Glitches at AT&T Bedevil Apple iPhone Owners

[newtonjack]

June 30, 2007

Glitches at AT&T Bedevil Apple iPhone Owners
Something was bound to go wrong, and for existing AT&T (T) customers trying to activate their newly purchased Apple (AAPL) iPhones, the problem looked like this:

Your activation requires additional time to complete

The discussion boards on Apple's website were lit up overnight with frustrated customers, some of whom had waited in line all day to buy their iPhone only to run afoul of AT&T's activation process.


"I Activated my Iphone at 8pm on 06/29/07 and it is now around 7am the next day and my Iphone has still not activated," wrote Clark Brantley of Charlotte, N.C.

"Same here (in NYC), it's been about 10 hours for me. AT&T said (after talking to 4 agents) that it's Apple's job to activate the phone not theirs," added user PeteTech. "Here goes the runaround." (link)




http://blogs.business2.com/apple/200...es-at-att.html

[rsnadel]

Not suprising there were some problems. New technology, web and phone lines jammed, in some cases people didn't read the fine print (only personal accounts can be activated, not business accounts) but insisted on demanding that the system treat them differently, etc.

On the other hand, today's LA Times quotes a guy who bought his phone at an Apple store, went outside and fired up his laptop w/ broadband access, and was activated in five minutes. Is it possible you're looking at this "glass half empty"?

[MacUser]

I got the same sad message at 6:31pm. It activated around 10:45pm. It was a LONG wait :/

It was great once it was activated, though.

[beachtrader]

I read lots of reports of this. Apparently if you were porting your old number over it took a while because the other carriers were not responding right away. If you were getting a totally new number it tooks 30 seconds to 2 minutes.

[dgoodisi]

Doesn't Archie state in another thread that Apple created their own servers instead of using AT&Ts? Maybe not such a good idea.

For the record I countered that Apple did not create their own servers, but rather created their own interface into AT&Ts existing system. Call it splitting hairs if you like, bottom line is maybe that was not such a good idea.

[Kupe]

Originally Posted by newtonjack

Your activation requires additional time to complete

The discussion boards on Apple's website were lit up overnight with frustrated customers, some of whom had waited in line all day to buy their iPhone only to run afoul of AT&T's activation process.

Welcome to your first day of 731 wonderful days chained to the AT&T network.

[llarson]

Originally Posted by Kupe

Welcome to your first day of 731 wonderful days chained to the AT&T network.

the fact that there has never been so many new phones activated at one time.

Would like to see the numbers of phones sold the first 2 days.

KUPE and NEWTONJACK keep the anti-iPHONE post coming the keep everyone on their toes!

[Kupe]

Originally Posted by llarson

the fact that there has never been so many new phones activated at one time.

Just so I understand - Apple shipped upwards of a million phones just to be sure there would be enough on hand to sell, but AT&T somehow forgot their system couldn't handle that many new phones - and Apple wasn't aware AT&T has one of the worst customer service systems in the business? Do they deserve each other, or what? :shake:

Only 730 more days on an AT&T contract for the new iPhone users - welcome to your second day. :evil:

[justleft]

My activation went seamlessly. Also configuring the iPhone was no issue, with it up and running in a few minutes. The AT&T network may be another issue. My signal bar will jump between no bars and 3 to 4. Phone still works though. Not sure what that is about.

[llarson]

Originally Posted by Kupe

Just so I understand - Apple shipped upwards of a million phones just to be sure there would be enough on hand to sell, but AT&T somehow forgot their system couldn't handle that many new phones - and Apple wasn't aware AT&T has one of the worst customer service systems in the business? Do they deserve each other, or what? :shake:

Only 730 more days on an AT&T contract for the new iPhone users - welcome to your second day. :evil:

I have some stories that would curl your toes!

1 issue took 12 months to resolve!

Each carrier has its issues.