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.

[retibra]

ATT "manually" created my account

After 1 hr 26 minutes, an ATT rep answered the phone. She noticed that my account was currently "pending credit authorization", so she told me there must be a problem with my credit and gave me a new ATT phone number to contact for support.

I suggested there would be no problem with my credit, and that before calling another number and being on hold for another 1.5 hrs, I'd like to speak with her supervisor.

The supervisor, Christina, was charming and anxious to help (well, judging from her friendly tone... but maybe it was just the beginning of her shift).

Christina and the original agent "manually" created my account, a process Christina assured me would expidite my iPhone awakening. And now? I'm still awaiting that fateful email.

[Stating]

Next It Has To Be Keypunched

After manually creating your account it has to be keypunched by the keypunch operator. Then the punched cards have to be desk checked. if there are any errors it has to be rekeypunched. After that it is added to the JCL deck for insertion into the 2450 card reader hopper. If the reader catches fire because of lint, which happens sometimes, you have to start the whole process over again. If the fire triggers the Halon fire supression system, necessitating a building evacuation, then all bets are off.

[bjjlyates]

Activatiion

I worked for Verizon a while back when they were using "antique
computers" - namely Digital/Compaq/HP Alpha/VMS systems to
do billing and activation.

Even on GOOD days activation can be a slow process. So many
phones were sold in a day even across the different regions that
a lot of activation records got queued up on the systems that
send the activations across to the switches.

I can only imagine what kind of backlog exists with everyone
storming the stores for an iPhone. Do you really expect AT&T to
_temporarily_ beef-up their system capabilities for a one-time
run on the stores?

Besides, I've been a customer of Cingular (now the new AT&T) -
and it took me 2 hours sitting in a store late last year trying to
get my wife's new phone activated. Their systems weren't
interfaced very well. They sent me home where it activated in
another two hours. <SARCASM> I'm sure it has improved since
AT&T took over! </SARCASM>

Their customer service sucked so much that she eventually went
to Tracfone. I cannot believe Apple went with AT&T!

[auguy86]

iPhone Activation: 5 min.

I don't know what you guys are talking about. By the time that I
created a new account with AT&T (since I switched from Nextel)
and started syncing my iPhone with all of my music, movies,
photos, etc. my iPhone was already activated. I couldn't believe it.
Everything went so smooth. Friday was a good day!

[Mergeculture]

Its like trying to push an Elephant through a straw.

It went down like this:
The ATT/Cingular servers for so many years now have had a
steady amount of data traveling through them, changing
numbers, and activating plans. So there is information traveling
so many locations to those servers. Now add the number of
locations that ATT has had to the masses of people that can
suddenly send data to these servers from home... And you go
from a steady/acceptable rate of data flying through the fiber
switches on their servers to a tidal wave of information and the
switches I'm sure just smoked.... Its like trying to push an
Elephant through a straw. So then Att called up Cisco and
basically said.. "Oh Sh*t, we need a bigger pipe, now!" So I'm
sure this will never be a problem again, but its the home
activations through iTunes that caused the problem, but what
other way was there to do it? I'm just surprised no one saw that
one coming.....

[cb3431]

The math is easy for me

Apple + AT&T = No Thanks

Both companies have horrible customer service and products with price points that are laughable.

I used to work at an Apple store and the number of people experiencing problems with the iPod is enough to make me put it back on the shelf and purchase a walk-man from Target.

[Lee in San Diego]

Only if 2+2= 5

Troll

[jbarone123]

50 hours + and stil waiting

I purchased my iphone at 6:04PM ET Friday June 29, 2007 (I was the first customer to leave the AT&T store at the monmouth Mall in NJ with big cheers from everyone else waiting in line). Now 50 hours later, my iphone is still not working. I have called multiple times AT&T and every time I get a different story (but then again what can you expect from AT&T, sorry the NEW AT&T (personally I prefer the old AT&T)). The sad think is that in the process of activating the iphone, they disable the old phone. Ther efore I am without the new iphone and my old Blackjack (nice job AT&T).
JB

[thefilebunch]

I'm Still Waiting Too

I'm not as bad as some of you other folks, but I'm currently at ten
hours. I bought the phone Friday, but figured I'd wait a couple of
days so AT&T could work out the "kinks". Joke is on me...

