Poll: got iPhone activation problems?
By Ryan Block 
posted Jul 1st 2007 2:51AM
posted Jul 1st 2007 2:51AM
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I'm trying to transfer my number from T-moblie. I've tried once and failed. Now I'm trying again and playing the waiting game. If it isn't activated by the time I wake up, I'm calling customer service.
what you need to do is activate your AT&T accounts, with new numbers, don't try and port your T-Moible # until your iPhones and AT&T acct is active, THEN port your T-Mobile #, had same problem, said i can port my # later, or wait a day or two and have the nice iBrick, this is after already waiting 10 hours. Just speak to rep, cancel your activation of new contract and start over. Oh, almost forgot, you have to speak to a supervisor from square 1.
I initially had a Activation problem. iTunes said that my account would need furthur action for activation. I waited about an hour, then checked again. Nothing, So then i wondered if it had anything to do with the fact that I was already an ATT member, and was replacing a line. Was having two phone trying to access the same phone number causing a conflict? I pulled the battery out of my old phone and within minutes the iPhone was activated. Anyone else see this?
I ported my number over from T-Mobile, via iTunes, and had no issues. The number was transferred over, and the iPhone was able to make and receive calls, in literally 7 minutes.
The solution to the activation problems is located here:
http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/07/06/30/how_to_port_ineligible_mobile_numbers_to_att_and_iphone.html
Apple products don't break. They are perfect. For real. Its all good. Steve will take good care of your money.
Now... just real quick... will you help me drink this kool-aid?
Thanks.
I hope your flame retardant.
You realize this isn't Apples issue it's a network(AT&T) issue.
Most tend to be number transfer related.
I hope you are ok with people being critical of a piece of silicone and metal. I've played with one. I dont see what it does that my Q with an SD card can't do. For 20% of the cost. Oh wait, it has some sweet "swooping" graphics. Damn.
I am typing this on a macbook pro. I love the thing.
As a (nearly new, within the last year) switcher, I hate the mac culture. You all are like the Ford dudes with the Calvin Pissing on Chevy bumper stickers. I hate fanatical apple fans. ITS A FREAKING PHONE. ITS A FREAKING COMPUTER. IF SOMEBODY WANTS TO SPEND 50 - 75% OF THE COST FOR 80 - 90% OF THE USEFULNESS, GOOD FOR THEM.
Your type to apple = Michael Moore to liberals. Making the rest of us look bad.
The thing is, Andrew, this post and poll isn't about whether the iPhone is worth what it's priced, or if Apple culture is all it's cracked up to be. It's about whether people are still having problems activating their iPhones, which is a problem on AT&T's end, not Apple's. That's what ITR was saying.
Mr. Stone,
Dude-man, like you said, "It's a freaking phone," so there is no need to get your panties all in a bunch.
I've been waiting for that darn confirmation email... here's my story:
Early this morning, I got the second to last iPhone at the Apple
store. After getting it, I drove over the ATT store to switch my
Blue Legacy (the old ATT) family plan to the new ATT family plan.
After arriving back at home, I hooked up the iPhone to my computer.
I started with the activation process. After about 5 minutes, I got
to the point where iTunes reported that my activation will require
additional time and I will get an email soon. So, and hour later (a
VERY long hour), I get an email saying I am not allowed to replace an
existing line on my family plan with the iPhone because I was blue
legacy (even though I switched over to the new ATT).
So, after a call in which I got disconnected, I a rep finally
"helped" me and "fixed" the problem. She said the activation email
would come in anywhere from 2 minutes to 2 hours.
> An hour later I get an email from ATT saying my activation is in
process.
So, I call ATT and talk to a rep. She says the wait for the
activation email is now anywehre from 24 to 72 hours. I did not
believe her. I called back ten minutes later and got a different
rep. That rep said the wait is 24 hours to 48 hours. I am so mad, I
call back and ask for a supervisor. She alerts me that the rep that
"helped me" and "fixed" the blue legacy actually took me off the
family plan and set me up for the $60 a month plan... without my
permission!!!!!!!!
The supervisor explains that as soon as the iPhone is activated, I
should call and get it switched back. She also tells me that if I do
not get the activation email by midnight, I should stay up (I was
planning on staying up, but I can't believe ATT has the nerve to ask
me to stay up until midnight to fix a problem they caused!) and start
from scratch!!!!
Right now, I am furiously waiting for that darn activation email :(
AT&T seems to be slow in CS dept.
Cingular formally Bell Mobility was the best around here. They usually did it over the phone, but then again I only have a single user account with them.
When AT&T merge with Cingular and BellSouth...all my stuff went AT&T.
AT&T now owns me..DSL/Land Line/Cell/DTV...at least I get discounts.
How about the "i don't have an iphone" option? I have a right to vote in this poll! Change it! NOW!
what a disaster. it doesn't even work! you cant get it activated so congratulations you now own a $600 paperweight hahahahahahahah
I have a weird problem. Anybody else hear about this? I ported my number over from t-mobile. Worked within 20 minutes of activating for outgoing calls. Now, 24 hours later my number was fully switched over for outgoing and incoming phone calls. However, I can send text messages but only receive them from myself or other att subscribers. Incoming texts from non-att phones never get to my iPhone. It's almost 4AM, is their Customer Service even up at this hour?
