Did ya get one? I didn't.....

[InTheAir]

.....I tried a local ATT store at 6:30am...already a long line.

So, I went to an Apple store....HUGE line. There were about 150 people in front of me and 40 people behind me. I actually waited in that line for 30 minutes, until I got confirmation that I HAD to go to ATT to get the Enterprise Data Plan, even on a personal (i.e. non-corporate) account.

Thankfully, there was another ATT store upstairs (in a mall), so I went and waited in that line. At about 7:30, an ATT worker was taking a tally of what people wanted in line and they presumably ran out of the 16GB Black and white two people in front of me (about 40-50 people).

So, I left to attack it another day....

Oh well.

And YOU?

[pinot]

I got to an Apple Store around 7:20 & was about the 100th person in line. The store opened at 8:00 with about another 100 people behind me in line. I left at 8:30 when the first person in line was still in the store!

[InTheAir]

I got to an Apple Store around 7:20 & was about the 100th person in line. The store opened at 8:00 with about another 100 people behind me in line. I left at 8:30 when the first person in line was still in the store!
Yikes! :eek:

[deftdrummer1]

holy crap where do you guys live?

[willyouletgo]

I got one and I almost wish I hadn't because it more frustrating having this stupid thing in my house and unuseable

[WallyWaldo]

I got one and I almost wish I hadn't because it more frustrating having this stupid thing in my house and unuseable


hahaha, this is true my friend. I'm kinda thankfull now that you put it that way. I'm gonna wait a little bit. Gotta sell my iPod touch first anyways.

[Michael319]

i got there at 6:45 got in at about 8:45 or so and then left to try and finish the process at home. didn't work.

[Surf Monkey]

Got my black 16 gig. Trying to activate now. No luck so far.

[bg5067]

you guys in america having trouble activating? sounds fun

[PG4G]

I sat at my Optus Store (the big one in Melbourne Australia) and was first in line. Got an 8GB prepaid iPhone 3G.

Got to the store at 7PM Thursday night.
Got in the store at 7AM (starting time) Friday morning.
Left with my iPhone at 7:05AM Friday morning.

I had a few troubles. First my service wouldn't activate via the Optus Site. That just took a while. (4 hours) then my iPhone wouldn't connect to the net. Called them up and they told me "Yes, I am sorry, it is just going to take 24 hours for all processing to go through, so wake up in the morning and all should be fine.

Lo and behold, it was.

Oh, except that my new iPhone registered without the number and I don't know how to change that. Now it was just showing "Phone number: N/A"

[PG4G]

I think Apple is doing this now to convince the phone companies that they need a better system than this. The iPhone was great because it was simple to activate. This is just horrible trying to navigate the unbelievable mess that is everywhere.

[angusshangus]

I showed up at an ATT store on Nutley, NJ at 6 am and was somewhere between 50th and 60th in line. When doors opened at 8am there were 200 + people in line. They ran out of black 16gb iphones right away but it didn't matter as i wanted a 8GB. I got my phone at ~10am and only the next five people behind me got anything, the rest were out of luck. They couldn't activate my phone in the store but when i got home at 6pm EST i plugged mine into iTunes and it activated instantly without any issues.

[Surf Monkey]

I think Apple is doing this now to convince the phone companies that they need a better system than this. The iPhone was great because it was simple to activate. This is just horrible trying to navigate the unbelievable mess that is everywhere.


Yeah, but that's the thing. Practically everyone who bought one in the US today ended up bringing it home and activating it there, just like the first iPhone. Once the servers started crashing, Apple was just selling the phones and switching ATT accounts, then sending people home with pristine, unopened iPhone boxes so they could open and activate at home. What that means is that in-home activation hasn't been shut down. In store activation is just a policy point, not a technical change up.

[JoelS1044]

I got to an AT&T store at 6:35, was about 35th in line. Got into the store at 9:40. iTunes wasn't working in the store. Took my phone home, took about 30 minutes to get logged on to iTunes. I'm all activated, andtyping this on my iPhone.

[angusshangus]

In store activation is just a policy point, not a technical change up.

Yeah... this actually surprised me but makes sense. There is no need to activate in-store if they can just force you to sign a service contract on the spot. Not sure why they didn't plan it that way from the beginning. It would have made the lines move much faster. Why would ATT care if your phone activated if you already signed your 2 year commitment???

[Surf Monkey]

Yeah... this actually surprised me but makes sense. There is no need to activate in-store if they can just force you to sign a service contract on the spot. Not sure why they didn't plan it that way from the beginning. It would have made the lines move much faster. Why would ATT care if your phone activated if you already signed your 2 year commitment???


