Comments on: Big iPhone headache: Waiting for AT&T activation

Buying an iPhone was the easy part. It took AT&T 39 hours to activate my iPhone, and it can't be used even for playing music or movies until that happens.

[darrell_amy]

iPhone is Great--No Problems with ATT

I got my iPhone at 6:10 central time. I drove home and set it up at
7:15 central. It was online in less that two minutes. I was already
an AT&T wireless customer.

Everything about this device is great!

[ddb767]

Iphone activation

What a shame...Apple should have chosen a different partner. Cingular/AT&T has always had marginal customer service and once again they?ve shown their incompetents. Was the IPhone a big surprise? I?ve know about it for some time! You?d think these morons would have geared up for the spike in new customers. I bought this damn phone last night and I?m still waiting to be ?activated?, even though I?ve been a customer for over 7 years! To say I?m disappointed is an understatement.

[Mr. Dogers2U]

Here in Redmond

My wife already had an AT&T account so all told, including
transfering her phone number over to the new iPhone, took less
than 5 minutes.

[XyZ2_U]

Never Ending Headache

You will forever be waiting & waiting with AT&T. As I have DSL and it has taken me over 6 minutes to get cnet.com page to load. The bandwidth is the worst. The Customer Service...let's put it this way as far as AT&T's concerned "They are the phone Co.". You've just forfieted your sanity.

[Lee in San Diego]

Run a speed test

I have DSL from PacBell/SBC/AT&T and it is fast. Run a speed
test http://www.dslreports.com/speedtest

If you have low speed contact tech support. If you don't get
good help from tech support ask to speak to the Mac expert
(even if your a Windows user) and you will get transfered to
someone with more knowledge than the youngster going
through a check list. Note: I only had one bad experience with
their tech support, but several good ones.

The wiring in my older house was a problem. Fine for phone
calls, but not so for DSL. I ran a new wire to my home office and
use wireless phones for the other rooms. That helped a lot.

That being said I don't like AT&T's customer service overall and
their web site is not much better, the DMV has better customer
service personnel.

Go to that dslreport web site that has a speed test and you find
a lot support discussions and FAQs that may help you. http://
www.dslreports.com

[amlanc]

AT&T the biggest WRONG in iPhone

I am a long long time Apple user and also a long time Cingular now AT&T customer. I bought an iPhone yesterday and submitted for activation. The screen told me to call AT&T talked to some hapless customer service who apologized 16 times in 15 minutes and put me on hold for 20 more. Then told me the Synchronous dept. is closed and I am to call back today morning. Which I did. Another clueless support woman and I was told it will be activated momentarily. Just wait.

It's been 7 hrs since then.
iPhone is still the iPaperweight.

A truely horrible experience to justify the AT&T name. Glad to see nothing has changed in last 12 yrs with AT&T. I like tradition I guess:)

Waiting.....

Waiting......

Waiting..........

[tallnatt]

No waiting here! Fast activation.

I bought the phone 615pm EST friday was home at 720 and was making calls in less than 5 mins. Yes I was already an ATT/Cingular customer. My parents also bought 2 new iPhones. There story was different. They are porting there numbers from sprint to a family talk plan. That entire process took 15mins to activate and that was primarily because my dad played with his for 5 mins before he activated my moms. All in all I wish all phone activations were this easy.

[leeny182]

i would love to get an iphone but...

i would love to get an iphone but its not worth having to switch
back to At&T. See I had At&t before it was merged with cingular
and it sucked big time. so I switched to cingular and as soon as the
merged it went back to (insert feces word here). I switched to
Verizon 3 year ago and will never go back depsite the tempting
idea of an iphone. Im wondering why in the world apple decided to
use cingular....hopefully after this fiasco they will reconsider and
provide it on other carriers. good luck to everyone who got one....
hopefull your phone works in the next few weeks.

