For example I can buy a (dot)Mac membership but I cannot buy from their store software, hardware or apple care. I can buy from iTunes since most of our credit cards are linked to banks in the States.

Veronica, good luck.

“Even if they do, there is NO reason to do a very big search on the net about something to prove you can trust these people.”

should read:

“…there is NO reason _NOT_ to do a very big search….”

As far as ATT/Apple, I wouldn’t trust a salesperson or customer service rep if my life depended on it. I worked in retail FAR to long and witnessed MANY things wrong with the whole idea of retail sales and marketing. I treat retail sales people, car sales people, and insurance sales people all the same. They DON’T KNOW what they are talking about. Even if they do, there is NO reason to do a very big search on the net about something to prove you can trust these people. Honesty is the LAST thing 99% of retail sales people will practice on the job, mostly not by choice because if they don’t they’d lose their job!

And to be quite honest, technically neither Apple nor ATT lied in this case, because the iPhone DOES work in PR, you just need a US address to get a number.

Hope the new gig is going well for you

FOR TEH HORDE!!!1!

Here there be an explanation of hacking it in Windows (yuck!; Spanish only, sorry!): http://www.tecnetico.com/content.asp?contentid=1333&contenttypeid=15

I was (and at the same time wasn’t) shocked when I heard the news that the iPhone wasn’t going to be available here in Puerto Rico. Why did it shock me? Well, I’m a Mac user; an addict, to be correct. I was hoping that I could at least see the iPhone here near launch dates, so hearing that it wasn’t going to be available was heartbreaking.

I read about it on the local newspaper. It was the president of AT&T in Puerto Rico, José Juan Dávila, who said “both AT&T and Apple hope to make it available to our clients in Puerto Rico in a close future” (or something like that, my translation skills aren’t up-to-par today). This was published in the June 15th edition of El Nuevo Día (“The New Day”; http://www.endi.com). Not much has been said since then. In fact, nothing has been said!

But, as Jacob previously said, some people have had the iPhone activated elsewhere (meaning in the USA) and have the gadgets up and running here in the island. I haven’t been lucky enough as to catch a glimpse at one, but some of my friends have had the luck. All three of my friends have seen the iPhone in various parts of the island (up to a count of five, if I’m not mistaken), working perfectly. A friend of mine actually played with one and said that the EDGE connection was actually “okay”, “not that bad”.

I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s not AT&T that’s been holding onto the sales of the iPhone, it’s been Apple. Seeing as we don’t have any Apple Stores in the island nor can get any service from the online Apple Store directly, this might be the thing. We only have resellers (a handful of small indie stores, our three local CompUSA retail stores and, starting a few weeks ago, Office Max is in the list of Apple Certified Resellers), so maybe that’s why it’s on hold. Hopefully, this will push Apple to make an Apple Store in the island.

I don’t think anything I’ve said makes sense… pardon me if it doesn’t. I am really tired right now. =P

Raúl

@Glugory: I disagree with the notion that this is Apple’s fault. Apple isn’t tasked with making the phone work on the network. It was my experience during my 5-hour debacle acquiring my iPhone that, at best, you’re going to get a guess from Apple, and I doubt they made assurances that it would work. I suppose it’s possible, but I think it’s unlikely. AT&T, on the other hand, is an extremely awful company, and it’s no surprise at all that they lied (as they’ve done to me on countless occasions over the last month) to get a new account. The absolute ONLY reason I am with them is because of the iPhone – you want it, you have to go where the action is, unfortunately.

I have a cousin down in Puerto Rico, and what he’s done is register the phone to a US address (mine), and get a number from where I live (NYC). So he’s got a New York City number, and a New York City Billing Address and Apple/AT&T has no problem with it. What I’ve heard is that the area codes for Puerto Rico (787, 939) and the US Virgin Islands (314) have been “blocked” from being activated. So when you enter the existing line number, or a Puerto Rico billing address, it refuses to activate.

In regards to hacking, the only thing I can think of is using an American address, but then he won’t have his area code, and people calling him might suffer long distance charges if calling from a non-national plan (though most of the plans offered by the major cell carriers are national plans).

Also, my cousin reports that it works just fine in Puerto Rico and that he loves it. Me, I’m waiting for Rev. 2

Jacob