It’s almost 9 pm Eastern as I write this and I’ve been involved in getting, setting up, or using my iPhone since about 3:45.
I finally found another out of the way AT&T Store and headed down there close to 4 p.m. today. It was a very small store – barely a stall, really – nestled into the foodcourt of the Warwick Mall. When I got there, there were maybe 15 people in line in front of me. I grabbed a chair, talked to my friend Eric who came with me, and read my book after he left.
The excitement was pretty palpable and people were antsy as we drew nearer to 6 o’clock. From the questions people asked in line, it seems that there was a lot of excitement about the iPhone, but perhaps not as much knowledge.
The gate went up on the AT&T Store and people started filing in. Because there were only three registers, the sales went a little slow, but I go my iPhone and hit my car by about 6:40. The guy who sold me the phone told me that I should call my old carrier and make sure that they didn’t have a number lock on my cell phone number that would prevent me from switching my number to AT&T. On the way home I confirmed with T-Mobile that they wouldn’t stop me from switching.
A got home as quickly as was safe and got all ready to set up the iPhone. I started going through the activation process in iTunes and when it came to time to switch my number to AT&T I went through the process. Only to have iTunes tell me that my number was ineligible to be switched. I figured there must be a mistake, so I tried again. Still no luck.
This came as a bit of a surprise since more than one AT&T employee had told me that there was absolutely nothing that would stand in the way of me switching my number. I called AT&T customer service.
The woman I spoke with was very nice and tried to be helpful, but couldn’t help me with my biggest problem: my number was ineligible for transfer. IT turns out that because I got my cell number in Oregon and AT&T doesn’t offer service there, I couldn’t transfer my number.
Moral of the story? Use AT&T’s online number transfer tool before you buy!
This is a particular problem for me because that number is my business line, the number listed on my website, printed on my business cards, and elsewhere. But I’d already spent over $600 on an iPhone, so I had to charge ahead. Now I’ve got a new phone and will have new business cards soon. Frustrating, but so it goes.
Then I finished activation and my iPhone began to sync calendars, email, bookmarks, and contacts. I set my music and movie sync settings and was off and running. About 25 minutes later everything was synced and I was using the phone.
And it’s amazing. Yes, the onscreen keyboard takes some getting used to, but everything else is fantastic. The interface is excellent, beautiful, and easy to use. The screen is very responsive. It’s early yet, but the iPhone makes you want to love it. I expect that I will.
We’ll see what tomorrow brings.
