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:
Hey MDN, maybe you should edit your article, or were you spitting so much fire that you couldn’t see straight after trying to pre-order your iPhone 4?
I suspect ATT boosted its capability to take pre-orders, but (once again) failed to properly estimate the number of people who want to pre-order.
Then again, this is not just an ATT phenomenon. Analysts, market researchers, and virtually everyone else have underestimated the popularity of the iPhone. Heck, even Apple underestimated the demand for the iPad.
Relax. There will be plenty of iPhones to go around. Just walk into your local Apple store the day of or day after the release and pick one up.
Apple has the money to fund an MVNO setup and could offer a packaged unlimited plan and change the entire wireless business. By building the iPhone with a radio that supports the differing standards they could partner with anybody or a combo of anybodies and tell AT&T;to shove it.
I was sitting at a red light near my home south of Seattle where a billboard proudly advertised “AT&T;More bars in more places.” I pulled out my iPhone to check the signal strength. No service. At home nearly every call I make or receive disconnects. I love the iPhone but it’s almost entirely useless as a phone anywhere near my home.
I think it’s time to call more than just AT&T;out on this one. I was able to get through to the end of the preorder transaction (after the ATT authorization had taken place), only to receive an error message saying that my request could not be completed by APPLE. This, in addition to not being able to pre-order the white version of the phone–without an explination for that anywhere in sight–really has me irritated with APPLE–Not AT&T;. I have stood in line for the launch of every generation iPhone, and today’s experiences have left me feeling very disenchanted.
Tried to pre-order all morning from 7 to 1 PM using Apple and ATT. Failure at various points throughout. Also tried the Apple Store app – which, in the end, was what got ‘er done.
Oddly, if I tried to reserve the phone at the nearest Apple Store (13 miles) it gave “Error”, but when I switched to the next closest one (16 miles) it went ahead and made a pickup reservation. The 3 things I didn’t like were:
a) there was no option for home delivery, so now I have to waste at least 2 hours getting out there and back)
b) the “reservation” is not a guarantee.
c) the price is listed as $699 even though I entered my phone # and am eligible for the $299 price; I am just assuming they will work it all out on the 24th.
MDN, I’m a fan, but e-mailing Steve Jobs over this is a waste of everyone’s time. He is no doubt obviously aware of the launch issues given the wide media coverage. Email to Steve should be reserved for issues that need to be brought to light (or well wishes).
As of this posting Sprint has a market cap of less than 15 Billion ($US). Apple could buy it, build it out and tell AT&T;to suck it.
The only reason I’m with AT&T;is because of the iPhone.
iPhone leaves AT&T;- I leave AT&T;.
That includes my iPad too.
Ya’ll needed to get up at 4am and buy it then from the AT&T;website like I did.
” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”grin” style=”border:0;” /> Meant to buy it at midnight and, um, forgot… 😀
After today’s experience I’m not even sure I want a new iPhone.
Subject: Please Give AT&T;the new Mac Mini server
Dear Mr. Jobs
I have been trying endlessly to upgrade my IPhone 3g to the new IPhone only to have every attempt blocked by AT&T;… I am sure you could make them a great deal on the new Mac Mini that was released today so that they could upgrade there servers. I will Try to keep upgrading but I feel I need to inform my friends that are looking at the new IPhone that they might as well wait till after the release because AT&T;is unable to Meet the demand once again and is unable to take their money
Thank you,
Bill
—
If You Have a ” Life Without Walls ” Then Why Do You Need Windows
It would seem that Apple’s servers getting hammered today has had the unintended consequence of knocking out Push Notifications. I haven’t had one all day when I should have had a couple of dozen.
=:~)
I went on the Apple Store online last night at 11:45 Hawaii time. Despite a few timeouts, I was able to reserve new iPhones for me and my wife. Got the confirmation emails within 10 minutes. I’ve had a few dropped or garbled calls with AT&T;, but in general, the service has been OK. Even when I had a Verizon work cell phone, there were places where calls would be dropped (local dead spot) or service was unavailable. I can’t personally say that AT&T;was worse, although I have friends with iPhones who can’t stand AT&T;. Frankly, they still need to improve. There are quite a few people I know who would get an iPhone if it was on Verizon or some other carrier. Apple, you need to keep kicking their dakine.
