Dear Consumerist,

While helping my father look for an HDTV at the newest Best Buy in Charlotte, NC this Sunday, I came across their demo display of their color calibration service. On the left side of the demo, they had a HDTV tuned to ESPN, and on the right, there was the exact same model of TV presumably tuned to the same station, but with a far superior picture. The difference between the two was remarkable; the left one was grainy and blurry while the right one looked sharp and detailed. Thinking that something was not right, I took a further look at the demo and realized that the inferior tv on the left was turned to plain old ESPN, and the superior tv on the right was tuned to ESPN HD. What's even worse is they had a box for their Black Tie TV Protection Plan strategically placed so that when looking at the display from most angles, it covered up the ESPN logo on the left tv as to disguise the fact that it was not an HD channel.

Having figured out the nature of their scam, I went to talk to one of the employees. I showed him the TVs, and he didn't have much to say besides that the color calibration service would decrease power consumption on my TV by 30%, which if I am not mistaken, a flat out lie.

Another employee overheard our conversation, and would at first, not admit that one tv had an HD signal and that the other one did not. He insisted that the difference was strictly because of their color calibration. Not wanting to let him get away with his BS, I told him that his claim was impossible, and finally got him to admit not only that I was right, but also that the tv with the standard signal was set to stretch the picture out (presumably to make the picture even worse). He then say that it would probably help to set the TVs to the same channel, but he "didn't know where the remote was."

By that point I was tired of the crap flowing out of his mouth, so I proceeded to shop around. Ten minutes later when I was ready to leave, I passed by the demo again only to find that the employee had done nothing, and that it was just as misleading as it was before.

This is just a cheap tactic to get people to buy into their crappy calibration service, which I could probably do myself with a half hour of playing with the settings on my TV. While I noticed the scam, I highly doubt that my 70+ year old father would.

Attached is a picture I quickly snapped with my iPhone. It's not the best, but you can still see that the right one is set on ESPN HD while the left one is just regular ESPN. I guess this is just another example of Best Buys classy business practices.

-Robert

Here's his story:

I have been an AT&T/Cingular customer for some time (5+ years). I own small business and have 7 phones with them on a small business plan, my normal monthly bill is well over $300. Shortly after Mother's day this year I started getting $2000+ bills for roaming in Nicaragua and Mexico. Neither I nor my phone have ever been to Nicaragua. I called AT&T and they actually fixed the problem in a few days and gave me a credit. So far so good.

However, the next month's bill came and the calls are still there, and the next month and the next month. Finally I had them shut the phone off completely, because they couldn't stop the billing. So the phone is now off, and I am still paying monthly service on it. However, they managed to rack up over $6,000 in charges for roaming in Mexico and Nicaragua before I forced them to shut it off.

Here's the kicker, AT&T says the phone is in both places at the same time. Their own bill shows a call being made from Nicaragua at the exact same minute it is incurring a data roaming charge in Mexico. When I point out that this is physically impossible they just respond with "pay the bill," I imagine it to be similar to what dealing with the Mob must feel like.

I won't get into the byzantine mess that is AT&T's dispute issues process (to be fair, in the 5 years before this incident, I always thought they were pleasant and helpful when I called for anything); suffice to say after over 12 hours on the phone with AT&T (who have a wonderful system that won't allow you to call anyone back), they finally shut my phones off today. This is despite swearing just last night that my service wouldn't be interrupted.

For the record, despite all these issues I was a "good" customer and continued to pay the portion of my bill that was legit.

Please help, or at least if you can't help publish this so other people can stay away.

Serves me right for buying an iPhone.

Thanks,
Chris

Hey, we didn't say it, he did.

Chris, have you tried these numbers?

"We have received reports of detached blades involving a very small percentage of the adapters sold, but no injuries have been reported," Apple said in a statement.

Spokeswoman Natalie Kerris could not say exactly how many adapters have broken in this way.

The recall affects ultra-compact USB power adapters sold in the United States, Argentina, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Japan, Mexico, Panama and Peru.

Adapters with a green dot on the bottom are safe and do not need to be replaced, Apple said.

Just because the adapters are hazardous doesn't mean Apple has replacements ready. No, you'll have to wait until October 10 for those. Until then, charge your iPhone 3G with either the standard USB adapter with the fold-up prongs, or your computer's USB port.

Apple recalls tiny iPhone 3G adapters [AP]

AT&T Data Network Knocked Out in Northeast [Gizmodo]

Patrick says:
In May, I broke my iPhone. I dropped it and it cracked. I sold it on eBay, expected new iPhones to be announced June 9 at the WWDC. When I found out I’d have to wait until July 11, I bought a Motorola Q, because all the stores were sold out of iPhones. I would wait for the 3G on July 11.

As the date got closer, I went back to the store and asked about my upgrade eligibility for the 3G. They informed me that since I just purchased a Motorola Q, I couldn’t get an iPhone – not at any price. This, we know now, is incorrect, but to fix matters I returned the Motorola in under 30 days and popped my SIM card in a buddy’s old RAZR for a couple weeks awaiting the new iPhone 3G’s. The sales guy at the store said this would cancel my contract obligation from the Motorola and I’d be eligible to get the new iPhone at the subsidized price.

