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AT&T Temporarily Suspends New iPhone Pre-Orders
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I think you will have to wait in some sort of shorter line for preorders. My local store only lets a certain number of people into the store for fire safety issues. The past two years the local fire marshall would be onsite to ensure Apple was following the fire safety rules.
I am picking up my reservation in store and my confirmation stated that Apple will hold until close of business on the 24th.
This is all supposition looking in from the outside, but:
As a software engineer and architect involved for many years in high transaction rate real time systems... the issue would really lay in the performance and scalability of the software.
My guess is the software is not performing well and putting undue load on the systems, resource and traffic wise, during order processing and data queries.
In addition if it were properly designed to be easily scalable, servers could be brought up as needed to handle additional load.
Based on the iPad security issue (poor/sloppy ATT design) and this, I would say these were not seasoned in house developers and that ATT is employing cheap labor in the design and implementation of critical systems without proper oversight and risk assessment.
Simple answer: Stop hiring cheap labor where it counts.
Is anyone else still unable to pre-order? I got mine last night but none of the other lines on my account will work, all say they're unable to complete online, to finish creating an account to go to an apple store.
After several attempts I was able to reserve a 32gig phone at the Apple store on launch day. I am very disappointed that white was not available, but my old phone is on it's last legs, so I couldn't hold off any longer. I am psyched for the iPhone 4, mostly for the retina display.
Beware of ATT Placed Order
I placed an order yesterday at 5:35PM EST with ATT.....got an order number on my receipt.....as of 8:35 AM this morning I did not receive a confirmation email....so...called customer service....1st lady very helpful....check the account for what she could see and confirmed that she saw my order...everything was cool....then...at 9:45 I get an email from ATT indicating that they could not finalize some details or too many lines upgraded and that my order was canceled.....in a span of less than 1hr I go from confirmed to canceled.....was trying to ATT the benefit of the doubt yesterday but today I'm more convinced that they are not very good at customer service....can't get through to the online store number....was on hold for 43 mins before I gave up....glad I reserved a phone at a Apple store....really crazy....had to vent...
I placed an order yesterday at 5:35PM EST with ATT.....got an order number on my receipt.....as of 8:35 AM this morning I did not receive a confirmation email....so...called customer service....1st lady very helpful....check the account for what she could see and confirmed that she saw my order...everything was cool....then...at 9:45 I get an email from ATT indicating that they could not finalize some details or too many lines upgraded and that my order was canceled.....in a span of less than 1hr I go from confirmed to canceled.....was trying to ATT the benefit of the doubt yesterday but today I'm more convinced that they are not very good at customer service....can't get through to the online store number....was on hold for 43 mins before I gave up....glad I reserved a phone at a Apple store....really crazy....had to vent...
It won't make a bit of difference. AT&T obviously does not have what it takes. They have proven that time and time again.
I tried telling everyone this yesterday and no one listens!
If it ain't working through Apple, it ain't working period. Those of you who trusted AT&T's online system are just plain gullible.
Antenna?
This should be" Hope the network is better. If the network sucks it dosen't matter if the phone has a 10' antenna, it will not get a signal.
LOL. My exact thoughts. Build and they will come.
p.s. Hope the antenna is better.
This should be" Hope the network is better. If the network sucks it dosen't matter if the phone has a 10' antenna, it will not get a signal.
You are either not an AT&T customer and/or just like to be on the popular bandwagon.
AT&Ts cellular service in the vast majority of service areas in the US is perfectly fine. In those areas with extremely high concentrations of iPhones (San Francisco Bay area, Manhattan, Washington DC), any network (/carrier) experiencing the high load of data required to serve those devices is going to lag and experience service problems. Verizon (for example) doesn't experience this because they do not have a device that consistently achieves such a high rate of data transfer.
On what was perhaps the 150th try yesterday, don't judge me, I was abe to get through on the ATT site at approx 3:30pm EST and order a 32gb iP4.
At present I am able to look up via my order number on ATT's site that there is an 'in progress' status to my order, but the order date is today, 6/16, which of course if not possible as sales were suspended yesterday afternoon.
I still have not received a confirmation email.
I was able to reserve an iP4 at a nearby Apple store, and would be willing to get in line early, as I have done for the first two launches, but there is no way for me to cancel my ATT order, as I would do if the ship date is pushed past the 24th.
Who else is in this boat? and are we screwed out of launch day phones? (I know this is pure conjecture at this time.
The system admin that is responsible for this mess should be looking for work today.
At present I am able to look up via my order number on ATT's site that there is an 'in progress' status to my order, but the order date is today, 6/16, which of course if not possible as sales were suspended yesterday afternoon.
I still have not received a confirmation email.
I was able to reserve an iP4 at a nearby Apple store, and would be willing to get in line early, as I have done for the first two launches, but there is no way for me to cancel my ATT order, as I would do if the ship date is pushed past the 24th.
Who else is in this boat? and are we screwed out of launch day phones? (I know this is pure conjecture at this time.
