MacDailyNews reader continue to seethe as their attempts to give Apple and ATT money for new iPhone 4 units and “AT&T service” plans, which in major cities means pretty much “no bars for you,” fail miserably.
During iPhone pre-orders which began today, it seems that AT&T’s capacity has been exceeded. Again. And water is wet.
Apple’s website, although sluggish, seems to take the user’s info, but when Apple has to check with AT&T to determine upgrade eligibility, the process fails.
In our opinion, as the image above might indicate, AT&T is hopelessly overmatched and incapable of handling Apple’s iPhone business. They have no ability to adequately predict demand. They may also be hopelessly cheap in addition to being bungling amateurs. Inept AT&T, with their cobbled-together rebranded Cingular network, are holding back Apple iPhone sales and have been tarnishing the Apple brand for years now. Apple needs to add to their U.S. carrier lineup yesterday.
Apple and AT&T stand to make billions of dollars off iPhone 4 customers. For apple to not have adequate capacity or not have forced AT&T to have adequate capacity to take orders from current and new customers for hours now and counting is bush league.
But, don’t let our opinion cloud yours: Tell us below what you think of AT&T Mobility.
Now’s your chance; you never know, maybe somebody at Apple is actually paying attention as they, through their misguided exclusive-U.S. carrier choice, once again frustrate their customers, new and potential, to no end.
While you’re at it, let Apple CEO Steve Jobs know how you feel, too:
Could not be happier. Got my order in today for my iPhone 4 with out a hitch, but I guess I was lucky.
Check this out: I just hear that the iPhone will be sell UNLOCK in UK, France and Germany. May be it is going to be sell unlock also in USA and that is why AT&T;is being so kind with it’s “eligibility” program. I can imagine AT&T;begging apple to hold the announcement…
AT&T;: Steve, please, don’t say anything until I get the souls of a couple of millions more people”..
I haven’t purchase an iPhone yet. I think the iPhone 4 will finally be my first – especially if I can glom on to a family member’s existing service. I’ve loved my iPod touch and Wifi iPad but I’m really looking forward to having e-mail access without a wifi connection.
Unlocked? In US? Never happened before. Not even with most other GSM phones (AT&T, or T-Mobile). Can’t possibly think of a benefit from an unlocked iPhone in the US. Your only other carrier of choice is T-Mobile, and their 3G network is on different frequencies than AT&T’s (and most of the rest of the world’s), so even if you did get an unlocked iPhone in the us and put it on T-Mobile, you’d only get EDGE speeds, and even those would be slower than AT&T’s EDGE. Apple simply won’t bother.
Truthfully, I haven’t had much of an issue with AT&T;’s service. I know I’m in the minority on this, and I’m sure that’s because I rarely make calls. However, today’s circus is ridiculous. I’ve had an easier time buying Madonna tickets for Pete’s sake.
I’ve never had any complaints. Verizon, OTOH, can go get stuffed. Worst. Customer Service. Ever.
ive been trying to order mine all morning…with no luck 🙁
This is as much of a problem with Apple’s servers as ATT’s based on what I’m getting.
I’m attempting to buy my first iPhone. Switching from 6 years on Verizon. If a Verizon version of the iPhone was available I would have gone with them (even before this ridiculous “launch”) .
AT&T;has been alright for me. As good as T-Mobile with better data. I live in the Portland/Metro area, Oregon.
Cell technology is a challenge here, because there are hills that abound all over. Dropped calls are the worst issue, but for the past year I’ve had an iPhone, I’ve seen steady improvement, but it hasn’t been a show stopper. Data has always been great – and fast.
I know the need to feel compelled to pile on, and many will, I’m just giving my experience. Once T-Mobile or Verizon get iPhone, think it will be smooth sailing? Those kids will get crushed. May make AT&T;look good. So a little wisdom in restraint might be wise…
People and IT at ATT are dinks.
If I get “session expired” at apple.com one more time, I may go postal. At this point – it feels like I am begging Apple and ATT to take my cash.
