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Waiting for my Tbolt to activate....

karl0528
Newbie
‎03-24-2011 02:35 PM

I purchased the phone at 9:15 today and I am still waiting for it to activate.  The crappy thing about it is that my DX doesn't even work for the time being so I"m basically phoneless until the Tbolt activates.... Anyone else have that issue?

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gtarist16
Newbie
‎03-24-2011 02:43 PM

i just took my phone home and its been 12hrs and no activation if it doesn't activate by the time im off work verizon is going get it. lol

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AZSALUKI
Legend
In response to gtarist16
‎03-24-2011 02:52 PM

bad question, but you both put the sim card in and took the battery out of your old device right?

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PJNC284
Master - Level 2
In response to AZSALUKI
‎03-24-2011 04:11 PM

wow.  12 hrs is a bit much.  I know they were apparently having serious network wide problems with the sales and activation systems last night.  I got mine the day after launch and the sales rep said it was taking as long as 3 hours for some on launch day.  Luckily mine only took 30min since I went there on lunch break.  

 

http://www.droid-life.com/2011/03/24/verizon-experiencing-4g3g-data-issues-thunderbolt-activations-i...

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mdram4x4
Champion - Level 1
In response to PJNC284
‎03-24-2011 04:14 PM

wait..... it wasnt active when you left the store?

any time i got a phone instore, it was active when i walked out the do, the sales rep even tested it.

 

is the tb or lte diff?

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AZSALUKI
Legend
In response to mdram4x4
‎03-24-2011 04:57 PM

 

mdram4x4 wrote:

wait..... it wasnt active when you left the store?

any time i got a phone instore, it was active when i walked out the do, the sales rep even tested it.

 

is the tb or lte diff?

yes. you can't dial *228 to activate it. it activates on it's own when you load the sim card and turn it on. UNFORTUNATLEY, many of the reps don't even realize this as i've seen many complaints (and it JUST happened last night with my friend's wife) where vzn is telling people to just turn it on and dial *228. apparently, this can ruin the sim card?

 

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mdram4x4
Champion - Level 1
In response to AZSALUKI
‎03-24-2011 04:59 PM

 

AZSALUKI wrote:

 

mdram4x4 wrote:

wait..... it wasnt active when you left the store?

any time i got a phone instore, it was active when i walked out the do, the sales rep even tested it.

 

is the tb or lte diff?

yes. you can't dial *228 to activate it. it activates on it's own when you load the sim card and turn it on. UNFORTUNATLEY, many of the reps don't even realize this as i've seen many complaints (and it JUST happened last night with my friend's wife) where vzn is telling people to just turn it on and dial *228. apparently, this can ruin the sim card?

 

 

sim cards are new to vzw

but i would never leave the store without a working phone. as i said the sales rep used to call it for you to verify it worked

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PJNC284
Master - Level 2
In response to mdram4x4
‎03-24-2011 05:11 PM

yeah, *228 is supposed to immediately disconnect when dialed but apparently some have managed to go through rendering the sim card useless.  For the Thunderbolt,  they're supposed to just be able to enter the sim id into their system and link it to your phone number and it's just supposed to start working on boot.  That doesn't necessarily seem to be the case though in most instances.

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ibanez737
Contributor - Level 1
In response to PJNC284
‎03-24-2011 07:16 PM

EDIT: There actually is a delayed activation notice currently, so I guess ignore my previous post unless it's crazy long.

 

The switch is currently taking between 2-3 hours to activate SIM cards. When customers are putting them in the device, they should be left in. DO NOT pull the SIM card, it will cause the customer to go to the "end of the line", waiting for activation in the switch. Advise customers to stay patient. This is not related to the current data card outage in alerts.

 

There have been some reported LTE issues today.  It could be affecting activations, but I wouldn't think so.  Only thing i might try is taking battery out, reseating the sim card, then powering the phone on and activating again.  I activated my Tbolt on one line on my account and it took about 30 seconds, then i got a new SIM for another number on my account, and same thing, only about 30 seconds.  If power cycling doesn't work, definitely call VZW to see if it's related to the 4G outage or something else.

