iPhone 4S Launch to Double AT&T's Record for Activations

[maconservative]

Because it works where I live...

Given that there are two other carriers to choose from, and given four solid years of complaints from iPhone user's about AT&T's service, why the hell are people still choosing AT&T?

I understand that there are a relatively small amount of people out there who only get AT&T service at their home and/or workplace, and I understand if those kind of people choose AT&T. But it seems that the majority of people buying the iPhone 4S with AT&T are not those kind of people. Could someone please explain why?

I chose to stay with AT&T because it works great where I live (Dallas, TX). I have never had ANY dropped calls. The 3G data service is fast and reliable. I have never needed to call Customer Service.

It is as the saying goes. Those who receive bad service almost always complain. Those who receive good service rarely say anything.

 

[wovel]

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Having the same issue

When it is up, it is awesome, hopefully Siri will get stable soon.

 

[MilkMan4]

I'm guessing there will be another rush next month when more iPhone 4 users qualify for the fully subsidized price. Seems a lot of people do on 11/25. I do, but haven't made up my mind yet.

how are people available on 11/25? I got my iPhone 4 on launch day and i'm not available until 2/2/12

 

[Macboy Pro]

I am still a little angry at AT&T. Last friday during the Pre-sale both Apple's and AT&T's site went letting me update my phone even though I have had the same phone 3GS since it came out. So I had to call AT&T customer service. After a long wait I finally spoke with a live person (after the automated jumping through hoops). The nice girl from AT&T said she ordered through their internal system. Well, after days nothing appeared on my account on the web. I called AT&T again and they sent me a email and said my order was backordered, even though I ordered on the first day (about 10AM EST). Then after seeing nothing in web account by Thursday I called AT&T and said if I don't get ANY word on shipment then I would cancel my account (since I had it since the Cingular days 2001).

Well, then Thursday evening I get an email from AT&T with a shipping number sending it over night. They sent out the overnight package at 1030 P.M. Well Fed EX doesn't do overnight after a certain time of day and they don't do overnight on weekends either. So by the tracking I am getting my iPhone 4S Monday.

The moral of the story is AT&T bad customer service if front and center and this if it wasn't for the Unlimited grandfathered data I would have dumped AT&T right on the spot!

Again, sounds like you had a bad experience, but the folks here that keep saying they will dump AT&T "on the spot" or "in a heartbeat", please... this is ignorant. Even if you had one horrific experience (which this is NOT), you would really dump AT&T for the vastly inferior network of verizon, or NO coverage, iPhone newbie, sprint? That is a like saying you will dump the iPhone for a droid if Apple gives you an iPhone 4 with an antenna issue and takes a year to fully resolve it. Why didn't you dump apple for a droid? Because iPhone is far superior! Live with your 1 business day delay!

The AT&T bashing is very old. AT&T deserves from credit for bringing the iPhone experience from 2007 to today. almost 4 of those years AT&T was the sole provider in the iPhone boom. They had some issues but in almost all measurements, they were EXCEPTIONAL and kept up with the demand, built out a data network that stayed with the growth.

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My wife first tried activating her phone at 12:30, and it just went thru at 5:15.

Went thru the activation process myself at around 12:45, still no dice yet as I type this.

On a side note, we ordered our phones thru Apple last Friday, and received them by UPS this morning around 9:30am. Everything went real smooth.

I decided to cruze up to the local AT&T store and browse for a new case while I waited for activation to go thru.

I arrive at AT&T to a few standing outside, one guy standing directly in front of the door. Told the person excuse me I would like to enter the store. To which he replied the store is currently at capacity, and I would have to wait 45 minutes to an hour to enter. I look thru the window couldn't have been more then 15 people in the store at the time. So I tell the gentleman that I am not a preorder but a case browser. Guy still wouldn't let me in saying its an hour wait "chuckle".

Cruzed over to the local Apple store that had to have AT LEAST 100 people inside at the time. Picked up my white Mophie Juice pack, and left in under 5 minutes.

Point to all this is the local AT&T store here is a complete JOKE!!

Complain to the fire marshall who sets the maximum capacity for any building. How does that make AT&T Store a joke?

