iHate
I've been waiting for the 3G iPhone since before the 2G models came out, and earlier this week I decided that since I'm flying to Paris tomorrow I'd want my new wifi-browser with me to help find stuff while out and about. So today I woke up around 5:15 to head to the Apple store to get in line for a shiny new iPhone.
I ended up being 11th in line. I'd planned ahead and brought my work laptop with me, so I just dialed in and did work while I waited. Around 9:30 they finally started letting people into the store, but very slowly. Around 10:30 I finally went in myself. When they tried setting me up though, the AT&T activation wouldn't go through. The Apple Rep called AT&T, and tried questioning and then arguing with three different people on the other end. Nothing worked. I even went to AT&T store down the block to see if they could fix anything, but they couldn't.
It turns out that because I'm a pre-Cingular AT&T customer, I'm on 'the old system.' The only way for me to get onto the 'new system' is to have AT&T switch me over by signing me up for a new contract. But in order to get the $200 subsidy from them, I need to buy an iPhone while they switch me over, meaning in an AT&T store. But the AT&T stores don't have iPhones. And Apple can't convert me over. The only way to get an iPhone would be for me to pay $500 for it (no subsidy) or to sign up for T-Mobile, switch my number, then go back to Apple and have them switch my number and cancel my brand new T-Mobile account.
Around noon (5.5 hours after I'd arrived) I finally accepted the hopelessness of my position and the incompetence of AT&T, and went in to work for the rest of the day. Bleh.
(Side note: it is apparently stupidly difficult to find simple white shoes that will properly fit orthotic shoe inserts. I visited a half dozen stores and only one had such shoes, but not in my size. Hopefully I'll make it through Paris without too much foot pain from my current too-small shoes. Failing to find shoes and then reading a guide saying "bring comfy shoes!" was just frustrating.)
So yeah, today could've gone better.
I ended up being 11th in line. I'd planned ahead and brought my work laptop with me, so I just dialed in and did work while I waited. Around 9:30 they finally started letting people into the store, but very slowly. Around 10:30 I finally went in myself. When they tried setting me up though, the AT&T activation wouldn't go through. The Apple Rep called AT&T, and tried questioning and then arguing with three different people on the other end. Nothing worked. I even went to AT&T store down the block to see if they could fix anything, but they couldn't.
It turns out that because I'm a pre-Cingular AT&T customer, I'm on 'the old system.' The only way for me to get onto the 'new system' is to have AT&T switch me over by signing me up for a new contract. But in order to get the $200 subsidy from them, I need to buy an iPhone while they switch me over, meaning in an AT&T store. But the AT&T stores don't have iPhones. And Apple can't convert me over. The only way to get an iPhone would be for me to pay $500 for it (no subsidy) or to sign up for T-Mobile, switch my number, then go back to Apple and have them switch my number and cancel my brand new T-Mobile account.
Around noon (5.5 hours after I'd arrived) I finally accepted the hopelessness of my position and the incompetence of AT&T, and went in to work for the rest of the day. Bleh.
(Side note: it is apparently stupidly difficult to find simple white shoes that will properly fit orthotic shoe inserts. I visited a half dozen stores and only one had such shoes, but not in my size. Hopefully I'll make it through Paris without too much foot pain from my current too-small shoes. Failing to find shoes and then reading a guide saying "bring comfy shoes!" was just frustrating.)
So yeah, today could've gone better.