Does Voicemail Unavailable count as a successful activation? If so, then everything was smoooooove sailing.
After spending nearly 13 hours on the phone today (literally) trying to get my phone activated, I'm still waiting. The iPhone customer support people had me on hold for nearly 2 hours when my phone finally died before I got to speak to anyone. Then when I called back they were closed for the day. Since I put a different zip code from the number I was transferring, I had to wait 14 hours to get an email that said my number was non transferable. So I should just do the activation process in iTunes again right? Wrong, I'm STILL waiting for it to show up in their system before I can try the activation process again.
It's now 2.33 am cst on Sunday. I'm currently 30 hours and 33 minutes into my activation attempt..... Damn I'd really like to be able to use this thing.. I'll tell you one thing, I'm not paying a $35 activation fee.
30 hours plus... but the slide emergency is fantastic... been enjoying those 30 hours with that!
seriously loads of fun ... and the number dialing too !!
Waiting since 2AM Friday myself. If you're like me it was because I had a business account. I had to switch over to a normal account. Fixed the account thing, but I'm still waiting... now 3:50 AM EST. However, AT&T told me they sold 3 Million of these things as of 2:00 AM this morning. Everyone is trying to activate at the same time. I'm not sure who's at fault here as the phone and the sim are activated separately. SO... FOR EVERYONE OUT THERE WHO NEEDS A CELLPHONE TO WORK... ANY CELLPHONE... the sim in the iphone is activated as soon as you start the process. You can eject the sim by using a paperclip/pin/etc to pop it out the top of the phone. Just press down with it firmly into the hole. Put it into your old phone and you have a working phone while you wait for AT&T (Apple?) to activate your iphone.
Same here.
It's soooooo impressing at parties.
"Look, look how this thing slides"
haha I have been having tons of fun with the emergency dial slider!!! .. and the power off slider.. hoping everytime i turn the thing back on.. it wont say.. "Activate iPhone" .. ugh.. I hate this.. its like looking at food without being able to eat it..
what the hell is happening??....... exicitement every step of the way, the waiting, the unboxing, the examining (such a beautiful device) and finally the experience.........!!*&(*@&*@&(@*..... THE EXPERIENCE OF DROPPING $600, FOR A VEGETABLE STATE piece of GLASS WITH THE IMAGE OF WORLD THATS MAKING ME GO INSANE!!!!!! its probablly one of the worst feelings, knowing that your this close of actually using something that you've been longing for a long time and being barred from it because some stupid tech people arent doing there jobs...
went through it all the emails, the unresponsive tech support, the waiting , waiting and more f***KING waiting!!!!
im a new customer and first, they couldnt take my deposit (system glitch) so they sold me the phone and i had to come back on sat to pay. i had the same iBrick problem as everyone else so i called customer service. aprox. 3 hours combined between apple and att customer support and i finally found out that it will take from 24-48 hours just to activate the phone and 24-72 hours for my phone number to be ported over to att. then they send me an email saying that my current cell service will be terminated as of 11:11am July 1 so if the phone decides it wants to take 48 hours im stuck. luckily i have an unactivated prepaid phone i can use in the time being but this really is an inconvenience. i have been having fun playing on the emergency call screen though.
What do people expect to happen where there are 100,000 other people trying to do the same thing at the same time?
I'm 30+ hours in and I don't have a working phone yet.
I've had a no-frills legacy AT&T (blue) plan (Pre Cingular) for about 4 yrs now. I've called customer service 4 times and the last advice I got was to just leave the phone attached to my computer/iTunes. I realized only after hanging up that this seems dubious at best -- what about people with multiple phones? They have to activate sequentially and leave them attached until each one finishes?
I was really hoping AT&T had straightened out their customer/infrastructure issues. For them to not have tested this is pretty ridiculous. I'm so frustrated with this whole thing and really fed up with AT&T at this point. Too bad Apple didn't go with another provider...
I guess the iHype isn't over yet. Yet another iPhone post on Engadget
I'm sorry to say it's probably going to take a few months. What with Apple most likely releasing an update within weeks.
Then everyone will shit themselves...OMG! Its an update!!!! *screams like a little girl with tears running down his cheeks* Thank you Apple! Thank you! *Sobs* How can *sobs* one company be so *sobs* good to us?
Seriously i feel sorry for all the people with problems.
Went to an AT&T store at 6pm day of release - Was dead last on line, made friends with some people in front of me 1 of which had a car so we hatched a plan for the guy with the car to go to the soho apple store and check it out - He called us - No line took a cab and in about 10 minutes i was walking home with an iPhone ( Feel sorry for the 100+ people still waiting at that AT&T store :P )
Went home put my iphone in - CRAP!!! activation expired notice. Tried everything to fix it....nothing.
Called AT&T had me waiting on the phone for over an hour trying to figure it out giving me 5+ different numbers to call - I got this cool rep guy that put me on a call back list because tons of people were having the same problem.
He called back but gave me another number which was no help....
I felt it wasn't going to happen that night so i went to check the apple support forum and some guys were having the same problem as me so we starting swapping ideas on how to fix the problem.
Some person said check the time on your computer and make sure the time is right - gave me the idea to check my iPhone time and i switched my computer time to my iphone time and it worked i was so happy wasted 6-7 hours of my live but after that the activation went perfect.
Ported from t-mobile very fast, activation was like 2 minutes and the iphone is so freaking awesome!