 

[Tactical Brew]

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I had the same problem with the AT&T activation process. I ended up doing it on line. Worked right away.

 

[cowcaster88]

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It was not what I had expected. Activation was a multi-attempt try. Then I had lost my data plan with AT&T. Thankfully they could re-add my unlimited plan.

 

[johncrab]

When my 4S finally blinked on last evening, the transfer from the 3Gs was bumpless. No problems or delays. One turned off and the other turned on and was ready to go. I used a backup to load all of my stuff and it was ready to use. It screams. It's smooth, slick, more energy efficient and fun to use. I hardly put it down all night and it was back in my hand at 4:41 this morning. It rocks. It just works. Perhaps not revolutionary but evolutionary and that's what I wanted so I could hit the ground running. This purchase was a no-brainer.

 

[bommai]

Too bad its taken me 5 hours and I still don't have my phone activated. It sounds like this is happening to a lot of people so maybe AT&T won't set any records if they actually can't get people activated.

Lucky me. I was able to activate two phones in 30 seconds or so. Also the at&t store had plenty of inventory for walk ins. I exchanged my two black ones I got on line for white ones from the store.

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I have the unlimited data plan for $30. When I upgraded today at Radio Shack the AT&T system said the price of the unlimited plan had been raised to $40. Anyone else see this?

Mine still said $30.

 

[jmm74]

Too bad its taken me 5 hours and I still don't have my phone activated. It sounds like this is happening to a lot of people so maybe AT&T won't set any records if they actually can't get people activated.

I power cycled my phone when is was not activating. It powered back on and was activated. I don't know for sure if it was a coincidence or not.

 

[JAT]

Not lucky, just not one of the 30 people who complain. The other 200000 are happy as Detroit fans this year.

NOBODY else is that happy.

 

[GaresTaylan]

Good thing the 4s is garbage. Shame on you for not launching an iPhone 5!

 

[mrxak]

I don't know what you people are going on about, but I was using my 4S just fine prior to actually activating it. On wifi it works fine whether the towers recognize it or not. I've since activated, and other than 3G and the ability to make phone calls, nothing's changed.

I set it up through my computer, rather than the on-iPhone set-up, so that might have something to do with it.

My old phone, now deactivated, is similarly still quite useful on wifi.

 

[andiwm2003]

...And people said the iPhone 4S was a flop...

nobody said the iPhone 4s would be a flop. People said it's not a new design and were disappointed but it will still sell like hot cakes.

Anyway, the sales recored is certainly heavily influenced by the fact that due to the 3-4 month release delay many more people were eligible for the upgrade. So of course the sales numbers are high on the first days. However this could even out over a time window of 4 month. I still believe the sales will be much higher than last year just not as high as those first numbers indicate.

 

[alent1234]

Given that there are two other carriers to choose from, and given four solid years of complaints from iPhone user's about AT&T's service, why the hell are people still choosing AT&T?

I understand that there are a relatively small amount of people out there who only get AT&T service at their home and/or workplace, and I understand if those kind of people choose AT&T. But it seems that the majority of people buying the iPhone 4S with AT&T are not those kind of people. Could someone please explain why?

same reason why people complain about gas prices but still buy SUV's

 

[acslater017]

Does your old phone not work? Seems like a lot of frustration over a little delay in activating the phone. It's not like the phone doesn't work in the meantime for all its other functions.

My girlfriend started the activation process at about 9pm last night. As of 9am this morning it's STILL not activated. We're pretty understanding and patient, but AT&T was so quick to turn OFF her old phone (only about 10 minutes into the process) but slow to turn on her new one (12 hrs+).

Hopefully we can request a refund or a coupon towards accessories. Again, I understand that they're under a huge crush right now. But at least keep the old phone going until the new one can be turned on!

 

[Medinarem]

No Internet browsing

With AT&T you can use the Internet while on a call. Therefore I would rather wait a few hours than having a phone for a year on another provide that cannot support this.

FYI try activating through the phones 3G

 

[sbrhwkp3]

...And people said the iPhone 4S was a flop...

Honestly, I was one of them.

I still haven't upgraded, and I'm in no rush to, because they haven't done enough to convince me to ditch my iPhone 4.