At least AT&T;are allowing people to order an iPhone 4 – here in the UK O2 haven’t even got a page up on their website allowing people to pre-order/pay for iPhone 4s.
Passed a ‘3’ network shop at lunchtime and the whole of its front windows were plastered in ‘pre-order iPhone 4’ posters – not one in an O2 shop to be seen.
Oi! O2 – get a move on and pull yer fingers out!!!!! 🙁
We have the same issues with ATT that we had with Verizon. Dropped calls, service outages in remote areas, etc. No one is perfect. Obviously, I would love to have ATT handle 100% of my needs at all times. But, that does not happen with any carrier. We have 4 phones on ATT service. On a relative scale (having had Verizon for 3 years prior), I would rate ATT as comparable.
Maybe later this week we will have more options, it’s sad.
Apple chose AT&T;because they had the largest customer base, time has proven what I already knew; att’s coverage, reliability, and data speeds ranks last when compared to the other big three
in soviet Russia….
My opinion is we are a nation of completely spoiled whiners. We complain about not being able to get a real fast order in for our THIRD smartphone – each costing hundreds of dollars and then tossed aside. So, we have so little to do that we must “pre-order” this not yet available phone, probably during work hours. For what? We already have iPhones. We get calls. We have the Internet. Most of the whiners on this pre-order complaint have MacBooks and iPads, but they can’t get their damn pre-order in fast enough. They must bitch no end about the pathetic world where pre-orders take more than a minute. This is too disgusting to even contemplate, and I am a stockholder and love Apple, but seriously, you people need to get a life.
I read that the Apple store app was bypassing ATT servers and making fast transactions. I downloaded the app and quickly and easily completed my iPhone 4 pre order. The app is very nice. Apple= Good. ATT=Bad
Wow the servers on the Apple sight are HORRENDOUS!!!! HOW IN THE HELL DID THEY NOT PREPARE FOR THIS??? Anyway, after trying since 4am this morning with no luck I went to my At&t;store up the block and in 5 minutes pre-ordered the 32gbs iPhone. I’ll pick it up on the 24th at 7am. That was a million times easier than dealing with all the BS online.
After problems buying the iPhone 4 on Apple’s site at 5:00 am this morning, I had no problem buying it at ATT’s site 35 mins later. I hear (and read) about the problems others have with ATT, but my service is generally strong. I work in Mid-town Manhattan, live near Union Square, and I have a consistently strong signal on my iPhone 3GS. The same is generally true when I am visiting DC, Chicago, Houston, Miami or LA. I’m looking forward to an even better experience with the iPhone 4!
I just walked into my local AAT store and after waiting my turn (10 min) completed the process in another 10 minutes.
Could not pre order on either Apple’s or at&t;’s site but after a 45 minute wait in line at an at&t;store I’m all set. Much better than waiting in line on launch day. Idealy I should have been able to order on line. What a bunch of retards.
Sure AT&T;is having problems. What company wouldn’t when they are selling one of the most popular phones on the planet? I’ll wait a day or two and place my order and still get it on the 24th. Why stand in line today, when it can be done over the next few days? Verizon customer service is terrible. I was with them one, and never again.
Apple is just as much to blame for the ordering failure. While it may be easy to blame AT&T;for the problems, Apple has seen this before and hasn’t worked out the problem either. I fault both of them
@Kent
Now I’m pissed and agravated cuz your post was too damn long.
Think brevity.
I know it’s not a quality statistical sampling, but here’s the thing. In the last week 4 acquaintances of mine all bought an Android device though they would have preferred the iPhone. Reason? None were willing to switch to AT&T;.
What if for every iPhone owner out there, each had a similar experience to mine where 4 people bought an Android to my 1 iPhone. It’s not inconceivable that the iPhone is going to be surpassed by the inferior Andriod. sigh.