The system admin that is responsible for this mess should be looking for work today.
They won't wait until the last minute--June 24 will be the first minute to purchase the phone, since most of the people who pre-ordered don't have to pay the full price until the phone ships.
Seriously, I think someone who waits in line for 5 hours shows more diligence than someone who sat at their computer for a day clicking buttons on the screen in the hopes of getting an iPhone 4. Get over yourself.
Were you there? Do you know what happpened?
As to comparing AT&T / Apple's transaction capacity to that of exchanges serving the stock markets: please think it through. Any private company that jacked up its usual capacity so high as to meet any occasional, massive one-day surge in demand would be so much wash on the laundry lines by the time investors got done punishing them for such foolishness.
In addition, there are enough scoundrels and trolls on the planet to make the odds quite high that a lot of non-customer hammering was conducted on those servers yesterday. Yes of course customers and potential customers were also inconvenienced, and part of that was due to the irrational conclusion that the best response to an unanswered query on a server is to repeat it over and over again immediately. I have not yet seen the code that effectively says "Please queue up into three lines: hackers, trolls and people who wish to upgrade their accounts." To expect those servers to distinguish upfront among possibilities and pick out the query that was coming from me, you, our friends or family is equally irrational.
Finally, I am no fan of AT&T. As a rural resident, fully aware of the off-charts demand now for wireless spectrum and wired bandwidth as well (which is largely video-oriented and has been completely predictable by anyone with an IQ of 80 for a decade), I now totally discount any promises or suggestions by AT&T over the past three years that expansion of service to rural areas would be forthcoming. Thanks to the unchanging attitudes of investors towards anything remotely resembling innovation, R&D or even the maintenance of infrastructure, we in rural areas have sunk to the bottom of the pile once more, and I am not much encouraged even by the change of gears at the FCC (although that is a step in the right direction). As a result, I expect that for years to come I will still have to pay for a landline as well as mobile services, put up with DSL-only for net access, and make sure I have a cellphone from the right carrier on board depending on where I travel so I don't bounce too many Verizon calls off AT&T towers and vice versa. So anyone should think again before considering me a fanboi of any cell service provider, or for that matter DSL provider (mine "guarantees" a whole big 70% of advertised rates but specifies no remedy for continually falling under that in peak evening hours and randomly on weekends). Nonetheless, I do not hold irrational expectations of any private company to meet spikes in demand such as that experienced by AT&T and Apple during the iPhone 4 pre-order period.
They handle way more traffic than ATT now. Yes it's because of laptop cards but it's still data going through the cell towers. Didn't I read that sprint handles more data too?
According to ABI Research, Verizon Wireless carried the most mobile data in 2009, followed by Sprint. Customers of these two operators generated 63 percent of the U.S. markets mobile network data traffic.
Where does your data come from?
Still no pre-order available...
I tried really late last night/this morning (2amEDT) and again this morning, went through ATT sales on the phone as well as APPLE sales, and each time reached the same, sorry, we can't take any more pre-orders.
The ATT gal said that it is POSSIBLE they will re-open the re-order lines tomorrow or Friday, depending on how quickly they can resolve the morass their servers have created, but no guarantees.
I live at the beach, 85 miles in any direction from an APPLE store - guess I will have to be patient. Not my best quality! :/
I tried really late last night/this morning (2amEDT) and again this morning, went through ATT sales on the phone as well as APPLE sales, and each time reached the same, sorry, we can't take any more pre-orders.
The ATT gal said that it is POSSIBLE they will re-open the re-order lines tomorrow or Friday, depending on how quickly they can resolve the morass their servers have created, but no guarantees.
I live at the beach, 85 miles in any direction from an APPLE store - guess I will have to be patient. Not my best quality! :/
Same here. i ordered mine at 4:40 EST (3:40 CT) yesterday, but the daily cut off time listed on their site was 4PM CT, so I definitely completed my order before then. I wonder if everyone who pre-ordered through AT&T yesterday lists the order date as 6/16?
I could not agree more. The whole thing is INSANE!! I did the line thing when the 3g came out. Waited for 5 hours. When 3gs came out I waited a month, waltzed into the store got my phone with no problem. I will do the same with this one. I will wait it out. It's not like 6/24/10, will be the only day this phone will be sold, it will be there in a month from now too.
Yeah, I don't understand this waiting in line thing either. I could see if it's a console system that will be hard to obtain for a few months, but this is a phone. They HAVE to have these in the store within a month. In addition to that for most people this is a $600 phone. I'm not waiting in line for 1/4 of my day to pay someone $600. It just doesnt make sense.
I'm currently doing fine with my 3GS but when I decide to upgrade I will likely purchase in the convenience of my own home....especially if I decide to pay $600 for it.
What a great solution. It would not have occurred to me to sit on the x Million they have ready to go just to try and satisfy the demand for x + y million needed to meet the demand. It makes perfect sense to let them sit in a warehouse until they have more. Maybe they should go ahead and make 100 million before they release any so they can launch in every country on the same day.
