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Level 1

0 points

Here is why the activations are delayed.....ATT nor APPL to blame.

i work for att. i got an iphone last night as well and mine activated instantly...but i live in oklahoma, fewer people, fewer activations, fewer problems. okay whenever a new cellular phone is activated it is programmed through a computer and then sent to a piece of hardware called a "switch." think of a switch as a turnstall at a fair or a revolving door at a hotel. only one actication can go through the switch at a time, any other activations behind it are waiting in line like people at a ticket counter. activations aren't the only things that have to go through the switch. anytime you call in to your cell provider and make an account change such as adding/removing a feature, changing a rate plan, activating a new sim, anything like that, it goes through a switch.

sometimes, there are natural switch delays. it doesn't happen daily because in a matter of odds, thousands of people won't be making account changes simultaniously everyday. however, sometimes this happens and it creates a delay in the switch. when this happens, we alert our customers of the delay and advise them to wait a few hours, power cycle and try again. switch delays aren't a daily occourence, but not rare. now, lets talk about the iphones and switch delays.

the iphone is undoubtedly THE biggest thing to ever happen to a cellular industry. last night, hundreds of thousands of people purchased iphones at the EXACT same time, rushed home and tried to activate their phones asap. what happened was a massive bombarding of activations to switches that generally don't handle anything near last night's load. since the phones were sold at 6:00, everyone got home at about 7:00 and most likely overloaded the switches to the point of near exhaustion! it would be like 30,000 or so people throwing basketballs at one hoop and hoping to make it in! theoretically, larger metropolitan areas would have more problems due to more switch activity. granted our switches in new york city are heavy duty, but there are no switches in existance designed to handle that kind of load because with the exception of this weekend, there would never be that much activity!

is it apples fault? no, i think that their activation through itunes is ingenious. it keeps people from having to call into att and it was FAR less painless than in-store account set up! is it att's fault? no. they can't be blamed for overloaded switches due to iphones WILD success. our switches are adequate, it's just that this weekend was a rare-bird exception that would have dang-near blown out any switch. it was like christmas day X 100! i think that i got mine activated so soon because we got from the store to my house in about 20 minutes and completed the activation before the swarm began to get into full swing. so those of you who are still waiting, just hang in there! just think of your activation as being in line for a rollercoaster. you are 3/4 closer to the front than you were last night! having had over 24 hours to mess with this phone, i can assure you that it is well worth the wait. it's the most marvelous piece of technology i've ever had the pleasure of using.

i'm sorry to all of those who aren't active yet, but hang in there! your hour will come. i bet those switches are like hot stove-tops right now begging for a chance to breathe. it's like pouring liquid thorugh a funnel, pouring faster will just cause an overflow, gravitiy has to take it's course! it's not att's fault, it's just the hundreds of thousands of activations fighting for the chance to make that first call! hang in there.

24 imac Mac OS X (10.4.10)

Posted on Jul 1, 2007 1:34 AM

155 replies

Jul 1, 2007 9:53 AM in response to Joseph Bacon

May I suggest you call AT&T's 611 help line and ask to speak with a SUPERVISOR. See how the super answers.

I understand your frustration. I am not pleased with AT&T either and am a long time customer on a Treo who has purchased an iPhone. But honestly, my experience with AT&T has been poor starting about a year or so ago. When I was dealing with Cingular, I found things much better.

Jul 1, 2007 9:58 AM in response to LauraBelle

What you say is true, however, expectations should have been managed better by both APPL and ATT up front. "Seemless" "Easier" - - these are terms they used to describe the activation process. Nowhere in their literature, pre-activation problems, was their even a hint that activation could take days or weeks. Even now if you call any one of the numerous call centers for either companyyou are told, "it will just be a very few minutes more just be patient"

Raising expectations that cannot be fulfilled is their fault. It is deceptive advertising.

Jul 1, 2007 3:44 PM in response to Actually Human

Three times I've called, Three times I've asked for a supervisor, Three times I've been told I cannot speak to one because they are not available.

