To read my initial tale of iPhone activation purgatory and six subsequent updates, see my previous post.

Quick summary: after waiting 35 hours, AT&T finally activated my iPhone on Sunday. It worked for a little over 12 hours and was deactivated. Kathy's iPhone took much less time initially: only 24 hours. Then, after getting my iPhone reactivated and after about two hours of activation for the second phone, Kathy's phone was also deactivated. So my phone works; hers does not.

Now keep in mind that I first started the activation for Kathy's iPhone on Sunday afternoon. Now it's WEDNESDAY night, and except for the aforementioned two hours, her phone is nothing more than an expensive WiFi capable PDA and iPod. These other functions work because it was activated for a brief while.

I haven't posted anything since Monday afternoon because we've been traveling (we're now actually in Louisiana) and we spent the day with family, but in the last 48 hours or so, the incompetence displayed from the tech support for the iPhone has reached new heights. Now keep in mind, that with the exception of one, all the reps I've talked to have been extremely friendly. And I can't imagine that anyone would have a secret agenda for keeping Kathy's iPhone deactivated. Nevertheless, the events I'm about to relate would be described as a comedy of errors if only it simply were so not funny.

And here's an interesting tidbit: during one of my conversations with a representative from AT&T, he gave me some interesting insights into the problem that go well beyond the late training that AT&T employees didn't receive until the day before the product's release. He told me that the reason I keep getting handed back and forth between AT&T and Apple is that Apple will not release to AT&T complete information about how the phone works. He told me that with the Blackberrys they sell, all support is done entirely through AT&T. Not so with the iPhone.

In the last post, I also mentioned John from Apple who sympathized with my case and promised to stick with me until everything was resolved. To his credit, he has done just that. He lets me use his Apple email address to contact him when successive attempts to activate the phone have not worked after a few hours have passed. And he also never simply transfers me to any other support person. Instead, he's stayed on the phone with me in conference with AT&T. That level of personal support has been graciously appreciated. However, I hate to say it but the biggest blunder in this whole situation also came from his hand.

Over the past two and a half days since my last post, I've been on the phone a half dozen times and have spoken to a dozen or so people. The good thing is that unlike previous days, I don't have to start at ground zero with support. John from Apple has been with me every step of the way. I've been offered all kinds of crazy explanations as to why Kathy's phone is not working. Truthfully, I don't know if I'll ever have the answer, and frankly, I don't really care. Keep in mind that I started the activation on her iPhone on Sunday and now we're at the close of Wednesday and it still is not active.

So yesterday after we had arrived in Louisiana after driving straight through the night, I was going to take a nap when John called me. Believe it or not, I had also handled some of the troubleshooting while driving. John said that he was certain that my SIM card was bad. He knew I wasn't at home, so he asked for the ZIP code where I was. After telling him, he hung up with me, and began hunting down the closest AT&T store. After discovering one about 15 miles away from where I am, he called the store and said he was going to send in a customer to swap out the SIM card.

Now, I'll admit to you, my faithful reader, that upon hearing this, my spidey-sense began tingling. Like anything of this nature, I've investigated these iPhones pretty well, and I was certain I had read that the SIM cards could not be swapped out. Nevertheless, he's the expert right? So I got in the car, picked up an old friend who lives in the area, and we headed to the AT&T store in Bossier City, Louisiana.

At the AT&T store, they switched the card out with no hassle. Of course, I found it odd that they charged me for the new card--a whopping 2¢.

So, I got home, emailed John that the card was switched out, and then we waited. Kathy got another notice in her email that her phone was now activated (between our two phones, we've received about a dozen of these so far). But we waited and then nothing. I emailed John and let him know. He called me back and got AT&T support on the phone. As I've mentioned, everyone has had a different theory as to the problem, but I think this one fellow from AT&T was probably right: he said we should have never switched the SIM card on the phone. Surprise, surprise (I should always listen to my spidey-sense).

I read to him the number of the new SIM card, but his system wouldn't let him change it. He said this was because only certain SIM cards were to be used in the iPhones. He believed that Kathy's iPhone had not activated simply because Sprint had not yet released the phone number. I reminded him that her iPhone did work for about two hours on Monday. Nevertheless, he said that another department would have to help me--one that had the authorization to change the SIM numbers in the system. We toyed with the idea of my going back to the local AT&T store, but decided against it on the assumption that the SIM card was probably discarded in the trash. The fellow from AT&T gave me a case number (FINALLY--a case number! My problem is official!), and said that he was submitting it to a group working on specific problems. He said the wait was longer (meaning probably that since it was the end of the day they were probably gone and wouldn't be back until after the Fourth of July holiday), but that my case was being handled and everything should be resolved within five days. Five days. That's five days from yesterday which means that by SUNDAY, July 8 at the latest, Kathy's iPhone should be active. So we're back to waiting.

