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Activation Nightmare

9 hours and waiting in new york. anyone waiting this long?

sony vaio, Windows XP Pro

Posted on Jun 30, 2007 2:22 AM

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86 replies

Jun 30, 2007 2:36 AM in response to Gabe 5 Editor

I was having the same problem, I was a new coustomer switching from verizon. Started activation and got the first email at 923pm, and email telling me it would take longer at 936.....I waited and just when I was ready to give up hope and go to sleep I got an email at 338am that my number transfer was not avilable....which *****, but I decided oh well and bit the bullet and resubitmed my activation for a brand new number and it worked instantally. I know that didnt seem to be the trick erlier, but maybe theyre finally catching up with the new activations?

Jun 30, 2007 3:00 AM in response to PeteTech

Pete, i know that's what they said, but we know that AT&T is a bunch of fridging liars. I spent a good hour on the phone with an Apple rep, and used him as my middle man while he spoke with AT&T, cause i couldn't stand the crap they were telling me. Finally we found out where the problem was, but all i can do is wait until my # transfer either goes through or gets rejected. And honestly, I wish it would just get rejected so my wife and I both could start using our phones as opposed to waiting for another 24 hrs after the first one is activated. I think Apple has done a great job, except for their selection of carriers, I would much rather have more minutes and fave5 than rollover and less minutes. The 200 included texts are cool, but i think that is to prepare us for the addition of iChat sms.

Jun 30, 2007 3:27 AM in response to alemco

7 hours, 10 minutes. Absolutely delightful. I have been with Sprint for 8 years, and the iPhone is a compelling enough reason to change providers. I stand in line for 2 hours, spend $700 for the phone, car charger, and misc accessories, and now I have been waiting for 7 hours, 10 minutes for this "useless brick" to activate. Most unpleasant. Is this the kind of service we should come to accept from AT&T and Apple?

Jun 30, 2007 4:32 AM in response to alemco

Nightmare, indeed! I've been waiting 11+ hours now. I got the phone after a somewhat reasonable one-hour wait at the Albany, NY store, then spent 4+ hours talking to AT&T and Apple trying to get the thing activated.

First problem: the activation email was sent to my old .Mac address, which I no longer had access to because I let my .Mac subscription expire years ago. I still use my .Mac email address as my iTunes account login and to post on the forums here, so when prompted for my AppleID when activating I put that address in. Silly me. Trying to explain that to an AT&T service rep from Canada was tons o' fun.

First solution: I got drunk and desperate enough to re-subscribe to .Mac, costing me an additional $99.

Second problem: I finally got an email at my old-but-now-new .Mac account saying that my existing AT&T rate plan is "incompatible" with the iPhone. So, another call to AT&T. It seems that it's not a simple matter of adding $20/month for iPhone service to your existing AT&T rate plan. I currently pay $29.99/month for 350 minutes on a rate plan which I've had for 3+ years but which is no longer an option for new AT&T customers. So now I have to pay $39.99/month for 450 minutes (AT&T's cheapest plan), plus the additional $20/month for iPhone service.

Second solution: accepting (for now) that I'll be paying $10/month extra for those additional 100 minutes, which works out to $0.10/minute for minutes I don't need or want. I'll work on this "incompatibility problem" with AT&T billing later.

Third problem: I awoke this morning to find that (a) my iPhone still hasn't been activated and (b) that my old phone is now inactivated. I can't even call anyone to complain now since I don't have a land-line.

Total cost of ownership thus far: $650 for the phone (includes NY state sales tax), $99 for .Mac to escape the whirlwind of AT&T versus Apple blame, $240 over two years for my new "compatible" AT&T rate plan, and $480 over two years for iPhone data service. $1500 and counting for a new phone, a phone which isn't even working at the moment.

iMac 17" 1.83GHz Intel Mac OS X (10.2.x)

iMac 17 FP 800mHz Mac OS X (10.2.x)

Activation Nightmare

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