Suncom Activation question

I activated service today with Suncom(Telecorp). I live in Alabama. I walked out of the store with the phone supposedly activated, but when I got home, the display says ROAM. I cannot place or recieve calls. When I try and place a call it forwards me to CINGULAR customer service when ROAM is displayed. When HOME is displayed, it forwards me to Suncom customer service. I called customer service from a home landline and they walked me through setup.Everything is OK in setup. Customer service only told me that the phone had been activated. They didn't say anymore than that. I took the phone back to the Suncom store where the rep called Suncom. Suncom told him that they were behind on activations because of a busy day. It has now been almost 7 hours and the phone will still not work. Any suggestions as of what may be the problem?

[WirelessBeachBum]

Sounds like you are not loaded in their switch...that should have happened and a test call made before you left the store...call them back in the AM...

[parthery]

You have one "small" problem and one bigger problem.

The small problem...your phone has not received its over the air activation. Once it does, the HOME will disappear and change to "SunCom". Their activation system has been real slow for the last couple weeks....its being migrated to AT&T's system which sends out over the air activations very quickly....like usually before you walk out of the store or hang up the phone with customer care.

Its also possible that the ESN was incorrectly loaded...a digit was transposed..etc... If this is the case, your phone will not make or receive calls...period.

Your bigger problem is a coverage issue....it sounds like where you live may not be covered by SunCom....and because of that your phone is roaming onto Cingular....if your phone is hitting Cingular you may be charged roaming...depending on what plan you have. Also, your phone needs to be reading HOME to receive the over the air.

If the phone is reading HOME...I would call SunCom customer care (877-427-4000) and explain to them the problem....I have found that they can push it through...or if all else fails...manually program your phone so you can make or receive calls.

Good luck.

I think I've figured out the problem. At the time of activation,I think my mobile number with area code is supposed to be entered into the mobile ID at the time the switch is flipped. When I brought the phone home and called customer service, the mobile ID was empty. So with the help of customer service, I entered my mobile number under mobile ID in the setup menu, but they never flipped the switch again to send out the activation over the airways, thereby making my phone useless. If this sounds correct let me know. I'm going to call the activation dept. again in the morning to have the switch flipped again while the correct mobile ID is entered to see if this will correct the problem.

I called the Suncom activation dept. and explained in detail what was going on. They transferred me to customer service. Customer service then transferred me to the activation dpet. Not a bit of help from either department. My phone is still not activated. Suncom refuses to activate the phone again. They tell me the phone is activated and that the problem is not with the activation, buy they cannot and will not offer me an explanation or even try to get my phone working. I'm thinking its time to cancel the service since I cannot receive service from either my phone or a customer service rep. Are there any other ways I can get them to try and re-activate the phone again?

[TNDan21]

Just cancel the service, no provider is worth this much trouble.

Don't call the activation department...they are useless.

Either call customer care and do not let them off the phone until you are activated and working...even if it means asking for a supervisor, or go back to the store where you bought it. You should not have to wait 2 days to get your service up and running.

This is a case where you are the exception and not the norm....

[Jack]

CANCEL

Jack

[WirelessBeachBum]

I agree you should cancel, your sales rep should be dealing with this problem not you....but hey it's the end of the month, why take the time to make sure your phone is programmed, as long as your in the billing system the salesperson gets his commission...cancel and go somewhere that will at least get your service activated before you can find something to complain about!

(P.S. I'm in wireless sales and if I treated you like this I would expect you to cancel!)

I don't think you'll receive the over the air activation while roaming. You have to be on their network. Correct me if I'm wrong.

[TNDan21]

I believe that is correct Anonymous.

Theres no doubt in my opinion that Suncom has the worst customer service I have dealt with. I have called and talked with at least7 different people, yet my phone was still inactive. When I told them I would cancel, I was transferred to the de-activation dept. This was the first time anyone even offered to get my phone to work, but I declined. If the service was this bad to begin with, what would it be like if problems arose in the future.

Go back to the store.... call customer care from store... once they have it activated. Check back at your home. If it's still roaming at your home, deactivate.

The trial period given when activing is for this exact reason. To see if you like the service and to see if it's covered where you live.

S. Cole

They are in the process of converting their systems to AT&T...and every weekend they seem to have trouble.

The good news...after August 13, these SunCom idiots will have new boss.