Sorry fo the long post :(
Ummm how about the option for I don't have, nor do I want an iPhone?
"What do people expect.." is a common retort I have seen on here and many forums.
Well, I expect that when one large corporation knows how many phones another corporation is launching in great fanfare, and knows that said phones will be signing up at the same time, that there would be enough simulated load tests done on the system to not be an issue. At most, I would expect a couple hours wait. That would fall under the mantra of "please be patient" that I was told all day on the phone.
What I did not expect, and refuse to accept, is purchasing a phone that cannot be used for going on two days, simply because of AT&T's lack of foresight or deliberate unconcern. And this is not simply postulation. A higher-up AT&T support rep admitted to me that they were unprepared for the demand. Their automated system is overloaded, and they have attempted to supplant that with manual processing by workers in their Indian call center. But it's doing little good.
I don't think I've ever seen such a chaotic response to a corporate blunder. Having been on the phone for hours today, I've gleaned a certain sense of absolute confusion on the part of AT&T, which is baffling to me, considering how well-prepared the Apple end was (honestly, they ran a tight ship). Hell hath no fury like a Jobs scorned.
I was unable to transfer a gophone prepaid number to an iPhone postpaid account using iTunes. I called the number in iTunes for assistance, and they told me I had to go Into a store to get it done. Saturday morning I went back to the AT&T store, and the sales kid told me he could do it, but he would have to run my credit again. He ran my credit, but whatever he tried didn't work. He asked me to go home and activate through iTunes with a new number, then come back and he would swap it with the gophone number. That also didn't work. Finally the manager had the idea of converting my gophone account to a standard vanilla postpaid on the old device and SIM, then doing a SIM swap with the iPhone, then cancelling the account. Of course my credit was run again (that's 3 credit checks total). Unfortunately, corporate hasn't shipped any spare iPhone SIMs (I guess they use a special SIM?), so I'm SOL for at least a week. Anyone else go through this? ATT store in San Dimas, CA BTW.
I'm having exactly the same problem. The AT&T tech's at the store I went to (Broadway and 23rd in Manhattan) tried but for some reason couldn't complete the conversion from a pre-paid to a post-paid account. They kept getting a cryptic error message about my account being in some sort of mid point state. One tech mentioned that he had seen this problem before, and it is was un-relelated to the iPhone. They told me to wait a week and come back to the store again and that they could try again. Seems like it may have been because the auto-payment on my pre-paid account was recently applied, or that the AT&T provisioning system is getting completely hosed due to the increased load of processing all the new iPhones. Either way AT&T is looking a little unprepared and amateurish.
While waiting in line for support, I called the AT&T support # at 800-331-0500 and got a very helpful person on the line who explained to me what needed to be done (you will be getting a new SIM card for your iPhone) and that I would even receive a credit for the balance on my pre-paid account. So I am hoping that by waiting a week things will get resolved. The number this person told me to tell the store techs to call if they needed clarification was 877-777-4189.
Hey, how about I have 2 iphones that was purchased yesterday(July 2)came home to activate and was told I could not activate the phones on a business acct. I was told that I needed to switch to a regular acct, this means running credit again, I have 5 lines with att and I dont want to run credit again. Now I have to return both phones and pay 10% restocking fee because of opening the thing. This was a waist of time and money. The att rep in the store did not inform me that these phones do not work on business acct. WHATS UO WITH THAT? BULL****
On the prepaid note: is anyone else annoyed with the stupid message every time the iPhone uses data for email and SMS? Every time I send a text, receive a text or check email, I receive a notification that I've used $0.00 of my balance. I can understand this when I'm actually using funds, but not when it's free. In addition to that, if you are away from your phone for any amount of time, it stacks up those wonderful messages - and you can't get back to your main display until you click "dismiss" on each one. ANNOYING! I can understand having to pay a bit more because my credit stinks, but to have to suffer through pointless messages is unfair.
I've called AT&T and even went to the store - I've been told there is no fix and it's due to being prepaid - apparently all devices have this issue, but it's more apparent on the iPhone due to the amount of data used. Ugh!
I would like to see the results but don't want to mess up your poll... Please add an option for those of us not fortunate enough to have an iPhone.
Just hit vote without selecting anything.
As of 4:47 AM EDT, and still on hold ... 36% DOA ... at least I am not alone ... Way to go AT&T.
Yeah, but my issues have been resolved, so I'm good. 230 (12.5%)
Nope, activation went smoothly and things are fine. 947 (51.5%)
Yep, still dead in the water (and seriously pissed). 662 (36.0%)
I know that it's probably easy to blame Ma Bell, but I think some of the blame belongs to Apple since the activation software lives in iTunes. Had they(apple) allowed AT&T to do the activations in the store (as they do for any other phone), the phones would have been activated prior to leaving the store. Store reps don't get paid until the device is activated, so you can imagine that they'd want to insure that it got done.
But in apples different way of thinking, I imagine they wanted to own the whole user experience, and forgot that they(apple) don't really own the customer.
Actually by having ITunes do your activation it saved most people a lot of time in line. Imagine those lines of people having to wait for each person to go through the entire process before the linemoved instead of just buying the phone. Also all those apple stores wouldnt have been able to offeranother choice for a place to go andget the phone. Shortening lines.
