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13 Messages
iPhone 14 activation "let's fix a glitch"
Ordered two 14 pros which arrived yesterday. Activation of the first phone (mine) went smoothly once I received the email from xfinity that it's time to activate, which arrived about 1 hour after the phone was delivered. Started working on setting up my wife's phone later in the day, well after we got the activation email. Feeling confident about my setup from earlier, I set hers up the same way I did mine - updated the old phone to iOS 16, then setup the new phone using the quick setup/transfer from old phone. No issues were encountered. Then I logged in to my xfinity mobile account > devices and launched the activation. A text message was delivered to the old phone with a confirmation code, which I entered and worked fine. Got the message that the activation was in process and an email would be delivered when it was complete. Told my wife to watch for a notification on the new phone about esim transfer and to accept. No notification came through. 30 minutes later I logged back into my devices page and I see the following message:
Looks like we ran into an issue with activating your device. Give us a call and we'll get it worked out."
I got on chat with support - this was around 8:20pm PT. Took a good 20 minutes to get through to someone at xfinity mobile, who went back and forth with me a bit before saying he was seeing the same issue on his end and need to consult with his team. Then he asked me ridiculous questions like "did you receive a SIM card" and started sending me links to various generic support articles like "what is an esim". Finally after about an hour, he says I have to wait 12-24 hours and that he created a case in their CRM for someone to resend the activation message. Really? There has to be a better solution here.
EDIT: it's 5:06am PDT right now, I tried calling the xfinity mobile support number but it says they are closed and to call back during normal business hours. Are they closed on Sunday?
Accepted Solution
Mister_P707
New Poster
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13 Messages
3 years ago
UPDATE: the issue has been RESOLVED! I went to local xfinity store today and explained the situation. The store manager came over to help me and said there wasn't anything they could do in the store other than create a ticket for me, which would be handled by tier3 and has an ETA of 72 hours (during business days only). I explained how I already got a ticket, and have been on chat/phone/text with support since Saturday, including one call with tier2 and nobody has been able to resolve the issue. He was adamant that there was nothing he could do, explaining that the stores are just "service points" for mobile and beyond very basic things like issuing SIM cards and helping people with voicemail, there was literally nothing he could do. He basically wanted me to turn around and leave the store - I wasn't having it. I repeatedly asked him if he, as the manager of a xfinity storefront, has a special hotline to reach the mobile team for issues like this which he repeatedly said he didn't. Finally I got him to admit he can reach tier2 directly, but not tier3 and he was 99% sure that tier2 would be of no help in my specific instance. He did have visibility to the error message on this phone which was "Network Compatibility". He said his tool in-store gave him no ability to affect that error in any way - it HAD to be tier3 or nothing else. I said I wanted to have them try calling support anyway, as I was already there in person and really just wanted to get the issue resolved and move on with life. He very reluctantly agreed, telling me it could be an hour wait. I said no problem, I'll wait. I sat down and he went into the back to get on chat. About 20 minutes went by, he came out and asked if he could borrow the new phone. He said while he was on with tier2, they saw tier3 grab my ticket and start working on it. A few minutes later I checked the old phone and there was no service. A few minutes later he came out and said they were successful at fixing the problem, and that the timing was just very lucky that tier3 happened to get involved as they were and they were able to triage them in while I waited. He went on to say that tier3 was actually getting ready to call me instead. It's funny how we went from "99% sure we won't be able to fix the problem" to getting the problem fixed in about 30 minutes while I waited in the store. It's also funny how they were magically able to get in touch with tier3 at that very moment. I suppose it could have been a coincidence just like the manager said I think my persistence had a bit to do with it as well.
If anyone out there reading this runs into a similar issue, make sure to get a ticket number from support. The store had access to view the ticket, including the status as well as the notes. It was not terribly hard to get a ticket from support either, although the first few times I called them between saturday and sunday they did not provide one. Finally, if you decide to visit the store be firm with them and be ready to wait while they call it in for you.
Time for me to move on with life and close the book on this "fun" little adventure in esim activation with xfinity mobile.
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Mister_P707
New Poster
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13 Messages
3 years ago
UPDATE: I managed to get through to advanced support (tier 2) via phone today to take another stab at resolving this issue. The rep tried to help but was candid with me and explained that their system currently lacks the functionality necessary to fix this issue. He explained that currently the only way he’s observed the issue get resolved is by trying various steps on the new phone to get the push notification from the esim activation to go through, and even then he said these steps don’t guarantee the issue will resolve. I asked him if he had a way to restart the activation process on his end, and he said that for esim there isn’t. He advised performing the following steps to see if the esim activation push notification would go through on the new phone
-Go to settings > general > about and waiting for a carrier settings update notification (I had none)
-perform a network reset on the new phone,
-perform a full factory reset on the new phone.
None of the above steps worked for me, I got no push notification on the new phone and the activation error on the device in my account remains “let’s fix a glitch” with no button to click to retry activation. The rep asked me a few times if I ever got an email with a QR code to activate the esim - I never got any such emails from xfinity. He also had me try the various other cellular plan activation options on the new phone, including transferring the SIM from the old phone and registering the esim manually via URL. None of these options worked.
The rep went on (very candidly I might add) that they are well aware of the issue and are expecting a fix to be implemented within 48-72 hours. He also said he would put my contact information on a list of all the other customers who are experiencing this issue, and that I will receive an email, text or phone call when the fix is available. He even said he would call me himself, personally! (not sure I believe that, but we’ll see).
Based on his tone and candor I believe he was being honest. That said, it doesn’t make me feel any less disappointed about a >$1000 purchase that will sit on a desk as a glorified ipod touch for the next 3 days (or more) while I wait for xfinity to hopefully get their act together. Xfinity has REALLY dropped the ball on their esim rollout. I was a happy xfinity mobile customer before, but this experience has really soured me and I will absolutely be shopping for a new carrier once these device credits expire. I’ve gotten two new phones from them over the years and added lines - I never once had a problem.
Xfinity social media team: if you’re seeing this post, please make it a priority to push this up the chain internally. Customers need better visibility and communication on this issue, as well as how long we can expect to wait for a resolution.
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XMjfh
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30 Messages
3 years ago
The rep you spoke to was incorrect. None of the options he gave you were going to work. Your line almost certainly had a “configuration in process/requested” flag set (don’t remember the actual term) which you can’t see on your account but a store rep (and presumably support) can. The 48-72 hr thing is b.s. trying to buy them time. I was told exactly the same thing today and pressed the store rep to ask l2/l3/whoever they to to do a very specific thing (clear the error flag in the system) before they tried anything else. That worked. He (support) was then able to generate a device upgrade order (I got an email), an activation code email and after I gave him the code an email with a download eSIM link that contains a QR code. You can ignore pretty much everything in the e link except the QR code because it’s old info that hasn’t been updated. Scan the QR code with you new phone and everything should work in a few minutes. DO NOT try to use the manual process on the phone; it will not work.
They clearly have work to do to fix the system end users and store reps use (though the store folks can see more than we can) because they simply weren’t ready for the iPhone 14 eSIM only launch.
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Mister_P707
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13 Messages
3 years ago
@XfinityChad2 I saw you post on another thread with a similar issue, I'm not sure if you were the reason the OP got his issue taken care of but just in case you were I'm tagging you here to let you know I need help! Thread reference: https://forums.xfinity.com/conversations/xfinity-mobile/iphone-14-pro-activation/632610ff48c60d55e6051426
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