Then again, my phone's jailbroken, and I've had Siri, MobileNotifier, Wireless syncing, and other features for months.

 

[rsocal]

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I was pissed my UPS didn't get my iPhone 4s to me until 6:15pm, and FedEx gets there early morning every year. I hate when Apple uses UPS, FedEx is always better!
However it must have been a good thing because my activation went smooth as silk just like it does every year. I definitely missed the heavy rush on servers. AT&T has been good for me since the first iPhone and I upgrade every year without any problems. In fact I have to do it for my wife, daughter & son today. They all got theirs too. Good luck to all activations from here on out!!!

RIP Steve Jobs you will be missed dearly!!!

 

[markCP]

Bummer AT&T

Too bad for the AT&T customers, I'm on Verizon and had it all set up within minutes of getting it out of the box.

 

[rsocal]

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Too bad for the AT&T customers, I'm on Verizon and had it all set up within minutes of getting it out of the box.

Me too, and I'm AT&T but my activation was smooth as silk last night. AT&T has always been good with all 4 of my family's iPhones. I've have now activated all are new iPhone 4s's with no problem. I have always had very good luck with AT&T and I did have Verizon prior to the first iPhone. I had good service with Verizon, if I didn't have the great service I get with AT&T I would switch to VZ. They both are great. I use VZ with my iPad 2 and did have AT&T with my first iPad & there is a big difference in 3G speed. Its not enough to bother me and I'm on wifi most of the time. I just wanted to try VZ on my iPad to truly see the difference & I would probably get AT&T on next iPad for my 3G.
Bottom line is whatever makes my iDevise's work is just fine by me!!!

 

[floatingspirit]

AT&T botched my order made at 7AM on the 7th and is telling me 28 days. I'm off contract and going to Verizon.

Must have been localized issues. I went in at 9am PST Friday and everything went flawlessly. The ATT store at South Center Mall in Tukwilla, WA had plenty of stock too.

 

[Macboy Pro]

Too bad for the AT&T customers, I'm on Verizon and had it all set up within minutes of getting it out of the box.

Too bad for verizon users, they cant post and talk at the same time, or text more than 160 characters, And, the verizon netwok is half the speed ( try tethering on verizon... Ouch.) I'll wait a few hours to activate my phone so that i get the WAY better exerience for my 2yr contract.

Why do you think Apple stuck with ONLY AT&T for so long? One of Apples rules of business is to protect their brand (like not allowing flash on ios devices so not to give a misconception that battery life is short,etc). They chose and stuck with AT&T to give the best experience for their product.

 

[blipper]

Too bad for verizon users, they cant post and talk at the same time, or text more than 160 characters, And, the verizon netwok is half the speed ( try tethering on verizon... Ouch.) I'll wait a few hours to activate my phone so that i get the WAY better exerience for my 2yr contract.*** They chose and stuck with AT&T to give the best experience for their product.

Individuals may vary in what they want. In the two years I owned an iPhone 3G, I can't recall ever having had the urge to talk and surf at the same time. OTOH, I do remember being frustrated about the poor network coverage ATT offered and the number of places I went to where I could neither make voice calls or peruse the allegedly superior data network. I was glad I had kept my VZW account for phone services. Now after 15 months of using a Droid and being reasonably satisfied but missing the high quality apps and the integration with the rest of my gizmos, I've got a VZW 4 and we'll see whether that's the right combination for my needs.

 

[schwell]

Individuals may vary in what they want. In the two years I owned an iPhone 3G, I can't recall ever having had the urge to talk and surf at the same time. OTOH, I do remember being frustrated about the poor network coverage ATT offered and the number of places I went to where I could neither make voice calls or peruse the allegedly superior data network. I was glad I had kept my VZW account for phone services. Now after 15 months of using a Droid and being reasonably satisfied but missing the high quality apps and the integration with the rest of my gizmos, I've got a VZW 4 and we'll see whether that's the right combination for my needs.

If you use the phone for long calls it would be a different story. When you are on long business calls being able to receive emails at the same time is a big plus.

 

[dzurn]

...

moral of the story don't pre-order your phone and hot italian chicks think I look good in a hot tub with a fat chinese kid.

Have you tried double-clicking on the HOME button at the locked screen? Worked for me.