This was going to be my write-up of the smoothest way to bring two numbers to AT&T when only one of them will be an iPhone. It turns out there IS no smooth way.
My wife and I planned to get each other iPhones for x-mas this year. We were hoping for a hardware rev at MacWorld. It didn’t happen, but both of our phones are literally falling apart (let me tell you how awesome it is to live in a 401 area code without a functioning 0 key!) so we decided to get one iPhone and stretch a free phone for a few months until new hardware arrives.
Apple obviously understood how crappy the buying experience is with the carrier stores and put a lot of effort into going around it. The iTunes based activation is awesome. I didn’t have to stand around for 30 minutes while some teenager runs a credit check on me. I just buy the phone, take it home, and plug it into my computer. This is fantastic if you’re starting over with a new number, on your own, or buying two iPhones at once. But it can’t help you* if you’re porting two numbers but only one is going to be an iPhone.
Great, so now I have to deal directly with AT&T… Le sigh. I figured I’d port my numbers to AT&T and then replace one of them with the iPhone. How hard can it be? This way both my wife and I can switch without an interruption of service. When the phones arrived I followed the instructions to activate them using the phones themselves. This didn’t work. Maybe it’s because of the porting? If so, why aren’t there instructions? Next I called the special activation number from another phone. There’s a problem with their network! I need to speak to a customer service representative. I can’t wait! Many “short” holds later I have two functioning phones. Now to add the iPhone. As anticipated, the itunes portion of this adventure is pretty smooth. One weird point was the creation of an iTunes account. I already have one, do I need another? I’ve chosen the voice plan and got the data add-on. Done!
Except that AT&T won’t recognize the iPhone plan if you’re an existing customer. You have to call them again. So I did, now it works. Was it pleasant? No. Also, the second line doesn’t have data or text even though it would if it was an iPhone. It does share the minutes though. WTF? It’s all bits, why is this so hard?
So, if you can, just start over with a new number. But if you have to bring one with you, it just kind of sucks.
* I think it may be able to do something like add a non-iPhone line. But then that person is in limbo for a few days while the phone for the second line is shipped to you.