[mcobian]

it took me 3 minutes....

I sure was extremely lucky i guess when everything went super
smoothly for me. I think it took me less than the expected 3
minutes....and i am on the west coast, so tons of people where
already using the service. I love this gadget, its amazing!

[mflare13]

Too many parachutes, not enough pilots

Of course AT&T is having problems with management these days - they laid off everyone with 15+ years experience back in 1999. With a serious lack of seasoned managers to train the next generation, it's no wonder AT&T "transfer teams" are allowed to stroll in at 9:00 am PDT. Who's left to argue against it?

[smoke20004]

Still Waiting and waiting and waiting...

After reading your article, I find that I am going through the exact same thing. I do get discounts from my employer but I pay my bill myself. I am getting the same messages with no resolution is sight. Today is Monday July 2nd in beautiful Birmingham, AL. The time is 7:58 a.m. and counting. I have been holding for AT&T for since 6:40 a.m. this morning. Neither my new iPhone nor my old phone works. I am using a friends back-up cell phone to call customer service which even though it is plugged in, the battery is about to go dead. I have been waiting since 7:00 p.m. Friday. I have been shuffled back and forth from AT&T to Apple. After speaking with an AT&T rep who informed me after doing, I suppose, all she could, that she could no longer hold with me for syncronose? and she would have to transfer me to them for me to wait alone and explain my problem all over again. After all, I had been on the phone with her for about an hour. The person at syncronose, after getting my account information told me that she had to let me go because the previous person was still documenting my file. After begging for help, she gave in and put me on hold. She spoke with her manager and tells me that her manager told her that she walked over to the department that can push my order through and that I would receive an email advising that my activation is complete. We, after hanging up, I did receive an email just a few moments after. It read, We're sorry. AT&T has identified a problem with the information you provided. For more information, call 877-800-3701. It is now 8:13 a.m. and counting. Now no bars left for battery life in my friends back up cell phone and no answer yet from AT&T. Three days with no phone service. I wonder if I am getting charged for this. No help and no where to turn.

[smoke20004]

It Works!!!!!

After calling back several times this morning and holding for about an hour, a young lady solved my problem. She indicated that I had features on my plan that overlapped with the apple plan and they had to be removed manually. She fixed this in a manner of minutes. I hooked the phone back to iTunes and it works like a charm. I am so happy now. Very impressed with the phone.

[jamesob5]

62 hours and counting...

I don't care who is to blame...I just want the iBrick to work. No one
has an answer for me.

[wwdallas]

Activation on Old AT&T Wireless Plan (Blue Plan)?

Has anyone successfully added a $20 (or more) iPhone data plan to their former AT&T Wireless Plan? These are what's called Old Blue plans, as opposed to Cingular and the new AT&T plans, which I believe are called Orange Plans.

This would only apply to anyone that started as an Old AT&T Wireless customer before they got acquired by Cingular, and has kept their plan since being acquired by Cingular and now rebranded as the New AT&T.

I actually have an old Family Plan (3 lines) and wonder if the iPhone will accept my phone number and plan during activation.

[yupptv]

YuppTV- Live Indian TV Channels, IPTV,MobileTV,PC TV

Hi!!!!!!!
GlobalTakeoff is focused on delivering entertainment communication and information anytime anywhere. With increased Globalization, people traveling across globe, we are focused on providing entertainment communication anytime anywhere. These services include providing Live TV and video on demand to mobiles, PC and IPTV, social networking, Voice over Internet Protocol, job and travel portals and global classified services. Our vision is to bring global communities together and provide virtual home environment anywhere anytime resulting from increased travel with Globalization.
So we developed a portal called www.yupptv.com you can access TV channels across the world. So you can watch your programs. Irrespective of boundaries.
You can watch TV over Internet. So you can watch your home town channels any time any where...get the real time experience of live TV.......
We are having many channels waiting to come on the board and to cater the user needs. And more over you can earn while watching while referring a good website to your friends and make them closer to their native channels by registering with us.
? Value proposition is you can get traveling updates by just having an account.
? Get subscribed and take your subscribed channels any where and watch any time.
? Home town news on your mobile
? Offers at very low price.
? You will get feeling as if you?re watching TV channels on your TV.
? We have many Channels like.
? You can demand and watch the celebrity videos and movies at any time.
? Headlines Today, India TV, TV9, non- stop news channels...
? Maa TV a full time Telugu entertainment Channel?
And here we have many channels lining up SONY, STAR, ZOOM, CNBC, and CNN-IBN??????..more

LAUNCHING SOON,,,,,,,,,,,,
www.yupptv.com
All Ways!! On Any Where Any Time....