On July 11, I went to my local AT&T store because I knew there would be trouble; my account online was showing me as upgrade ineligible. Despite everything they could see at the store (that I was, in fact, perfectly eligible to upgrade and get the new iPhone), the computer wouldn’t let the transaction happen. Someone at the other store didn’t do the right paperwork when I returned the Motorola Q, and it was causing an issue.

iPhones we’re selling out all around me, so the salesperson and manager said in order for me to get an iPhone that day, they would create a new line on my account, and then I was to return the following week when they’d have the block on my account removed, and move the iPhone over to the correct line, and delete the newly created line. I begrudgingly accepted this solution, and dealt with the hassle of having a different number for a week.

The next week I went in and they moved the iPhone to my old (correct) number, and said they’d do the paperwork to get the billing right – delete the new line, cancel the charges, and fix my bill.

In the interest of keeping this story simple, I’ll summarize it like this:

This never happened. To this day – nearly two months later and spanning three billing cylces – my account has a huge balance because I continue to be charged for the extra line they’ve added, and a family plan which I don’t need, and an iPhone data plan on the line they created (which, consequently, has no phone even associated with it – the voice and data usage is ZERO!).

I’ve spent countless hours in the store and on the phone and nothing has been done. They say they don’t know what to do. Customer service can’t change or modify my bill. They all say the same thing – the computer won’t let them remove the line or fix the billing. No one – managers, regional managers, etc. – can tell me what I need to do. My bill is climbing at three times the rate it should. The store has told me not to pay the bill until it’s fixed. I’ve never missed a payment but now my account is past due.

I’m just a regular guy, trying to pay my bill and be current. NO ONE IS HELPING ME. I leave messages and call for help and just continue to get the runaround. I want my account fixed so I can move on. I feel like I’m going to be shut off soon, and this will never be right!

Thanks for any help you can bring to this issue.

Patrick

Even though we're sure that AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson is currently quite busy machine gunning terminators in his executive bathroom, you should probably send his team an EECB. Perhaps there is still one man who can regain control of the computer before it shuts down the life support systems at AT&T...

Here's his contact information.

Anthony writes:

My name is Anthony [redacted], and I was just robbed at knifepoint in Queens, NY, for my iPhone. I was walking home fairly late at night and a man walked up to me wielding a 10-inch or so blade and demanded my money and my iPhone.

I am writing you because after reporting the robbery to the police, I called AT&T – my service provider for 3 years – and asked if they could possibly work with the NYPD to track down my phone via the iPhone 3G's GPS. They said it was not possible to track any closer than the closest cell tower if the iPhone's functions were used, which kind of defeats the purpose of GPS in many ways. Given the Patriot Act and everything, I figured they can track down where we're taking a piss at this point.

But the big problem came when we started talking about replacing my iPhone 3G. Now I was an early adopter of the original 8GB iPhone and I just purchased the iPhone 3G in July. So when I asked if there would be a free replacement or a discount of sorts, the woman at customer service responded that since I just purchased the iPhone 3G that I would have not qualify for the discounted $199 iPhone 3G and I would have to purchase the phone at the higher price point of $399.

So after being such a long time AT&T customer and supporter of Apple's marquee product of the moment, I have been told that despite the fact that I was robbed by someone brandishing what was essentially a mini-machete I am now being robbed by AT&T.

I feel insulted as a customer, and appalled by the customer service at AT&T. This is beyond poor customer service; this is a lack of basic human compassion.

It's a shame that you're stuck in a 2-year contract because of a phone that you now no longer have. Ugh! AT&T is probably a dead end, but if you bought the phone with a credit card, you might want to call your credit card company. Many credit cards have 90-day "purchase assurance" or "purchase protection" programs that protect your recent purchases from loss, damage or theft.

Most people don't think to call their credit card company when something like this happens, which is a shame because they can be very helpful, and certainly more pleasant to deal with than your cellphone company. Don't delay, however, once the 90-days is over, so is the coverage.

(Photo: jetsetpress )

While their databases are basically the same, I did spot a few differences, so if you try the combo on one site and it doesn't work, check the other's.

Bonus link for iPhone users: check out Dial Zero, a free app pre-programmed with the codes to directly dials human customer service reps at over 600 companies.

Dial-A-Human [Official Site via Wendy's Web Search Blog] (Thanks to Steven!)
Gethuman [Official Site]
DialZero [Download.com]

The relevant press release reads, in part:

iPhone 3G will be available for $199 for the 8GB model and $299 for the 16GB model. These prices require two-year contracts and are available to the following customers:
* iPhone customers who purchased before July 11
* Customers activating a new line with AT&T
* Current AT&T customers who are eligible, at the time of purchase, for an upgrade discount

Rom writes that he purchased an iPhone earlier in the year, and that he also purchased a BlackBerry from AT&T. After speaking with someone in the president's office, he says that the point of contention is that AT&T is interpreting "iPhone customers who purchased before July 11" as "iPhone customers who purchased before July 11 and haven't bought another device from AT&T since." Although Rom concedes that the purchase of the BlackBerry eliminated his upgrade eligibility, he still is an iPhone customer, and should be entitled to the promotional price.

