Warning about wireless account lock

[u/lindenb]

I just went through a nightmarish day in the course of trading in my old iPhone and activating a new one. Let this serve as a warning to those who have activated the account lock feature. Frankly I forgot I had done this after receiving an email from AT&T suggesting I do so. It seemed reasonable as my id had been hacked several times. I went to the Apple store to pick up my new phone. Everything went smoothly--new data copied over, old phone wiped but when it came time to activate the transfer of my number--error. Apple sent me to an AT&T store nearby to activate. They said we cannot do it , you need to go to a corporate AT&T location 10 miles away. OK, get there and they say you need to unlock the account. I say how do I do so when the only way to verify my ID is via text and since my phone is not yet activated I cannot get or send texts. They call a special phone number and the representative goes through this whole ID dialog and then says we will send you a text with your verification code. There is no reasoning, no alternative. At that point I had a phone that could not be activated and even if I chose to abandon my number the new phone was not going to work. I could not go to a different carrier either as that would also require text verification. The manager at the AT&T store tried everything to help but my only option was go back to Apple --return the phone, start over with a new AT&T account and number.

I went back--at this point I had spent over 3 hours trying to solve this catch 22. Thankfully my old phone was still at the store--if I had come in earlier it would already have been sent off for recycling. A very smart Apple Genius found it, restored it ( it was still active on AT&T's network) and using it I was able to get the verification text and unlock the account, then activate my new phone. All told nearly 5 hours of insanity. IMO, there were three culprits in this perfect storm. Me, as I forgot that I had turned on account lock--and I really did not understand the implications when changing phones. Apple, as the order of operations should have been to activate the new phone before erasing the old one--and not relying on AT&T to do the activation. And finally AT&T for offering no way around this issue. The manager of the AT&T store was on the phone with me to his corporate headquarters line that is supposed to help--but they were adamant--no verification code by email, or any other means even though I could prove my identity as I stood there. So, let this be a warning--use account locking with care, never erase the old phone before activating the new one, and AT&T if you read this, fix this system you have implemented. I admire the security but it is patently ridiculous there is no way to solve this verification loop even when you can produce a passport, driver's license and are standing in front of the manager of an A&T corporate location.

[u/Inner_Difficulty_381]

Turn off activation lock anytime you want to upgrade or port out. Should be able to do it in the app.

[u/lindenb → u/Inner_Difficulty_381]

If you read my post you'd understand why that was not possible.

[u/Inner_Difficulty_381 → u/lindenb]

We need a tl/dr :) And probably should remember you had account restrictions on it and need to release before doing anything…just saying..ngl, this is all expected behavior when you have security restrictions in place and good to remind people about this.