[terry buelna]

Does the "i" stand for idle?

I just got off the phone with AT&T, waited on hold for 45min to talk to someone who acted like I was the first person with this activation problem. I ended up talking to three different people and received one answer, it could take up to SIX days to finish the activation, even though the email I received congratulating me on my activation said it may take up to 6 hours. I can call out but not receive calls and they said it was Apples fault because they knew nothing about the activation arraingement until two hours before the phone was to be sold. Nice $650 IPod huh? I called Apple, they said I was one of the lucky ones and that quite a few people couldn't even initiate the activation.

[iPhone-CA]

AT&T - No surprise

I called AT&T before purchasing my iPhone to ask about charges
they may apply to block my name and number for calls I make.
They told me there were no charges for this function. Called them
today to have my name/number blocked and they want to charge a
one time fee of $25 to do it. What a crock. Yes, I know it can be
disabled on the phone itself, but I wanted to use the *81 & *82
method to control. More corporate lies!

[tandonsamrat]

iPhone Activation Horror!

After all the hype that was created by Apple and AT&T for the iPhone, just like thousands of our brethren, we got lured into buying one for ourselves. Though we wanted to experience the pleasures of urban camping by standing in the line to be one of the first few to hold iPhone in their hand, but my head pulled rank over my heart and we decided to wait for at least few of the initial issues be resolved before taking the plunge.

After waiting for weeks, we found an occasion that we could use to bargain with our heads and convince ourselves to buy the first of the potential 4 iPhones in the family.

It was my in-laws 37th wedding anniversary and we convinced my father-in-law to shell out more than 600 dollars to buy the phone for my mother-in-law (if I was going to experiment, it rather be on my father-in-laws dime!)
(Note to my wife: Honey, I'm just kidding. None of this was planned)

Anyhow, we all sat in the car and burned the gas to drive 18 miles to the nearest apple store and within minutes were proud owners of iPhone. Me being the tech-whiz of the family, everyone had their hopes on me to use my tech prowess to bring the device to life as soon as we reached home.

All excited with the family watching, I proudly pulled the equipment out of the box, hooked up the cables and launched iTunes. I then connected the phone to my PC's USB port and to our excitement Voila! iTunes magically recognized that we now belonged to the privileged list of iPhone owners.

The iTunes software asked us for all the personal information like the phone number we were trying to get activated etc. Then it displayed a message asking us to wait while AT&T activates the service. Our hearts pumping and blood rushing to our cheeks with excitement, our eyes kept moving from the computer screen to iPhone with anticipation.
We were already debating who will make the first iPhone call and to whom..... Boom! All our dreams shattered, our hearts broken - we saw a message on the computer screen saying that AT&T needs additional time to activate the phone and we will be notified via email once the phone is activated.

We kept refreshing our yahoo email account first on every 15 minutes interval, and slowly moving up to on-hour-every-hour cadence. No luck!

Next day in the afternoon we received an email congratulating us that the iPhone has been activated and all we need to do is plug it back into iTunes to activate it.

So here we go again. We plug the phone back in and go through the process. To our amusement the phone opens up and we can see those beautifully aligned pretty icons on the iPhone. We were even able to load all the pictures and music on the device. As soon as the synchrinization finished, we picked up the phone with fingers twitching to make the first iPhone call ....

No go.

There was no service on the phone! It was a nice 600 dollars iPod, but we couldn't make a phone call as AT&T had not activated the phone.

I then called AT&T. After 20 minutes wait time, I was able to speak with a representative, who asked me all the standard questions from the checklist in front of him; made me reboot my device and my computer twice and then asked me to remove the SIM card and read the numbers to him.

Once I read the numbers to the AT&T rep, he said that the numbers were off by a digit in their system so he transferred me to the next level of tech support.

