I wouldn’t be surprised if AT&T had people on the other end hand processing orders for one part of the activation process. We have a tendency to think that there is software at every point in along the process these days, and that is just not the case.
Activation Issues
Not only am I one of the million+ people who pre-ordered the iPhone 4S, but it appears I am also one of the many people having an activation issue with AT&T. So far, reports are that AT&T servers are having trouble processing all of the activation requests.
Sounds like some server admins are having a teaching moment.
Jeremy Zilar is the Blog Specialist at The New York Times.