[rpfeffer]

I have a user with an extraordinary amount of contacts and the activation is freezing on it constantly. Is there a way to activate the device w/o the contacts syncing and then I can just manually restore them once the device is successfully activated?

[rsk]

Create a new top level folder in the mailbox and move all the contacts from the Contacts folder to the new folder, then activate the device and once it's done move them back to the original folder.

[hdawg]

Disable the sync for the user prior to activation ... or do a wired activation.

[skyman84]

Yep,
I'd say either do a wired sync, or disable the address book on the users PIM sync settings.