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We'd give you a review of the iPhone's capabilities - if we could get the damn thing activated. Yes, the ultimate irony: Activating the phone take much longer than waiting on line for one! Apparently AT&T underestimated the number of phones that would be bought - and the number of people who'd try to activate them - and various systems weren't able to handle activation requests. No, it's not the end of the world that it's not working yet. And yes, many people have working iPhones, so something must be working out there. But since some people might have similar, frustrating experiences, we decided to share.
Background: In order to use any of the touted iPhone functionalities, you need to activate the phone via iTunes. Meaning that when you take the iPhone out of the box, you get an screen with a globe that says "Activate iPhone." You can dial out for 911, but that's it. You can't use the iPod function (though you can port songs over and use it as a very glorified iPod Shuffle), you can't sync Contacts, you can't do much of anything.
We started the activation dance around 8PM, but would get an error from iTunes saying that our iPhone could not be activated with our existing AT&T account. We spoke to four different customer service reps over the night, after waiting on hold for about two hours total.
All the reps gave us different answers (special kudos to the lady who told us to call a number that turned out to be a non-working Bell Canada toll-free line), showing how ill-prepared AT&T and Apple (you have to blame both parties here) were for the demand. And this was not an isolated problem, as many forums, such as this one on MacRumors, have noted similar problems.
Around midnight, we were able to get the activation on iTunes working but then the final screen said that our request would take further processing and then we would get a confirmation via email. So we called it a day and decided to sleep on it. But there was no email at 8AM. And as it happened, our old cellphone's SIM card was disconnected, so we have no cell service at all. We called customer service again, waited on hold for an hour, and asked what the heck was going on. The explanation: There is a huge backlog of activations that AT&T is trying to process; an "unprecedented" number of iPhones were sold and no one realized that everyone would try to activate them after buying them.
Oh, please! Besides finding out that there were some other issues with our plan that might have prevented activation (plus attempting to power on-and-off the phone a few times, which apparently helped some people out there), our phone was still not activated and we were told we had to wait for the confirmation email. We spoke to a customer service manager and suggested that AT&T would do something meaningful to make it up to customers, to leave them in this limbo.
That said, most of the AT&T customer service reps as helpful as they could be, given the circumstances. It's not like they are in charge of how many activation ports are available. We believe the blame lays further up the ladder, on the shoulders of the chuckle-headed executives who didn't realize that the buzz and hype might actually sell a lot of phones - and that customers would actually want to, um, use the phones. And while people have been faulting AT&T with this issue, you need to blame Apple to some degree. Sure, Apple held up its end of the bargain by having a smooth retail experience, but by choosing AT&T as a partner, we would imagine they were part of the process that outlined an activation strategy.
Our one-eyed cat tries to make the iPhone activate by furry osmosis
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WHO CARES!!!!
WHO CARES???!!!
That cat needs to use that iPhone to call for a small plastic container of nip from a guy on a delivery bike.
Maybe you should post your personal tech support rants on another, more appropriate blog?
It's what many people have known for years: Cingular/AT&T sucks!
you have $500-600 to spend on an iphone. good for you! i'll stick to my free phone, work-discounted cell service, and free ipod mini that came with my school-discounted ibook from 2 years ago.
Wow, that sucks! Hope it's up soon.
this is what only a few posters on Gothamist warned.
I'm guessing because few people even remember when AT&T was in the cell business but they were.
AT&T service sucks, you're gonna get screwed.
and, if you're from the southern states, Cingular sucks even with their rollover minutes. That was promotion many years ago.
I had absolutely no problem activating mine. Took about 3 minutes and it was the easiest and slickest activation I had ever done with a phone. And I mean no offense, but why would we care about your review on features? There are like 84,786 reviews out there already so I think everyone gets the picture.
Seriously, I am surprised that so many New Yorkers went for this item, knowing that they'll be in AT&T hell for two years. It is the 2nd worst cellular service in the country, and probably the worst in NYC.
Have fun with your secondary Ipod, as it'll be close to useless as a phone and a browser.
Who cares? Why is Gothamist providing so much coverage on a product that is overhyped? And it has nothing to do with NYC specifically? It's just an overpriced phone.
You fell for the hype, reap your rewards.
Jen's a crazy cat lady!!!
I have to agree with most everyone else. This isn't a valid post about NYC. You guys have gotten so off target in the last two years. Why aren't there any good blogs covering real issues in the city in a meaningful way?
I've had Cingular for year after leaving Sprint. I have no problems with Cingular with a Treo. Anyhoo, hope your phone gets worked out soon!
*years
who cares. wait, maybe if you wrote about pandas this post would be more interesting.
AT&T has the worst coverage in NYC, NJ, and up the Hudson Valley. There are even spots where there isn't any AT&T at coverage.
Sprint PCS, T-Mobile, and Verizon are SO much better.
goodbye gothamist. this used to be a great site. you've lost your compass.
there are good ny sites but most are more localized around neighborhoods. since i've started using a feed reader this has become a better way to get ny news than this heaping pile of crap of a site.
it's not surprising, given that at&t/cingular sucks so much, but it definitely makes apple look bad.
this is all a product of apple insisting on locking in its users to AT&T. they should've just let you drop any old SIM in there, but i guess they had to concede this to Cingular for some reason.
as for whether this belongs on gothamist or not, i think i can live with a post like this once in a while, esp. on a saturday. plus, given that hundreds of new yorkers were lined up around the block for these things just yesterday, and the line has been a national news story all week, it doesn't seem entirely out of place to me.
i'm so glad that people have the money to waste on an item like this.
god, our whole economy is a sham.
really who cares.
Why dont you take your iphone and stick it up your
I'm just amazed Jen hasn't reached the conclusion that AT&T are racists for not activating her phone.
Why? AT&T=Union Pool?
I'm sure Sprint would have done much better. HA. Face it, all cell phone companies suck major ass.
Seriously monkeys, if you don't like the site, stop reading it and go find one that you do like. Reading your inane rants about how the site sucks is as pointless as you reading a site you don't like. WRITING inane rants is even more pointless and a sign that one may need to get a life.
Holy crap morons, if you haven't noticed, a lot of people in and around NYC were pretty excited about the iPhone and even lined up to get theirs so the iPhone experience is obviously relevant on Gothamist.
Anyhoo, I'm in the same position. Jen, did you ever get yours to work? I just called customer service for the 4th time and the only thing they could recommend was to leave the iPhone connected to the computer (and iTunes I presume). I didn't have it connected over the last 24+ hours but I was never told to anywhere... In any case, good luck and hope you are having better luck. I'll try a voodoo ritual at this point...
Ha, I laugh at all you assholes who say "goodbye Gothamist" as if you'll never read this site again. Boohoo.
Worse then the AT&T service is that you can't replace the iPhone battery yourself after it dies in a few years
, and have to send the dame thing back to Apple
Oh my god, a battery on a phone might die in a couple of years! How many phones have you had that lasted that long, anyway?
Ferchrissakes people, if you're gonna bitch about something, bitch about something legitimate, not some vague eventuality on a phone you honestly have no interest in buying anyway.
market research shojuld have proved that verizon would have been the best carrier for this iPhonery.
I am just fed up with At&t/Cingular. The worst service in Sheboygan, WI. So many drop call, ripoff company. I got the plan of 1400 minutes for 80 dollars permonth +2 line. the bill should be 110 max the first month bill they sent me was over 500 dollars. They are making pay 175 dollars to cancel each line. This is the worst 1000 dollars I spent Never get att or now cingular.