So I didn't expect to hear from anyone today. I mean...it's a national holiday, and although I assume AT&T support was open at some level, the guys who tackle the major problems (such as authenticating a rogue SIM card number) were probably eating hot dogs and tossing horse shoes. So last night I settled in for what I hoped was at least eight hours sleep--after only getting about one and a half hours' sleep the previous night because we were traveling and getting only four hours' sleep each of the two nights before that because I was on hold with tech support. I went to bed about 11 PM and set the alarm clock on my iPhone (mine works, you'll remember, and yes, it even has an alarm clock for travel) for 8 AM. That would be a solid nine hours' sleep. And when the alarm on the iPhone went off, I hit the snooze (it has a snooze feature!) In fact, I slept a good extra hour--all the way till nine o'clock. Then my iPhone rang--not the alarm but an actual call.

Because I've talked to so many people at Apple and AT&T over the last four or five days, evidently I'm now on multiple "check back" lists. I've started getting follow-up calls to see if my problem has been resolved. That was the subject of the call at 9 AM this morning. In a very friendly voice she asked if my issues had been resolved. In a very groggy voice, I told her that they had not been resolved, but I had been given a case number and was promised resolution within five days. She told me that they tell everyone five days, but it's usually much shorter than that. I certainly hope so.

At the end of the conversation, she asked what I've come to realize is the obligatory "Have we resolved your problem and is there anything else I can do for you today?" closing sentence. It seemed a bit out of place under the circumstances. I laughed and said, "Well nothing is resolved, but I appreciate your checking on me." That was understandably the only call I received today since it's a holiday.

Stay tuned. Surely tomorrow...

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Update 7/5 12:01 PM. Starting over? As expected a representative from AT&T called me this morning to see if my phone was now working. According to her, everything was clear on their end of things. After starting the iPhone over a couple of times, she said, "Well it should work. I can't do anything else for you. Let me get you this number so that you can call Apple."

Then the call dropped. It was another one of these situations that I've experienced where my signal will go from five bars to nothing.

To her credit, she called and left a voice mail giving me the number to call Apple. The problem with this is that now I'm essentially starting over with my problem yet again. So while I called Apple, I also emailed John, the representative who had promised to see my problem through. Meanwhile, a representative from Apple came on and I gave him the twenty second version of what was wrong with the phone: the activation process began on Sunday; it was working for about two hours on Monday, and now it can't get service.

Of course because this fellow is new to me, he begins by going through the same old things I've tried with other reps a dozen times before: turning the phone on and off, switching airport mode on and off, etc. He even at one point asked my area code because he wanted to know if there was coverage where I was. I quickly explained to him that I was using another iPhone to talk to him.

He was about to have me redownload the software for the iPhone and completely start the activation process over when I suggested that we should see if the SIM card number is correct, and I explained to him the issue from two days ago when an Apple rep had me go get a new SIM card. He thought that was a good idea, but of course he has no access to that information on his screen and needed to call AT&T. He put me on hold.

Then the call dropped. Unlike John from a few days ago, and unlike the AT&T rep this morning, he made no attempt to contact me although obviously he has access to contact information. If you've read my entire account of this issue, you'll know that this is not the first time this has happened, and I find it totally irresponsible and the complete opposite of any definition of customer service.

So I've emailed John again, but I got a message back that his case load is extraordinarily heavy today due to being gone yesterday for the 4th, but he'll try to get to me when he can.

Meanwhile I'm just waiting. Considering my problems started on Monday, you'd think my case would have some kind of priority. Actually, I've been told by both Apple and AT&T at different times that it did have priority; nevertheless, I'm simply waiting, and I get the feeling I'm waiting back at the starting line...

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Update 7/5 1:54 PM. Attention received, but still waiting. John from Apple has come through once again. He called me stating that he was able to offer some of his lesser account issues to some of his co-workers so that he could concentrate on my issue. Neither he nor I believe there is a problem with the physical phone, but rather in the service on the AT&T side of things. He is running interference for me with AT&T rather than making me do it endlessly waiting on hold and such. Plus he's got much more direct access. I asked him to double-check the SIM card number with AT&T's records. I'm waiting for his call, so hopefully (again) we'll see something resolved very soon.

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Update: 7/5 2:46 PM. iPhone working! I'm a bit gunshy to claim the problem is resolved since we've been down that road. However, I am pleased to report that Kathy's iPhone IS now working. John Clark of Apple got hold of a fellow named Samuel Brown at AT&T and together they solved the problem. Exactly what the nature of that problem was, none of us know for sure. Samuel contacted a number of departments at AT&T and there were some flags on the account such as one stating that the number had not yet been ported (it had). It's possible that these flags were in error but simply causing the system to not allow use of the phone. Who knows?

Samuel was nice enough to give me his personal email at AT&T just as John had done at Apple. I hope that we won't have any more problems with our phones, but if we do, at least I now have direct contacts with both companies.

In appreciation for their help, I sent both John and Samuel iTunes gift cards.

So all's well that ends well, I suppose--assuming that it has, in fact, ended.

There's no need for me to write a full review of the iPhone. Those are out there aplenty. But I will give you a few minor thoughts and reflections tomorrow.

Tags: Apple, iPhone, AT&T