However the last time I called, the operator said she would fill out a form and a supervisor may call me back in a week.

I'm not holding my breath.

I filled out an e-mail complaint to AT & T about the service at the Los Angeles Wilshire/Western AT & T store AND the misinformation given by operators out on Friday with a promise I would be recontacted in 48 hours. Still waiting for that too.

I do not expect a response.

SHagan

Level 1

0 points

Jul 1, 2007 3:55 PM in response to anitas anger

45 hours 44 min ............called AT&T and Apple get different story every time???????? This is total BS. I hope many many Apple and AT&T employees get what is coming to them (Termination)! As for the rest of us maybe they will compensate us for the 12+ hours I have been on the phone with them??? BTW I am a former Cingular customer....Unreal I just can't get over how unprepared they were for this.

Jul 1, 2007 4:11 PM in response to anitas anger

It's all very understandable but why were customers not warned. I would have chosen to wait until I could stand not having a phone for a while. As soon as I hit Submit, my old phone shut down and then the message about the wait. It's BS. Its both APPLE and ATT's fault for not properly warning customers about something they could ably foresee. Now I have neither phone and hopefully the iPhone starts working before Monday morning or I'm out of a job.

G1OF2

Level 1

0 points

Jul 1, 2007 4:17 PM in response to pedro blue

I discovered you can actually play songs before the phone activates... If you go ahead and start dragging songs, etc...over to the phone in iTunes, you can then put the phone in emergency call mode, insert your headphones, click the clicker on the headphone cable and your songs will shuffle. Not sure how I discovered this.... but it works. You can then double click to move to the next song... You will notice a play symbol appear on the top right of the screen next to the battery indicator...

Made me feel a little better... 47 HOURS AND COUNTING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

GRS

Level 3

891 points

Jul 1, 2007 4:27 PM in response to Al Van Malsen

altho i don't plan on getting an iPhone (because of the exclusive at&t situation) I disagree that at&t has no hope of recouping cost of upgrading to handle the activation broohaha. With a 5 year exclusive in the US market that brings their customer numbers up for the next 7 years(until the end of the last contract of the last person signed up). I cannot get an iPhone that would work on any other provider until July 1, 2012 at the earliest. I think that might be a way of amortizing the cost.

MacPro 3.0, Macbook Pro 17" Mac OS X (10.4.9)

Jul 1, 2007 5:02 PM in response to anitas anger

Anitas, I don't buy your explanation, no matter how well intended. It is at most a small part of the problem, and one that could easily have been anticipated. Those switches are super fast. Even if you take the insane view that each switch can handle only one transaction a second, and there are only 4 switches in the country, that still translates to 345,600 transactions in 24 hours. The math just doesn't support the argument.

This is a management failure, pure and simple.

1) Staff was poorly trained on the activation process and potential problems
- business discount issue
- TDMA switching
- how to determine your SIMS card number
- porting phone numbers (and I am a long time AT&T/Cingular customer)

2) Staff was inadequately scheduled. Twice (Friday night and Saturday night), on two separate issues, I was told that the department that could fix my problem was not available until the following day. Twice (on two other issues) I was told I would have to wait until Monday. Why the **** wasn't a full complement of staff available for this weekend?

In addition, the staff constantly sounds like they are reading from a script, without actually solving the problem ("I'm sorry you feel that way"). I was told on several occasions that everything was set and that I simply needed to wait, only to be told many hours later that the problem that was supposedly resolved the day before still existed.

It has now been 48 hours and my iPhone is still the prettiest paperweight I own, and little more.

This is completely unacceptable, and Apple is to blame as much as AT&T. Apple clearly has the smarts and leverage to have done due diligence to be sure activations went smoothly, especially since it was undoubtedly AT&T that insisted that no features work until the iPhone was activated (think about it).

