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AT&T Walk-in line for iPhone 5

V

vijay007

macrumors regular
Original poster
May 17, 2007
123
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I am planning to stand in line around 4 AM in front a nearby AT&T store to get the iPhone 5 on 09/21. How was the crowd like in front of AT&T stores for 4S launch? Do you guys think 4 AM would be early enough?

BTW, I stood in line in front of Apple store around 4:30 AM on launch day for iPhone 4 and there were 100+ guys in front of me. I would prefer to not wait in front of Apple store this time around.
 
im planning to do the same maybe at 6 am. live 1 minute away from the att store
 
Depending on where you live 4am may be a bit early, unless you don't mind 4 hours on the pavement. I've done AT&T lines twice. Both times at 8am, both times no problem getting the model I wanted.
 
I am actually going to go to the ATT store right near me, if its sold out or too many people, I will go to another, or a radio shack.
 
GravityEyes said:
Depending on where you live 4am may be a bit early, unless you don't mind 4 hours on the pavement. I've done AT&T lines twice. Both times at 8am, both times no problem getting the model I wanted.
Click to expand...

This is what I plan to do as well. I'll get there right at 8. If I get one great, if not, I'll continue to rock my 4s for a while longer.

How many of you had success walking in at or just after 8am to an AT&T store and getting a phone? I'm hoping its not a big deal. I'm in an area with several Apple stores, At&t, VZW, Sprint, Walmart, BB, RS all over the place.
 
I walked into my AT&T store on launch day for the 3GS with no issues. No lines, no hassle. Easy as pie. But I somehow don't think that happens anymore.
 
I had an issue last year and had to go into the AT&T store and get a new sim card. I walked into the AT&T store around 7PM at the mall, and they still had iPhone's left (I think it was only 64GBs though). I would personally get in line around 5AM if I were you to ensure that you get the model you want. Worst case if you wasted 3 hours of your life, but 3 hours isn't terrible. It just seems like they are having more supply/demand problems this year than years past.
 
experiences will differ from the competence of the staff from one location to the next. the store that is in my local town now they are usually pretty spot on.

although, for the 3g launch, there was probably 20 people in line and at att they were taking down notes on who was there to buy what phones and then they said they had phones for everyone and there was a limit of 4 phones per house hold....

then when i got to the door, they said i could only buy one, but come to find out they didnt have the one i wanted ( the one they said that they had like 20 mins ago...) very frustrating, i would def stand at an apple store any day to get away from this frustration of an att store that is ill staffed...
. just my two cents though
 
spades1412 said:
This is what I plan to do as well. I'll get there right at 8. If I get one great, if not, I'll continue to rock my 4s for a while longer.

How many of you had success walking in at or just after 8am to an AT&T store and getting a phone? I'm hoping its not a big deal. I'm in an area with several Apple stores, At&t, VZW, Sprint, Walmart, BB, RS all over the place.
Click to expand...

I have gone to an AT&T store twice, once for 3G launch and once for 4 launch. Both were a nightmare. Got there around 6:30-7:00 both times and had 15-20 people ahead of me - by the time I reached the front they were out of the largest capacity. Ended up getting a reservation that took weeks to receive. Never using AT&T again for pre-order or launch day.
 
Planning on AT&T as well. Closest apple it 2 hours. Wondering if I need to get there quite early due to not much other options close by.....
 
jrlepage said:
I have gone to an AT&T store twice, once for 3G launch and once for 4 launch. Both were a nightmare. Got there around 6:30-7:00 both times and had 15-20 people ahead of me - by the time I reached the front they were out of the largest capacity. Ended up getting a reservation that took weeks to receive. Never using AT&T again for pre-order or launch day.
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I'm hoping that with VZW and Sprint both carrying the phone now, the demand is more widespread and spread out and not centralized to the At&t stores.

With the 3G and 4 launches, the only options were At&t or Apple.
 
I have probably 5-6 ATT stores within 5-10 miles of me, and an Apple store on other side of town. I really want to be able to go to my local ATT store and get my 32gig and 16 gig for my brother....but if I show up at 7am and I see a line, I will drive around til I find a store with little to no line...

Has anyone bought with radioshack? I have one of those close and thats my contigency plan as well, because I would like to get my phone from ATT directly but never used anyone but apple or ATT.
 
If the trade-in on my 4S goes through this week (UPS jacked up the shipment and delayed it several days), I'm considering doing an AT&T store walk-in. We have a pretty good corporate store in town where the staff all seems to have their heads screwed on straight, plus about three other franchise stores as backup. If I do it, I'm thinking of getting there at 5:30 or 6:00 a.m.

Only problem is that the only device I'll have to keep me occupied during the wait is an iPhone 2G. Oh, the humanity.
 
I waited in line for iPhone 4. Got in line around 10pm the night before. Already have about 20 people ahead of me. By 4am, there were probably about 100 people in line.

One must understand that you should anticipate the demand of iPhone 5 to be similar to 4, and not 4S. 4S was only an incremental upgrade from 4. Demand was not as high. Same goes with 3G vs 3GS.
 
I also think the online pre-orders are also a lot more than in store this time....more people go that route. I didn't decide to buy the phone until today so I will be scouting out stores 6-7am friday.

I hope my area which is chock full o ATT stores will split the crowds, and the apple store is overrun downtown. Here's hoping
 
vijay007 said:
I am planning to stand in line around 4 AM in front a nearby AT&T store to get the iPhone 5 on 09/21. How was the crowd like in front of AT&T stores for 4S launch? Do you guys think 4 AM would be early enough?

BTW, I stood in line in front of Apple store around 4:30 AM on launch day for iPhone 4 and there were 100+ guys in front of me. I would prefer to not wait in front of Apple store this time around.
Click to expand...

Not sure where you're from, but here in Austin I tried this strategy with my iPhone 3G. It utterly failed as the AT&T store only had a small stock in stock, and those of us left couldn't get our hands on one. Hopefully, it's improved since those days...
 
I am doing this, as well.

I did the same thing with my 4S at (what I consider to be) the best AT&T store in my city. I got there about 7AM, and the end of the line was just a tad before the end of the building, and they told us beforehand that they aren't too sure if everyone is going to get one, but about 30 minutes later, the manager comes out and tells us they have more than enough, and I believe people that came in as late as noon were still able to get one.

Of course, the earlier you get there, the better chance you have. I enjoy this much more than waiting for a package to come. You get to meet some cool new people.
 
I have a Delivery date of oct 10th(apple.com), is it worth cancelling and going by walmart/radioshack/att ? if so what are the chances of geting a phone that wasnt pre ordered ?
 
I just talked to my local ATT and he told me to get there at 6am and they only allow 1 upgrade per person, when I need to upgrade 2 people so I was pretty pissed. Tempted to just order online and let it get here when it gets here. I don't know if I am willing to stand in line for 1 phone and not be able to get the other. Kinda frustrating.
 
I just called 3 retailers and 2 ATT stores and they told me the lines will be long so 6am is a must. But for me to wait in lines like Disney world and order 1 phone when I need 2 is annoying.

Going to call Best Buy at 10am and see how long their pre-order list is, might just hop on it and hope I can get it by midweek .
 
edurican said:
Does anybody know more or less how long it took for iPhone 4 or 4s to run out at AT&T?
Click to expand...

Your answers will easily range from a few minutes to a few days for the last time around.

Will vary across the country. Even from one side of town to the other.

Factors include how many preordered this time vs going to store. How many still want them. Add in outlets like Best Buy, Radio Shack, Sams, Walmart, Radio Shack and the possibilities are endless.
 
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