THE POWER OF THE 877 NUMBER IS REAL!!!! (at least I assume it to be lol)
Expected ship date was originally 10/13-10/22, then 10/31-11/11, then 10/2-10/13
Started calling the number on Tuesday, status changed from Backordered to Preparing to Ship sometime Wednesday evening. Got the Information About Your AT&T Plan email around 11 this morning, and all the subsequent notifications since then. Phone will be shipped with FedEx by 8pm tomorrow 9/26.
Initially I was pissed with the expected ship dates, but I'll take waiting a week after release than waiting in line for hours and hours and coming away empty handed. Hope this info helps. Hope everyone gets their new phones sooner than later.