So I admit it: I bought an iPhone.
That was the easy part. But I should have realized that if the customer service whizzes at AT&T could find a way to mar what was otherwise a perfectly pleasant experience, they would. After nearly nine hours, AT&T has yet to activate my iPhone, and it can’t be used until then.
When I got home, I plugged the phone into our media-server iMac and typed in my information in iTunes. I received an e-mail message at 12:10 a.m. saying: “AT&T is now processing your activation. You will receive an e-mail confirmation once your activation is complete.” I had an existing AT&T account, so I figured that adding the $20/month iPhone wireless plan shouldn’t take too long.
Then I waited. And waited. And waited.
Full story at CNet.com.
| Great idea: Putting the iPhone on sale Friday evening. Now buyers have to wait all weekend to get service… and NONE of the functions work untill service is turned on, not even music. |
a little youtube video to congratulate new buyers of the iphone
Yep, stuck in the same boat. Been waiting 13 hours for activation so far.
Ha! The battery will die before the phone even gets service.
This thing is aching for a hack to activate it. Instead of paying a telco you could use use it on any wifi network, download your torrented tunes to it etc.
Hate to say it but this is what happens with first generation crap. the irony is that you could get a pocket PC phone that can do more for less then this and it’s activated the same day.
http://tinyurl.com/yqlkeo
http://tinyurl.com/32ssjq
there are you have lost their phone numbers…..numbers they had for years.
people should have wait till the second gen
[Please use TinyUrl.com for overly long URLs. – ed.]
I love people like you. Need some instant gratification?! Life isn’t worth living unless you can have everything RIGHT NOW!!!
You’re living life on the bleeding edge. So bleed.
Everyone had to have expected it, it’s just with any new release that has to do with a Server, you gotta wait your turn… lol
I agree, I am tired of the “Got to have NOW” people crying around because all of them are trying to do something at the same time.
Of course it’s everybody’s elses fault too. Give me a freekin’ break!
Like ATT was going to add several hundred customer service lines for all the idiots who could not wait a couple of day’s!!
I TOLD YA SO…
That’s what you get for choosing ATT for your provider.
LOL, what a bunch of morons. 600 for a phone with no G3.
#8, #10 AT&T’s partner (Apple) cranked up the hype machine to a point where EVERYONE knew that thousands upon thousands of people would be buying this phone the first day. Since it is, essentially, a $600 brick without activation, they also must have known that thousands upon thousands of people would be trying to activate it at the same time.
If AT&T is not ready for them, that is, in fact, AT&T’s fault.
#14. I am holding off for G3 or better. preferably with GPS as well.
the iPhone is supposed to be three things at once – media player, cell phone, internet device. two of the three are inadequate right now – it is a low-capacity iPod and a slow internet device, lacking Flash support.
(whatever happened to Jobs’ promised “whole internet”?) but I digress.)
I can hold onto my cash and wait. who knows, they may roll out a widescreen, touchscreen, HD-based non-phone iPod for Christmas. that would be fine with me, too.
Brian – EDGE is technically a G3 standard you know (it is, seriously, look it up). Plus they boosted the speed last night – it’s averaging 150kbs, up to over 200kbs peak.
I bought one this afternoon – activated in 2minutes. The AT&T step was the longest, but not long at all. It seems like the people that have problems have lots of issues with AT&T, but they are the minority.
They were flying off the shelves in San Francisco too.
As someone who was upgrading an old SE s700i – the iPhone rocks.
How’s typing? – easy, but different from keypad and keyboard phones. I couldn’t stand the keyboards on phones and this is easy to use…
I haven’t connected to my home wifi yet – I don’t need to. I’m not kidding when I said they upgraded EGDE – it’s speedy as hell!
Does it live up to the hype? Yes.
Is it worth $600…? Well that’s down to your point of view, but I don’t regret it.
#16. How fast is Edge? say, what’s the load time on the Dvorak.org/blog homepage?
Why is it that the minority that have issues dominate the headlines? I purchased the phone Friday evening, activated it on Saturday morning (it took less than a minute) and have had little on no issues. It is one of the best I have yet to use (I have tried most phones/pdas over the last 15 years). It just works. I am also irritated by the pundits making their comments on the ‘phone without even using it!! Note that this is not specifically targeted at the corporate user, it is targeted at the person who wants a ‘phone, iPod and reasonably competent email client with a number of yet unproved services for maps etc.. It is a major step in the right direction. The software will improve and it is better than the Microsoft Smartphone software (even V6) Oh and yes the keyboard needs practice, it took me less than 15 minutes to master it. I would also add that I am not a young geek, I am over 55 and love it.
