AT&T's Server Problems Continue to Cause Problems for iPhone 4 Pre-Orders

[ouimetnick]

+ 1 million

There's many people on here that would pre-order a box that steve jobs took a dump in and marked it iPoop.

Sadly, there are people that would actually do something like that. An employee at at Apple retail Store sold a cracked stair that came from the store, and got several grand for a broken piece of glass just because it came from an Apple Store. its sad to see how many people must get rid of their now old gadget and have the latest, even though the old one is perfectly fine. Some fanboys upgrade their macintosh every year or two. Not because it isn't capable anymore, just because its newer. Some people just seems a bit strange.

 

[highres]

After the usual pre-order launch day insanity at Apple and AT&T and a ton of mechanical problems with numerous web store crashes and updates that started this morning at 4:00am EST I've successfully ordered my new Black 32GB iPhone 4 to be delivered to my house on the morning of June 24th.

I've been an Apple user since 1986 or so and have been through a ton of their product launches and I must say this one was the MOST difficult. The bottleneck occurred at the handshake between Apple.com and AT&T's websites during account verification where they check to see if you are eligible for the discount pricing.

After about 5 hrs of attempts I was able to reserve a phone for store pickup at about 9am this morning, I then foolishly/bravely waded back in to the mess and was finally able to place the order on the phone with AT&T for home delivery.

 

[danpass]

You already have a nice iPhone 3GS 32GB anyways. Why the rush to have the latest toy? It sounds like a lot of people here are impulse buyers.

whoops I'll have to fix that. Sold it this past weekend to finance the i4 lol

 

[macribas]

I finally got through on Apple's website and got to the point where you pick the data plan. Surprisingly I see Unlimited as an option for $30. Can anyone confirm this? Is this an error? I picked it and it didn't do anything to stop me.

If you were previously on an unlimited plan, you have the option of keeping it.

 

[erzeszut]

ok, so does anyone know what happens if you reserve in the apple store, and then go and order a phone for delivery?

I mean, I want the white iPhone. But I like everyone else have no idea what happened to it. Maybe it will be available in a few weeks, but maybe not for several months. But say we find out in a few days that it will be available fairly soon, I would wait to get it.

I was thinking I could order a black one for pickup in the store. Then if I hear about the white one in the coming week, just cancel the reservation. But would this mess up my eligibility status with AT&T at all. I mean, I would not want it to show up in their system that I had already reserved a phone on my upgrade eligible line, and so then not be eligible for the subsidized pricing if a white one comes available.

No. I currently have both a reservation (email shows price as $699) and a pre-order (receipt correctly shows price at $299, plus tax). I made the in-store reservation first, and will likely cancel it within a few days.

The in-store reservation system, as of today, does not seem to be verifying eligibility, so it won't "count against you."

 

[ldenning]

Still awaiting AT&T email confirmation too

My order went through fine this morning for two upgrade phones, but no email acknowledgement so far and no hit on my credit card yet. My brother's went through smoothly too this morning and then this afternoon he suddenly got an email canceling his order for adding a line even though he ordered as an upgrade. Second order got cancelled too.

We'll see what happens to mine.

 

[drknowusa]

Finally spoke to someone from Apple: they seemed almost unaware of the issues people are having trying to order the new phone today. Doesn't seem sensible that they would not know about the difficulties we are having out here in the real world, but was the reaction.

 

[spazzcat]

No, no, no. Let's say your local store has 300 reservations. And let's say they get in 200 phones. Now what, smart man?

I think the whole point of the reservations is to know not to send 200 phones to a store that needs 300...

 

[Gulo]

Check this out. No more reservations. I wonder if this means that people WITH reservations get first dibs?

 

[picktaylor]

Finally!!

I was finally able to order at the Apple Store online. It just took all day, but after many failed attempts, it went thru...

 

[jps0611]

Just Got Through With ATT...

Just ordered my iPhone 4 16GB through att.com with no problems at all. Received an order confirmation number but no email confirmation.

Give it a shot.

JPS

 

[fishmd]

No. I currently have both a reservation (email shows price as $699) and a pre-order (receipt correctly shows price at $299, plus tax). I made the in-store reservation first, and will likely cancel it within a few days.

The in-store reservation system, as of today, does not seem to be verifying eligibility, so it won't "count against you."

Ok, cool. Thanks for the info.

 

[NightStorm]

I was finally able to order at the Apple Store online. It just took all day, but after many failed attempts, it went thru...