Good question. It seems obvious that the idea is to squelch pirated iPhones (that's also why they're only allowing one phone per person) but the activation isn't really the critical step. Signing on ATT's dotted line is. Therefore, as you point out, why not activate ACCOUNTS at the store and then have people activate PHONES at home? After all, when they activate that account at the store, they enter the phone's SIM and hardware serial numbers.

[Germansuplex]

I didn't get one either. Got in line about 7am and after a half hour in line, I had already decided that regardless of whether I got a phone or not, I was not happy with AT&T and how they handled this. A ticketing system would have been much, much better. Go through the line, check eligiblity and hand out one ticket per person/account. Give people until noon to purchase the phone. That way, instead of standing in line, waiting, and things becoming congested, people can leave, go home to work, whatever... and come trickle in throughout the morning to buy their phone. Anybody who doesn't claim theirs by noon is released back to other customers.

Maybe new contracts would have to wait, but at least then people in the back of the line can gage whether they want to wait and chance it or just go home and try another day. Having 100+ people in line in 90 degree weather for four hours is not really a nice thing to do. A simple update is all we're talking about.

So they ran out of phones (I expected they would), but I waited in line to do the upfront payment. Well, they did not accept cash. Nowhere did they tell people that (I saw it on Apple's site that it was a requirement for the Apple store, but I saw nothing on AT&T's site). So I left empty handed.

I left empty handed at Best Buy last year trying to get a Black Friday laptop, but I was pleased with them because the store employees came out, talked to people, updated them, and handed out tickets for high-demand items so I got to leave at 4am when I found out I wouldn't get one.


I'm just reminded of why I left AT&T a couple years ago. Their phones and cell service is decent, but man... customer service could use a shakeup.

[deftdrummer1]

Add me to the list of disappointed people to walk away without an iphone.

I think of this situation with a few different perspectives. First, Apple brought this on AT&T by discontinuing iphones 3 months ahead of the 3G release. This makes no sense, because I'm certain a good portion of people buying iphones today only did so because they haven't been able to for the last few months.

Also, AT&T's system of getting people's credit card numbers and ordering iphones direct from Apple is absurd. Now anyone who signed up must wait for "their" iphone to be shipped to the store, and can't walk in and buy an iphone should they become available in the mean time. This is just nonsense. Since when does putting yourself in the que to purchase an expensive device actually set you back from the rest of the crowd? Shouldn't people who swiped their card and got on the list get the first iphones as they come in?

Lastly....WHY NO ONLINE PURCHASE? that alone would have alleviated at least 1/2 of the congestion inside the stores today. Perhaps set something up where people must go in and sign the contract in-store before their phone is usable?

What a disappointment.

[Germansuplex]

I have absolutely no clue why there are no online sales. Absolutely ridiculous. Apple can redirect people to AT&T's website, and then on AT&T's site they could walk you through upgrading your existing phone ($199/$299 for qualified upgrades, $399/$499 for early upgraders) or new customers can sign up for a new contract. The online process is no different than any other phone, so why not? Ridiculous.

I don't even want to purchase my phone online and still think it's absurd.

[Surf Monkey]

I have absolutely no clue why there are no online sales.


Because they're trying to stop people from ordering them strictly for unlocking and resale.

[dmiZe]

I didn't get one either. Got in line about 7am and after a half hour in line, I had already decided that regardless of whether I got a phone or not, I was not happy with AT&T and how they handled this. A ticketing system would have been much, much better. Go through the line, check eligiblity and hand out one ticket per person/account. Give people until noon to purchase the phone. That way, instead of standing in line, waiting, and things becoming congested, people can leave, go home to work, whatever... and come trickle in throughout the morning to buy their phone. Anybody who doesn't claim theirs by noon is released back to other customers.


They handed out tickets at my local AT&T store, I thought they handled everything well with the exception of the activation deal.
.
Anyways I got a black 16GB, and finally got it activated and syncing by noon.

[Germansuplex]

Because they're trying to stop people from ordering them strictly for unlocking and resale.

Yes, I'm well aware of this, but if you are required to renew your contract online before purchasing, then what is the difference?

If someone signs a new contract or renews their contract online and gets shipped a phone, then it's no different than if they do it in the store. Whatever happens after that is up to the consumer regardless of whether they purchased online or in-store.

They handed out tickets at my local AT&T store, I thought they handled everything well with the exception of the activation deal.
.
Anyways I got a black 16GB, and finally got it activated and syncing by noon.

You were one of the lucky ones. The store I went to would have been better served being ran by a troop of monkeys.

[Surf Monkey]

Yes, I'm well aware of this, but if you are required to renew your contract online before purchasing, then what is the difference?

The difference is that people spoof that stuff online all the time. That's the whole point of making you come to a store with your photo ID and your SS number.