neerajvohra
Explorer
Hi.
A lot of users including me are facing massive issues with iMessage and Facetime on Vodafone. It is nearly impossible to activate the service. The service does get activated initially, if the phone is restored, but it only works with the email addresses and not the phone number.
After contacting Apple, it seems that the problem is with Vodafone and not Apple. Apple have stated that while Airtel and Aircel users face no issues, Vodafone does not officially support the iPhone and hence, there is some settings issue at Vodafone's end.
Vodafone however claims that they cannot assist users with 3rd party apps, and as long as the data is working fine on the phone, there is no problem at their end.
Digging deeper into the whole issue, I found out that Apple sends an international text to activate iMessage when the service it turned on in the settings. This message goes to00445773142076. It is possible that this number is blocked by Vodafone. One Reliance user has posted online that he managed to get Reliance to unblock this number and has been able to use iMessage flawlessly ever since. I at my end has given the same complaint to Vodafone today and am waiting for their response. I have already spent hundreds of Rupees trying to activate these services over the last month.
Anyhow, if you google a bit, you will see that this is a massive issue and a lot of Vodafone users have spoken to Apple and Vodafone, without getting a proper solution. The fact that the service can be immediately activated using an Airtel sim means that the problem does indeed lie with Vodafone.
I use an iPhone 5 with iOS 6.1 (6.0.2 up till yesterday) but it doesn't work.
Anyone have a solution?
Thanks.
I am not facing any issue with iMessage and Facetime, using iPhone 5 iOS 6.1 updated recently, and using Vodafone. Yes, to activate facetime Apple sends an international text message, which my phone did and the facetime was activated. None of my friends have come across any such issue with Voda and iPhone5.
Regarding the APN, voda doesn't have any specific plans for iPhone and you can use "www" or "iphone" (small letters) in the APN field, I prefer iphone (just a hox that I get good speeds with this apn) and getting 8-12mbps on 3G. Have you tried changing any other SIM?
Prior to that, have you tried activating iPhone services on your number? You should send a message "ACT IPHONE" to 144 and your iPhone services will be activated within 24 hours. Check the screenshot attached. You will not be charged for the message, nor does your data plan will change etc. Let me know if this works for you. I don't think Vodafone has blocked such number just to block Facetime and iMessage. I use iMessage and Facetime on regular basis.