To call the new phone a success would have to be an understatement, and considering the pricing changes in their line it’s clear that Apple is going to become a player very quickly. However, to be fair, news phones like the Samsung Galaxy S II have sold 10 million in their first five months and Samsung is selling other phones, too.

On an even more positive note, Sprint is saying that the iPhone demand is high which only confirms that Apple made the right decision branching out into new carriers.

geek

It would seem to me that anyone that had been an early enough adopter to jump on AT&T’s $30 unlimited bandwidth wagon would be an early adopter in the iPad 2 race, so imagine my surprise at seeing and hearing so many different solutions to the “how to move my service” from the old iPad to the new. Hopefully those of you that do manage to find this will save a step and the frustration of trying to do this yourself.

First:

• DO NOT create a new account on your iPad 2.  You will be moving your existing account to your new iPad.
• DO NOT change the AT&T SIM from your old iPad to your new iPad.

The process is much easier and does not require any technical knowledge:

1. On your old iPad, find your Cellular Data Number.  (Click on Settings > General > About)
2. Write down that number; you will need it when talking with AT&T.
3. Turn off your old iPad.
4. Call AT&T at 800-331-0500.
5. The AT&T automated attendant did not recognize my iPad number; I would recommend doing the following.
6. Press 1 for more options.
7. Press 0 to speak with an attendant.
8. Tell the service representative that you want to be transferred to the iPad department to move your iPad service from an older iPad to a newer iPad (or however you want to word this.)
9. While waiting on hold (took me less than a minute) make sure that your new iPad 2 is powered on and that you have opened the About settings on the new iPad 2.  (Click on Settings > General > About)
10. The AT&T representative will ask you for the ICCID followed by the IMEI.
11. Restart your iPad.
12. Wait about three minutes – AT&T waited on the line with me, and your new iPad 2 should be active with your old account.

At this point your new iPad 2 will be working with your unlimited data account and your old iPad will not have an associated data plan.  You can go through the activation process on your old iPad if you are planning on using it for other purposes, but you will not be eligible for a second unlimited data plan.  Note that in order to complete the registration on AT&T for a second time, you will need an alternate email address.  Make sure that you are prepared and aware that you cannot use the same email address to register multiple iPads of any type.

Hope that perhaps saves you a small amount of time in this easy process.

geek

UPDATE

Special thanks to MITLab for another way to complete the upgrade process (and avoid a call to AT&T in the process.)

1. Connect to http://www.att.com/ipadlanding.  I suspect that you could complete this process on a wireless connection with your iPad, but I would personally recommend using an alternate internet connection.
2. Login with the email address and password you used when setting up your iPad.
3. Click on the Edit Payment Information Link
4. Change the IMEI and ICCID numbers to match the new iPad that you are moving service to.
5. Save your changes.

There is no need to swap the SIM cards and like the phone call the service is transferred over instantly.  This changed does not change the plan type, billing, user info, or days remaining for that month of service.

Thanks again MITLab for another great way to do this!

Additional information can be found on the AT&T site here and of course all the Apple related information can be found here.

~geek

First – the love – the iPhone really is an easy to use and functional device. The real game-changer is the App Store, which seems significantly better than Blackberry’s recently released App World (I am still carrying my Verizon Storm, too) and more complete then what Android has to offer. On the iPhone, when you say “there’s an App for that” you’re generally not kidding. If only the Mac had such great development community. The iPhone is also a nice phone from a design perspective. For me it fits pretty well – not quite thick enough to put between my shoulder and ear, but generally comfortable to use. It also goes well in a pocket without looking like you’re carrying around a small paperback novel.

Next – the hate – and this one is easy, too. AT&T and by association the iPhone has the worst phone service that I could ever have imagined. I’ve had cell phones for a long time, and as a Verizon customer in recent years I’ve become accustomed to treating my cell phone the same way that I would treat a land-line. I just expect it to work. With AT&T… not so much. I have come once more to the point that I am frequently apologizing for being on my cell phone. It’s embarrassing. And it’s not like I live in an unpopulated area – I live in Silicon Valley – a few miles from Apple – something tells me that it must be much, much worse in other areas.

Just my thoughts, but important to know as the next article I have in mind will include which apps are on my iPhone and why.

geek

Yesterday, though, Apple sent their message to the Apple faithful and AT&T haters by asking if their network and phone would allow them to be on a call and simultaneously use the best features of their smartphone. For most, the answer would have to be no. Unfortunately, the part that Apple left out is the simple fact that on the AT&T network that is only possible when you have 3G access and AT&T’s network just isn’t that great when it comes to 3G network coverage. Small omission, but problem. Oh well, that’s not really the point, is it. The truth is nearly irrelevant – people are going to buy the iPhone regardless of whether or not it’s on AT&T or Verizon – even though they might actually prefer Verizon.

You can see Apple’s newest advertisement below – and of course this comes from YouTube where you can also find the other advertisement that delivers basically the exact same message.

~geek