I think the problem was just that late in the day ATT systems got overloaded. When I got home my activation was fast and pain free. My Verizon number ported over in 30 min or less and I had no trouble of any kind. If anything I was impressed with Apple for having my IPhones battery charged right from the factory so people didnt have to wait to charge to use their phone. I hink Apple put alot of thought into making this as painless as possible.
Yes Josh, I do agree that had things worked flawlessly for everyone, then yes. But since the activation was so deeply embedded in the iTunes software, it appears that AT&T was helpless to assist after the fact.
I'm sure we'll never really know the root cause, or maybe it was the setting of such high expectations, and hopefully both aapl and t have learned a few lessons.
The activation software doesn't live in iTunes. These are just web pages with interface with services from Apple & AT&T. The main point of failure seems to be number portability. I'm certain adequate testing was done to ensure their systems could handle the anticipated load, but they have no control over the number portability. They can only use theoretical numbers from historical transactions.
The issue I have is not portability, it a service plan problem. My plan is from the original AT&T (before Cingular), and they cannot attach it to the iPhone. After talking with customer service, they somehow pushed my activation through, but my service hasn't been transferred yet. At least I can use the phone on wi-fi.
I tried to activate my iphone, but it turned out to be a wad of $20 bills that I hadn't pissed away on a 50/50 chance of getting my service turned on.
I thought this story would have been picked up sooner. Just shows you how this site and a few others have drunken the Kool-Aide (Ooooyeahhh!!) Bought my wifes on Friday at 9:30 and as of Sunday morning it's still an iBrick. Starting to lose faith that it will come on at all. Had to drive back to the Apple store just to be able to play with one.
At and T should definitely waive this activation fee they are charging. She has been a Cingular customer and we thought it would be very easy to switch over boy was that wrong. This is torture!!!
I like how Apple/AT&T spokesmen are telling TV News channels that very few people are experiencing delays, but when you call in to support numbers (877-419-4500), they say the servers are overwhlemed and no one knows for sure when all issues will be resovled.
They can't tell you how many people are in the queue, or if the servers are even processing people etc.
They simply claim to not have a clue about anything. I'm pretty amazed by the lack of abilities they have.
"We had no way to predict the strain the activations would have on our servers" is their response. That is such a silly response.
The best part of the whole crappy experience is repeatedly listening to the marketing recording while on hold at AT&T saying that they spend 18 MILLION DOLLARS A DAY towards making improvements to AT&T! Doesn't look like they sent the money to the right department.
Yesterday morning, I got up at 4:30am as I was excited to see if my problems had been fixed. This morning I layed in bed for well over an hour before mustering up the energy to go see the inevitable disappointment. Sunday morning 7am, and I'm still dead in the water.
I'm done calling tech support numbers. There's really no point in it.
I was just told that the system caught up overnight and the current activation wait is about 1 hour.......BUT mine is still an iBrick due to some intl setting that was incorrect. The 5 different reps I have spoken with since Friday night have lacked the knowledge to really help a person thru the process. Very poor execution on ATT's part.
All I'm trying to do is assign an existing number to a new device (iphone)... 30 hours later and I'm still waiting for that stupid email. From the looks of it this is how the procedure goes. First of... most activations for all other phones are done OTA (over-the-air). Had that been the path chosen by Apple and AT&T... activations would have been a lot faster. The itunes activation process was created as part of the deal for Apple to have control of the data plans and (maybe) new voice plans signing up so that they can get their "fair share". The Apple store in return is placing orders from customers to AT&T for data plans only (for existing customers) or both voice and data (for new customers). Now somewhere in between the pipelines things get screwed up. Too bad it's existing customers like myself that pay the price. This should have been so much easier!!!
Is the only way to see the voting results by casting a fake vote?
Got mine on Friday. Attempted to activate it and failed. Tried my old sim card and failed. Finally on Saturday I get an email saying my activation has been successful. "Hooray" I say, but that was short lived. Sure I can access the phone and play with it, but I still don't have any service. Talked to 3 ATT reps yesterday and all they could tell me was be patient. 3 days without a phone. 3 days. It sucks that they kill the sim registration on your old phone once you try to activate the iPhone. I hope they get this fixed real soon....and I mean today.
I HAD NO PROBLEMS ACTIVATING MY NEW IPHONE, AND IT WORKED ON JUNE 29.
PRESENTLY ALL AT&T WIRELESS USERS IN DALLAS, TEXAS, ARE STILL EXPERIENCING A LEVEL 3 NETWORK OUTAGE THAT WAS FIRST REPORTED AT 5AM ON JUNE 30. THIS IS ALSO AFFECTING MY NOKIA 6230 HANDSET (ON A SEPARATE ACCOUNT). WILL OTHER USERS PLEASE COMPLAIN TO AT&T SO THEY WILL FIX THE PROBLEM. I HAVE TALKED TO CUSTOMER SERVICE AT AT&T (FROM A LAND LINE) AND THEY CONFIRM THE LEBVEL 3 NETWORK OUTAGE (VOICE SERVICE CONNECTIVITY). MY WIRELESS HANDSET WILL NOT CLEARLY CONNECT TO CUSTOMER SERVICE USING 611. WHEN I DO CONNECT, ALL I HEAR IS AN ECHO OF WHAT I SAY AND THE RECIPIENT HEARS BUZZING, POPPING, AND SOME GARBLED SPEACH. THIS IS UNACCEPTABLE. OVER 1 DAY WITH NO CELLULAR SERVICE AND COUNTING.
what do you expect? it's a pathetic launch, of a pathetic device from 2 pathetic companies
34 hours and still and iBrick. Friday, cust service says "2 hours", Saturday morning it was "24 hours", Saturday afternoon it was "48 hours". I'm scared to hear what it is now. From reading through the posts, it seems that phones activated before 7PM PT worked well. Then their servers crashed. People are activating now but those that were queued during the crash are still blessed with an iBrick. They must still be trying to salvage data from the crashed Oracle database... :)
Except for the actual standing in line and purchasing from an Apple Store, I've had problems every step of the way...