(Photo: jetsetpress)

Mr. Jobs confirmed such a capability exists, but argued that Apple needs it in case it inadvertently allows a malicious program — one that stole users' personal data, for example — to be distributed to iPhones through the App Store. "Hopefully we never have to pull that lever, but we would be irresponsible not to have a lever like that to pull," he says.

What do you think—are you okay with Apple being able to directly control what apps are on your iPhone?

"IPhone Software Sales Take Off: Apple's Jobs" [The Wall Street Journal via MacWorld]

Corey says:

Before buying the new Iphone I checked the coverage area for my home and was reported to have full 3G. Excited by this nice but not completely necessary perk I purchased the Iphone. I get it home barely able to contain my excitement, Upon start up I found that I have VERY little edge, let alone 3G. So I set about troubleshooting through handy dandy google but to no avail.

So it came time to call customer support, the lady reported that I should have full 3G in my area and sent an invisible update to my phone and was told that 3 days later a follow up call would come. Fast forward a week and a half. I missed their call due to me driving at the time, so set about getting back in contact with them. I followed the same lines as before; "The site said I should have full coverage but I barely get any blah blah blah." The report that I should be having full was echoed once again and was transferred to apple care. Her suggestions were all ones that I had done long prior. Here comes the mysterious part...

The Apple rep said that I should only be getting moderate coverage according to the map, ok... So I was transferred to AT&T tech support the very short (short as in testy, not physically, I'm not omnipitent) CSR reported that I should have NO coverage, NONE. So I was transferred back to customer service where I was finally helped by an empathic rep who after a few minutes applied a $250 credit to my account. I feel quite happy about the result yet still peeved that AT&T would sell people on coverage that they do not deliver. Side note: the empathic rep stated that this was his 3rd call about this issue. One rep 3 calls one issue.

I smell that there may be a class action in the air at some point. I printed up the page that states that I should be receiving full coverage and on the site of the printout it states "AT&T does not guarantee coverage." WHAT!?

I apologize for the length of this email but I feel that this story is not unique to myself and should be passed along to as many people as possible so that they may make informed decisions as AT&T seems unable to sell service honestly.

Good tip, Corey. Anyone else having problems getting coverage in areas that AT&T says should be 3G?

(Photo: jetsetpress )

• Amazon: Lego sale. 50% off 8 Different Items
• Walgreens: 6 Sharpies for $2 (in-store only)
• eforcity: iPod/iPhone charging cable for $7.99 (down from $43.99)
• DealExtreme: iPod/iPhone charging cable for $3.46
• Woot: It's a woot-off!

• Best Buy: Dynex DX-LCD32 32-inch LCD HDTV $490
• Tiger Direct: Unlocked Motorola RAZR V3 GSM Cell Phone $100
• Buy.com: Kodak Z1285 12 Megapixel Digital Camera $90 Shipped

James writes (to Steve Jobs):

...Since opening day, I have been tracking stores in my travels in Virginia, North Carolina and New York, since I have been traveling through all those states in the last few weeks. Last night, the Richmond Short Pump Apple store again had stock. I had a flight at 10am the next morning and figured I could leave my house at 630, get there at 730, hopefully have the phone by 8:30 and be at the airport by 9. When I arrived I was third in line and all went smoothly. I had all of my information and was on my way, until the Apple store employee got an error.

'Are you a corporate customer with ATT?', he asked.

I answered yes, at which point they told me they could not activate the phone this morning, therefor could not sell me an iphone. They tried to call ATT but to no avail and I was not allowed to purchase.

'There is an ATT store across the street, you should try them'. I talked to the ATT store, and they in fact did not have any.

'Can I buy a phone, take it over there and activate it?', I asked.

'No. Sorry.', said the employees.

At this point i started to express just how lame this policy is (all in good taste), all the while making it known that it wasn't their fault directly, but Apple should know better than this.

I see this as a very broken customer experience, as ATT has no stock compared to Apple stores, but I cannot buy one from an Apple store since I must activate before leaving. So as a 'business customer', I have to jump through extra flaming hoops for this? As I understand it, the iPhone is a direct competitor with other business solutions such as the Blackberry Bold.

This is not a very good start to my first experience with an iPhone. Something that is supposed to make my life easier and more convenient has already wasted more time and frustrated me quite a bit. If anything, business users usually get leverage, not the run around.

By making it that you cannot purchase a phone without activation in store, the equivalent of DRM (which lets not kid ourselves, people will break it) has caused a horrible experience to me and probably many others. In my head a solution would be to let mainstream consumers buy and activate at apple stores, business users only at the att stores.