It isn’t Apple.com site. It is AT&T’s servers. As soon as you click on ‘Pre-Order’ from Apple’s site, their server goes to fetch eligibility page from AT&T’s server, which chokes up.
This is crazy! Has Steve Jobs gone soft? He would have never stood by and let another company ruin apple. That is exactly what AT&T;is doing! Wake up Steve, I understand you have had a ruff 2 years with your health,but if you still want to lead apple you need to get tough! Force AT&T;to get there act together and if they can’t move on! At this point AT&T;is a joke!!!
Service in my area is good. I have always been pleasantly surprised by AT&T;. I think any carrier would have this problem. I would like to see them react faster to iPhone features (such as MMS and Tethering). I also think Tethering is a rip to pay extra to have limited data on your laptop. That’s just double dipping. Outside of SLC though, the service is spotty.
ATnT’s network in Seattle can be pretty spotty. 3G speeds are often slower than Edge, although that seems to be changing as of late.
This crashing and unable to pre-order. Has anyone considered AT&T;is getting absolutely hammered with orders? This isn’t just some web page needing a bigger burst-able pipe to handle the traffic. This is secure data to servers and their software systems being absolutely crushed.
The blogging media. If nothing was wrong, then MDN may be saying “Are pre-orders for iPhone 4 not what was expected?” Noting how this is the first time AT&T;Servers have not crashed for pre-orders of new iPhones.
Spin it how you like, so long as web hits abound. Ugh…
AT&T;has coverage issues but then so do all other carriers.
Verizon has had customer service issues when I had reason to call, not the least of the situation being unable to make out the words of the person on the other end of the line because of accent and digitally clipped sound (low bit rate voice line).
I use ATT for voice and pay Verizon for cell data on my MBPro. ATT data was almost unusable in so many places I needed it, there was no reason to keep it.
iPhone & iPad ought to be offered to all carriers by my guess and let them fight it out. Maybe then they will fix the crummy parts of their companies so they can either keep or get the customer business they want.
Monopolies NEVER succeed. The sooner it ends, the better.
corksockers
@rick
You are right about the bloggers.
I bet there’s no problem putting in an order today for an EVO at Sprint today.
@ Scott… In the 3 or 4 dozen attempts I have made at a pre-order this morning, 90% of the failures have come once Apple’s server’s try to contact AT&T;’s for eligibility.
Do the math….
Personally, I am furious with AT&T;. I do think that they are shrugging this off and haven’t made the attempt to upgrade their own back-line as they know that people wanting iPhones will get them eventually. They have no motivation to improve.
That alone is why I wish at the very least, the iPhone were available on T-Mobile. I can understand Apple not wanting to mass produce phones for an antique and dying standard (CDMA); but at least T-Mobile and AT&T;are both GSM.
ATT cell strength is inconsistent, putting it mildly. One can have 0-1 bars and get a call thru and 3 bars and not be able to get a website.
I think that no matter what was done, there would have been issues, there is no way to adequately predict the demand, To spend big $$ for a day or two tops of server capacity, not to mention the setup time, which might have even caused more issues,, merely to meet those several hours of high demand, seems silly, I am sure they brought some capacity online, or it could have been worse.
>b>People need to get some perspective and have some patience..</B>
I was in and out of my AT&T;store in 8 minutes flat.
Now, I just hope that the actual pick up procedure goes as smooth allowing me to have iP4 in hand at 7:08 am on 6/24
Email I sent to Steve:
Hi Steve,
We have 4 iPhones in our family and we absolutely love them. They converted us all to iMac’s actually.
Today, I’m very frustrated with ATT’s inability to process our order for four new iPhone 4’s.
Do you think this problem will be solved shortly?
—————————-
Sent from my iPhone
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ATT is pathetic. Not that the others are any better however.
This exclusivity deal is holding the iPhone back. If Apple can sell millions of phones with ATT, imagine what it would be like on a variety of carriers.