I did in fact get my new iPhone. I guess I left the blog kinda hanging on that…
Let me just say, What a debacle! Getting a new phone should not be so hard! Seriously. That said I am so glad I went thru it. I like being one of the idiots out there “first”. LOL. So after my 3 hour wait the SECOND day I was finally next. I was so sure my activation would be fast. I knew which phone I wanted (8G, I have a brand new iPod Classic that is huge so no need for 16G), I knew I qualified for the upgrade, should be smooth. After another 20 minutes (I know, right?) a “specialist” approached me. We got to work. He fetched the phone, took my info, and entered it into the activation handheld thing. We waited. The result came back fast: “Error. Account does not qualify”
WHAT!?!
So like, he tried to be all sorry and “better luck next time” but I was NOT leaving without an iPhone. I became one of the customers that made the wait so long. I made him call AT&T. After 45 minutes of trouble shooting the account it turns out that there was some corporate discount that we didn’t even know we had that was the issue. Ugh. So we removed it and finally the phone was set up. Phew. So now I had to go back to a real AT&T to figure that out another day. Whatever. I had my iPhone!
One more step. Plug it in and make a call. I did. I called Richard. It didn’t go through. I tried again. No luck. It rang, but went to AT&T operators. Huh. I cringed. I dialed MY number. My old phone rang. Shit! They put the upgrade on the wrong phone! At this point I was politely told by a number of Apple people that I was SOL. It was an AT&T thing. AT&T told me it was an Apple thing. I was screwed!
Finally an AT&T supervisor told me to swap the SIM. After an hour on the phone, of course… But now all is welll and I am a happy boy! LOL
Look at my new Apple product! I call it iGotnothing.
Well kids. I am a little down today. I showed up at my Apple Store bright and early, like a good little Mac-boy. I was expecting the line, since I opted for sleep last night. 8:00 was when I stepped into place. In fact, it all started out really hopeful! The plan, according to the Apple associates was this: 40 people let in at a time, 10-15 minutes each. I was about number 300, but I do exaggerate. Could have been a lot less in front of me. Still, at 15 minutes each group I figured about 2 hours. Seems logical, right? We have been through the lines with Apple before. They usually don’t screw up too bad.
After about 2 hours I really was getting discouraged. I had definitely moved up, but not much. And we had been at a standstill for a really long time. Twitter kept me appraised of the issues as we went. Servers down! Servers up! Servers DOWN! Richard came over with a snack. I finally got to go look at the entire line. Wow. He waited with me for 30 minutes. When it finally looked like I was moving again he took off to get ready for work. I waited, chatted with the gal next to me, and questioned the Apple folk. They were saying all systems were a go! Twitter linked me to more stories that it was bad. iTunes servers were the issue, and folks have been having trouble with iPhone 2.0 updates as well as the Apple Store activation parade…
It was when I was reading about how folks were sent home with NO WORKING phones (after Apple DE-activated old iPhone, but could NOT activate the new one) that a woman came past the line with her 2 new phones and a warning. “Don’t let them activate you here! I have been inside since 8:15 trying to get activated!” I decided screw it. I, like so many before me, left the line. After 3 hours.
I figured dude. 3 hours and I am not even halfway… Plus my current iPhone is working fine. Rocking iPhone 2.0 too! So I can wait. I waited this long… Right?
So I must have a 3G iPhone. That is a given. The original plan was that Richard would take over the old iPhone, I would get a new one. However after viewing the complete WWDC we think it would be best just to get 2 new phones. Ridiculous right? But at only $199 each it’s not so impossible. So we started looking into cost per month. That search led to this:
As with the original iPhone, you’ll have to sign up for a 2-year contract in order to grab an iPhone. The iPhone 3G will have slightly higher data plan prices than the original model: individual users will now pay $30/month for unlimited data [2G plan was $20 per month unlimited]
Erm… Okay so my bill goes up *another* 10 bucks, like last time (I already had a hefty data plan on my SLVR). To add Richard is $30. So now we are looking at a $160 per month for cell phones. Crazy. Even I find that high, what with gas practically at $5 per gallon… So now we are looking at shutting off the land line, which I wouldn’t miss except for the DSL. You see, we never *went* cable. (Remember the “LOG OFF!” commercials?) We are on DSL and shutting of the land line means dealing with initiating cable and new computer network settings and all that drama…
Bah. I will go 3G. Richard will just take my phone. It’s more phone than he needs as is. We will shut off the land line this summer.
How many phone numbers do two old queens need anyhow?
UPDATE: I just found out (I forget where? VentureBeat! That was it...) Anyhoo, there will be NO included SMS messaging in the 3G plan. What’s that mean? Every text costs money unless you sport another 5-10 bucks on top of the 30 per month. *cries*
Because, well, technically I shouldn’t be hiding in my office reading Twitter and FriendFeed updates on my phone… Also waiting all day before I can get home and update my phone is gonna suck as well. *sigh*
How are you toots? I am okay . A bit crazy after my six days of work this week, but what can you do? So here I am in mai cozy bed posting from my phone. It still seems crazy. Blogging from my phone. In bed. I love Apple
So anyhoo, today was fine. It was a normal workday again. Finally. Inventory is OVAH. Thanks ye gawds. Now we can move on to our next major challenge. Srsly. Major challenge. I am tired just thinking about it.
I don’t know who ‘they’ are, but I’d agree with them on this one. Wanna know what I did last night? Really?
Well, after work my man took me out to our new favorite dinner spot Jimmy Carters. W ate waay too much. Great food AND service there! Then we came back home. Richard promptly fell asleep in his recliner. I sat at the computer with every intent of doing something creative. Maybe a podcast, come up with a Lunchtime Poll, something. No such luck. I managed to register for this years NaBloPoMo. (Come on and join me! All you have to do is post every day!)
Then I got lost.
I went to Apple’s official list of 300+ New Features. I read each one, then tried it out or tried to find it. Is that part of my OCD? I mean, to do something like that? OMG. It took hours! But it was a lot of fun, in a geeky way. I really love this latest version of OS X…
That’s right kiddies. We are on the Leopard. I know, right?
So there are so many things I am liking about it. Even a casual user like me will get a lot of use from the new features. I won’t list them here. We have been reading about it for ages… But I do have like, a bit of complaining to get out. I do. I know, I am sorry Steve. But still. That login screen? The “space” look? Embarrassing. I HATE it. I think I already hacked it away too. We’ll see when I reboot. I also am seriously bugging about the Dock. The Dock and I have always had a love hate thing. I loved it centered, zoom on, and clear. Yes, clear. It took a separate hacking app. to do it, but my dock is always clear. Now it looks more like a little stage for a little Barbie band. What, with the lights coming up through it, and the way it lays back. Blech. I hope Unsanity updates that hack sooner than later. Seriously. The see-thru menu bar is not really cute either, but I can live with it.
Otherwise I am pretty thrilled. Things really do seem faster and smoother. I did the upgrade, like I have in the past with no real problems. My Keychain got lost for a bit, but Software Update fixed me right up on that one. Time Machine is ‘backing up’ as we speak. I cannot wait to see that in action! Wee!
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UPDATE: I just found out (I forget where? 
You saw it here first… iPhone Stopwatch Hits 1000 Hours (
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