Re Activating phone won't work

I am trying to re-activate my husband's phone, the call center is too busy and I have been getting the message to try again later. I tried going online last night and setting up an account for him, and I couldn't. I tried adding the phone to my account, but I couldn't to that either. There is no way that I can find to simply use a credit card and add minutes to this phone without having the phone with you, which I don't. I do have the serial number and the phone number. Can you email me and help me with this problem. Thank you.