So I Bought An iPhone. It Doesn’t Work. – Natali Del Conte

So I Bought An iPhone. It Doesn’t Work.

Is anyone else in the New York City area experiencing a data outage on their AT&T phone? I certainly hope so because AT&T told me that a city-wide data outage is the reason that my brand new iPhone is not working properly. I can make and receive calls and SMS but I cannot get to my email, maps, or browser. Why does nothing in my life work these days?

I need the mapping function because I have been using mobile mapping to help me figure out New York City. It has been such a huge help and I can’t imagine being without it now.

I am really hoping that there is in fact an outage and that it will start working soon because if it doesn’t, it might just mean that I have some other faulty situation that I have to deal with by spending another hour on the phone with AT&T in order to solve. They were certainly nice enough but I just need something to go smoothly for me this week. Really, anything. My movers have still not even left California so I have at least another 8 days to wait for my delivery. I won’t get started on that rant or I might not stop anytime soon.

Please iPhone, just start being the wonder gadget everyone says you are. I need the universe to throw me a bone. I need my world, delivered.

Update: The network is working now. And no, it wasn’t user error. I called AT&T just to be sure. Finally! Something works for me!

This entry was written by Natali, posted on January 24, 2008 at 9:59 am, filed under Uncategorized. Bookmark the permalink. Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post. Post a comment or leave a trackback: Trackback URL.
  • ChiliMac
    Now I'm having the problem. Apparently we are having weather related outages.
  • Nordy008
    Natali,
    Hello again. I miss textra like crazy. Anyway my iphone did the same thing two months ago. I called apple and they refered me to att. So after three calls to Att and demanding talking to the tech department they fixed it for me over the phone.

    Hope that helps...


    Nordy008
  • jiro
    N, of all the places, the big apple having a data outage.
    that happened to me once,, restarted the phone and it worked again.. The only thing i noticed and disliked since i upgraded to 1.1.3 firmware, the phone gets stuck.,, probly that'll help in your reviews on the 1.1.3 and i cant wait for the SDK to be available for programmers!!!
  • Jeff in NYC
    Every now and again, the network burps and I have trouble collecting eMail on the iPhone. I'm sure all it needed was a bit of time to sort things out and recognize that you're the new person in network.

    The new Google maps is fantastic, even being a local in the city -- well, all my life, you can't know where everything is all the time.
    Now we don't have to look at street signs to give Maps and idea of where we are -- just push the button. Though sometimes mine has put me in the middle of New York Harbor... And don't enter "Starbucks" in the search line while you're in Manhattan unless you want to see a hail of drop-pins come faster down upon you than the Cloverfield monster did upon the city.

    Enjoy your iPhone. I remember you were debating it for some time.

    And by the way, nice digs. Your place looks better than mine unfurnished than mine does furnished. Hope your stuff knocks at your door soon.
  • Hepcat
    Glad the phone is working now and enjoy NYC. A good friend of mine lives way up next to Inwood Park in Manhattan, and every time I go down there I think more about making the move.

    When is the CNET show starting up?
  • Giuseppe
    Nati, I feel so sorry for you, pulled away from home, throw in this big city. No furniture, no data in your I-phone. And in top of all we are having, some frigids temperatures in here.

    But don't worry things will get better. And hey New Yorkers are not as cold as people think we are, ask around New Yorkers we are busy, but if someone stop us in the street and ask for help we stop to help, but just don't make us waste our time, we are always running for something.

    Just enjoy this Big City and look forward for the Spring time and the Sticky Summer, then you will have more fun. and probably you will love this city.

    For now just enjoy the nice Restaurant week, and try to enjoy some Broadway Shows. Enjoy the city with out all the tourist busing around.
  • dale
    Wow, from that photo, you sure have manly hands!
  • Mex
    *Why does nothing in my life work these days?*

    Well, as an astrology guy would tell you (I'm not, but I read about it), it is quite obvious that things do not work properly that have anything to do with "moving". The inner planet Mercury - the one that just got a visitor from earth called 'messenger' - is going backwards (from our point of view, not in real). That means in astrological terms that everything that has something to do with communication, moving parts, travel etc. tend to fail or be out of order for quite some time.

    If you want to know when those bad days occure, you better subscribe to this ical calender for your Mac and iPhone:

    http://www.icalshare.com/article.php?story=2006...

    Hope this works for you!

    Mex, Switzerland
  • Yay working again!!
  • Natali,

    Unfortunately the issues that you experienced were caused by a backhoe in Arizona severing the main fiber optic conduit that gives AT&T's voice and data services to all of the mid west and part of the east coast. I guess a bundle of 186 lines of fiber were cut "on accident". Not a very good day for AT&T or you or myself....for that matter. : (

    Hope you're having a better day,
    BK
  • R.
    lemme try, what's the number again? nah, welcome to NY. always thought you were from here anyway.
  • hai
    Sorry to hear that you are having problems with your new iPhone. I'm actually typing this on my iPhone right now. If the edge network is down try to use your wifi. In big cities with many people living in tight spaces you can get many wifi connections.

    I think the iPhone is not that bad on phone fuctions as my phone before the iPhone had the same short comings with phone operations. I really think its att being lazy all these years and not upgrading there network. If you need a phone and you are a Internet junkie the iPhone can't be beat. Best thing I have bought since my powerbook 12 inch.

    On the moving company problem try to get a
    corporate person on the phone. Better yet call channel 7 on your side. Anything that gets bad press in the news the company in question will
    react right away.

    Good luck with directions in new York. Be old school and use the subway maps. They aren't that bad. New York people are pretty nice. Its just a stereotype that people say they are mean.
  • I feel your pain Natali. I recently built a new gaming computer only to have the motherboard die after a week. Took a month to RMA a replacement. Its certainly frustrating when the new gadgets you're so excited about crap out on you. Especially when everything else just seems to be going wrong. Moving tends to be a stressful experience, even without the compounding problems you've had. I wish you the best and hope everything comes together without any more issues.
  • david
    yes, i had bad data outages yesterday in NYC
  • Natali, you chose poorly I feel :( Nice music player + mediocre phone + crap network = trouble. You already know I only had mine for a week and that was on a great network, it still sucked though and I went through two. Weak rf, data not connecting, blah! I think the people who call it a wonder gadget are just macheads or don't use much more than the basics. Hope you have some luck soon :/ You can't put much stock in AT&T though and especially in a city where the network is so overloaded.

    You deserve some luck though after the week you've had, I feel for you :/

    *hug*
  • MrBlonde
    Looks like you're one unlucky girl. But this is not the end of the world, things allways get eventually solved up, sometimes inexplicably. Now you must just try to survive these first days. You have one of the most amazing cities in the world out there waiting for you to discover it. And you won't get lost, you can't get lost in modern cities! There's the maps in bus and subway stations, the help of the locals... although I suppose newyorkers are not as warm as people from San Francisco.

    Think of the day when you tell to you children (who said children?) about your first days in NYC, and you will laugh about it.

    PS: I was looking up big cities in the States, and I've learned that NYC is exactly ten times bigger than San Fran in size as well as population. I expected American cities to be more populated, but I suppose most of the people live in he outskirts and such. Here in Europe things are different I guess.
  • Terry
    I don't live in the area so I can't give you the answer that you want, Natali. But I do feel your pain.

    There's not much worse than getting a new toy and not having it work. Well, except for not having your furniture and other possessions!

    Maybe your mother should drive the truck herself?

    Hope things improve soon.
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