Activation nightmare - SIM card mess

I just purchased 2 new phones for a family plan. Activating the first was a snap. When I tried to activate the second, I get a rather vague message that itunes cannot activate and I must call ATT. After 2 hours on the phone (rep says it is the longest activation call he's ever had to deal with) I finally get through the activation process.
Now I get the dreaded "bad SIM card" message. Rep says to take it to an ATT store and get another card. Now I can't wait to get interrogated about hacking the new phone.
Finally I pop out the SIM card and +*IT HAS A SMUDGE ON IT*+. There is some kind of gunk on the "brand new" SIM card. I remove it with some saliva and my shirt and the phone now works!
Used card? Some dolt at the factory spilled some coffee? Who knows. Of course I'm probably the only one this happens to.

As this is a user technical support forum, do you have a question for us?

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Hi Wjosten! Thank you for your prompt advice. Please, am still experiencing problem with the Sim activation. After carefully inserted my sim into the sim tray. I put on my iPhone, connected to itunes to activate but instead it shows me that THE SIM CARD INSERTED IN THE IPHONE DOES NOT APPEAR TO BE ACTIVATED,PLEASE INSERT THE SIM CARD THAT CAME WITH YOUR IPHONE OR VISIT A SUPPORTED CARRIER STORE TO REPLACEMENT SIM CARD. Please what should I do? Thank you

POSSIBLE SOLUTION to LONG Activation Waits : Sim Card # Not Updated

It might not be an overload on the servers that is causing activation woes...
After waiting over 5 hours for my iPhone 3GS to activate, and after reading forums, I decided to call AT&T. After first telling me I would have to go to an Apple Store and have it activated, the representative checked with an Apple Rep. I then gave her the IMEI # and the SIM CARD # of the new iPhone.
It turns out, AT&T did not have the new sim card #, they still had the old one from my first generation (non-3g) iphone. After they input the correct # and shutting down both phones, I connected the 3GS to iTunes and it was immediately activated- IMMEDIATELY!
So the problem may not be the servers, the problem may be a lack of communication between Apple and AT&T or someone at AT&T not inputting new Sim information.
I have been advised NOT to merely switch the old sim with the new. If you call AT&T have the NEW SIM # and your IMEI Number. Both are available on the sticker on the back of the box so you don't have to physically remove the sim card. (The sim card # is the one on the bottom left labelled ICCID)

Good Luck
By the way for those who have been waiting for activation, this seems to be a very common problem when buying the 3G S online and upgrading from the Original 2G.
If you have been waiting an extraordinary amount of time call AT&T. I got right through with no waiting. Just explain what has been happening and how you read on the forums a lot of the new SIM card numbers are not in AT&Ts system correctly.
By the way, you DO NOT have to remove the sim card, the numbers you need are on the back of your new iphone box on the black sticker. The SIM CARD # is the ICCID # above the last bar code on the left, and the IMEI # is the one above the last barcode on the right.
GOOD LUCK, I wish I had done this earlier, I spent 5 HOURS waiting, and then once this was done it was activated instantly!

HT4623 trying to active my old iPhone 3gs. it showing that activation server is temporary unavailable and on the iTunes showing that there is no sim card installed in the iPhone you are attempting to activate. I unlocked my phone then i upgrade it, after

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Was the SIM card activated on another phone? I assume this is an ATT style trying to use on T-Mobile? Was the SIM installed correctly? Is the carrier (like T-Mobile) operating IOS 6 devices yet?
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Hi 4woodend,
Thanks for posting back!
Sorry for the problems you're having activating your SIM cards. Send over the details and we'll look into this.
Click on my userrname and under the "about me" section of my profile you'll see the link to get in touch with us.
Cheers,
Robbie
BTCare Community Mod
If we have asked you to email us with your details, please make sure you are logged in to the forum, otherwise you will not be able to see our ‘Contact Us’ link within our profiles.
We are sorry that we are unable to deal with service/account queries via the private message(PM) function so please don't PM your account info, we need to deal with this via our email account :-)
If someone answers your question correctly please let other members know by clicking on ’Mark as Accepted Solution’.

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Also in order not to pay a fortune for the service is it better to acquire if needed a SIM card only once there?
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wesb
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Activation nightmare - SIM card mess

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