I understand the wish to build hype with a product (like the Wii), however there is a very fine line between hype and frustration and a real difference between a personal/business communications product and a home entertainment system. In part of building an experience you must plot the various customer journeys and scenarios, the one of the business customer was certainly not overlooked, but it seemed that in the end, no one cared that it is fractured, time-wasting and detrimental to the experiences that Apple is known for building.

As unfortunate as it is, I must say I am truly annoyed at this point in time and would have expected more from a company that is such an innovator in this industry. I am truly done trying to buy an iPhone, it has already wasted more of my time and resources than the cost of the iPhone itself and will be spending no more time on this task.

James says that after not being able to get an iPhone on "opening day" he was told that business customers would have no problem activating their iPhones at the Apple store, so we understand his frustration. People are going to unlock the phones anyway, why make your customers miserable?

(Photo: Todd Kravos )

It's amazing that Apple doesn't recognize this situation. This is an airplane that's stuck on the runway for hours with no food or working bathroom. And the pilot doesn't come on the P.A. system to tell the customers what the problem is, what's being done to fix it, how much longer they might be stuck, and how he empathizes with their plight. Instead, he comes on once every three hours to repeat the same thing: "We apologize for the inconvenience."

It's true, Apple did address these problems early on, even going so far as to offer a free 1-month extension to current subscribers. But Pogue points out that whatever problems were plagueing MobileMe haven't been entirely eradicated, because a note appeared on the MobileMe support site that read, "1% of MobileMe members cannot access MobileMe Mail. We apologize for this service interruption and are working hard to resolve the problem."

So how is Apple trying to help out this subset of customers? By hiding behind a broken customer service system, Pogue writes:

MobileMe tech support, my correspondents tell me, is nearly impossible to reach; the recording says that the support team is "unavailable due to the overwhelming interest in MobileMe." (Somehow I doubt that "overwhelming interest" is the problem.) When you do reach them, they're apologetic but can do nothing to help.

By contrast—and even I can't believe I'm about to compare T-Mobile's customer service to Apple's, but here goes—yesterday I couldn't get online using T-Mobile's HotSpot service at a Starbucks in NYC. I called the customer support line at the bottom of the error message screen fully expecting to get nowhere—really it was just a masochistic impulse to test how incompetent they'd be. What I got instead was a live, helpful person after three rings, and when I was escalated up to a support tech, she answered in less than 60 seconds and gave me advice on how to fix the problem. I assume T-Mobile is dumping extra resources into HotSpot support right now, especially with Starbucks since they're having to deal with AT&T taking over the system and causing who knows what kinds of customer service snafus, but you'd think Apple would try a similar approach with its first big push into a new service.

"Apple's MobileMess" [New York Times]
(Screen cap of customer service wait time: Hayden)

I came across the attached ad in todays sunday paper here in Wichita, KS. The advertisement states that the iphone 3g is "twice as fast" and "on the nations fastest 3g network" It also gives the locations of the 3 ATT corp stores in town. The thing is, ATT has NO 3g coverage anywhere near Wichita, KS. The closest city with 3g is Topeka, KS, about 120 miles away. With the exception of the Kansas City and Topeka, there is no 3g available on the ATT network in KS, just EDGE. The ad has no disclaimer regarding this.

It may not seem like a big deal to some of us that are aware that the 3g coverage of ATT is limited and know to check the coverage first, but there is no guarantee that the good folks at the ATT store will let potential customers in on this, and (again) nowhere on the advertisement does it say that ATT's 3g coverage is quite limited and not available anywhere near the newspaper's reader's area.

It's interesting that they can customize the ad to list the local AT&T store locations, but not to advise consumers that the new phone will not run faster than the previous version until Wichita gets the 3G network. Very interesting, indeed.

Before you consider upgrading to the new iPhone, be sure to check the 3G coverage in your area. You can do that here.

Michael says:

On Saturday, July 12th, my father stood in line outside of the Apple retail store in Oklahoma City for approximately three hours. As soon as he made it inside the store, it did not take very long to purchase a Family Plan with three new 8GB iPhone 3Gs. The checkout process was fairly simple (although he did have to purchase gift cards because he couldn't use cash) and everyone treated him well.

However, when we got home and started to look at our new iPhones, mine froze shortly after opening it. After I reset it, it would not turn on. The next day I took it back to the Apple store, and it was soon determined I needed a new iPhone. However, during the activation process, something went wrong and my phone got my dad's phone number assigned to it. I was then told that I needed to go to an AT&T store (luckily there is one in the mall) to get a new sim card for my phone and put my old sim card in my dad's phone. I did this, and my phone started working.

However, the third iPhone (my sister's) had been showing a weak signal ever since it was opened. It often showed "No Signal" when it was right next to my iPhone with full bars. We took it back to the Apple store and they tried to fix it by doing various things, including restoring the software. This did nothing, and so it came to be that for the second time in as many hours one of our iPhones was being replaced. Luckily the new iPhone activation went smoothly and her new iPhone showed full bars.

We thought that we were finally done with all the problems, so we left the store. So far, of the three iPhones purchased on Saturday, one had died shortly after leaving the box and one had been defective. Only my dad's iPhone was the original one from Saturday. However, when we got home, we quickly discovered that although his iPhone could send and receive text messages and make calls, it could not receive calls.