17 – Doug.
Hold on… I’ll check. New EDGE speeds have been benched at 150-230kbs, but the lower end on average.. seems about right.
Ok.. dvorak.org…
all text and layout visible in about 5 seconds. Images a little longer, ads loaded last, which is interesting.
The longest part actually seemed to be connecting to the server, once it did that it was really quick.
Oh and Pedro – I’ve been wanting this phone since I saw how it worked in the demo. It’s puring a “wow, this thing both looks good and works well” thing. I couldn’t give a crap that it’s apple. It’s just a really nice phone/ipod/pda
oh, and I thought I’d test commenting on here too with it. So far so good.
I’m already typing faster with this touch screen than I ever could on other phones with keyboards…
Hey Gregory, good for you, now STFU, thanks.
The best part is that it runs on OSX and if it becomes a popular gadget, expect a lot of hacking.
#24. hey, I asked!
Greg – thanks for the info. I was seriously wondering about the usability of the Edge network after the WSJ and NYT reviews.
#26
Oops my bad, go for it Gregory, have a iPhone orgasm, I’ll STFU.
Only hacks are knocking the iPhone at this point. This thread is a prime example.
I was posting on here last night with the phone, as I am now. My hold up is still with getting my number ported… Which has more to do with VZW than AT&T.
#28. Actually, CNET has added to the chorus criticizing the speed of the Edge network. I would not call them hacks.
I think we can separate out critics into two camps:
(1) those who find what they believe to be legit flaws with the iPhone Edge speed, (although as Greg has noted, YMMV); lack of a removable battery, lack of Flash support, inability to use MP3s as ringtones, etc; and
(2) curmudgeons who are reacting instinctively against the mega-hype.
Greymoon, just posting like I was asked too. Enjoying the gadget, but don’t worry… I’m not that kind of rabid mac fan.
Of course posting about an iPhone in an iPhone post… not exactly unexpected.
posting this from my iphone in northern va and while edge is definitely not super fast, its certainly not unusable either
#31, Pedro, thank you.. Here it is, another flooding night in TX, no astronomy, just total boredom, and I have the newest solution !!
Not long ago, before $3K devices, there were objects known as “books.” These objects were known to entertain for at least a few hours, never required batteries, exercised the imagination, educated, even took you “where no man had gone before”. Some of these “books” could even spawn new ideas, motivate you to read even more “books” and generally enhance your life. Now, my friend’s daughter wants an iPhone, can’t live a day without hearing about Paris Hilton, and probably won’t amount to anything that will help society. I’ve sent her the link to this article so she won’t feel so alone….. 😥
Bubba – I read more books than most. People should read more, especially complex fiction and historical analysis.
However I’m not sure how the iPhone, computers, or any tech gets in the way of that… just because someone mis-uses something doesn’t make it a bad thing.
btw pedro – is that really the best you can come up with?
I mean it’s a thread and post about the iPhone, and people were asking questions about it… gee, I wonder what the thread will contain.
Plus – I’ve used other web interfaces for phones, none have had a decent browser than ran well, and displayed sites properly and at a decent speed without crashing (Opera was good, but ran really badly on the phone I used). I was impressed by the user experience… which is the whole point of the device – it actually does nothing new at all, it’s the whole package and how it’s presented and experienced that makes it special.
Then again as you’re the grumpy naysayer on this blog I didn’t expect much else… but please – come up with something that makes you sounds more intelligent than the people I hear on XBox Live?
steven jobs… the tom sawyer of our times, discovered the same thing as mark twain’s hero did when it came time to white washing aunt pollie’s fence that being “the great law of human action”….which is… the only thing to make a man or boy covet a thing is… to make it difficult to obtain. I view all those who stood in the sun for hours and hours… gleefully… no smarter than tom sawyers poor “friends” that white washed aunt polley’s fence for him while he sat in the shade eating apples. wasn’t it MT or was it SJ that coined the phrase about a sucker being born ever hour???