you have to contact with apple support something preventing from their End. I think its bug or glitch in IOS 9.1

faryaz Author

Level 1

5 points

Nov 3, 2015 10:22 AM in response to KiltedTim

Carrier say from our end sms is flowing properly but something wrong on apple server or ios side. They also said they charge for activation sms and this doesn't mean we are not supporting.

xenderx

Level 1

0 points

Nov 5, 2015 3:38 AM in response to faryaz

Same issue within Turkey (Turkcell) with iPhone 6 Plus and iOS 9.1.

faryaz Author

Level 1

5 points

Nov 5, 2015 6:34 AM in response to xenderx

Yes its ios bug

call Apple support and tell them to fix in next ios update

ChrisJ4203

Level 10

236,321 points

Nov 6, 2015 8:14 AM in response to faryaz

I'm just telling you what is reported from Apple. That would also explain the reason you are being charged for the SMS activations.

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iMessage & FaceTime waiting for activation ios 9.1