After waiting for just a couple of minutes, I got to speak with the second level technical support. I was certain that he will be able to modify the single wrong digit in their system so that it matches the string of numbers on my SIM card and I could use my phone. But to my surprise he said that he is not able to change the digits in his system and I will need to go to the local AT&T retail store to get a new SIM card for the phone and they will be able to activate the phone for me. After spending 1 hour 40 minutes on phone with AT&T, our iPhone was still not functional.

Next day, we take time out of our busy schedule and go to the AT&T store at the corner of Sunrise and Flamingo in Sunrise, FL. Due to 4 people ahead of us on the sign-up sheet, we had to wait for 45 minutes before we got any service (they should seriously consider adding more benches or chairs for people to sit while they are waiting. It becomes a challenge to keep standing for 45 minutes with a four year old child - while they are at it, they should perhaps also consider a play area for children if they plan on keeping their customers waiting for 45 minutes. Some studies have also indicated that a HD TV and free refreshments in waiting area help reduce the aggravation level in customers - just my 2 cents to AT&T).

Anyhow, we finally got served and the AT&T rep (Eric) put a new SIM card in our phone. We asked him with excitement "is the phone working now?". To our dismay, he said that we will need to take it back home and plug it into iTunes to get it activated.

On asking why they can't activate it right there in "AT&T Company Store", he responded that they do not have a computer with iTunes loaded.

On asking "so do you mean that if we don't own a computer, we should not buy iPhone?". He responded: "Yes. That's exactly true. I suggest that you take this phone and return it back to the Apple store". Shocked by the response, we came home and plugged the phone back into iTunes.

Very upset at the store rep's rudeness and attitude, on our way back home I decided to call AT&T customer service and file a complaint against the rude employee. After waiting for about 15 minutes I got a rep on phone and she patiently heard my whole story (not sure if really was listening or not), but when I stopped talking, she simply told me that she cannot file a complaint against another AT&T store rep. I will need to go back to the same store and speak with the store manager!! Very upset at this point, I asked to speak with her supervisor and to my utter shock; she outright REFUSED to let me speak with the supervisor. She said there were no supervisors on duty!
When I asked the rep's name, she gave her first name as Cynthia and refused to give any other identifying information. I asked her which call center she was from and she told me it was in South East. That's all she could give me and then she hung up on me.

We came home and plugged the phone back to iTunes.
The system walked us through the process again and came back with the message indicating "AT&T needs additional time to activate the phone and we will be notified via email when it is activated" ? Deja Vu!

So, I pick up the phone again and dial AT&T again. After waiting for about 20 minutes, a representative came on the phone. I explained my ordeal to her and she said that she could not do anything for me. I just need to wait till I receive an email confirming the activation. I demanded explanation and initially she denied providing me any details citing her inability to look at the status while the activation was being processed.
Since I kept insisting, the explanation I received was that AT&T had already activated the SIM card and they were waiting for Apple to do their piece before sending us a confirmation email.
Knowing that the first time, the issue at core was that they had wrong SIM card in the system, I asked the AT&T rep to read me the SIM card digits from their system. To my disbelief, they still had the original SIM card (the one that was off by a digit!). I was totally frustrated by this time and I asked the rep to update their system so that it shows the new SIM card number that I got from AT&T Retail Store. She put me on hold for about a minute and then confirmed for me that she had updated the information in the system. That made me wonder, if the rep had the ability to update the SIM card information in the system, why was I sent to the AT&T Store in the first place??

I asked the rep what happens next. She said that the new SIM had been activated by AT&T and I could put it in any phone and I would be able to make calls. She said that she could not do anything more at this time. Now we just had to wait for Apple to complete the activation on their end.

Not fully convinced, I called Apple's customer service. The Apple representative was quite nice and empathetic to my story and informed me that there was nothing that needed to be done on the Apple's side. It is all AT&T for activation.

Feeling stuck between the 2 companies, I asked the Apple rep to explain the situation to AT&T Rep. Apple rep put me on hold and called AT&T. I once again explained the situation to the AT&T Rep who re-iterated that I have to wait for the email indicating my service has been activated. She could not do anything till that email was received.

