Activation woes mar iPhone 3G launch
Fri Jul 11, 2008 12:19PM EDT
See Comments (7)
Remember when Apple reps told us that in-store activation for new iPhones would only take about 10-15 minutes per customer, if all went smoothly? Well, guess what—it's not all going smoothly.
So, what's the problem? A crush of activations, that's what. An AT&T spokesman told CNN that a "global problem" with iTunes (and, I'm assuming, Apple's servers) are causing delays—indeed, according to some reports, many would-be iPhone customers are waiting 45 minutes or longer to get their new handsets activated in-store, slowing some lines to a crawl.
The problem is also affecting users of the old iPhone trying install firmware 2.0 over iTunes, according to CNET.
What do do? Well, if you're not in an iPhone line yet, here's my advise—just wait. After all, Apple stores appear to have plenty of iPhone 3Gs on hand, and AT&T outlets—some of which have already sold out—are reportedly getting fresh shipments over the weekend.
I'm betting that the server load will even out by the end of the day, so hang tight and download some iPhone Apps while you wait—no need to compound the problem by dashing to an Apple Store this minute.
Related:
Glitch hampers iPhone launch [CNN]
Comments on Activation woes mar iPhone 3G launch
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2 Posted by gabake420 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:05PM EDT Report Abuse
My life is so empty that I waited outside, overnight to buy an electronic gadget to try to make me feel complete. It didn't work this time either. Maybe with the PlayStation 4 I will become a complete person
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3 Posted by mmmperdue on Thu Sep 3, 2009 7:24PM EDT Report Abuse
This is so pathetic. It's a phone people! Why not spend that time you wasted trying to get the phone with the people you will ignore who are right in front of you wanting to be with you when you play with your stupid phone?!
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4 Posted by owennakaoka on Thu Sep 3, 2009 7:47PM EDT Report Abuse
I would never spend $599.00 on the first iphone, or any other pnone!!
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5 Posted by michaeljmumford on Fri Jul 11, 2008 1:52PM EDT Report Abuse
Fortunatly for me I have a great phone in the Blackberry and it took about 5 minutes to get rolling. Thank god I did not but into the hype of a rehashed phone that has the same problems that the old phones had. My kid asked me why not get something that can do it all music,phone,internet.I told her I do. BLACKBERRY everything else is everything else. I do have a MAC though
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6 Posted by strubiedo on Thu Sep 3, 2009 9:45PM EDT Report Abuse
It's NOT an Apple problem, it's AT&T's servers that can't handle all of the traffic. And the phone is NOT $599 dollars...unless you don't want a contract.
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7 Posted by matt_archbold2002 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 7:11PM EDT Report Abuse
strubiedo- Hate to break it to you but the ITUNES SERVERS WERE THE ONES CAUSING THE PROBLEM. Yes, apple made an error. They released everything world wide all at once (for the most part) and their itunes servers had a hard time handling the traffic. I went to an AT&T store and they had no problem upgrading me thru their servers. The problem came up at the last step when they went to itunes (like at the apple stores) and couldnt get thru to enable the iphone for use.
1 Posted by matt_archbold2002 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 7:11PM EDT Report Abuse
Yup, I was in line this morning and got my iphone after a couple hours at the AT&T store. They told me to take it home and activate it (they didn't even open it). I have been trying to activate it for a few hours now with no luck. So I now have a iphone brick sitting on my desk. Hooray.... Hopefully it will be resolved today. I heard that it might not be until tomorrow morning.