First, when I tried to activate, AT&T said that my address wasn't valid because my ZIP code was changing and it forced me to use the new ZIP code, then it said "AT&T doesn't have service in your ZIP code", so I used my office address. Because of that, I had to go to an AT&T store for a personal credit check (credit's fine, no deposit needed)...did that Friday night then went to the movies. When I got home, I tried to activate, but AT&T said that the check number wasn't found.
Went to AT&T store Saturday morning at 9:30am. Was told that they didn't know how to do that and that I would have to wait for the manager. Went back an hour later, spoke to the manager, they redid the credit check (again, fine, no deposit needed), went home and got to the point that my number would be ported from VZW on or after 11:30am Sunday and that my activation requires more time.
After a few hours, I called AT&T, they transfered me to Apple and I was told there was a backlog of activations and that it would be resolved by Sunday afternoon.
1:00am Sunday I got an e-mail from AT&T that said they were processing my activation. Now 9:30am, still nothing. I know that I'm going to get screwed on due to the number port because of the ZIP code differences of the billing addresses.
I too had trouble activating, I just kept calling back ATT until I got a someone that was competent. Took me 5 tries, but the fifth person had me activated in 15 minutes.
Gosh...I was activated in like 4 minutes...no problems at all! Sorry for everyone who is having trouble!
Whatever the "technical" cause, I blame Jobs for this. How stupid is it to release a major product on a FRIDAY NIGHT that also happens to be a HOLIDAY WEEKEND? The best of AT&T's tech staff is gone for the weekend or needs to be paid overtime, and we're left with part-timers looking for ovetime pay. This would be going much more smoothly if he had launched on a Monday morning like any normal product. It just shows you that Apple doesn't know squat about the cell industry. Idiot!
I'm a current cingular/att customer and im into hr 15 now waiting for activation to complete, I waited on hold for an hour to find out that there's a hold on the activation as of an hour ago when the individual working on the activation had to ask someone a question. Again, nothing that the person I got on the phone could do.
35 hours later and iPhone is Activated!! If your's isn't, call 877-800-7013 (just use option 1). They found bugs in the system (mine related to adding the 1500 text message option that their system couldn't handle) and fixed many of them. The very nice rep just activated my phone while I was talking to her after fixing the feature issue. Happier but still bruised...
Purchased phone at ~3:30am, 5th Ave, Manhattan
Started Activation ~4:00am
9:56 No Activation
I'm curious to see how AT&T will compensate customers for lost down time. Do the squeaky wheels get the grease or do all customers based on a fear of a class action.
@Nicholas
Hah! I was at the store on 5th Ave at 5:00 a.m.
Started the activation around 5:30 a.m. and am still waiting at 10:00 a.m.
I called the support number and was on hold for 45 minutes before a nice woman came on and told me that I'll have to wait possibly up to 6 hours or even up to 24.
I'm trying to port my number from Sprint. Only message I have received is the "AT&T is processing your activation" in email.
Bleagh.
Class actions all around, sign me up. 20 hours and counting, 3 calls to ATT with 3 *different* (riiight) issues allegedly resolved, 1 trip to ATT store (no help there), and iPhone still useless.
I had nothing but trouble.
Took about 5 calls (ATT is useless BTW) and finally a visit to the ATT store, where I had to wait with about 5 other people who came in with the same problem. After some help from the nice guys at the S Dale Mabry store and a new SIM I got up and running with my ported number. Lucky for me I brought my MBP with me so I can get it resolved in the store. I even let a few others use my MBP to get activated.
The system was indicating that my number wouldn't port even though it did. So when I activated my phone with the new SIM, I had to choose use current number instead.
Overall Apple and AT&T should have been more up front with the process and possible delays. Also allowing people to actually play with the phones during the delays would have went a long way.
Apple will be taught again, and again, that partnering with Cingular/AT&T was a BIG mistake. Activation issues like this means that AT&T is run like a 5 employee company
Mark Siegel
AT&T
ms8460@att.com
(404) 236-6312
Michael Coe
AT&T
mcoe@attnews.us
(212) 453-2198
These are the people who signed the Apple and AT & T press release relating to iPhone Activation
http://www.apple.com/iphone/pr/20070626activate.html
Above is the link. Perhaps they should make a press statement advising iPhone activators that are having problems exactly what the problem is and when it will be resolved. I'm sure they would love to hear from all parties that are having problems. After all, they are the ones that said "activation will take only a few minutes".
