iPhone activation for n00bs

June 16, 2009 12:07 PM

Can I get an iPhone 3G S set up on Friday? I've never had an iPhone before. I pre-ordered one at the Apple site, but haven't received any confirmation from Apple or AT&T. I'm planning to go to the Apple store first thing on Friday morning, but I'm going to London Friday evening, and I'm concerned that AT&T won't be able to process all the activations that day.

Extra credit for suggestions on how to use an iPhone (my existing phone is so dumb that ...), and how not to spend thousands of dollars in roaming charges while I'm in the UK for a week. Many thanks!

posted by lukemeister to computers & internet (13 comments total)

I should have said that I'm in the US (Colorado).

*not rest-of-the-world-ist*
posted by lukemeister at 12:15 PM on June 16

Did you pre-order with Apple or AT&T? Did you actually pay for it-- as in, put your credit card number in? Was it charged? Did they give you a receipt?

If you ordered it online through Apple, they ship it to you on the 19th and you activate it at home. But you still should have received a confirmation regardless of who you ordered it from.
posted by nitsuj at 12:19 PM on June 16

It depends. I had my iPhones activated in seconds on both of the past launch days. This year they aren't rolling out the software upgrade to the existing userbase so maybe they learned something. If you're porting the phone number from another carrier that can sometimes take a while if the tubes are clogged up. By the time your plane lands in the UK it should be sorted though.

If you don't have international roaming on your account, it won't work in the UK so you'll save a lot of money that way. If you do add roaming (you must call ATT to activate, 611 from the phone before you leave) make sure you leave the data roaming OFF (the default) because it will cost $20/mb for data. You can call ATT and ask to add the iphone intl data plan, but its mb allocation is prorated and so you might not get a lot of minutes depending on when your closing date it. Look for free wifi hotspots (or even paid ones since a $10/day pass is cheaper if you need to download lots of fat emails, watch youtube, etc) to check mail and do your web surfing. The GPS will only work if data is enabled so don't get too reliant on checking out your location with maps. If you get voicemail messages, it will take data to download the message. Limit the time you're data roaming and you can keep the bill low. After my first international trip with the first iPhone and my $500 in overages I now rarely break $20 in data overages and about $20 more if I can't find free hotspots.
posted by birdherder at 12:20 PM on June 16 [2 favorites]

I pre-ordered from Apple and got a confirmation screen, but I thought I'd receive an email, which I did not. I entered a credit card # for AT&T to run a credit check, but I don't think I was charged.
posted by lukemeister at 12:22 PM on June 16

I would contact Apple Sales Support at 1-800-676-2775 to be sure that your order actually went through.
posted by nitsuj at 12:24 PM on June 16

Did you do a pre-order (eg, shipped to you, you paid $200+) or a reservation at a physical Apple store (no credit card charge involved)?

If the former: When did you do your pre-order? I pre-ordered last night and it took a good 8 hours for me to get my order confirmation e-mail.

If the latter: Based on the past, it seems highly likely that you will have a phone available, though it's important to note that Apple does not guarantee it formally.
posted by Tomorrowful at 12:26 PM on June 16

Preorder information somewhere said that your credit card would not be charged until your iPhone shipped. You should have still received a confirmation number or email or something.

I ordered mine at an AT&T store, but they told me if you order it online through AT&T or Apple it would ship to your home for delivery on Friday the 19th. Which means you might not get it first thing in the morning on Friday, depending on FedEx or UPS.
posted by peanut_mcgillicuty at 12:29 PM on June 16

I did a reservation at a physical Apple store, pre-ordered Friday night.
posted by lukemeister at 12:30 PM on June 16

That is, I made a reservation on the Internet to pick up an iPhone in an Apple store in Boulder.
posted by lukemeister at 12:38 PM on June 16

but I don't think I was charged.

FWIW I don't think anyone has been charged yet, even people who ordered it directly and whose order has shipped. In fact, it seems like the hold they initially put on has expired.
posted by advil at 12:48 PM on June 16

Just a data point, but last Friday I went through the apple website to reserve one at my local brick and mortar shop, and received and email confirmation listing the store that I'd specified, the data plan I'd chosen, and what to bring when I showed up. My credit card was NOT charged (though I did have to enter it for a credit check), and I assume it will be so when I get the actual product.

It took some effort to get that far though, because I was stupid enough to make the attempt immediately after the store came back online after the conclusion of the WWDC keynote - the same time that all the other yahoo's like me tried to reserve theirs. Lots of hiccups occurred along the way, and I only got that email confirmation after my third attempt (I'd gotten error messages about "specifying a day" prior to that.)

Were I you, I'd call the store in question or apple directly and make sure the request went through.
posted by Rewind at 1:17 PM on June 16

FWIW I don't think anyone has been charged yet, even people who ordered it directly and whose order has shipped.

I just checked and my credit card has not been charged, even though I ordered one right after they were announced. I would definitely confirm my order with Apple, given your scenario. I tried to order one via Apple but they had trouble verifying my info with ATT and so they reserved one for me at an Apple store. They sent me 2 emails confirming this; it never got as far as getting payment info. Since the Apple store nearest me is at least a two hour drive each way, I ignored the reservation and ordered one directly ordered one through ATT (it took a few tries later in the day; they were obviously swamped)
posted by TedW at 3:07 PM on June 16

Thanks, everyone! It turned out that calling the Boulder Apple Store was the way to find the status of this type of order. The person I spoke to the main Apple number said they didn't have the names of people with 'reservations'. She was very pleasant and said she would contact the Boulder store for me, but I got cut off. I called the Boulder store and they found the order right away. I'm still surprised they didn't send a confirmation by email, though.
posted by lukemeister at 5:53 PM on June 16