[cdwdirect]

Hello! I am having problems with my BlackBerry Q10 and both Mobile Hotspot / Internet Tethering on AT&T in the U.S. Because it seems like the same issue, I will stick to referring to the problem as being with Mobile Hotspot. When I try to turn on the Mobile Hotspot I receive the following error message:

"Activation Required - To use this feature, contact your wireless service provider to subscribe to a Mobile Hotspot data plan."

The problem is... I have a data plan that supports both Tethering and Mobile Hotspot use. Specifically, my plan is:

Mobile Share Value Plan 15GB: 15GB of domestic data, $15 per each additional 1GB of data. Additional monthly charge applies for each device on the plan. Unlimited talk & text on mobile phones. Unlimited talk on Wireless Home Phone. Mobile Hotspot, tethering, video calling, and Visual Voicemail available with compatible devices. Unlimited domestic data usage on the AT&T Wi-Fi Basic network for smartphones and select data devices.

I've spent five hours going through three different personnel from AT&T regarding this problem. They concurred that I had a data plan that supported Mobile Hotspot, that my BlackBerry Q10 (Model #SQN100-3) was compatible with their Mobile Hotspot services, and that all of their server settings were updated to match my IMEI and IMSI, and their final answer was: "Everything looks O.K. from our end, can you call BlackBerry?" But as BB has no access to my AT&T account, and no reason to believe me or be bothered about this, I can't imagine that BB would have anything to say except: "Your normal WiFi and Cellular Data is working okay, this is a problem with your service provider and not a problem with the device, you're going to have to talk to AT&T." BlackBerry also charges for tech support.

I tried rebooting many times during the course of the support attempts by AT&T. I took the battery out for a while. I even took the SIM card out of the phone with the battery out, and let it sit for five minutes. All of this to no avail. I did notice that the IMEI displayed by BlackBerry under the Settings > About > Hardware screen is 15-digits, but when I type in *#06# using the Phone, it shows a 17-digit number, which seems odd. I told AT&T both numbers, but they were not able to get Mobile Hotspot to work for me.

BlackBerry OS Software Release: 10.2.1.2102
(No further updates are available from AT&T right now)

The SIM card I'm using is the one I pulled from my iPhone that I stopped using when I purchased the Q10, and so far it's been working perfectly fine. The only real problem for me with the BlackBerry experience so far is the Mobile Hotspot 'Activation Required' error. I've looked all over the place and I can't find the solution.

Anyone have any ideas? Thank you in advance for your help. I'd be happy to answer questions if that helps you direct me to where I need to look.

[MADBRADNYC]

Try using the SIM card that comes with the Q10 not one from the iPhone...
If after calling your service provider to make sure all is provisioned correctly and it still does not work, have your call escalated to BlackBerry from the carrier. That way they will have the history of what you attempted regarding troubleshooting, and the service call will be free of charge.

[cdwdirect]

Because I bought the Q10 unlocked, I do not have any other SIM cards.

I will talk to AT&T again on Thursday when they scheduled a call back and ask them to escalate this to BlackBerry.

[MADBRADNYC]

Because I bought the Q10 unlocked, I do not have any other SIM cards.

I will talk to AT&T again on Thursday when they scheduled a call back and ask them to escalate this to BlackBerry.

I see.
But SIM cards are a dime a dozen. I don't know how your carrier handles this, but I can walk right into any store and just ask for one. They hand them out like water. They will also put your existing SIM card into a reader to transfer any data over to a new SIM card they give you on the spot. Then you just pop it in your device and after making sure all is good, go about your normal everyday business. Sometimes if you call your carrier, they may try to charge you for one. LoL. For T-Mobile they always say $20.00. I say "yeah right"..... I walk into a store and they just hand me one no problem at all.

FYI. Those older BBOS SIM cards are not provisioned properly for the requirements of a BB10 device. I would expect things to be worse for a SIM card that was not from an existing BlackBerry device. I was going to use my old SIM card that was provisioned for and used with my 9900. When I called to activate my device, I was immediately told that I would need to use the updated SIM that came with my device. I don't know if they just say that or if there is a real issue there. I didn't really care because it was easy enough for me to just reach into the box, but everything works just fine on my Z10. Same for my Q10 as well.

Oh. Yes. Have that call escalated through your carrier. No need to pay for services that you should get for free.
Be prepared for redundant restarts, sending of logs, and even an OS reload if it's that bad. Even if you've done these things already.
They read from steps in a manual, and rarely divert from protocol, unless you find another BlackBerry lover on the line that knows our devices.