All calls to my father's iPhone went straight to his old voice mailbox from the previous carrier. They did not ring through to the iPhone and they did not show up on his iPhone's voicemail. I then spent a long time trying to get a hold of AT&T support (not easy to do on a Sunday evening). I finally talked to a person, who after hearing about my problem decided it was an iPhone problem and forwarded my call to Apple iPhone support. After close to an hour and a half on hold, I was quickly given back to AT&T. However the Apple rep did make sure to stay on the line and explain the problem to the (different) AT&T rep. After doing several things to try and fix the problem, the AT&T rep said he thought it was a problem with the port request, and put another port request in. This was at about 9 p.m., and he said he thought it might go through by midnight. It is right now 1:45 a.m., and it still does not work.

Although I was treated very well throughout my experience by both Apple and AT&T, spending an entire day having to replace two out of three iPhones and have the third one not be able to receive calls was not a pleasant experience.

Here's the happy ending, a few hours after Michael emailed us, he emailed us again. He tried our contact information for AT&T's executive customer service and it worked!

Update: I called one of the numbers from this post and had my problem solved in less than five minutes. Thank you so much!

If you're having problems with your new iPhone and regular AT&T customer service isn't working for you, why not give these numbers a call?

(Photo: qshio )

Joshua writes:

My girlfriend was set on getting an 8GB iPhone 3G on launch day, and to make sure, we headed out to the closest mall location in San Jose, CA at 5am. We were the 20th person or so in line, and had no problems getting in.
She was transferring her service from T-Mobile, and surprisingly, it all went smoothly. We probably walked into the physical Apple Store at around 8:15am and were back out to our car by 9:15.

When we got home, we noticed a problem with our iPhone — the speaker wouldn't work. No external sounds whatsoever, unless it was docked. We called the Apple Store and I have to say, Apple offers some awesome support. They took her name down and told her to come right back in past the line and they'd take care of us (sorry to everyone who was still waiting).

We rolled back in around 10:30am, and if the next five hours had been up to Apple, we'd have been gone by 10:45am. Funny thing, they were going to try to troubleshoot it, but then one of the Apple specialists accidentally dropped the phone, and said casually, "We'll just go grab you a new one."

Unfortunately, AT&T has a different take on iPhone exchanges. AT&T could not give her a phone exchange because she was no longer qualified for first-time purchase and activation, so they tried to charge her full price ($399 instead of $199, if I recall) for the iPhone because she'd already purchased and activated an iPhone. Then, since they already returned that previous iPhone, AT&T locked her phone number and said she couldn't get it back for 48 hours because of that return. After that, it became a worry on both ours and Apple's part if they were going to charge an early termination fee, and then a new activation fee for the second phone.

Our Apple concierge, Rosemarie, was wonderful in arguing with AT&T on our behalf. Four and a half hours later, Rosemarie was able to widdle it down so that they could get her new iPhone activated with her original number, but they refused to let her walk out of the store with an iPhone for $199. In the end, Rosemarie and the store manager (whose name I didn't get, but she was also extremely helpful) decided that what they were going to do was charge us for the full price of an iPhone and issue themselves a gift card for the difference of what we would have had to pay. So we paid our part ($231 and some change) and they used their self-issued gift card to cover the rest. In other words, Apple chose to eat the cost on our behalf because of what AT&T was doing.

In the end, we couldn't have asked for more exceptional service than what this Apple Store gave us. While we waited, specialists noticed us and offered us snacks and sodas and were generally really friendly and empathetic. We were also pretty chill about the whole thing, which I'm sure helped, and by the time we left, they made sure we weren't screwed with by AT&T.

So, just a warning to anyone else that has to exchange their iPhone. I'm not even generally an Apple/Mac person, but this gives me great faith in the Apple Store's customer service, and I would definitely say to have faith in them, but be wary of AT&T.

Kudos to the Apple Store for for spending so much time working this out for you. We hope that AT&T works out this glitch — there's really no reason why a simple exchange of a defective phone should take 4.5 hours and require the Apple store to issue gift cards.

Is this happening to anyone else?

(Photo: qshio )

(Photo: jetsetpress)

Unfortunately, there was nothing as exciting as what happened during my last iPhone purchase. I'm in New Orleans, and I figured people here wouldn't care as much as residents of other cities did. I was wrong. I showed up around 7:20, forty minutes before the store was supposed to open, and about forty people were already in line.The mood was a lot calmer than I remember it being in DC. This may have been because there were no sketchy dealings with elected officials' goons skipping the line and exiting with several iPhones. The AT&T store staff was friendly and helpful; they came around several times with bottled water (it's pretty hot in New Orleans in July, even early in the morning). They were also very good about warning people far back in the line that they were probably out of luck. Early on, they went down the line asking each customer what he or she intended to buy and counted them up. They came out a little later and stopped by me and said we might get phones, but everyone beyond us probably would have to order them. As it turned out, they were right: I got the last iPhone they had.
I can't say anything bad about the AT&T store. I can say plenty about AT&T corporate and Apple. Just like last year, they were totally unprepared for the launch. Gizmodo had spoken to a few sources about how many iPhones the AT&T stores would be getting:

AT&T wouldn't comment on how many per store, but Gary thinks north of 50-75, even in the boondocks, and another source tells us 100-250. Though AT&T wouldn't comment on the spread, logically, stores in more populated areas are going to get more.