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gina7289
Contributor - Level 2
‎04-13-2011 11:05 PM
I had a problem like that when I got it in the mail. I accepted everything but wanted to put it on a different line. After I did that I waited 6 hrs because they said I had to wait for it and still wait then they said the sim chip was confused because of the switch. Lol it gets confused. VZW rep did not know the chip was and is assigned to the original phone number u upgraded with. Then u have to go to the store to get a new chip or wait until they mail u one.. then I was bill 105$ for 53 mb of data. They told be reason for that was u can use data without a data plan on the thunderbolt. Yeah right truth when they switched to a good sim chip some how the system billed me for data instead of taking into account I have a plan. Also I can't have the extended warranty insurance untill April
17th but I was put on the other plan.. why do these little things make the bill ne unexpectedly higher.
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gina7289
Contributor - Level 2
‎04-13-2011 11:06 PM
Each time u have to get a chip if it goes wrong.
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Chap251
Newbie
In response to gina7289
‎04-15-2011 01:56 PM

I received my Thunderbolt by mail and am having the issue of waiting for it to activate. After a few hours into the process, I got a little miffed because itsaid a couple minutes and it would be activated, so I turned my old phone on and it still worked. I left the TB running all night "activating" and it still hasn't completed the process, though my old phone now no longer works...nor does the TB for calling/texting/etc. This put a hamper on things because now I cannot call Verizon. I was able to chat with a costumer service rep on the site when I bought the phone, but I've been unsuccessful finding the chat again to ask about this issue.

 

I live in an area that has no 3g/4g coverage (am moving soonish for those wondering why I would get the device when living in such an area). I was wondering if this may be causing the issue (only 1x connection), but I haven't been able to find out anywhere online anything saying 3g/4g is required for activation (or that it isn't required). The nearest spot for 3g is about a half hour drive, 4g appears to be about 1.5 hr drive, so I wanted to make sure before I attempted driving out to the area for the sole purpose of activating my phone that this is the issue.

 

Thanks

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TBhouston
Specialist - Level 1
In response to Chap251
‎04-15-2011 02:21 PM

It sounds like your TB isn't getting enough signal to OTA..which could be a problem in the long run for you at that location with that phone..

 

You can always dial *611 from any vzw phone even if inactive

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Chap251
Newbie
In response to TBhouston
‎04-15-2011 02:30 PM

*611 gives me a voice recording asking me to call collect, buy prepaid minutes, etc. (the same if I try any other number). It has full bars on the signal, but like I said, no digital connection, just the 1x.

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AZSALUKI
Legend
In response to Chap251
‎04-15-2011 02:40 PM

 

Chap251 wrote:

I received my Thunderbolt by mail and am having the issue of waiting for it to activate. After a few hours into the process, I got a little miffed because itsaid a couple minutes and it would be activated, so I turned my old phone on and it still worked. I left the TB running all night "activating" and it still hasn't completed the process, though my old phone now no longer works...nor does the TB for calling/texting/etc. This put a hamper on things because now I cannot call Verizon. I was able to chat with a costumer service rep on the site when I bought the phone, but I've been unsuccessful finding the chat again to ask about this issue.

 

I live in an area that has no 3g/4g coverage (am moving soonish for those wondering why I would get the device when living in such an area). I was wondering if this may be causing the issue (only 1x connection), but I haven't been able to find out anywhere online anything saying 3g/4g is required for activation (or that it isn't required). The nearest spot for 3g is about a half hour drive, 4g appears to be about 1.5 hr drive, so I wanted to make sure before I attempted driving out to the area for the sole purpose of activating my phone that this is the issue.

 

Thanks

i'm sure what i'm about to mention isn't the real issue.....but DON'T turn on your old phone. i believe the activation instructions specifically state to turn of your old phone and remove the battery. 

 

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Chap251
Newbie
In response to AZSALUKI
‎04-15-2011 03:28 PM

Yea, they also said it should take a few minutes :smileytongue: 15+ hours now. I just remember I used to have a mobile broadband card through verizon and I had to get it replaced while traveling once, and I was in an area without 3g connection at the time, and I couldn't activate the new device then either. Although the device would work with 1x connection, to activate it I had to travel someplace where I could get a digital signal. I just didn't know if these new phones are related to that. I've been slow to adopt the new technology and have been using an older phone for quite a while.

 

But also, I don't want to drive an hour or two out of my way to go get the signal to activate it if that's not going to work.

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