my Droid won't activate (*sigh*)

[stevehoffman]

I bought my Droid on line via Phandroid/Verizon Wireless just after midnight on Friday and filled out all the info, picked a Verizon plan, gave them my current cell number (which is an AT&T Mobile number) and checked the boxes that said "yes, please port my old number on to my new Verizon phone".

So I get the phone today (superfast -- I hadn't even paid for overnight delivery). But when I follow the instructions to activate, the activation fails. I touch the Droid on the touchscreen, it brings up the phone, I follow the voice prompts and dial my cell number, but it doesn't work.

Spoke with a VW customer service rep (late night Saturday night). He gave me a different customer service # to call on Sunday for help with "porting."

I sure hope I get this straightened out quickly. Maybe I should've just bought the Droid at a Verizon store and let the VW store guys activate it for me.

The VW customer service rep was saying I should see a "temporary Verizon cell #" somewhere on my receipt or packing slip. But there isn't any. Just the mobile # that I'm trying to port over from AT&T.

Did I do something wrong when I ordered the phone? Or is it normal for there to be a delay in getting the old # ported?

Any thoughts, guidance, or calm words of assurance from wiser Phandroid folks will be appreciated . . .

 

[radikal]

its an issue! they had to activate mine and it took like 30 mins! i was a bit irritated!

 

[stevehoffman]

Well I guess as long as they can activate mine on Sunday when I call, I'll be cool with it, even if it takes 30 minutes.

I sometimes get irritated at myself in these cases, thinking gee, what did I do wrong or what did I not understand?

I'm sure the whole Verizon network and the Verizon people are pretty swamped these days with the Droid thing, so I'll cut 'em a little slack.

I guess I'm just a bit disappointed that I'm stymied at "step one" (or even "step zero") in terms of activating my Droid.

Any other reports from folks who had trouble getting theirs activated, and how was the problem solved?

 

[DR0ID]

do you have a vzw.com account set up?if you go my account > my services > select the phone you want to update > activate phone ...then enter the ESN/MEID number...after that dial *228 and should be done...thats what i do when i change a phone to a different line and get a new one from insurance and all that

 

[stevehoffman]

Peter, no I don't have a VRW.com account setup ... If I try to set one up the first thing it asks me for is my cell phone # and the only cell phone # I have is the old (AT&T) cell phone # which I am TRYING to get ported over to VRW .... And if I type in that cell phone # on the VRW.com registration page, it rejects it, doesn't recognize it as a Verizon # -- even though it is the cell # shown on the sales receipt with my Droid #.


So I feel like I'm sorta stuck ...

And by the way, I don't know what a ESN/MEID number is .... Maybe I should know but hey they were willing to sell me a Droid phone (and a 2-yr service plan) without making me pass a smartphone IQ test ...

 

[DR0ID]

the ESN/MEID number is on the back under the battery...its what they use instead of SIM cards and all that..but yeah if that doesnt recognize your number..verizon definitely didn't do their job...good luck!

 

[stevehoffman]

I'm thinking perhaps the glitch is that my phone arrived too soon! I got the phone within 24 hours (overnight, although I only paid for FedEx 2-day shipping) but maybe it takes more like 48 hours for the porting to go through.

 

[Jetpack Ninja Raptor]

It's a porting delay. I had a similar issue. I ported my old number from a verizon prepay account. I was told it could take up to 24hours for it to switch over and allow me to activate the new phone. Luckily it only took 4 and a half hours. I was checking the thing every hour. As long as your old phone can still make and receive calls, you won't be able to activate.

I'm guessing since you're coming from another carrier, it's taking a bit longer. You just have wait it out. But I know what you're going through. I couldn't think of anything else but "activate, dam you!".

 

[stevehoffman]

Jetpack Ninja Raptor was right - it just took a bit longer to port the old number from my prior carrier.

Basically, when I got on the phone with Verizon customer service reps on Sunday they were GREAT. They hooked me up with the porting experts and presto, after one false start, they did their behind-the-scenes magic and made it happen, and verified it by having me call them from the Droid and having them place a call to me to make sure I was all set.

So although I was flustered at first, I ended up very impressed with Verizon's folks troubleshooting and getting my Droid going.