If it were an issue of "who carries the most data", your argument would be relevant. Unfortunately it's clearly an issue of concentration as opposed to absolute capacity throughout the entire country. Obviously Verizon carries the most mobile data, because they are far and away the largest carrier.
ATT probably doesn't have a clue how many they sold. They might have sold out, and they might not have. They might have sold twice what they were allocated. Given the circumstances, it's conveeeeenient for them to say that they did. You see, in any case, demand is there, and if they didn't sell out, they will as soon as they fix the mess, and the public will be none the wiser.
I'm more confident that Apple actually did sell out. They didn't seem to have any problem with their online systems other than with the interface to the ATT backend server used to verify accounts.
They probably did both have 10 times the *traffic* as normal. That's because each user probably attempted at least 10 times to reserve a phone! Even, so Apple's systems weathered the storm. ATT's didn't.
I'm not convinced that this was due to anything but ATT's flawed last-minute security update, that wound-up being insecure. I think they needed a good excuse to shut the system down. But they couldn't do that, it would be too shocking to the public. Though it would have been the best thing to do. "Sorry, no pre-orders today, anywhere. Our systems are screwed-up and we need to fix them. Go home. Nothing here to see." So, now they've done this today.
Now ATT is sitting on a pile of paper slips, another pile of online orders or dubious reliability, and sweating being able to activate phones for the people standing in line at the Apple stores on the 24th.
My prediction is that we will walk away from the counter with some kind of rain-check, because ATT still won't have their act together. They won't be able to send us away with phones to activate later, because they won't know what price we are qualified for.
I'm more confident that Apple actually did sell out. They didn't seem to have any problem with their online systems other than with the interface to the ATT backend server used to verify accounts.
They probably did both have 10 times the *traffic* as normal. That's because each user probably attempted at least 10 times to reserve a phone! Even, so Apple's systems weathered the storm. ATT's didn't.
I'm not convinced that this was due to anything but ATT's flawed last-minute security update, that wound-up being insecure. I think they needed a good excuse to shut the system down. But they couldn't do that, it would be too shocking to the public. Though it would have been the best thing to do. "Sorry, no pre-orders today, anywhere. Our systems are screwed-up and we need to fix them. Go home. Nothing here to see." So, now they've done this today.
Now ATT is sitting on a pile of paper slips, another pile of online orders or dubious reliability, and sweating being able to activate phones for the people standing in line at the Apple stores on the 24th.
My prediction is that we will walk away from the counter with some kind of rain-check, because ATT still won't have their act together. They won't be able to send us away with phones to activate later, because they won't know what price we are qualified for.
The other way around
Steve Jobs is kicking AT&T in the balls. Apple is making a ton of money off them through the sale of the iPhones at full retail price. Add the exclusive contract and the cash flow continues to rise.
Then AT&T is kicking their customers in the balls with huge usage fees (every carrier is guilty) and below par service.
Yes Apple has a winner on their hands and people are flocking to the device.
Look at it in a month or two some of these users of the iPhone 4 will be complaining about the network issues all over again, along with how long it takes to activate the damn phone. It always happens.
In the mean time Jobs will be laughing at the customers that still shell out cash for the iPhone on AT&T's network. I belive it was quoted as say Then they won't when asked about AT&T's plan to imporve coverage.
If people were so taken back by the horrible network and all the issues rolled into AT&T they wouldn't buy an iPhone.
What needs to happen is a mass strike on buying an iPhone 4. Apple's inventory will rise, their stocks will fall, and major losses in their cash flow.
If that ever happens (it never will) you see Apple kill the exclusive contract with AT&T and open it to other carriers.
In the end just remeber the iPhone 4 has been soiled with the blood of the factory works who killed themselves.
Steve Jobs is kicking AT&T in the balls. Apple is making a ton of money off them through the sale of the iPhones at full retail price. Add the exclusive contract and the cash flow continues to rise.
Then AT&T is kicking their customers in the balls with huge usage fees (every carrier is guilty) and below par service.
Yes Apple has a winner on their hands and people are flocking to the device.
Look at it in a month or two some of these users of the iPhone 4 will be complaining about the network issues all over again, along with how long it takes to activate the damn phone. It always happens.
In the mean time Jobs will be laughing at the customers that still shell out cash for the iPhone on AT&T's network. I belive it was quoted as say Then they won't when asked about AT&T's plan to imporve coverage.
If people were so taken back by the horrible network and all the issues rolled into AT&T they wouldn't buy an iPhone.
What needs to happen is a mass strike on buying an iPhone 4. Apple's inventory will rise, their stocks will fall, and major losses in their cash flow.
If that ever happens (it never will) you see Apple kill the exclusive contract with AT&T and open it to other carriers.
In the end just remeber the iPhone 4 has been soiled with the blood of the factory works who killed themselves.