Posted by Shane Becker on
<p>I got an iPhone, finally. The signup/activation process was as seemless as everyone has already talked about. Except for one thing.</p>
<p>I was transferring my T-Mobile number over to AT&T. They have a very simple form to do just that. Great! Except, not. I was getting this error message:</p>
<blockquote><p style="color:#933;">The phone number you entered cannot be transferred. You must uncheck the transfer number option and <strong>clear the information to continue</strong>.</p></blockquote>
<p>There were three problems at play here:</p>
<ol>
<li>They didn't suggest that I contact my carrier or AT&T to see what the problem was or how to resolve it.</li>
<li>They expected me to be fine with abandoning my old number which was totally unacceptable.</li>
<li>They were telling me to uncheck the box <strong>AND</strong> clear out the fields. Seems to me like unchecking the box would indicate they should ignore the fields. Or better yet, clear out the fields for me (but bringing the data back if I recheck it).</li>
</ol>
<p>The whole thing felt very un-Apple like.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/veganstraightedge/2235191267/" title="itunes iphone setup - can't transfer number by veganstraightedge, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2104/2235191267_d2c3dd3857.jpg" alt="itunes iphone setup - can't transfer number"></a></p>
<p>PS. I still have my old phone number: <a href="tel://8018989481">(801) 898-9481</a>*. The problem was that I live in Seattle, but my number is a Salt Lake City one. Which shouldn't matter, but AT&T is apparently dumb. They were telling me that transferring numbers from some areas to certain areas (California to Atlanta was the example she gave) doesn't work. Totally fucking moronic. The fix that Gary and I realized (after I dealt with 'customer service' at both T-Mobile and AT&T for well over an hour) was actually totally simple. I changed my T-Mobile billing address back to Salt Lake City, then continued the process. It worked fine. Well, it still took about 6 hours before it was working. Even then the iPhone could make calls, but the old phone was still receiving them. Which was weird.</p>
<p>* - iPhone readers can click that to call me.</p>