Good Luck!
Please report back with your process and results to help others that may encounter the same issues.

[blueyestm]

I'd be going to the store and have them put in a new sim card and test it while in the store. I went through about 5 sim cards before once finally was able to make phone calls.

[konafrank]

Identical Situation:
Model: Blackberry Z10
Software: 10.2.1.2179
Carrier: AT&T
Local Hotspot had been working flawlessly at least until the 14th and then when I next used it on May 21st I received the notice that I needed to subscribe to the Mobile Hotspot data plan. I spent several hours on phone and have performed a complete reload of software, gone to store and installed a new Sim card. I also had AT&T re-provision my service plan. Nothing has worked.
Then a store Rep indicated he had been having other different issues on some other phones because of a system wide upgrade that had occurred a few days ago out here in Hawaii. This update was confirmed by some of the phone tech support people I had been talking with and that there were a good number of calls concerning hotspot service. Their tech support was great but was unable to resolve the issue. We agreed she would make her reports and that we would wait a week to see if more people continue to call in and report a problem.
I also run a hotspot on an iPad device and that is working correctly. Hope this helps.

[konafrank]

Any Solutions Yet? Same problem here. See other post for my details.

[peednus]

That's really odd. Mine never worked until I hopped on the share plan. They told me to restart my phone after the call and then the hotspot worked.

Posted via Commodore 64

[maxiang]

Q10SQN100-1/10.2.1.2273, release 10.2.1.2179, radio 10.2.1.2274 on AT&T, no issues with the hotspot or tethering. As a matter of fact, its worked just fine on every OS version from 10.1 to current that I've been on across four different Q10's.
I did notice that the SQN100-1 and SQN100-3 use different LTE bands. I don't think that would cause issues though. Definitely try a new SIM card.

Q10SQN100-1/10.2.1.2273

[bruce73]

I have a problem which seems to be related and jibes with what MADBRADNYC suggests. I tried putting my AT&T LTE SIM card from my Z10 into a 9900 and, while I could make calls, I had no mobile data. The CS rep at AT&T said they needed to take me off LTE and put me on 3G to accommodate the 9900, but I would still be on my Mobile Share plan.

I said fine, then found out that the Mobile Hotspot feature on my Z10 was no longer working. This wasn't an acceptable trade-off just to be able to use the 9900, so I had them switch me back. So it does appear to be how the SIM card is provisioned. I wonder if something similar is happening in your case.

BTW, anyone interested in a used 9900? Lol.

Sent from my Nexus 10 using Tapatalk

[konafrank]

Update.
Hotspot worked fine while in Alaska and Chicago. Back in Hawaii it still does not work. Visited Honolulu store and tested out their z10 on the shelf and local hotspot would not work on that system with either their SIM card or mine. I think the AT&T network has a network configuration issue introduced after a network upgrade that happened about the same time as I noticed this problem. I am back to escalating with AT&T.

[shenandoah]

I had the same problem when I purchased my Q10 from Blackberry.com. I had a Blackberry 9900 on AT&T Mobile Value Share plan. Hot spot worked fine with the 9900. I went to the AT&T store and had them transfer my number to a mini sim (from the full size) sim for my Q10. At the time I didn't have the Q10 yet. When I put the mini sim in the new Q10, the hotspot feature didn't work. The only thing I had to to was call customer support, give them the IMEI for the Q10 and restart the phone. After that it worked fine.

I've got a SQN 100-5 on 10.2.1.2102.

Eric

[konafrank]

It turns out when checking out a new Z10 phone in the AT&T Honolulu Store with their SIM cards and phone plans, AT&T couldn't make the local "hotspot" work on a brand new Z10 either. My suspicion is that this may be a problem unique to specific regions of the US since my hotspot feature did work in Alaska and Chicago. - Hold the presses. - As I was typing this I just received an email from AT&T networking division and they now indicate there is "service maintenance" going on in Hawaii which they anticipate to be completed by mid August. I am hoping this addresses the problem.

[Centerman66]

This just happened to me today. Have been using Hotspot on my Z10 for over 15 months without a hitch and it stopped today. One phone with AT&T for an hour today. No success. In San Diego, California.

Posted via CB10

[dragyn451]

Happen yesterday to me. Worked fine on Z10, then BAM. AT&T reps clueless as to the problem.

