Source: Tom's Guide | Keywords: iphone, 3g, review | Themes: Smartphones
- 3. A First-Gen iPhone Owner’s Update Nightmare
- 4. More on this topic
3. A First-Gen iPhone Owner’s Update Nightmare
By Barry Gerber
[Update: 1:10 pm 7/11/2008]: Finally!!! I disconnected my iPhone from and reconnected it to my PC for what seemed like the millionth time. And, I finally got through to the iPhone store where the phone was re-activated. iTunes then offered to update the phone from a previous sync. I hesitated a bit, fearing that OS 1.1.4 would be reinstalled. But that didn’t happen. The phone is up and running with all my settings and data in place and all the new capabilities. Whew!
I‘m trying to upgrade to iPhone OS 2.0. Apparently, so are thousands of others. After the upgrade "finished", my PC was unable to connect to Apple’s iTunes store, which is where new and upgraded iPhones are verifed and activated or re-activated. The site is overloaded. So, I’m sitting here like many others looking at the screen below.
Many of those others are on hold after calling Apple support. They’re also on numerous forums trying to find out what’s wrong. The problem exists with both Windows Vista and XP and Mac OS. And, yes, I installed iTunes 7.7.0.43 before attempting the upgrade.
What’s really annoying is that iTunes won’t retry connecting to the Store. You have to unplug your iPhone from the USB cable and replug it before it will try again. And, all I can do on the iPhone is to make an emergency call.
Also, during the upgrade, I was told the back up of my data and settings had failed and if I continued, I would lose everything on the phone. That’s pretty easy to recover from, but still a pain in the neck, so I continued, but what’s with the failed backup? That never happened with hundreds of syncs under iPhone OS 1.
Now I’m hearing from our staff that both the Apple stores and AT&T are sending people home to activate their 3Gs. So, that means new purchasers are joining the up to 6 million original iPhone owners in competition for the narrow bandwidth into Apple’s online iTunes Store. Also, one member of our staff reports that her sales person had to try 10 times to even input her plan into is handheld sales gizmo.
I tried to do the unofficial, unsupported update to 2.0 last night and the whole thing failed miserably and scarily. I was able to get my phone, data and settings working again, but it was another pain. That problem may have arisen because I was using Windows. Everyone I talked to who use Mac OS had no problems.
Last night was my fault. This morning is Apple’s fault. The company has never been a big player in networking, which is why they have a tough time getting into serious IT shops. I’m surprised that Apple’s networking naïvité apparently extends to it’s own IT operations. This isn’t a good way to start off the OS 2.0 regime!
Perhaps Apple should have released the 3G on 9/11 instead of 7/11.
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It's not just new phone activation that buggered up... I've tried periodically to get the 2.0 Firmware update for my Touch, but without success.
It looks like the Apple store is not dealing with the load very well - maybe they should be running Windows Servers. ;-P
I'm glad none of this insanity is bothering me - happy pocket pc user since 2004, and lovin it!
wow both you previous commenters are retarded theres no way any pc product could ever come close to apple. you know why there are problems? because the iphone is so dope that so many people are trying to get them that it can't all be processed all at once. i have never seen any kind of hype like this for a pc product, not only that but they have way more problems in the long run
wow both you previous commenters are retarded theres no way any pc product could ever come close to apple.
They don't need to, Apple comes to them. Anyone remember the Leopard BSOD fiasco?
"FamilyTalk plans that share minutes between an iPhone 3G and another phone are not possible".
You can have an iPhone and any other phone (GSM) on an AT&T Family Plan and share minutes. I have been on this exact plan for over a year and I'm now on it for another 2 yrs.
This is nothing new, remember Mozilla with their download day? They should've prepared for the clusterf***k their servers were going to get, but of course they didn't. Now Apple is doing the same thing. (d'oh)
"FamilyTalk plans that share minutes between an iPhone 3G and another phone are not possible".You can have an iPhone and any other phone (GSM) on an AT&T Family Plan and share minutes. I have been on this exact plan for over a year and I'm now on it for another 2 yrs.
Hi Offcamber,
Thanks for your comment. Can you clarify whether you have an iPhone or an iPhone 3G? First-gen iPhones aren't limited to the new iPhone AT&T plans, so those phones, as long as they pay for data, can share minutes with an existing family plan. The iPhone 3G cannot. Has this been your experience?
Rachel Rosmarin, Editor of Tom's Guide
"YAAAAA..WOOOOO!...APPLE APPLE APPLE!..sorry we are having difficulties"
One of the most lamest releases I have ever heard. And before anybody starts going apple on me, it should not matter to the customer whether apple or at&t is at fault. Still a bad experience.
We wait till the next shipment ..
wow both you previous commenters are retarded theres no way any pc product could ever come close to apple. you know why there are problems? because the iphone is so dope that so many people are trying to get them that it can't all be processed all at once. i have never seen any kind of hype like this for a pc product, not only that but they have way more problems in the long run
Wow you are an idiot Apple fanboy/Isheep. The misconception that Mac has less problems and errors than Windows is totally fake and is a lie of marketing. Add to this the fact that all of my respect for Apple has gone out of the window thanks to their stubborn support of a device's appearance rather than its performance makes me want to SCREAM. I am a long time lover of the Macbook Pro, but I want throw up everytime I see a Macbook Air!! You sir as well as apple have created one hell of an epic fail. That said I will be getting an Apple Iphone 3G later, and it will most likely be my last Apple product.
The sad part about this is leaving a carrier (Sprint) with the second best voice coverage/reliability and the best and fastet data coverage in the country, to go to ATT who is a distant third in both. In addition, you will now be paying more per month to AT&T for this worse network. Though I love the Iphone, I would much rather spend a hell of a lot less on a Sprint Instinct and a Simply Everything plan, then be forced on to the AT&T network. I have used both devices and depending on the features you use, I would rate them about equal.
pcsucksdick
"wow both you previous commenters are retarded theres no way any pc product could ever come close to apple. you know why there are problems? because the iphone is so dope that so many people are trying to get them that it can't all be processed all at once. i have never seen any kind of hype like this for a pc product, not only that but they have way more problems in the long run"
Win95 sold more units in 1 hour than the iphone has sold in a year. Same with the wii, PS3, 360 etc... and no problems activating accounts the days those came out. I guess Apple really can't do things better than a PC. Oops!!!
Unfortunately, I think the Apple employee led you in the wrong direction about a 3G iPhone on a family plan with non-iPhones. I have a friend that has a 3G iPhone and is part of a family plan with other non-iPhones. I also went to an ATT store and inquired about this and they said it's quite possible to have a 3G iPhone with other phones. Go back and demand you be changed for no charge!!!!
Unfortunately, I think the Apple employee led you in the wrong direction about a 3G iPhone on a family plan with non-iPhones. I have a friend that has a 3G iPhone and is part of a family plan with other non-iPhones. I also went to an ATT store and inquired about this and they said it's quite possible to have a 3G iPhone with other phones. Go back and demand you be changed for no charge!!!!
Unfortunately, I think the Apple employee led you in the wrong direction about a 3G iPhone on a family plan with non-iPhones. I have a friend that has a 3G iPhone and is part of a family plan with other non-iPhones. I also went to an ATT store and inquired about this and they said it's quite possible to have a 3G iPhone with other phones. Go back and demand you be changed for no charge!!!!