My iMessage refuses to work on my iPhone 4. My number is grayed out under the Messages Receive At iMessage. Please help!

Question

When iMessage is turned on, it greys out my phone number (used to be stuck at "Verifying..." but now it just says "Phone"). Only my Email is clickable but it won't let me remove it. When I go to my Message app, only Text Message-ing is an option (showing green instead of the usual blue). This applies to all my friends who are iPhone users. I've tried Network Restart, phone restart, phone hard restart, shutting down Settings, shutting down Messages, ... now what else can I do? Please help. Much appreciated.

Answer 1

"Anyway, look at Settings > Messages > Receive At
I assume you mean a row that says "Phone" and your number is grayed out there.  That is normal."
Check. Good that it's normal
"Now go down to "Caller ID".  There you should see your phone number, probably checked, as well as your Apple ID (alternate message ID)."
Check. My phone number has a check mark next to it.
If all that's true and you have iMessage "On" in Settings > Messages, you're good to go!
Nope. My texting is still stubbornly green and it says "Text Message" in the field rather than "iMessage."