~Z10 Baby~

[jpszita]

same to me! I spent hours with clueless technical support and they couldn't figured it out. I was told to get a new phone, but then I mentioned it to them that my wife has a Q10 in the same account and she's getting the same error, then silence... seconds later I got an apology for not being able to solve my issue today and wished me a good day.... nice!

[Mystic_Wanderer]

I am in Louisiana and have a Blackberry Z-10 with AT&T. Starting late last week around 7/31/14, I was unable to start a hot spot. It worked fine at around 4PM, then when I tried to start another hotspot at about 5:30 PM that same day, would not connect and kept giving me the same message about activation required. In the last week, I have spent a total of 5-6 hours in online chats with AT&T representatives besides the 2-3 hours that I spent in an AT&T store trying to resolve the problem. Got them to try to put my SIM card (which was replaced after this problem started and did not resolve the issue) into their demo phone, but that phone had some different configuration on it and would not allow it to connect to my account and thus we could not test it. Also followed their instructions for a factory reset, which also did nothing but waste hours of my time.

Through all of these conversations with AT&T, their response is that it is an issue with my phone and not their network and I need to change out my phone. But different reps have admitted to me that though my phone was showing as connected to an LTE network, they cannot see my phone connected as such on their end. Store rep also stated that the code for my connection does not show up correctly, but no one can explain why. So instead of admitting their system is messed up and they don't know how to fix it, their response is that it has to be my phone and I need to replace it.

[Centerman66]

It turns out when checking out a new Z10 phone in the AT&T Honolulu Store with their SIM cards and phone plans, AT&T couldn't make the local "hotspot" work on a brand new Z10 either. My suspicion is that this may be a problem unique to specific regions of the US since my hotspot feature did work in Alaska and Chicago. - Hold the presses. - As I was typing this I just received an email from AT&T networking division and they now indicate there is "service maintenance" going on in Hawaii which they anticipate to be completed by mid August. I am hoping this addresses the problem.

I have the same issue as you, but in San Diego. I wonder if it could be the same "network issue". So far three AT&T customer service reps have struck out.


Posted via CB10

[DocDRM]

Mystic - I'm in Prairieville (Baton Rouge area)

Noticed the same on my Z30STA100-5/10.2.1.3247 from ShopBlackberry.com , also BBM Voice over cell network is now grayed out also, when they were working fine w/in last couple of weeks. Was planning an AT&T call for tomorrow, but then thus thread popped up. Calling tomorrow! Also have an unlocked Q10 direct from BlackBerry with same "new" issue on same AT&T account.

Posted via CB10, now from a Z30

[Mystic_Wanderer]

DocDRM - Just so you have the extra information, I am in the Houma area.

AT&T even did a ticket on the issue and the technical response came back as no problem on their end. But it is becoming more and more clear by this thread that the issue is truly on the AT&T's side.

Also, was going to go ahead and do the insurance claim and replace the phone, but AT&T must be recommending a lot of people replace their 10 series Blackberry phones. The insurance company is out of stock on Z10s and will be 1-2 weeks before they get more in, so no 1-2 business day exchanges on the phones.

[Mystic_Wanderer]

Another update.....

Had the local AT&T store try the system with a brand new Z10 out of the box and unable to form a hotspot. AT&T's response is now to get in contact with Blackberry to see if they have a fix, because AT&T does not.

[wing2299]

I have the same issue as you, but in San Diego. I wonder if it could be the same "network issue". So far three AT&T customer service reps have struck out.


Posted via CB10

Same issue in Los Angeles area. Two Q10 on at&t have hotspot issue. I tried to put a sim from a samsung which hotspot works on my z10 and receive the same activation message. I was told by a rep they received calls not only BB but also samsung and iPhone have hotspot issues.

[Centerman66]

Same issue in Los Angeles area. Two Q10 on at&t have hotspot issue. I tried to put a sim from a samsung which hotspot works on my z10 and receive the same activation message. I was told by a rep they received calls not only BB but also samsung and iPhone have hotspot issues.

In addition to the three Z10s on my at&t account, an iPhone 5s on my account also cannot get a Hotspot going. I don't see how this could be a blackberry issue.

Posted via CB10

[wing2299]

In addition to the three Z10s on my at&t account, an iPhone 5s on my account also cannot get a Hotspot going. I don't see how this could be a blackberry issue.

Posted via CB10

I was told by the business support rep this issue affect users in California, Texas & Louisiana and not only BB but also Android and iPhone.

[wing2299]

at&t rep called they talked to RIM (should be BlackBerry) and RIM admitted there is an issue and will work on this and have this resolved in 48 hours. I highly doubt it.