Same here; just finished. Hopefully FedEx/Apple will let us pre-sign for these since I have to ship it home. Either way, I'll have to take it to the AT&T store before I can activate it so they can do whatever magic is necessary for an "upgrade swap".

 

[erzeszut]

I think the whole point of the reservations is to know not to send 200 phones to a store that needs 300...

Exactly. Now I know today hasn't exactly inspired faith in Apple and AT&T's systems. But the way it should work -- and the way it worked for the 3GS launch -- is that the system cut off reservations for launch day at some point.

Maybe there is an upper limit of reservations for each store, in each capacity. Or maybe it varies per-store. But Apple better be on top of this, and cut off the reservations (or move them to later dates) as needed. Otherwise, they are making promises that if you reserve a phone, it's waiting for you on June 24.

 

[rdstoll]

Well I finally got through via AT&T. Got an order confirmation number.

Have to say I give a 5% chance that I actually have mine delivered to me by 6/24 as promised.

 

[Gulo]

You already have a nice iPhone 3GS 32GB anyways. Why the rush to have the latest toy? It sounds like a lot of people here are impulse buyers.

My POS 3G is on it's last legs. The home button is a pain to push (I have to push it many times to work), my phone jack only works if the headphones are inserted at a very precise spot, and I haven't bothered updating it because I'm still on that old tethering hack. I'm going on a trip a few days after the iPhone is delivered, so it would be verrrry nice to go with a new phone, camera, video-recorder, mp3 player that works, etc. Nothing impulsive about it, sir.

 

[teknishn]

pre-order

Finally got through here. 32gb iPhone 4 slated to ship to my house. Woooo hoooo! Finally.

 

[rdstoll]

Same here; just finished. Hopefully FedEx/Apple will let us pre-sign for these since I have to ship it home. Either way, I'll have to take it to the AT&T store before I can activate it so they can do whatever magic is necessary for an "upgrade swap".

Is that what we have to do....take it to a store for them to activate it??? That would really suck.

 

[yadmonkey]

I just successfully placed an online order for a 32GB iPhone 4 through the Apple store online! Hopefully this means better things coming for the rest of you.

 

[rhoadesy87]

No, no, no. Let's say your local store has 300 reservations. And let's say they get in 200 phones. Now what, smart man?

Yes that is possible. It is also possible that I will get hit by a bus on the way home and wont need my reservation. The point is people are saying that the reservation means nothing. If that is the case why would Apple and AT&T be putting additional stress on their servers for no reason? A reservation means that you will have a phone on the 24th, unless something unusual happens.
The line "Pre-authorization does not guarantee iPhone availability at an Apple Retail Store. iPhone is sold on a first-come, first-served basis." is Apple covering for those unusual circumstances. The line "If you do not collect your selected item(s) by the designated date and time, your reservation will be canceled." partnered with the line "Please note that your reservation will be held until close of business on June 24." means that you have a phone on launch day...of course unless something unusual happens in the shipment.

 

[JonB3Z]

Has anyone else ordered through the ATT store website successfully (got to the order confirmation page) but have not received a confirmation email?

I placed my order this morning (around 10:00 CST) but have not gotten any kind of confirmation email. When I try to check my order status on ATT's website, it says it does not recognize the order number (possibly due to the fact that it states orders within the last 24 hours may not be available). But I thought I at least should have received a confirmation email by now.

Be of good cheer. I ordered on the AT&T site at 5 AM (EDT) and got no email and the same response to checking order status on the site. The order status finally appeared on the AT&T site about 5 hours later. (And still no email -- but I no longer care.)

 

[dubsac]

just got order through on apple.com

I was just able to get my order through on apple.com a few minutes ago. It was the first time all day I was able to get through to add the phone to the shopping cart. Once I was able to add the phone to the cart, everything was fairly smooth. Good luck to all still trying.

 

[Warbrain]

Keeps on failing for me. I wish I as lucky as you all.

 

[MikePA]

It's patheticthatsthis is the forth time it's happened. I also find it kinda funny how many people find I necessary to upgrade to a new iPhone each year. Long lines and so many people alling just to get another toy to replace their 12 month old toy?

And you know everyone trying to pre-order today currently has a 12 month old 3Gs how????????

This is not my 'forth' time, it's my second. I currently have an 8 gig, 3G, I've had for to/too/two (pick one) years.

 

[Warbrain]

Be of good cheer. I ordered on the AT&T site at 5 AM (EDT) and got no email and the same response to checking order status on the site. The order status finally appeared on the AT&T site about 5 hours later. (And still no email -- but I no longer care.)

I still have no email and no order status.