Testing out direct posting to the site from the iPhone via Flickr, seems to be working, though photos are automatically scaling down to 640×480. [and line-breaks need to be cleaned up afterwards]

I’ve been seeing an issue with Apple Mail affecting several iPhone users on a several different of hosts:

• With a POP account, Apple’s Mail.app will ask for the password repeatedly, refuse the correct password and fail to collect any mail.
• With IMAP, the account seems to stall and does not necessarily update state or download new messages. Desktop IMAP behavior is particularly erratic.

In both cases, the iPhone continues to work just fine. The problems mostly affects users who’ve set their iPhone to Auto-Check for mail to something other than Manual. The following lines appear in the Desktop’s console.log almost immediately after setting the iPhone to auto-check for mail:

2007-07-05 15:33:17.190 Mail[21242] Unhandled response to command SELECT: * NO  Trying to get mailbox lock from process 28292
2007-07-05 15:34:24.098 Mail[21242] Unhandled response to command SELECT: * NO  Trying to get mailbox lock from process 29790
2007-07-05 15:36:14.917 Mail[21242] Unhandled response to command SELECT: * NO  Trying to get mailbox lock from process 31080

Those entries seem to indicate that the IMAP server is sending a response that Apple Mail doesn’t know what to do with.

A thread on the MacRumors forums claimed this was a multiple connections issue with the mail server, but I think I’ve conclusively debunked that, at least for IMAP.

To test the multiple connection theory, I set up Thunderbird on two other physical machines, one Mac and a Dell running Ubuntu, then set up my account using the default IMAP settings. I also opened my account in Horde webmail and hit reload a lot. Despite those simultaneous connections, Apple Mail seemed to be fine and messages were getting delivered. The little progress indicator was, however, still sitting there next to the account name, not spinning.

So now I can break Apple Mail just by turning on Auto-Check in iPhone’s Settings->Mail. Manual checking from the iPhone doesn’t cause any problems. So far I’m only seeing this on shared hosts running the Courier mail server.

IMAP is inconsistent about when it breaks, maybe relating related to server load issue. POP will break every time: If I check my email on a POP account with the iPhone, Apple Mail will immediately ask for and then refuse the password for that account.

An IMAP workaround

Installing IMAP-IDLE, pretty much fixes the problems with IMAP. I’ve had this running for several hours and the iPhone checking every 15 minutes, and things seem to be working smoothly. IMAP errors still appear in console.log but mail is getting through. I’m going to install this on a few other machines tomorrow and see what happens.

Not sure what to do about POP, but then we’re migrating everyone over to IMAP anyway.

I should trust myself more. The solution turned out to be exactly what I thought it was; choosing “replace existing phone with this iPhone.” The words are from memory and I hope to never see those activation screens again. It was either that or laying myself prostrate at the feet of Fake Steve Jobs.

After 67 hours, all eight of the iPhones I know of are finally working.

AT&T wasn’t ready. Getting all our phones activated took an absurd amount of time and effort. Giving AT&T some credit, the people they have answering the phones are very good, even if they weren’t given all the tools they needed to really help. Also, considering the overwhelming number of problems, AT&T pulled off a miracle getting so many resolved by Monday. (Small percentage of users my butt)

The iPhone itself is astonishing. This is truly a transformative device.

Ugh. Apparently my account was set up correctly — everywhere but here. I was just told that number has transferred and the account is set up correctly. Except that my iPhone has no idea it’s connected to anything.

Cathy in Jackson was the first person I’ve talked to who really seemed to get this thing on it’s way to working. I’m now fully escalated, forms have been filled out and I’ve been instructed to cycle power on the phone regularly for the next few hours. And she’s going to call me back later today.

I’m feeling like this might finally be straightened out today.

If I had any advice, I’d say to call the main AT&T number, 877-419-4500, and ask to be escalated to the iPhone fallout number. Yes, “fallout.” Have them verify that the SIM card is working correctly, and go from there.

At this point I’d try animal sacrifice if there was the slightest chance it would work.

The saddest part? This is sort of an improvement for me.

The AT&T Port Administration department gets to work at 7:30am. Maybe it’ll actually happen today.

After 30 minutes on hold with the iPhone Activation Line (877-800-3701), which beats the 60 minutes they predicted, my initial iPhone activation attempt has been cancelled. It only took 53 hours to get this far.

The woman on the phone, who sounded exhausted, was reluctant to cancel the request, but once learning it was possible I insisted. Based on everything else I’ve done with technology, this mess was well past the point of needing a reboot.

Einstein’s definition of insanity:

Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

The full story is that I called the standard AT&T service number, (877-419-4500) and finally got someone who could tell me what was going on. The higher-ups must have finally given them something to work with. My account had been flagged as “needs more info” and I would have to call another number to follow up. The other number was the iPhone Activation Line, which she transferred me to.

Engadget’s iPhone activation poll shows just under 50% had a smooth activation. Nearly 40% were also locked out of doing anything with their phones.

Thanks to the equally suffering Charles Gordon at CrazyGadgetGuru.com for the link.

I’m pressing publish on this post and re-starting my activation. Deep breath…

An hour later… Yeah, as if. So the port hasn’t cancelled yet, or something. Whatever it is, iTunes can’t activate me. My Verizon phone still works, sort of. I can call but incoming calls go straight to voicemail, SMS still works both ways. iPhone’s still a brick. Silly me for getting hopeful.

Something to try when I’m home and have a dependable connection:

iPhone activation tip
Apparently the secret to getting your iPhone activated as soon as possible is to leave it plugged into your computer and connected to iTunes until activation is complete. A support person from AT&T told me that the their system works by going through a queue and pinging every unactivated phone in turn to activate them. If the system can’t see your phone, you lose your place in the queue and have to wait for the next time.

I’m still doubtful, but it can’t hurt to try.