Posted on 07/03/2007 8:01:44 PM PDT by angkor
iPhone Activation Disasters
Three hours after getting my hands on one, I am ready to drop the thing from the 44th floor of the New York Hilton.
I was so excited flying from my home in Halifax to New York this morning--I was getting an iPhone! But three hours after getting my hands on one, I am ready to drop the thing from the 44th floor of the New York Hilton--and I probably would if I was sure it would hit someone from AT&T. Earlier this week I transferred my Macworld business account to an individual account solely for the purpose of getting an iPhone--I had to since business plans don't qualify for the iPhone. I know for a fact that I'm not the only person who had to do this--and judging from the wait time I'm having on tech support, I'm not the only one having problems.
When I tried to activate my account, I got an error message that said my account couldn't be used with the iPhone. I called AT&T and explained the situation--the service-provider checked the account and said I definitely have a qualifying account. The tech support person checked all kinds of other things and said I should be all set to activate.
No go.
AT&T then said I had to call Apple; I was transferred to Apple iPhone tech support. After explaining the problem, the Apple tech support person asked me to wait while he read some documentation and advised me he would be gone for about four minutes. Four minutes later, we were disconnected without speaking further.
When you get an error activating, a special number comes up. I called it and a recording said they were having technical difficulties and couldn't help me right now and to please call back later.
I decided to call AT&T back again. The person I got said that my account was still listed as a business account--well, that can't be, I changed it. She said I needed to be transferred to another person who would definitely be able to help me.
I explained my problem to the new person who said that my account was most definitely an individual account, not a business account and they didn't know why I couldn't activate it. They needed to transfer me to someone who would be able to help me.
Starting to see a trend here? I explained my problem to the new person who said it could be a business account, and they needed to transfer me. Apparently a password was set on my account when it was transferred and they needed the password in order to check things further.
"But I didn't set a password on the account," I said. AT&T said, for security reasons, it couldn't do anything else until the password was removed.
"OK, remove the password," I said.
Nope, that had to be done at an AT&T retail store where I had to show ID. OK, there is one across the street from the Hilton on Avenue of the Americas in New York.
So, off I went. I explained the situation and said I needed my password removed. The clerk said the store wasn't doing anything but selling iPhones today and that if I needed anything else, I would have to come back tomorrow.
I left in a huff and called AT&T support back again. I explained the situation and they said they needed to--yes, smart readers--transfer me to someone that could help me.
I have been on tech support for a couple of hours, been hung up on once and have been transferred no less than 12 times so far.
And I'm still on hold with AT&T.
If I see that guy from the AT&T Store across the street, this phone is going out the window.
And I see that my colleague Dan Moren is having problems getting his iPhone to work as well. So, Macworld is currently 0-for-2 when it comes to working iPhones; hopefully, our West Coast editors will have better luck.
Well, isn’t it “Cingular” and not AT&T?? As I understand it, Cingular is the company who bought out AT&T, and then Cingular decided to capitalize on the “name” and switched from the “Cingular” moniker to the “AT&T” moniker...
So, the question is not whether you hate AT&T or not — but do you hate Cingular or not?
What are you talking about? You can get an iPhone plan for $59 per month... a lot less than your figure...
Steve Jobs made a huge mistake by limiting Apple to one single service provider. That’s like selling Macs that will only use Comcast Cable for Internet Access.
“Steve Jobs made a huge mistake by limiting Apple to one single service provider. “
Apparently they’re talking with some of the Euro carriers.
Also folks are working on the GSM unlocking, so presumably it might work with any GSM carrier but who knows what the loss of functionality might be.
Example:
Apple iPhone Black Unlocked GSM Cellular Phone
http://www.puremobile.com/Apple/Apple-iPhone-Black-GSM-Phone/
Yep, that was a big mistake, so much of a mistake that it limited the “rollout” to only one million units sold... Just think how much they would have sold if they had not made that mistake... LOL
Well, aren’t you glad that Cingular bought AT&T then... So, now the question is, do you like Cingular better than AT&T??
That’s $60 a month for $720 a year (which includes the data plan that others charge extra for). That’s less than half the price you’re spouting off. Where did you get your figures??
You say never to AT&T... but how about Cingular?
Now, with one million activations, would you care to say how many of them were “iDontActivate” — so we could compare that number to the one million...??
And when did this happen...?? Who has been coronated “God”... Did I miss it?
Well, I gave AT&T fits with my activation. I had a billing address in Portland, picked up the iPhone in Dallas (and also went to a Dallas AT&T store for the credit check), and asked for a Tulsa area code. Because of all that, it took them seven hours to sort out my problems... LOL
Well, maybe since Cingular bought them out, they are not carrying over the previous billing histories from AT&T. It might be okay now...
on the other hand, maybe someone needs you air you out.... LOL...
I got Cingular now and I know they are going to rename themes AT&T or whatever, but I don’t want anything to do with AT&T. If it says AT&T, I’ll pass. Bill still says Cingular for now. My contracts up and my wife reminded me last night to find a new phone or she would.
Will probably go with T-Mobile. I liked them when I had them last.
funny.
Hey, I'm pro Apple. My comment was just a joke--which I made because I thought it was funny, and because I'm not at all insecure with respect to Apple's extremly bright future prospects. I own shares of AAPL.
Actually, I had one of the AT&T reps say to me that “you guys who are picking the iPhones up in an area outside of your home area are giving us fits...” LOL...
I guess they didn’t expect that or whatever, at AT&T. In my case, I wasn’t necessarily trying to do that, but only had to travel out of town and picked one up in a different area. So, it took them seven hours to do my activation... :-)
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