AT&T Activation Delays for iPhone Buyers

I wouldn't say 2% was bad. There must be an enormous amount of people trying to activate new phones, in a very short period of time. 6.15pm on 6/29/07 must have been hell for the activation dept. at AT&T.

right, estimate 250,000-500,000 iphones

2% = 5,000-10,000 people

The problem is 50% of the early adopters run a blog :) The other 50% post in forums...

arn

Many of the 2% are grown men and women who act like little babies.

It has only been 48 hours since the launch, and such a minor delay has caused these babies to cry and whine all over the place.

Jeez. Have these folks ever ported a number before?

Again, this problem is inherent in any cell phone purchase/activation.

So why the fuzz?

Put it another way, had Apple or AT&T require all customers to activate their iPhones in store, you would likely have many many more people whining about the long lines and wait.

"Oh! It has been 7 hours and still not activated! I am pissed and angry!"
"This thing has no 3G and it is slow! I am disappointed!"

Give Apple and AT&T a break guys, and stop whining like it is the end of the world. You are lucky to have the chance to use the iPhone. No one is forcing you to buy it -- and Apple and AT&T have never claimed that there would be no activation delays.

So stop blowing this out of proportion and stop focusing on all the negatives.

Yup, 2% is not bad I feel, although I think the figure is probably higher just because if it was 30%, for example, there's no way AT&T would admit it!

Several hours of delay or 1-2 day delays in activation and porting -- for ANY cellphone -- is NORMAL.

Most people got their iPhones activated online within minutes -- including the installation of updated iTunes and system updates.

The small number of iPhone buyers who whined about the delay are starting to play into the hands of Apple's detractors and are giving Apple users a bad name.

It is now all over the news. Happy now?

Again, folks at Apple and AT&T have worked hard to bring this product to the market place -- and all some folks do is to hit out at them when small inevitable problems arise. Apple and A&T have never ever claimed that there would be no activation problems or credit denials.

Any system, however perfect, will have problems when half a million users try to access it within one night. All some folks do is focus on the negative and whine.

Stop it, because it is getting tiring and unfair.

It has only been 48 hours since the launch, and such a minor delay has caused these babies to cry and whine all over the place.
So stop blowing this out of proportion and stop focusing on all the negatives.

I think you underestimate the frustration of buying a $600 gadget and waiting 48 hours before using it.

arn

2% activation problem, which is now improving? Sounds like Apple and ATT will be laughing all the way to the bank.

I was in an Apple store today (One that was sold out of iPhones!) and the place was PACKED. I have never seen that store so full. And it was one of the smaller, mall stores, not one of the massive flagship stores. There were a lot of people purchasing iMacs, Macbooks and iPods. Instead of focusing on the 2% that had trouble (most of which will be fixed soon, if not already fixed) maybe the "Experts" should consider all the sales from the huge number of iPhones sold, accessories, iPods, Macbooks, iMacs. Not to mention I would be willing to bet it was a record weekend for the iTunes Music Store! It's been a while since that was mentioned.

Of those I talked to who had problems a big issue was that they were long-term ATT customers. Meaning that they were ATT customers long ago, then got bought out by Cingular and then bought out by ATT again. Apparently those accounts were so old that the system had problems transferring the old accounts (read great deals that faithful customers didn't want to give up!)

The line around the iPhone demo table was two deep, all day long. And the iPhone seminar was full. The attendees were truely excited about this product.

Are there issues with this phone? Yes. Can most be addressed by an update? Certainly.

Do I care that I'm paying $20 instead of $60-80 for a 3G network? Absolutely not. EDGE is a challenge. I consistently get 200kbps out of it. Okay, but not too fast. But 3G has the same initial latency issues that EDGE has. So 3G web browsing isn't $60/month, or $1440 faster. I'll save that money for my next three iPhones in the coming years. 95% of the time I'm browsing with my iPhone I'm in range of broadband Wi-Fi, so I couldn't care less that I have to wait for 30 seconds for a webpage to load, that would load in 20 seconds if I paid a lot more per month. It just doesn't matter.

Count me in as a satisfied iPhone owner!

I think you underestimate the frustration of buying a $600 gadget and waiting 48 hours before using it.

arn

Arn:

Maybe.

But seriously, this whole thing has been blown way out of proportion.

It is all over the news network.

Apple has worked hard to bring this revolutionary product to the market, and now it gets rewarded with this whining over a small, not-unexpected problem?

Come on -- where is the fairness in all this?

Maybe Apple should not innovate and just do business like MS.

right, estimate 250,000-500,000 iphones

2% = 5,000-10,000 people

The problem is 50% of the early adopters run a blog :) The other 50% post in forums...

arn

500,000 iPhones sold? I sure Apple & ATT will be crying all week as they count up the 1/3 of a billion dollars they took in this weekend. Not to mention that Apple will now have all those subscribers paying into the Apple coffers for the next 24 months. Can you say earnings growth?

Arn:

Maybe.

But seriously, this whole thing has been blown way out of proportion.

It is all over the news network.

Apple has worked hard to bring this revolutionary product to the market, and now it gets rewarded with this whining over a small, not-unexpected problem?

Come on -- where is the fairness in all this?

Maybe Apple should not innovate and just do business like MS.

Maybe you'll get lucky on Monday (it's a slow week considering the holiday in the middle of it) and spooked investors will take profit and put Apple shares on sale. This time next year you will be looking back and saying gee I wish I had bough AAPL back in 2007 when it was only $125 a share. Just as the people who didn't by AAPL last year at $55/share. Or those who didn't buy in 2005 at $35, or 2004 at $17. It's gone up 1000% in 5 years, Without the iPhone sales and subscription sharing revenue. What's not to love?

There seems to be an issue between the mouse and the chair!
This 2% propbably accounts for those who:
[LIST=1]
[*]Do not read instructions.
[*]Have bad credit and are stupid enough to try and then complain.
[*]Theives
[*]Have business accounts and never verified if the number would work.
[*]And of maybe ATT's servers couldn't keep up with millions of buyers activating at the SAME time!
[/LIST]

Hmmm, the last time I had my phone number ported over, it took weeks! I had to carry 2 cell phones around! Give me a break.

;)