I agreed to wait since there was nothing else I could have done. But before hanging up the phone with the AT&T Rep, I asked her to read back the SIM card number that she had in their system for our phone number. As I guessed, she gave me the original SIM card numbers (the one with a single digit off). I told the AT&T rep that just before calling Apple representative, I was told by another AT&T rep that she had updated the SIM card information - what happened? To which she responded that there could be something wrong with the phone. I should consider taking it back to the Apple Store.

Taking her advice, we took the phone back to the Apple Store.

Fortunately, we met Steven Commander, the store manager at AT&T Store. He was extremely helpful and was very apologetic about the whole situation. First person who really felt sorry for the whole situation.

He then replaced the phone for us and we were all convinced that it will work this time because that's what AT&T rep had told us. I did not want to leave the Apple store till the phone was activated, so I asked Steve to get the phone activated for us before we leave the store. It was around 6:00 PM on a Saturday evening. Steve plugged the new phone in with the SIM card that AT&T store had given us. The system walked us through the activation process and lo and behold ... we get a message "AT&T requires additional time to activate your phone. You will be notified via email once your phone is activated"!!!

We were in total disbelief! I dialed AT&T's customer service again and got a message that their call centers are closed and I should call back during normal business hours!!!

Steve looked up some numbers on his computer and came back with an AT&T rep on phone with him. The AT&T rep (Otto V. from Canada ) was extremely helpful and understanding - just like Steven at Apple - must have been our lucky day. I think that the stars up above were showing their pity on our plight). Steve and I took turns talking with Otto, who put us on Hold multiple times, got the secong and third level of technical support involved. After staying on phone for about 3 hours (I am not exaggerating - it really was 3 hours!!), Otto came back and apologized for our experience (first AT&T rep to do so!) and explained that there is an issue with their billing and customer care
software which is not letting them update the SIM card number. They have opened a ticket with their IT department and we will receive an email once the issue has been resolved. It was store closing time, so we left the Apple store after spending 4 hours of our Saturday evening in the Apple store.

Here I am writing this note on Sunday morning. Getting iPhone to work has become my new hobby and mission. I will keep you posted once the phone is activated!

Please wish us luck and send me the email address of AT&T VP of customer service, if you have it.

I truly believe that Apple made a mistake signing up a multi-year contract with AT&T and putting them in a situation that could potentially send their customers away from Apple!

[KJen]

26 hours, new story, reply

hi. i have my own horror story. i have spent more than 26 hours
with at&t trying to get my phone activated. i have a bill for over
$120 for a phone i have not been able to use. i am now
requesting my 5th SIM card. i've gone to the at&t store 3 times
and talked to 15 at&t reps in attempts to get my situation
resolved. it's unbelievable.

...all this while at&t's annual report boasts that it is, "committed
to delivering world class customer service" and that it has taken
action to "resolve even more customer issues on the first- and
only- call to us (at&t)."

i have put in a call to a reporter at a local newspaper (This
reporter recently published an article about accusations of racial
descrimination at at&t). i am compiling information. please
comment back to this if you would be available to talk to a
reporter OR if you have any suggestions on how i can get at&t to
resolve my phone activation issues.

thank you!

[bigiphone]

By schnaeppchenfuchs.com and iPhoneOhneVertrag.com it gives to win a iPhone 3G 8GB without Simlock! (Value: 699 ?). The trend is clear. The next iPhone SEO Contest is started, BigiPhone. A goal is it now to place this word assistance of the search machine optimization in highest place. Who stands at the end of the running time in highest place, won.
http://www.interaktiv-net.de/wordpress/2008/11/bigiphone/

[thegoddessanastasia]

And yes I took the plundge also. I bought an iphone. SO I come home to set up the iphone after registering it up at my friendly at&t store , 5:00 pm saturday, turn on the itunes and begin the process. I follow the steps right until it asks for the credit check code for clearance. Low and behold my friendly at and t representative , nice and talkative he may be forgot his job and failed to give me to code. So I figure , OK if I got approved down at the store, it'll be ok to just skip the code and go on , WORNG, IT is now 9:18 am sunday, and my iphone is stil in processing mode, I'm assuming that I will be in processing mode until 2010 as well. I called the rep from At&t and he is giving me the code today , unfortunately i can't go backward on the itunes set up link to input the code, so now Im stuck. TADA . so I am safe to say that I am in ipone hell right now. LOL