The AT&T store I went to, in a commercial area of New Orleans, got 40. When I spoke to one of the store's reps, she said she was surprised they got so few this year because the line had been at least twice as long last year, and only about half of this year's line got phones. Whether this was poor planning or Apple trying to claim that it sold out across stores nationwide to further the buzz, I don't know. This store is getting more stock to sell sometime tomorrow, but per corporate rules, they can't create a waiting list from the people in line today who didn't get phones. Those people have to "direct order" them (pay for them now and have them arrive in 7-10 days) or go get in line again tomorrow.
Like many others, I also had problems activating my phone. I keep getting the same "An unknown error occurred" in iTunes each time I plug the iPhone in. I swapped the provided sim card out for the one I was using with my old iPhone, but still nothing. Then, as I was writing this, I received a text message and suddenly was able to make calls. I still get error messages when I sync with iTunes, but at least I'll be able to make calls while Apple and AT&T figure out who's to blame.
Overall, the line wasn't too bad, the AT&T staff was helpful, and most of the customers—save one who apparently didn't realize that the discounted prices were for new contracts or iPhone customers, not existing customers—were normal. It's a little ironic that New Orleans, the most bizarre place I've ever lived, was lacking any iPhone high jinks, drama, or scandal.

[via CNET]

RELATED: Who would wait a week in line for an iPhone 3G? [Fortune]

Brian Lam over at Gizmodo says that most AT&T stores only had a few dozen of the new phone for sale today, and that you're better off going to an Apple store, as "they always have more." According to commenter camman68, the noon news in Wichita, KS has reported that all the AT&T stores in the area are completely sold out. Fear not, Witchititians, they seem to have some left on eBay. They'll just cost you over $800.

Folks waiting in line for an iPhone 3G at the Legacy Village Apple store near Cleveland, OH are being told by Legacy Village (the complex, not the Apple store) that they can't wait in line on the sidewalk - even the sidewalk that doesn't have storefronts on it. This is made worse by the fact that today is an unusually sunny day in Cleveland and the sidewalk is the only place where there is any shade!

It's currently 82 degrees and sunny sunny sunny in beautiful Cleveland. Pack water and a parasol.

(Photo: TheeErin)

According to an ATT rep I just spoke with, the problem is with Apple's Short Tether system, which is the Apple-side system that does the last part of the activation. I got my $36 activation fee refunded just by calling their customer service, and also had additional $59.50 credited back to my account in addition. I'm pissed that my iPhone isn't working, but at least I got $95.50 of my iMoneys back!

Then again, that is an AT&T rep. No doubt Apple reps are blaming the outage on AT&T's "Long Bridle" system or some such thing...

(Photo: Getty)

So, I just talked to the AT&T rep who sold me my phone. They didn't active "in-store" as they were on iTunes 7.6 - and thought that was why they couldn't activate. Just phoned in after updating to 7.7 here at the house - network connection timed out. I phoned my very friendly (and helpful!) rep and let him know "what's up". He advised this outage is nationwide and NO-ONE call activate iPhones right now. 1-2+ hours (not helpful!) was the projected time of "repair". I have a very pretty and expensive paperweight taunting me from my desk.

Matt in Louisiana writes:

So I went to my local AT&T store this morning at 5AM, getting the 7th spot in line. By 7:00 there were at least a hundred people there, so I was excited that I'd be one of the first to get the new phone. Employees started to come and hand out paperwork, explaining how the process would work. "It is going to take 10 to 15 minutes to activate your iPhone, please have all of your documentation ready so we can get through everyone as soon as possible."

Finally they opened the doors at 8:00 and let about 15 of us in! They started by porting my phone number from T-Mobile, which immediately deactivated my current handset. Next, they put a SIM card into my new iPhone, and plugged it into Itunes. This is where the fun begins.

After waiting for OVER an hour and a half, the guy just decides to give it up. Apparently they were sent an internal memo saying to send people home to activate their handsets. They send you home with no idea how to 'activate' the phone, as up until this point we had all been told that the only way to activate the phone was in the store.

I get home and update iTunes, and then plug in the new iPhone, and immediately get an error message.... Now I am stuck with a bricked iPhone and no other cell phone service due to them already having ported my number... but they have my money, so it really doesn't matter much to them. What do I do? I feel as if I should be compensated for all of the difficulty, as well as for being made completely unable to make/receive calls. I am very disappointed at this entire situation, and the manner in which AT&T is handling it.

Gizmodo is also following the issue closely and has more reader horror stories.