Purchased iPhone from Apple Store - Annapolis MD Saturday 3:30 PM; started activation at 5:15 PM - completed at 8:50 PM. Activation included transfer/port from VZW. I'd been warned that it could take "up to 6 hours" but it came through in much less. Not bad, really - though it was painful to wait even a few minutes.
Steve Dowling
Apple
dowling@apple.com
(408) 974-1896
Natalie Kerris
Apple
nat@apple.com
(408) 974-6877
Mark Siegel
AT&T
ms8460@att.com
(404) 236-6312
Michael Coe
AT&T
mcoe@attnews.us
(212) 453-2198
Update:
Was told by AT&T rep that 6 million phones were purchased and "as I can imagine that is hard for their systems to process"
This is just a hunch, but I'm guessing their using punch cards to process each activation with a Rube Goldberg machine in the middle to load the punch cards from the box into the machine. The delay is caused by the time it takes to load balance a bowling ball within range of a boxing glove.
Seriously though, I have take the SIM out of the iphone and put it in my old phone. Too bad that phone reboots itself frequently. I have a signal while the phone is up. I wouldn't have purchased this weekend if that phone worked right.
Does it help at all to take the iPhone, purchased at an Apple store, to an AT&T store and ask them to activate it on the spot? Can they do that?
STEVE MAY KNOW NOTHING ABOUT THE CELL BUSINESS BUT AT&T DOES AND THEY HAD MONTHS TO PREPARE.
STOP THE PRESS, iPhone website doesn't match what AT&T says!
Quote :
"Existing AT&T Customers
If you're already an AT&T customer and want to keep your current voice plan, you can just add an iPhone Data Plan with unlimited data (email and web) and Visual Voicemail for just $20 per month."
Fact 1: I am an already an AT&T customer
Fact 2 : I want to keep my current voice plan
Fact 3 : AT&T WILL NOT just add an iPhone Data Plan with unlimited data (email and web) and Visual Voicemail for just $20 per month.
1. I have talked to an agent, she pushed the new rate plan.
2. Escalated to Patricia T, Manager, she pushed the new rate plan and didn't seem to understand that the verbiage on the site was completely misleading, if not a out right lie.
3. Escalated to Area Manager, Suzzie B. Same sh$t different smell, but at least she seemed to understand they may be wrong on the website. But still not progress in any direction but a new plan.
4. Escalated to Patrick R., Director Call Center. He handled things the best, but still, all he could do was push the new plan.
Now I'm used to bad service, calling up AT&T to make adjustments to my bill because since December they can't get the features right and double charge me on text messaging (charging for 100 text messages and also Unlimited text messages lol). I even tried to negotiate e calling up every month to fix account charges, as I already do just so I can have the iPhone on the new plan and get my old benefit of North America Long Distance (10$ a month- free Roaming and calls in my homeland, Canada).
Spread the word. Still determining my next steps, but I have asked Patrick to call me back with an update as he is escalated this to the Marketing & Legal so they may review the text. I did not stand in line for 7 hours, spend $700 for a phone and minor accessories to find out a day later, with a ton of anticipation for activation, that I need to resign a new contract, paying more - getting less, and completely losing all benefits of my current account.
Wish me LUCK!
Damian.
I tried activating at 9a yesterday - had my phone docked since, although physically unplugged it yesterday several times until reading the posts here saying not to undock (either b/c of SIM data transfer or ?). Anyway, my iPhone just virtually-undocked itself from itunes automatically just a few mins ago -- anyone else experience this after a certain time? Still not activated though...
What is interesting is apparently the Apple Mobile Device Service and iTunes Helper Module have made up 7% of my internet traffic for the past 24 hours (according to firewall logs), so maybe the sim data is being transferred?
Then again, maybe it's because I'm using a Dell Laptop and an internet service that's been hacked...
WOOT! Activated. Not sure if this helped, but I went to my local ATT Store and made sure if there were any problems with my account (since I couldn't log in to the ATT website to check account status). They noted that the phone was in their system, but the data plan was not - even though I added it in iTunes. ~ 1 hour 30 mins later, and I'm activated :)
DAMIAN: YOUR MISSING THE LIGHT GREY TERMS & CONDITIONS TEXT AT THE BOTTOM OF ALL THOSE APPLE PAGES SAYING THAT A NEW 2 YEAR ACTIVATION IS REQUIRED.
I see that, but the paragraph for Existing AT&T Customers statest otherwise. They need to get their verbiage set straight. You can't make one statement and then another that cotradicts it. Had they had a link for more details like the other paragraphs on that page did, I would have read more..
AT&T SUCKS, APPLE GET OUT OF YOUR EXCLUSIVE 5 YEAR AGREEMENT TODAY!
working on Hour 36 now. And I still have a second phone to port over from T-Mobile. I was on the phone with two reps yesday - headset AT&T in my ear, mobile T-Mobile in the right hand, trying to conduct a three-way conversation regarding what information had to be ported over - then AT&T told me I would have to call back and make sure my port was done correctly. I knew this was doomed from a customer service point of view - but after six years and NO discounts on new T-Mobile phones, I was desperate. Now I know what that costs, too! :)
ATT is recommending people don't buy iPhones.
After a hilarious and frustrating Kafka-esque experience with ATT trying to activate my iPhone, this is what their customer relocation department said to me:
"If you walk into any ATT store and buy any other phone than an iPhone, you wont have any problems"
Well, yes and no.
