IMessage on iPhone 4s not working

I have the iPhone 4s and my iMessage is not working. When i send a text to someone with an iPhone it sends it as a text message not an iMessage and under message settings my number is blacked out for the addresses i can be reached at and under the message settings it keeps saying waiting for activation for iMessage how do i get iMessage fixed?

What is the problem with iMessage?

I have an iPod touch 5th generation and am running iOS 6.1.3 (current OS for all "i" devices). Now, I have been having continuous problems with iMessage. When I try to send a message, the progress bar will appear and then freeze up at about 7/8ths of the way. After a few seconds there will be a red exclamation point next to the message telling me that the message was not delivered. I have tried rebooting my iPod as well as switching off and then back on again iMessage. Eventually messages would start sending again, however today when I was trying to troubleshoot the same problem, I got errors that my contacts which I was trying to text were "not registered with iMessage" which is false because I know for fact that these people use iPhones. At my whits end, I disabled iMessage and am currently trying to re-activate it. I enter in my apple ID, then when I hit "next" a message saying "verifying" comes up; and then I wait for a minute or so and a message pops up telling me that I could not connect to the iMessage server, please try again. I have re-attempted this process several times to no avail. I'm just asking if there's a problem with Apple's server and if so, when will it be fixed?

How to temporarily erase iphone data, then reapply later?

I'm going to a music festival in a couple days, and i want to have as much space available on my phone to take plenty of videos. Is there a way i can erase all my photos and music for now, and then put them back exactly like they were later on? I use the option to sync only "checked" songs. So i want it to put back only the songs i had selected already, and not my whole library.

My IPhone 4 will not charge? - 1

It charged fine until last night when I plugged it up and it would not charge. I unplugged and replugged it a bunch of times until I rebooted it while still on the charger and it started charging and was 100% this morning. I tried plugging it in to the computer just now and it charged for a minute or two then stopped. I unplugged it and plugged it back up a few times but it did not work. I tried the wall charger (what I used last night) and it did not work either. I rebooted it and it started charging but then it stopped again. What do I do?

My iMessages aren't being delivered?

I have an iPhone 4 but it doesn't have a phone plan so I have to be connected to Wi-Fi to text. I was texting my friend to see if he wanted to go to the park and it said message not delivered. I sent another saying the same thing and it still says message not sent. I already reset my Wi-Fi.

Should i buy easycap or use iphone?

I want to record my xbox gameplay to upload to youtube so as i'm not that big on youtube (2000) channel views should i just record using iPhone cam or buy easycap? Thank you. Low budget so nothing more expensive then £5