iPhone confusion at AT&T

ngpappas (apparently) - 07:21am Jun 29, 2007 PST
via email

I intend to get an iPhone very soon. After the January announcement,
I left Sprint and bought a RAZR on a pre-paid plan from AT&T. I
figured this would allow me to test coverage of their network and
make it easier to migrate to the iPhone since I would already be an
AT&T customer.

The basic network coverage is acceptable for me. Dealing with AT&T is
another matter.

When I got he RAZR it took an hour and a lot of hassle to get my
phone number moved from Sprint to AT&T. It turns out there is only
one department in AT&T that knows the process, and it is unusual.
First I had to open an AT&T account and get assigned a new phone
number. Once that was done, I could move the Sprint number to that
new account. People in sales offices didn't understand this process.

A couple of weeks ago, I started contacting AT&T to figure out what
process I would go to to move from a pre-paid plan to a contract for
my iPhone while retaining my phone number. A person at one of their
800 numbers told me that sales people in the AT&T stores don't like
to migrate numbers, but that I should insist upon doing it.

Last week I dropped by an Apple store and was told that I could buy
my phone from the Apple store, but I could not buy the service there.
I would have to buy it from AT&T. So, I could make one stop at AT&T
for the phone and the service or two stops. Curious.

Today, I walked into an AT&T store and told the sales person what I
would want to do on Friday. He told me it was impossible since I
would need a new account with a new phone number, and there would be
no way too move my phone number. There wasn't a manager around, and I
had to leave for other business. While on the road, I called an AT&T
800 number to learn more. The nice, but untrained and not too bright
person told me that it was impossible to move a number from my
current AT&T phone to an iPhone. I pointed out that there were
Federal mandates guaranteeing portability, and it seemed stupid that
I would be able to move from AT&T to another carrier and then back to
AT&T - keeping my number through both steps, but I could not keep my
number moving within AT&T. At this point I was handed off to a
manager. He actually did some research, and for what it is worth, I
offer it to others. No idea how accurate it is.

First, I was told to convert from my pre-paid plan to an AT&T
contract before getting the iPhone. Then, he said he was looking at
some screen shots of the iTunes-based activation process, and that in
that process there are places where it asks you if you have and AT&T
contract and at that point you can slide the contract over to the
phone.

So, back to the AT&T store where I converted to a contract. In the
process, I learned that the staff had not yet received any training
on the iPhone or its service. They were supposed to get three hours
of training before the phone goes on sale, but as of 2:00 p.m. today
(Wednesday) it had not happened and they didn't know when it was
supposed to happen.

Regarding the activation process, I was told to go through it very
slowly. To read and understand all the questions before answering.
There was a strong sense that you could go down a path that would not
be easy to extricate yourself from.

I am inferring from all this that the Activation Process may be
intelligent enough to save us all from poorly trained sales staff. I
certainly hope so.

Has anybody else learned anything useful?
--
Nick Pappas
Lizzy's Ice Cream LLC
http://www.lizzysicecream.com