Smartphone Activation EZ my Azz!

Well, the ole Samsung Note 4 began biting the dust last week, so I placed an order for a replacement phone thru the insurance plan.  This process took over 1.5 hours on the internet, after chatting with 1-800 India with AT&T and then the 1-800 Philippines with the insurance carrier.

The phone arrives with two day delivery.  Time to run through the process of moving from the Note 4 to a Galaxy S7.  With today's technology this should be a piece of cake!  I look at the new phone.  The back doesn't come off. What the heck????  I compare the simm cards and the newest one is smaller!  Oh boy, I can tell this is gonna be fun!

I do an internet search, to find that you push a provided pin into a whole and that pops our the bracket that holds the smaller simm card and the sd card.  Got it!  In they go!

Next, I do the Google backup from the cloud, from the old phone to the new phone.  After that was successful, I did the AT&T data transfer.  So far all my contacts and applications have made it over.  Winner!  Winner! Chicken dinner!

Time to activate the simm card with AT&T.  An internet search gets me to the right place, click I go!  Whoops!  AT&T does not recognize the phone as a new purchase.  Now you click the transfer to activate an insurance replacement phone.  Okee Dokee.  I get to the screen that asks you what phone you are replacing.  PROBLEM!  Internet link tells me to call 1-800-AT&T.  I get Joe the Plumber!  American English speaking dude, awesome!!!

Joe the plumber and I go through all the hoops, then he says, "you now need to restart both phones" for me to activate the new simm card.  WHAT????  Dude how are we gonna finish this????  Joe the Plumber tells me "you should have called in from a third phone".  You gotta be kidding me......

I finally ask Joe the Plumber if I can finish this process at a retail store.  Joe says "absolutely!"  Off I go to AT&T retail store.  So much for technology.  So much for 1-800 AT&T!  I get to the retail store, and explain my situation.  The salesman had the biggest grin on his face and says "no problem!"  He then proceeds to take the old bigger simm card out of the old phone, place it in a cutter machine,  chop chop!  He then inserts the newly sliced older simm card into the new phone, and says "all done!"  I'll be dang!  All that technology still hasn't replaced a Ronco Vegimatic veggie chopper!!!!!

Finally!  two hours later, I am back in business with a new working cell phone!  But wait!  I now need a new tempered glass and Otter box too!  It never ends.......