So I buy the iPhone. I waited a few weeks and waited for the chance to play with a friends and I got that chance yesterday. Last night I was at the Apple Store, credit card in hand.
It's a great device but activation can be a HUGE headache. Seems that the developers simply ignored the fact that people may have out of state cell phone numbers. For example, my friend is from Georgia and his cell was too. He's in NYC now but has never changed his cell phone number. Why should he? It works fine. My own phone is from LA with an 818 area code (more on that later).
He had no problem activating his service because he didn't use a NY address when he did it.
I tried to activate my phone this morning for a few hours - and all my trouble was due to the fact that I wanted to have my 818 phone number and a New York billing address. After multiple activation attempts, 2 trips to an AT&T store and calls to AT&T I found that I was much better off activating with my old Los Angeles address.
Thankfully I still have that apt in my name and I can get the mail there.
The simple answer here is this: ACTIVATION will only go smoothly if you have an address that matches both your iTunes account (if you already had one) and the AREA CODE of your phone.
AT&T actually suggested that I activate with a new number and transfer my number later... they don't realize that the problem is in the address area code conflict so calling them will be virtually useless.
If you have a preapproved credit code - that code and process must also have been done with the correct address.
Here's a link with some helpful and similar information but they don't have it all.
Here's how to handle activation smoothly, step by step (from my experience):
1. Ensure that any addresses you are going to use for this are the same and that they match the area code of the phone number you are transferring.
2. It seemed to help to have a preapproved credit number from an AT&T store. But keep this in mind: They won't do it over the phone and the pre-approval has to be run with the right address and as if you were in that area when you ran it.
A plus to this is that you will know before you buy the phone if you'll have to pay a ridiculous credit deposit. ($150 - $1000!)
3. When you enter your phone number, account number and zip code, make sure the zip code is in the same area as the area code of the phone. You won't get far at all if it's not. The program will tell you the phone number cannot be transferred which is not true.
After the activation, AT&T assured me that I could easily change my billing address to a NY address with no problem. I'm waiting until the activation is complete and a few weeks have gone by just to be on the safe side.
Apparently a lot of people are running into this issue which is no surprise, most of the people I know have out of state phone numbers.
Very crappy oversight on someone's part!
What has your experience been? Leave a comment~
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