[triumph12]

AT&T to Cingular to Orange

The iPhone is unbelievable, yes, but the carrier isn't my favorite.
I looked at ALL of the plans, and the only plan which gives me
close to what I currently have with Qwest (I know, I know.... It's
pretty horrible, but the customer service has been pretty good,
on the whole...) would cost me over $200 per month; I pay $70
per month at the moment!!
I think that Apple went with AT&T was because of the (at that
time) future merge with CIngular, which is Orange in the UK and
Europe. It's a Dutch-based company with phenomenal service
and product lines. Apple won't be cutting it's financial throat in
the US, of course, because of the die-hard Apple fans (myself
included, even though I use a UTStarcom PPC 6700 with
WinDOZE Mobile 5 and the Other MicroSHAFT products. I needed
something which would do a lot of things and synch with my
Macs. I don't like the "Gates of hell" rings I have to jump
through, but it was the best at the time). When the iPhone hits
the European market, I think that we'll be seeing unlocked units,
as Orange has a different way of doing things. Maybe then we'll
be allowed to choose our own carrier.
To those who have run the gauntlet, successfully or otherwise, I
congratulate you! Me, I'm going to wait for a bit, or at least, until
my contract expires next year....

[LCD1080]

Freedom from the store makes up for the wait

I'd just as soon wait 24 hours rather than spend even 30 minutes
doing the activation in a phone store (or an Apple store for that
matter) especially considering that it was nearly midnight when the
purchase was made.

[MacHeads]

For those who complain from AT&T

I know little about AT&T's competence but you have to
understand a few points as to why AT&T was chosen over other
carriers.

1) Vodaphone does not want of the Iphone for a critical reason ,
it is based on a system they dont have an armlock upon. This
emerged during their talk to deploy the iphone in Europe.

2) Apple wont accept any customization of the device to support
specific problematic protocols from the start nor will it accept to
curtail user experience because of some carrier's demands and i
could not agree more (Verizon Vodaphone and T-Mobile asked
for this).

3) Apple will not accept to pay back a cent to carriers for Itunes
dowloads over Iphone , All providers asked for this since most of
them propose a "solution" with their own music catalogue that
make the Zune look like a major success story (i have not seen
any yet but on a store shelf).

4) 3G chipset are bogged down in legal troubles in the US as of
this moment hence the choice of EDGE over 3G . 3G deployment
is also Slow in some areas.

5) At some point when you build a product with a date in mind
you have to work with the AVAILABLE technologies to ship the
product and legal systems may come into that as well and cause
trouble.

6) As for those who complain about the iphone price there is
one thing i would point out it is not subzidized as are 99.99% of
phones sold out there . Why is that ? First and foremost the
existence of such a device is a major threat to all other players
in the field and no carrier will ever want to hurt a major handset
maker they already have a long term relationship with (Nokia etc
etc) , especially since the Iphone puts them at the foot of a wall
they always refused to consider to climb ever real, multimedia
integration , open standards across phones and platforms and a
modern operation system. Each of these point are enough to
make them leave the room in a stampede.

http://www.macobserver.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=334869

[KonaKeoni]

Uh-Oh

Methinks that the "new" (second) email notification was due to MaryKay "entering" your request for activation a second time, that of course being the equivalent of hanging up and then calling back to get faster service. (Which of course backfires). Be careful what you ask for........

[philipms]

Big iPhone headache: Waiting for AT&T activation

What did you iPhone buyers expect? that AT&T would quadruple their workface to handle the increased load of customer service required to process all of you?

I bought a PS3 the 2nd week it was out (without waiting in line). That Thanksgiving weekend was very rememorable: my niece and nephew played the new PS3 games, all their friends came over and oohed and ahhed, and the adults, we watched 3 Blu-ray movies in 1080p.

The iPhone is cool, but with a slow AT&T network, no where near as cool as PS3's launch.

my 2 cents,
Philip
Los Angeles

[bureauguy]

Activated in about 3 minutes!

