Troubles activating new iPhone 12 Pro direct from Apple (Tmobile)

[ruahusker2]

I am trying to activate a new iPhone 12 Pro (tmobile selected at checkout) tonight that i got directly from apple and I can not get this thing to activate, nor have I had luck with T-force, tmobile in store, or apple support thus far. When I turn on the phone I go through the language selection, confirm my phone number, and then put in the last four digits of my SSN. It then tells me that T-Mobile can't verify my identity. I checked with Tmobile and they verified that I put in the correct number. So frustrating. Anyone else seen this before or have any suggestions? I have a feeling I am going to be ping ponged between T-mobile and apple on this one.

 

[Brian Lovett aka BLOVE]

Just registered to say I have the exact same problem with T-Mobile. We spent 6 hours on the phone with them last night. They blame apple, so we called apple, and of course apple blames T-Mobile. Super frustrating. Just spent another 2 hours with apple and still no resolution. So far we have a $1000 brick.

 

[ruahusker2]

Just registered to say I have the exact same problem with T-Mobile. We spent 6 hours on the phone with them last night. They blame apple, so we called apple, and of course apple blames T-Mobile. Super frustrating. Just spent another 2 hours with apple and still no resolution. So far we have a $1000 brick.

Frustrating to say the least. I don't want to think about how many hours I spent yesterday dealing with this issue. I even hooked to my mac and performed a recovery on the phone. Still made no difference. I do have some good news for you though. Yesterday, one of the Apple technicians escalated my issue to a senior advisor who said he would take over my case to the finish. He opened a ticket with engineering and I had very little faith anything would come of it until next week.

I woke up this morning, and tried it again first thing. No dice. I tried again after i got out of the shower at about 8 AM and VOILA! It worked! I don't think it even asked me for the last 4 of my social that time. I honestly can't remember since I was so excited it went through. So I guess either something was just broke yesterday or the engineer did something this morning to free up my phone to register with tmobile. You should tell them that you are aware of at least one other person that had the issue that had to be escalated to an engineer. Maybe they can get you escalated although I am not sure if they have any personnel that could escalate that on the weekends.

Good luck, please let me know if you get it up and running. I am curious if mine was a fluke or if there is something larger at play. Just curious, was your previous phone on eSim or on a regular sim? I have this nagging feeling that it had something to do with me being on eSim before or something.

 

[JenSil]

I am having the same issue and we have been on with T-Mobile and Apple for almost two hours now! Super frustrating

 

[JenSil]

Frustrating to say the least. I don't want to think about how many hours I spent yesterday dealing with this issue. I even hooked to my mac and performed a recovery on the phone. Still made no difference. I do have some good news for you though. Yesterday, one of the Apple technicians escalated my issue to a senior advisor who said he would take over my case to the finish. He opened a ticket with engineering and I had very little faith anything would come of it until next week.

I woke up this morning, and tried it again first thing. No dice. I tried again after i got out of the shower at about 8 AM and VOILA! It worked! I don't think it even asked me for the last 4 of my social that time. I honestly can't remember since I was so excited it went through. So I guess either something was just broke yesterday or the engineer did something this morning to free up my phone to register with tmobile. You should tell them that you are aware of at least one other person that had the issue that had to be escalated to an engineer. Maybe they can get you escalated although I am not sure if they have any personnel that could escalate that on the weekends.

Good luck, please let me know if you get it up and running. I am curious if mine was a fluke or if there is something larger at play. Just curious, was your previous phone on eSim or on a regular sim? I have this nagging feeling that it had something to do with me being on eSim before or something.

Glad to hear it finally worked. Maybe we should just hang up and wait. Conveniently, my old phone just stopped working yesterday. I’m beyond annoyed with Apple right now.

 

[ruahusker2]

Glad to hear it finally worked. Maybe we should just hang up and wait. Conveniently, my old phone just stopped working yesterday. I’m beyond annoyed with Apple right now.

The phone you are upgrading from, did it happen to be eSim ?

 

[cable0guy]

Same problem. Spent hours with T-Mobile and Apple Support. Got it escalated it up the food chain, and Apple's tech people will be working on it 🤷🏻‍♂️

 

[Travis299]

I was upgrading from a flip phone to an iPhone 12 Pro with AT&T as the carrier with the iPhone purchased through Apple/AT&T. Of course the online activation failed and after several attempts to get through to AT&T I was able to get AT&T tech support to activate my new iPhone with these steps.
1. Copied down the 20 digit SIM card number which starts with an 8.
2. Copied the model, S/N and IMEI numbers which can be seen on the iPhone under SETTINGS, GENERAL, ABOUT. Note the SIM number is there also under ICCID but may be after the activation.
3. Be polite and patient with tech personnel.
4. Had my AT&T account numbers, PIN & cell number and gave these to AT&T tech.
Hope this helps and stay safe during these horrible C-19 times.

 

[a reader]

Hello everybody! I just wanted to stop by to report that I had the same activation problem & spent multiple hours troubleshooting with T-Mobile & Apple support, which did not resolve the issue. Earlier, I turned on the 12 Pro without the SIM card inside & it successfully activated over wi-fi..! Later on, I put in my old SIM card & the phone is receiving cellular service. I'm not sure if this will help any of you, but it might be worth a shot. Good luck!

 

[JenSil]

The phone you are upgrading from, did it happen to be eSim ?

No, it wasn’t. The next day, after numerous tries, it finally worked!

 

[JenSil]

I was upgrading from a flip phone to an iPhone 12 Pro with AT&T as the carrier with the iPhone purchased through Apple/AT&T. Of course the online activation failed and after several attempts to get through to AT&T I was able to get AT&T tech support to activate my new iPhone with these steps.
1. Copied down the 20 digit SIM card number which starts with an 8.
2. Copied the model, S/N and IMEI numbers which can be seen on the iPhone under SETTINGS, GENERAL, ABOUT. Note the SIM number is there also under ICCID but may be after the activation.
3. Be polite and patient with tech personnel.
4. Had my AT&T account numbers, PIN & cell number and gave these to AT&T tech.
Hope this helps and stay safe during these horrible C-19 times.

I wasnt able to even get to Settings because of the issue. But was able to get it activated the following day. It was an issue with the servers.