When the iPhone came out on friday, a family friend was purchasing two. One each for his 10 and 11 year old son and daughter. I know, unbelievable. But anyway, they were chosen by a news team to be filmed activating the iPhone through iTunes, showing even a kid can do it; well, not so much. What ended up on the news was embarrassing to say the least. First, nothing worked because they were running the old iTunes, and then again because they hadn't updated to 10.4.10. Not big issues, but they took a while to download, and we were all waiting. Then the real problems started. The daughter had an at&t number already, but we had to spend another 15 minutes looking for a corporate id number instead of a social security number, because her phone was actually part of her mom's corporate at&t account. When we finally got the number, iTunes told us that the number could not be used on an iPhone because it was a corporate number. Bummer. So then I suggested trying the son's; big mistake. The son had a verizon number on his father's family account. This wouldn't have made things *too* difficult, but the father wanted to stay with verizon, so essentially, we had to make a new at&t account, just for this 10 year old kid.... yeah. Of course, his credit wasn't previously established with at&t, so the only option was to go to an at&t store, or make the iPhone a prepaid phone. They chose the latter, and iTunes said to wait for up to 6 minutes. After waiting for about 15 minutes, iTunes said the process would require more time, and that they would be emailed, presumably within the notorious 6 hours. Then, I left.
My personal experience was, much, much, much easier, and in fact, nearly instant. It went down like this:
1. update iTunes
2. plug in iPhone
3. select my "situation" (transfer old verizon number to current at&t family plan)
3. type in old verizon number and personal info (out of contract, so no fee!)
4. pick a plan & agree to terms
5. wait (about a total of 5 seconds)
6. sync iPhone (just like an iPod)
Now, for some thoughts about its features:
sms: simple, organized, beautiful, practical
calendar: not really anything special, but it still works and looks nice
photos: seamless w/ Photo via iTunes, beautiful juicy slideshow effects, love "flicking"
camera: unexpectedly good quality, iPhone recognized in iPhoto as camera
youtube: integrated w/ youtube urls, not sure if/how i can rate videos
stocks: just like on dashboard
maps: address book integration, beautiful juicy animations, "pseudo" gps
weather: just like on dashboard
clock: similar to iPod, has stopwatch, timer, and alarm
calculator: effective, GUI a little strange, I haven't checked for PEMDAS
notes: wish I could/knew how to change font, cool delete animation
settings: wish I could add ringtones (even if I had to buy them off iTunes for $0.29)
phone: haven't used conference or visual voicemail yet, nice big keypad, can't type for a contact
mail: I keep getting my own sent messages as new ones back in my inbox (gmail problem?)
safari: the phone's true killer app (IMHO), inline videos too (fill the screen when played), EDGE is actually very fast
iPod: really is the best iPod ever made, beautiful juicy animations, I just wish there was more memory
From the sound of most of these comments a lot of people haven't dealt with AT&T before. At work we're switching out a T1 line for two linked T1 lines and were told it would take 45 business days. Expecting them to do anything quickly is a bit nutty.
(I only had to wait about 5 minutes for my activation to happen, but I was just replacing a phone on an existing line and was doing so a little before 7 on Friday when I imagine most people were still in line.)
It's funny that this article is finally up. I thought this article would've been up yesterday due to the massive confusion over at AT&T. I really think both Apple and AT&T dropped the ball on this iPhone launch, especially for existing customers. Apple shouldn't have limited activation exclusively to iTunes and AT&T, well, should've been more prepared for the hundreds of thousands of phone calls. Did they really NOT expect a massive flow of phone calls when the phone was released? I waited 14 hours to be first in line at the Ft. Lauderdale Apple store here in south Florida and right this moment I'm on hold with AT&T trying to get my activation cleared up. Luckily last night I had the phone unlocked and everything where I can mess around with the iPod and use Wifi, but I still can't make a phone call. So in reality, I've been waiting over 55 hours to use my iPhone. What a way to let the air out of my excitement balloon, eh?
OK here it is. My iPhone was activated cause i finally talked to someone who was competent enough to know what to do. If your getting the Waiting to be activated understand that it will probably never be activated unless you call and resolve the issue. I was moving my number over from an existing number. The key is that i had a BlackBerry and when you have blackberry you also have a blackberry data plan with that. So when you try to move your number over to your new iPhone it was also trying to move over my BlackBerry data plan which obviously wont work with the iPhone. I also had an international call function which was also had to be removed in order for them to be able to activate my phone. She just said check your email.....and TADA. I was like About F*** Time. Eehhhhh. Her only answer to that was you should have called me first. I said i did and then she said no, ME. I was like was goodness grace.
Try that people. Tell them to take all your addons from you previous phone plan. Go in there naked.
PZ
I was just told by a wonderul intelligent rep....
It seems the real problem materialized when the itunes sign-up did not function as it was supposed to.....Don't know were the info transfer did not occur properly but Itunes was supposed to recognize if a phone number or existing plan was elligilbe or not for an iphone (u "foundation account number" people know what I mean). This "hung up" tens of thousands of people in the activation system creating a much larger queue/backlog. Kind of like a flood gate on a dam; keep it open from the begining and a lot of water can constantly move thru it - get a branch stuck in the opening and it slows the flow. I am told they have fixed the biz account problem.
FYI: I was polite but firm (06:30 ET SAT; started activation process) with a lovely rep and I receieved a $20.00 credit. Whoopie!