My activation went smoothly, and I would say most others did as
well. There will always be some minor problems. I'm glad mine
went well because I would have been dissapointed as well.

The iphone works great.....didn't even need a manual....very simple
to use. Call quality seems very good, screen quality is excellent....
(watched an episode of "Heroes" I downloaded from itunes...it
looked fantastic! Finally!!....a phone I actually like!!
Thanks Apple!

[haitianhottiee]

24 Hrs & Counting.....

I wonder, were you already an AT&T/Cingular wireless customer?
I like many others (I know)who are expierencing the highly
frustrating delay with activation, was/am an existing Cingular
customer. The people I found who were able to activate almost
immediately just switched over from another carrier. I
understand that there wont always be 100% satisfaction or that
there will be problems but this many unactivted for this long???
This is absolutely OUTRAGEOUS!!! Iwas so excited to get my
phone after getting off work @ 5:30 (eatern time-NY) and only
having to wait an hour and a half. I thought,"Not bad...the wait
wasn't too bad at all" Then even more excited to download the
latest version of iTunes and expirence the iPhone for
myself ......& what do you know? AT&T fails at a simple
activation!!! I'm still waiting a day and a half later!!!

[darkridedp]

And this surprises people because. . .

Why would anyone EXPECT that ATT would suddenly become a
company that knows which way is up just because they have the
iPhone exclusively. It doesn't matter what you call it SBC, ATT,
Cingular it's all crap. Living here in Los Angeles we had a
spectacular baby bell which used to be Pacific Telesis. When SBC
acquired and absorbed them, phone service quality, customer
service, agent knowledge, EVERYTHING swirled into the toilet.
Inexplicably screwed up billing, Phone service suddenly
disconnected because "I had requested it", although they
couldn't find any actual record of such request, 4-1/2 months to
move a DSL line across the street to my new house. . .it goes on.
The company has a complete lack of competent managers who
seem unable to anticipate the most mundane of customer needs.
Their wireless service partnership in Cingular (now wholly
owned) offered ABYSMAL coverage in metropolitan Los Angeles.
When they acquired the "old" ATT Wireless they forced everyone
to abandon their TDMA digital phones for GSM, replacing them
with crappy, featureless junk phones. I think Steve Jobs will rue
the day he subjected his loyalists to ATT's brand of corporate
incompetence.

[gsmiller88]

SO GLAD I'm holding out...

I knew I would be glad I didn't buy an iPhone with AT&T service!
That ***** totally hung up on you and there is no call (no pun
intended) for that. Wait till something goes wrong and you have to
send it back and due to an error on THEIR behalf you'll have to pay
several hundred more bucks so the bosses at AT&T can live large.

Unless they port it to the CDMA network in the near future, I will
NOT be getting an iPhone!

[billmosby]

AT&T =

At&T = !Apple.

AT&T is pretty much the exact opposite of Apple. I had the
pleasure of trying to unfreeze access to my international calling
card that had been frozen because my fiancee used it, with my
permission, to call from her home in the U.S. to the office in
Novouralsk, Ru, where I was working at the time. I had used it to
call from her home before, but somehow they decided it was
fraudulent when she did it. I never got around their bureaucracy
until I got home, a couple of months later.

[Thomas, David]

For All Those Not Activated Yet

Keep your email up, and your iPhone in the cradle. When the email
does finally come, the one with the activation link, click the link
and it will initiate the final activation process of the iPhone.

I
know, you've already waited, and waited ...

[ruhroh30]

Hamster Wheel

I wanted to upgrade my Cingular 8125 to a iPhone this weekend, but decided to wait to scour the web for first impressions. Now I'm feeling better that I waited- I don't care if AT&T's activation takes longer than usual- I would think that's expected during the first week's launch. What I really want to hear is if you think it was worth the waiting in line and $600 a month later when your well into Apple's guinea pig experiment. I stumbled off the Apple's hamster wheel after the 1st gen. iPod Nano fiasco, scratched and bruised. I won't make the same mistake twice-- until the TRUE widescreen iPod comes out (crosses fingers). Then I'm first in line no matter what (yes, I'm a first come, first serve, tech-gadget moron).
But I still love my 8125 and AT&T service. ...And I won't have to keep looking over my shoulder thinking I'm gonna get jacked on the subway if I had an iPhone in my hand.

