Activation - This May Help You

Question

First and foremost, remember that there are hundreds of thousands of new AT&T subscribers who have elected to "move their current phone number" over to the AT&T service. So it should be no surprise to anyone during these first few days of glitches.
Some important information when you opt to transfer your old number to this new service:
When going through the online setup you'll be asked for the billing information. This is not the credit card billing information, it is the billing information your previous Cell Phone service is using to bill you. Get a copy of your last statement and put that address in letter-for-letter. If it is all caps but it in all caps. If it says "#" instead of "APT" then put in "#".
My experience: when I enrolled in the online service through iTunes I put in the credit card billing address because that's what all online vendors ask for. I was moving from T-Mobile over to AT&T. First it denied my request altogether and told me to go into an AT&T store for a credit check. I said "be damned!" and tried it again. Still, it was a no go so I hunted for numbers and called AT&T International (1-877-800-3701).
Nice chick helped me and we went through the online information again. When I gave the billing information she asked "Is that the same billing information T-Mobile is using?" I looked at my T-Mobile bill and said - "Well, yes, somewhat. I mean, they have it all in CAPS, abbreviate street as ST, use a 9-digit Zip Code, and don't show our suite number (I run a company, my iPhone doubles as a business phone). "Try changing it to exactly as it appears in the T-Mobile billing..."
I did so and the moment I pushed the "continue" button a "ding" rang out and my OSX Mail program announced a new message. AT&T sent me an email to my Mac.com account to say "Processing Activation - We are currently processing your order. Your order number is xxxxxx.
You will receive an additional e-mail when your order is complete that will provide further instructions to activate your iPhone."
Ok. Good sign. She then said it would take some time because of the thousands of new accounts and transfer for the transfer of the number to complete, maybe as long as 24 hours.
I stood in line in the downtown Apple store for over four hours with five of my employees (ok, we took turns) so I was disappointed in the amount of time it would take to activate. There was nothing to do but wait.
Please note guys: the phone will not work any features until it is activated by AT&T. No iPod, no syncing, no nothing. This was sure to be part of the Apple/AT&T agreement (probably required by AT&T) to ensure AT&T made money on the deal.
I go to bed wake up and still no activation. Every hour I checked and no activation. As the 17th hour approached I said "enuf..." and started dialing. I found a specific phone number to check your AT&T activation on number transfers. Here it is: 1-888-898-7685
I called, explained that I was a doctor (I am!) and needed the phone activated. Again I got a nice female who checked my account and said that it was noted as activated. "Did you try turning it off then on?" "Yes, repeatedly. "Let me do some checking..." and off she went. She was gone about a minute and asked me to try turning the iPhone off and on again and to wait at least a minute before turning it back on. She waited as I did this.
Low and behold the **** thing lit up like a Christmas tree, announced it was activated and while still on the line my mail program starting dinging with "You've been activated... Welcome to AT&T... Congratulations on own your new iPhone..."
So there you go. That's my experience. As of this moment all six of our iPhones (myself and my employees) are all turned on and working. The employees had different services from Verizon, Sprint and T-Mobile. The slowest activations were with T-Mobile.
Opinion: I think Apple has done a tremendous job. Once the waiting line began moving at the downtown store, Apple employees shined! These guys were amazing and like clockwork they took our credit cards, handed us our phones and ushered us right out the door. They had shifts of customers coming in the door and to various cash registers upstairs and down. While in line they kept us all entertained with clowns, musicians, and the general whackos who wanted the City streets. They brought us red wagons of bottled water and thanked us profusely for being so patient.
Activation was a glitch but understandable. Once you are activated you forget the headache because the iPhone is so amazing. We have so much free WiFi here in San Francisco that the internet portion of the iPhone is incredibly fast. Everything on the iPhone works as demonstrated by Steve and the YouTube stuff is mesmerizing and oftentimes funny.
So don't give up. Hang in there. I love my iPhone!
Tim...

Answer 1

AT&T has corrected the activation problems incurred by the initial onslaught of new iPhone buyers. Today activation is a pretty simple process.