As someone who is about to go out and purchase one... I have a question. Can you buy one and activate it without having an AT&T account? Just for the iPod and Video features.
No. That's why we all have iBricks. You can't access the iPod or video or anything until AT&T activates your phone... which is taking hours (or days). You *might* be lucky and get it activated in minutes, but I doubt and assume you'd be placed at the 'end of the line.'
I had problems activating my phone on Friday night. After an hour on hold (by a very nice service rep at AT&T), I asked to file a complaint with their service. I was transferred to a manager who gave me a $75 credit on my account (which will cover the return cost for the other iPhone I'll probably have to return if it doesn't sell on eBay). I just wanted my phone activated. Apple and AT&T should have notified people that if they had a corporate discount on their phone plan that they would not be able to register without talking to a rep and having it taken off.
Call this number people:
877-419-4500
ATT reps there seem to be able to do more than just give scripted answers. The rep I talked to checked my account to make sure there were no issues, was able to give me my account number (I signed up for a new account) and told me everything looks good and there's (obviously) just a huge line to get activated. Offered to call me back this afternoon to check up on things.
Am I activated yet? No. But based on the conversation, I now know that there are no sticking points with my account, which makes me feel like it WILL happen shortly.
Forgot to mention that they instructed me to leave the phone in plugged into iTunes while waiting for activation.
This is a little strange to me, cause I got my iphone yesterday and the activation process went very well. It might be because I was only replacing my previous phone. There are gonna be a lot of different factors into why this stupid little activation isn't working for some people. It should be working for everyone that buys this $500 or $600 piece of sexy hardware.
877-419-4500 was the number where I reached my "inteliigent rep" as well.
All this surprise and 'shock' about ATT/Cingular service. Have none of you been reading the customer service complaints for the past 5 years? They are consistently the most unpleasant, underinformed CS people.
They won't try to make up for anything here. They don't care about you.
I got my iPhone by 7:15pm on Friday from an aa&t store in NYC. I began activating my phone with iTunes that night, transferring my Verizon mobile number. I was able to make calls and use its functions by 6:30am Saturday. I recieved an email this morning (Sunday @ 11:34am) stating that the number transfer was complete & I now can recieved call. Done! Hope this gives some of you Verizon-droppers some hope!
I called this number as suggested (877-419-4500) and after politely asking for help with my activation, I was lectured and told I needed to be patient and it could take anywhere from 24-48 hours. The representatives may be tire of fielding calls, but I'm tired of being patient. I'm now waiting for activation in the 25th hour; it would seem the problem should be getting better as time goes by, not worse.
I bought my iphone yesterday and began activation
around 5 pm. I had no time to run to ATT to get the
credit code "credit check" so I had to do the go phone
option to get things started.... and I am porting my number over from t'mobile.
20 hours and counting.
itunes said my activation requires additional time
and that I'll get an email.... I have not gotten
a message....... nothing. at about 19 hours I called the local ATT store they said don't come into the store we can't help you, call 1800MYIPHONE.... I was on hold
for about 30 minutes finally got a rep and he said to call again if/when I hit 24 hours of waiting and I might
be forced to get a replacement phone.... I couldn't believe that..... but he said it could be hardware related.
update after about 24 hours of nothing
I called and got a rep on the phone
.... I called this number 8778003701
they were polite but she told me
my number could not be ported over
I had taken the iphone out of it's sync cradle
and had all the INFO I could find in a pile
then for some reason I decided to plug my iphone
in again.... this time it gave me a NEW screen
instead of saying wait for your email
its screen said this is the your number and this is your pin.... continue on to put money into your GO PHONE plan
so I click and it opens my bowser and I'm jammin credit card info and whamo.
MY PHONE IS ACTIVATED.
for me it was literally just a waiting game, I never
did get an email about a ticket number.... I did however activate as a GO Phone customer.... I'm gonna change that tomorrow after work to a regular cell plan with the rollover minutes.
my phone is busy syncing up as I post. :)
I'm still pissed it took so long..... no good
explanation for the crazy delay.
.... no for the fun.
There is no way 2978 Engadget readers are still having this kind of trouble. There are obviously a lot of iPhone and Apple haters who are voting fraudulently.
One phone went through perfectly. Other - unfortunately my wife's - waiting over 36 hours. Every ATT rep I talk to confirms that there are thousands of people having issues with activation. I think the engadget poll is correct. This is horrendous.
I agree with Richard, I think the poll is in fact correct and probably under represented. I just received an update that it will take 24-48 hours, possibly longer! Ugh...
My problem started Saturday morning. First I had to update iTunes which stopped half way and required a "manual" download. OK, half an hour later I'm good to go. Then I get "Name needs harvesting" (whatever that means!) error when I login with AppleID, so I create a new one. Then I'm given the "Your account needs additional time...". So I visit Cingular/ATT store where they change my plan (I was on a TDMA plan for my car phone) and they say "good to go". Well, its 11am Sunday and I'm still waiting...Nice one ATT. Here I am a 6 year veteran and I'm being dicked around. Auuggghhh!
Forgot to mention, on Sat at 7pm I called ATT's special "emergency" number 866-801-3600 (regular number is only serviced till 6pm Sat and not on Sunday). I was told to just leave the phone in the dock and it would be activated soon...