[Thomas, David]

It is Soooo Worth It

It is a feeling of finally being in the present/future. The one we
knew was possible because we all dreamed it. ... OK very vague,
and emotional. But it's true.

Despite being an AT&T
customer, after dropping them a over a decade ago, I
really could not be happier with the device. There are no
modern superlatives that do it real justice.

With all of the
people trying to be objective, by providing negative feedback,
once you have it in your hands, it is impossible to deny it's
impact. Simply impossible.

Of course one could be in
complete denial, but that is evident by their anger over
the product. In that sense, it is completely humurous, because
that is exactly what happened with the iPod. It was
derided upon launch, envied afterwards, then when Apple made
iTunes for Windows it exploded beyond anyones imagination
(except possibly Steve Jobs ... it would be insane to
underestimate that man).

[jakinner]

Completely UNacceptable, you mean

I didn't wait a week in line. I walked into my local Apple store at 7:40pm on Friday and walked out 3 minutes later with my 8GB iPhone. Apple totally delivered on getting the required number of phones on the racks.

AT&T, however, failed dismally to plan for a known number of phones being activated in a known amount of time. There are steps they could have taken to ensure that this went smoothly, but it's a combination of their corporate attitude and apathy like this post that lets them get away with thing.

A company that is on track to take in over 100 _B_illion (with a 'B') dollars this year should be able to handle a large volume of relatively simple activity.

[boomslang]

They're the phone company...

They don't care, they don't have to. That line got Lilly Tomlin a lot of laughs over the years. Name changes have never changed the base layer at AT&T or any of the baby Bells.

[pnajar]

Should Apple Break the contract?

It is clearly a failure of AT&T to meet the demand of activation even though the reps are trying to blame Apple. Apple hopefully has a clause to allow competition for service if AT&T is unable to meet its obligations. I certainly would support Apple if it could work out a deal with Verizon.

[Lee in San Diego]

Dress rehearsal

I wonder if the contract with AT&T is just for this iPhone model
and as far as Apple is concerned this agreement is just a dress
rehearsal. I can imagine that there is some hustle and bustle
going on in the boardrooms of other carriers who realized that
the worm has turned. When a new iPhone model comes out it
may be partnered with Sprint or whomever, maybe several
carriers. The price will drop, more features will be introduced.

I got to handle an iPhone today and my Mac fan boyism not
withstanding I was very impressed.

[Vegaman_Dan]

Apple won't switch carriers

Apple may work out some sort of financial penalty for failure on AT&T's part to keep up their part of the deal, but they won't drop the contract and give up on AT&T.

Imagine if they did. Who would they turn to then? There is no other carrier in the US still using this technology so Apple really has no choice in the situation. They have to use AT&T until they come up with a phone that is using current generation tech. Perhaps with the new iPhone this fall we'll see something along those lines.

[lmao_in_2007]

Wait 'till you expierence the network...

Wait untill you expierence AT&T's network. If this activation fiasco is any indication, I'm betting the company hasn't upgraded their cell networks yet. With all these new subscribers they're adding on, how many of you want to bet getting activated is just the beginning of this nightmare. Apple should never have partner with AT&T.

To think I almost went out and got one yesterday.

Apple? Possibly. AT&T? No thanks!

[boomslang]

AT&T Couldn't give us service here (Cingulair)

They cut everyone in the local area off because they decided that they didn't want us when they bought out Cingulair. (What's a contract?) I find it kind of funny and TYPICAL that the new AT&T (Cingulair) cannot handle a surge in new users and since they don't want us here in this area for customers, well, I guess the iPone (sic) isn't welcome either.