From: Justin
[mailto:justin@hush.cc]
Sent: Thursday, August 09, 2007 10:46 PM
To: dave@farber.net
Subject: AT&T holds iPhone & number hostage
Hi Dave,
For IP, if interesting. Folks that have prepaid iPhone
AT&T accounts, who need to get a replacement iPhone for whatever reason,
are put in the tenuous position of either a) paying AT&T for the
"privilege" of moving to a normal postpaid account, then being
indentured to continue paying for 2 years, or b) losing their investment
in the iPhone, or losing their phone number. For those of us that have been
able to keep their same number for many years, this has pretty dire business
consequences.
Regards,
- Justin D.
---------------
This
starts out on July 1st, when I picked up an iPhone from my local (NYC) Apple
Store. Went back to the office, and activated it. Right off the bat, I'm
offered the choice of going to an AT&T Store to pony up a deposit, or
choose a prepaid plan. My credit is not the best, and while if I had to guess,
my deposit wouldn't be more than $300 (based on experiences with other
carriers), I didn't know how well AT&T's service would fare here in New
York City. So, I chose a prepaid plan.
After a
day of not being able to receive calls while my number was being ported over,
and another two days after that not being able to send or receive text messages
from anyone but AT&T subscribers, my iPhone was fully working.
Albeit
with a pop-up message informing me of my balance after doing anything that used
airtime, but that's a story for another day.
A few
weeks later, and I notice that there are these large, bright white swaths
developing on the screen. They took up the top 1/3rd of the screen, and would
get brighter the more I used the iPhone (the longer the screen was on). So like
any picky consumer, I headed down to the Apple Store to get it replaced.
Sure
enough, after 14 days, you can't have it replaced in-store. They treat it like
a computer rather than an iPod, which for most cases you can get an in-store
swap past 14 days.
I inform
the Genius that the iPhone isn't a computer at all, as it resembles the
functions of an iPod in every way except for the fact that it makes calls. The
Genius would have none of this, and insisted that my iPhone would have to be
sent in for repair. I stand by my statement that the iPhone, in its current
incarnation, is not a computer whatsoever, but that also is a story for another
day.
The
Genius takes my iPhone, wraps it delicately in its cardboard coffin, and offers
me a loaner iPhone. (Protip: the loaner iPhones apparently have a different
build of "mobile OS X" than regular iPhones.) I take the loaner
iPhone, and go on my merry way.
Fast
forward a week or so. I go to check the status of my repair. To my surprise,
Apple's repair status page says that it has been delivered back to me!
"But wherever could it be," I wonder. Clicking the tracking link
leads me to a FedEx page that informs me yes, my repaired iPhone has been
delivered... to someone in Louisiana. If you don't recall from earlier, I'm in
New York. And no, my N's dont look like L's nor do my Y's look like A's.
Besides, the paperwork from the Genius that sent out my iPhone has *printed*
information, and it does indeed say that my shipping address is in New York.
Thank goodness for that new-fangled laser printing technology, eh?
Anyway,
after a day or two on the phone with Apple, I get a call from a very helpful
gentleman at Apple Corporate, who apologizes for the situation and decides to
just send me a brand new iPhone. Not too shabby.
I
received the new iPhone yesterday. After erasing the loaner iPhone, I pop my
SIM card into the new iPhone, and am greeted by the "Activate iPhone"
screen. So I plug it into my MacBook Pro. iTunes pops up the screen,
"Activating your new iPhone. Please enter your AT&T Wireless number,
zip code, last 4 of your social." I follow my master's instructions, but
after "verifying" my information, I'm informed that AT&T is
"sorry, but your current account cannot be used with the iPhone."
Huh. I
was already using two iPhones with this account - my original one, and the
loaner one. So I try again, and again and again. Old SIM, new SIM, no
difference.
I grab
the office phone, and give AT&T a call. Cutting a long story short, I'm
informed that I "cannot use the new iPhone with my prepaid account."
So I call Apple. By the height of this Apple call, I'm on the line with one
iPhone technician and two AT&T technicians at the same time. Helpful folks
all around. But we just couldn't get the iPhone onto my prepaid account. We all
decide that it might be best to head over to the Apple Store to try another
iPhone, to eliminate bad hardware as the culprit. I get my Apple case number
and the Apple tech's direct phone number. Total phone time: 4 hours.
Head over
to my Apple Store, 10:10pm appointment. The Genius pops open a brand new
iPhone, I put my SIMs in, and the same result - error messages. Genius informs
me that they've "had nothing but trouble with prepaid accounts, if you
were on a postpaid account it would work like (snaps fingers) *that*." I
thank him for his time, and head home. Ticked.
This
afternoon, after trying unsuccessfully to contact the same Apple tech, I decide
to call AT&T. After talking to and getting bounced around 14 or so
different people (most at AT&T, a few at Apple), total phone time 3 hours,
here's the verdict, given to me from AT&T technicians and managers on high:
If you
activated an iPhone with a new AT&T prepaid plan, you *must* keep using
that iPhone. You *cannot* replace that iPhone with another iPhone. The only way
to use a new iPhone with your prepaid account, is to *create a new account with
a new phone number,* and have them move your balance over. Period. Apparently
this is a "security feature" and the system was "designed that
way," specifically for prepaid iPhone plans. (Based on the number of
people at AT&T that either were, or were not, aware of this, I can surmise
that their internal communication is dreadful.)
This is a
"security feature" despite the fact that the *helpful* AT&T techs
were able to, and did, change all IMEI numbers, make sure the proper SIM ID
number was on my account, basically checked every last detail of my account to
make sure that it would recognize this new iPhone. But, no dice. Nutshelled,
it's all related to that first step where your iPhone is at the Activate
screen, and it then requires communication with iTunes, which in turn
communicates with AT&T, to really activate.
So if you
have a prepaid account and you lose your iPhone, break it, have it stolen,
anything that would mean getting a replacement iPhone, it cannot be used on
your prepaid account. At all.
This
poses quite a problem: I need to keep my number. I've had my number for at
least 8 years, and I rely on my phone for *all* business and personal matters.
Losing my number is not an option. If I want to use my iPhone with my phone
number, I have to switch from a prepaid account to a normal postpaid
postpaid account, by paying whatever my required deposit would be,
simultaneously getting locked into a 2-year contract.
This
situation allows me to state very simply: AT&T is holding my iPhone, and
phone number, hostage. For me to use my iPhone with my phone number would
require me to pay anywhere from $100 to $1000 dollars and be contractually obligated
to continue paying AT&T for 2 years.
My other
choice? Ditch my iPhone, pop my SIM into a regular GSM handset, and have them
remove the add'l iPhone-specific items from my prepaid plan. Which is what I'm
doing until I can figure out what to do. I have 13 days to decide (Apple's
return period), because beyond that point, I can't argue that the new iPhone I
received from Apple Dispatch qualifies as an item I can return to the Apple
Store for a refund, even if I have to eat a restocking fee.
Whelp, that's
the story. If nothing else, I hope this serves as fair warning to anyone
looking to purchase an iPhone while they're AT&T-only devices. Especially
if you think you're doing yourself a favor by choosing that no-contract prepaid
plan they may offer you.