iPhone pre-order question

[naveah]

Hello all, I have been an iPhone owner since the iPhone 3G (iPhone 3G, iPhone 3GS, and iPhone 4). In the past, I have always purchased the phone a few months after it's been launched. This year, I am hoping to pre-order the new iPhone.

While I've never had any problems with my previous iPhones (keep in mind that they were purchased a few months after launch, after Apple's had plenty of time to work out any manufacturing kinks), I was wondering about what your pre-order experiences have been like in the past -- did you have any major hardware issues with your phone, any delivery issues, etc.?

 

[longhorns172006]

I'm curious to this as well. I know iPhone 4 had antennagate, and I opened a thread about ordering time and how long after announcement but totally spaced this thought.

 

[BoxerGT2.5]

Most complained about the battery and a yellow screen with the 4s.

 

[lukedmor]

When I ordered my iPhone 4s

I pre-ordered my iPhone 4S about two hours after it began (at 4am central time, I remember) through AT&T's website. I had an iPhone 4 with a two year contract (so one year passed and i'm supposed to pay like an extra $200 to upgrade) but, amazingly, they didn't charge me the extra $200! I just payed $250. It was awesome. The 4S arrived like two weeks later, and it was great. Everything I expected (except for the less-than-amazing battery life). I plan on doing the same for the iPhone 5. yay.

 

[Cody21]

As far as hardware issues go, I only had a small problem with "antennagate" with the iPhone 4. And as far as pre-orders go, it's a b***h with all of the people pre-order and killing the servers. Don't let that discourage you though If you can't get through on your laptop, just download the apple store app. For me, after hours of trying on the internet, it let me pre-order with the app.

 

[felixroqu3]

I pre-ordered my iPhone 4S about two hours after it began (at 4am central time, I remember) through AT&T's website. I had an iPhone 4 with a two year contract (so one year passed and i'm supposed to pay like an extra $200 to upgrade) but, amazingly, they didn't charge me the extra $200! I just payed $250. It was awesome. The 4S arrived like two weeks later, and it was great. Everything I expected (except for the less-than-amazing battery life). I plan on doing the same for the iPhone 5. yay.

This is exactly what im going to do. This will be my first time pre-ordering an iphone. What exactly will i have to do? Click the upgrade button in my account and select the iphone 5? Im eligible for a full upgrade.

 

[dave006]

This is exactly what im going to do. This will be my first time pre-ordering an iphone. What exactly will i have to do? Click the upgrade button in my account and select the iphone 5? Im eligible for a full upgrade.

You can pre-order an upgrade ( full or early upgrade ) directly from Apple or AT&T. Due to the big crunch that will hit both sites for pre-orders, I would suggest that you prepare to order from both sites and when the time comes try each site and which ever one gets you to checkout wins. You will need your phone number and the last 4 digits of your SSN to complete the order.

Also both sites worked best with Credit Cards. There have been issues every year with customers using Bank Debit cards and issues developing in the credit validation step that caused their pre-orders to be canceled anytime between ordering and the actual ship date. Last year there were many reports of some customers having their credit card orders also rejected because the card issuer thought there might have been a fraudulent order. You will want to check your email account that you used for the order often just in case you get an email from Apple concerning your order or directly from the credit card company asking you to contact them to confirm that you ordered the new iPhone or your pre-order may be canceled.

Just click through the pre-order steps, you will have the option to keep your existing features or select different ones during the upgrade order process.

In 2010 there was an advantage to ordering from Apple since they had higher stock levels for pre-orders for launch day delivery. However last October AT&T did a much better job having a high initial stock for pre-orders.

Last year, I ordered an iPhone 4S from each site and both arrived on launch day within 2 hours of each other on launch day.

Dave

 

[naveah]

I appreciate all your input -- especially Dave and Cody for the suggestions on how to actually get your darn order through! Honestly, I never even thought about that aspect. I'm sure Apple and AT&T servers get hammered when the pre-ordering site goes live. Thanks again, please keep other much appreciated suggestions coming!

 

[DirtySocks85]

My iPhone 4 had some proximity issues on iOS 4.0, but by 4.1 almost all of those issues had worked out. I did however wait until "too late" to get my "pre-order" in, and consequently it was almost a month after release before I got mine, despite ordering it before the device was released.