For example, Des Moines, Iowa is big enough to have an Apple store — but there's no 3G coverage yet. (If you're wondering what 3G is, you can click here.) Without 3G coverage the new iPhone will use the more widespread EDGE network, and you won't see an improvement in speed.

You can check out AT&T's data coverage map by clicking here. Zoom in to see if there's 3G coverage in your area. Silicon Alley Insider also has a good map that you can check out.

Where Apple's New iPhone Doesn't Help: AT&T's 3G Dead Zones [Silicon Alley Insider]
AT&T Coverage Map [AT&T]

One way to escape your contract is to call up your carrier and argue that they have made a materially adverse change to your service agreement. Most cellphone contracts contain a clause allowing customers to escape their contracts if a materially adverse change is made, usually in the form of a rate increase. Here's an example clause from a Verizon contract:

Your service is subject to our business policies, practices, and procedures, which we can change without notice. UNLESS OTHERWISE PROHIBITED BY LAW, WE CAN ALSO CHANGE PRICES AND ANY OTHER CONDITIONS IN THIS AGREEMENT AT ANY TIME BY SENDING YOU WRITTEN NOTICE PRIOR TO THE BILLING PERIOD IN WHICH THE CHANGES WOULD GO INTO EFFECT. IF YOU CHOOSE TO USE YOUR SERVICE AFTER THAT POINT, YOU'RE ACCEPTING THE CHANGES. IF THE CHANGES HAVE A MATERIAL ADVERSE EFFECT ON YOU, HOWEVER, YOU CAN END THE AFFECTED SERVICE, WITHOUT ANY EARLY TERMINATION FEE, JUST BY CALLING US WITHIN 60 DAYS AFTER WE SEND NOTICE OF THE CHANGE.

Below are some recent rate increases by the major providers. Some of these might have occurred far enough back that they are outside the window to call and complain, but we've also heard from readers who didn't get any notice, or who got late notice, thus keeping them within the required period to contest the change.
T-Mobile
We posted about this a couple weeks ago, but just to reiterate: T-Mobile is raising its text message rates on August 29th. That's a materially adverse change to your contract. Run while you can.
Verizon
Although Verizon likes to play dumb about what constitutes a materially adverse change to your contract, a Verizon fee increase was the impetus for this article: A reader writes in that he used Verizon's recent Federal Universal Service Charge increase to escape without an ETF. Here is Verizon's increase notification:

The Federal Universal Service Charge (FUSC) is a Verizon Wireless charge that is subject to change each calendar quarter based on contribution rates prescribed by the FCC. On July 1, the FUSC changed to 2.42 percent of assessable wireless charges, other than separately billed interstate and international long distance charges. The FUSC on these charges changed to 11.4 percent.

Sprint Nextel
There are conflicting reports that, as of July 13, Sprint will be eliminating its SERO plan altogether, or making existing customers switch to unlimited data "everything" plans, or just forcing that on new PDA customers. Barring that, a text message increase probably isn't too far away.
Other Techniques
We offered advice on escaping your contract last year when the iPhone first came out. Besides complaining about materially adverse changes, you can sell your contract, complain that service is substandard, move to an area out of your network, join the military, or die.

PREVIOUSLY: 6 Ways to Cancel Any Cellphone So You Can Get an iPhone
"Material Adverse" Clauses in Cell Phone Contracts [United Consumer Action Network]
(Photo: Getty)

• Buyers will be 'pre-qualified' via a series of questions.
• Customers with corporate/business plans will have to go to AT&T to purchase their phones, only phone for personal use can be purchased at the store.
• You will be required to present valid US government ID to purchase the phone
• You will be required to provide your social security number to a store employee in order to do a credit check.
• You will be required to pick a plan and pay the activation fee at time of purchase.
• Phones will be activated in the store.

The last two have already been disclosed to the press but I think the rest is new information. If true, it looks like they're really trying to cut down on iPhones being unlocked and getting resold overseas. Be sure to bring your driver's license and memorize your social security number before camping out on Thursday night.

(Photo: hanapbuhay)

Reader Scott is jubilant over the huge discount he got from Sprint:

Took advantage of the upcoming launch of AT&T’S iPhone 3G to squeeze a lower rate out of Sprint PCS. I’ve had to endure a decrease in Sprint service at the same price for the past year (crappy reception, slow network, can no longer send pix via SMS (thanks, a’holes)), so I told them I was switching to iPhone.

They gave me a whopping 25% (TWENTY-FIVE percent!!!) discount on my voice plan, zero discount on data plan. No mention of a contract extension whatsoever.

Give them a call and see if they can hear you now.

Here's how you do it. Note: It really helps if you don't have a current contract, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't try:

1. Call your current cellphone company.
   
2. Tell them you intend to cancel. You should be transferred to a retentions representative.
   
3. Say something like this:

   Hi, my name is ___________, I think I've been a good customer, but that iPhone looks really enticing, and I'm thinking about switching to AT&T.

   I'd like to stay with you, and I was wondering if there was any way you could _______ (throw me a discount, free text message package, something). Can you help me?