When the scope of this monumental failure of leadership sinks in, and people realize that Apple is now married for 5 years in a dysfunctional relationship, Apple's stock is going to take a hit. I've already sold mine.

iMac G5 Mac OS X (10.4.10) PowerBook G4, iBook G3, numerous others

Jul 1, 2007 5:12 PM in response to Actually Human

If you were an AT & T investor, and AT & T had spent millions of dollars on equipment that was only necessary for one weekend, you would have (should have) been VERY upset at that action. That would have been a ridiculous thing for them to have done.

Jul 1, 2007 5:25 PM in response to Ronda Wilson

If you were an AT & T investor, and AT & T had spent
millions of dollars on equipment that was only
necessary for one weekend, you would have (should
have) been VERY upset at that action. That would have
been a ridiculous thing for them to have done.

Rhonda,

While I would agree with that statement if everything went off without a hitch, but the fact of the matter is that it didn't go off without a hitch for everyone. From an investors standpoint, the PR hit that is caused by internet threads, articles, and blogs with people screaming that ATT screwed them over and that they haven't had a phone for 2-3 days may do more harm to their investment than spending the money on switches or other equipment to make sure the process went smoother. I don't know enough about that stuff to know if the problem really was with the switches, for all I know someone could have used a '1' instead of a '0'.. I dunno, in a way it doesn't matter now, take a look at their stock on Monday, that will tell you the mood the investors will be in.
What would be helpful to see how bad this really was, is if some numbers were released, like we had a total of 'x' iphone customers activated of those activations 'y' had problems. Perception is reality when it comes to these things, if people start selling off stock because of it, it's reality for investors.

Jul 1, 2007 6:10 PM in response to anitas anger

I can understand the frustration some are experiencing. And I'm sure it's no consolation to know the majority of iPhone buyers were able to activate their phone immediately. I was able to activate mine right away.

However, there are times one has to take a situation in hand and make a few decisions. If you don't want to wait, take the phone back, get a refund and go buy another phone. If one only has phone access through one cell phone and are currently left without cell service and desperately need a cell phone, go and buy a cheap phone that uses cell minutes and forward the bill to AT&T or Apple, you pick.

Sometimes adults have to make adult decisions. If one decides to keep the phone, but still has to wait, then take it up with the responsible parties. Complaining repeatedly on this forum about the activation problems aren't going to make your phones activate any quicker.

Jul 1, 2007 6:17 PM in response to SHagan

I disagree with you. Yeah, I have been inconvenienced, but to ask for someone to be fired over this! Losing a job because we have been without a phone is really a sad commentary on our society. We have become such babies! Now Now Now...I want it now. We should be ashamed of how we are acting on this board.

Jul 1, 2007 6:21 PM in response to myheadhurts

I understand the delay...... why keep my phone locked. I feel if you went through the process and are waiting for them to activate than PLEASE let us at least access the rest of the phone features for now. It would make me wait patiently.

Dual 2.5 G5 Mac OS X (10.4.1)

AlfonsoC

Level 1

0 points

Jul 1, 2007 6:22 PM in response to tnook

I agree with allyal, but why did they launch it on a Friday evening...most likely 80% of At&t employees will be at home watching tv and drinking beer!

Launch it on a Monday and make everyone to work (paid) extended hours so every client can have its phone activated.

Plus, the $36 fee should be vaiwed because this is a joke! over 48 hours to have it activated? are u kidding me?

best

Jul 1, 2007 6:29 PM in response to anitas anger

i purchased mine on saturday morning, hooked it up at 11:36 am, and got the dreaded "AT&T is now processing your activation e-mail."

i woke up at 8:30 am this morning and it had finally been activated. all the features were unlocked, but i still had "No Service". after a call to at&t, i was basically told to wait until morning. finding this unacceptable, i called back around 6:00 pm to check on the status of my request. turns out--at&t had my incorrect sim card number! they had my OLD phone sim card still. i gave her my new one from the iphone and VOILA, works perfectly.

i will say, after the 30 hour wait, i'm finally happy!

word of advice: have the at&t rep check your sim card info if you're running into the "no service" problem.

Here is why the activations are delayed.....ATT nor APPL to blame.