Verizon Wireless deals with iPhone pre-order hiccups

AT&T Mobility (T) must be on a predictable high this morning following reports of iPhone pre-ordering snafus at Verizon Wireless (VZ). Of course, AT&T has had problems with every single one of its iPhone launches. But it must be glad to see its largest competitor feel some of that iPhone pain, as it were.
Some, if not all, of these problems have been caused by Apple Inc.’s (AAPL) inability to handle crushing demand for iPhones every time a new one launches, but it’s the carriers that deal with most of the wrath. For the first time, Verizon Wireless today is bearing some of the brunt of those complaints.
When iPhone pre-orders for existing Verizon Wireless customers opened up today at 3 a.m. (EST), reports started coming in about slow page loads and error messages. Later in the morning, RCR Wireless News was able to go through the ordering process and got as far as the payment processing page without running into any problems. However, some customers have reported problems with order confirmations after going through that final step.
“Things are going well,” Verizon Wireless spokeswoman Brenda Raney wrote to RCR Wireless News. “Most customers have been able to place their orders with no problems. We are aware of a small percentage of customers who have received error messages. The issues tend to be account specific not systems driven and in all cases we are working with customers to get their orders placed.”
Last week, Verizon Wireless insisted that its iPhone launch would be “flawless.” It appears the carrier may have been overly confident to some extent, at least so far as the ordering process goes.
“We are not going to have any flaws on the execution of the iPhone launch,” Fran Shammo, president and CEO of Verizon’s telecom and business unit, said last week. “We’ve been preparing the network for the last year anticipating the launch of the iPhone.”
Only time will tell if these early problems were unique to the pre-ordering process for existing customers. Six days from now, Verizon Wireless and Apple will face an entirely new test when orders are opened up online and across all retail stores.