4. Stand firm and negotiate.

Some cellphone companies try to tack on a contract extension with a discount, so make sure they do not do this. Good luck!

(Photo: Steve Rhodes )

For all of the iPhone's flaws—no 3G, no multimedia messaging, no flash (on the camera) or Flash (on the browser)—it's still got more features than any phone I've used. The day after I got it, my fiancee and I drove out to Shenandoah for a friend's party, and got lost. We always travel with an atlas, but it was useless for rural roads, and if I hadn't had the iPhone and Google Maps, I might have actually had to get out of the car and ask directions. A GPS-equipped car could have done the same thing, but I don't drive much, though, and as it turns out, I'm most in need of geographical assistance when I'm stumbling home from some bar, not driving. DC has a lot of circular roads, and although I know Fox & Hounds is near Dupont Circle, it usually wasn't my first stop, so I couldn't remember how to get there unless I checked Google Maps. While I'm on the subject of drunk iPhone use, let me also say that having access to YouTube and Wikipedia at a bar or in a hotel that doesn't have WiFi is worth the full price of the iPhone by itself. (Ironically, if the iPhone had never come out, I not only wouldn't be able to watch my favorite YouTube video (NSFW) on it, but the video couldn't have even been made, as the iPhone is heavily featured in the video's plot.)

Was the $500 I paid for my 4GB iPhone too much? Apple apparently thought so, as they dropped the prices pretty soon after, upsetting early purchasers. But they made up for it, in my opinion, by giving me a $100 Apple Store credit, which I've saved until the 3G is released. Before the new iPhones were announced last month, our techie brothers at Gizmodo posted a story called "How I Sold My iPhone In 24 Hours For More Than I Paid." I followed the advice, and sold my year-old, 4GB iPhone for $300 the day after the 3G was introduced. Along with the credit, that's $400 I've gotten back from my original $500 purchase. The 16GB iPhone will only be $300. Essentially, I've gotten to use my iPhone since it came out, and in a week, I'll have a newer, better one, and $100 extra. Which I'll use to pay for 20 months of previously free text messages.

Sent from my iPhone

(Photo: Ezee's Emporium of Urban Treasures)

Hi there! It's kinda embarrassing for me to write this, because I obviously have crappy credit that I managed to incur through a divorce. But I'm hoping that you have some insight.

I have been planning to buy an iPhone 3G since the second they were announced. Yesterday, just because I wanted to know how much I would be forking out for a deposit, I visited an AT&T store and asked them to run my credit to find out how much I would need. They hemmed and hawed about running it at first, but they finally did. The price they quoted was $750 for the deposit. Not WITH the phone, but just the deposit.

I've been a Verizon customer since last fall. When I bought my Chocolate (ugh) I paid a $150 deposit on it. And I never, EVER was disconnected for non-payment. I thought that was fair. But why $750 for a phone (an admittedly nice phone, but still.) Is this part of their effort to keep people from hacking? I asked them if they were going to offer a GoPhone for credit-challenged folks, and they said no (and I'd heard that elsewhere anyway.)

Does anyone have any idea on how I could get the iPhone without tripling the price. Thanks!

Dana

Don't be embarrassed Dana, divorce can be rough on your finances and, let's face it, it's not like AT&T itself has good credit or anything. We've heard rumors that one can get the current model iPhone and use it as a GoPhone, (by the way, plenty of people with excellent credit use prepaid phones in order to avoid abusive cellphone contracts as a matter of personal preference) but since the new model is going to be subsidized, we're guessing it might be more difficult to reach GoPhone utopia.

Commenters? Can you help Dana out? Or is she stuck with this crappy deposit?

iPhones were a rotten deal for early adopters.



Not only did they needlessly wait in line, but they had to compete with the mayors of Washington and Philadelphia.



Early adopters were Apple's guinea pigs, discovering all sorts of annoying bugs, like hundred-page bills that chronicled every single photo viewed. Those who went abroad learned that international data roaming charges are really expensive.

How did Apple reward this zealous passion? By slashing the iPhone's price by $200 less than three months after the phone's release. Several angry early adopters didn't appreciate the dunce early-adopter tax, and sued for price discrimination.

And now, a year later, their warranties are set to expire, which will lead to the inevitable first-generation kaboom of doom. For those who haven't already, now is the time to extend your warranty by spending another $69 for AppleCare.

But really, who are we kidding? These are the same folks planning to line up for the newer, more expensive iPhone 3G. You kill us, early adopters!

Original iPhone warranties about to expire [The Unofficial Apple Weblog]



(Photo: numberstumper)

Another way to retain users is to offer lower service prices. In fact, here's one way competitors may have a leg up on AT&T, which has raised service prices for iPhone buyers as it tries to recoup the higher subsidy cost. "The operators are going to get very aggressive with pricing in the second half of the year," says Walter Piecyk, an analyst with Pali Research. "We could see 30% to 40% price cuts in the industry, [possibly led by Sprint]. If people are paying more for gas, saving $50 a month for wireless will be compelling."

"The iPhone's Impact on Rivals" [BusinessWeek]
(Photo: Getty)