"New something that starts with a P day?" Right you are - you are getting the lingo down quite nicely. The P stands for "phone"... well, it should be "iP" for iPhone (NiPD?). Since we switched our carriers to Visible, this seemed like a good time to upgrade my phone, so I can take advantage of "Nation-wide 5G Coverage" (in small print: where available - and it isn't available in many places, yet.)
Oh, there are some other upgrades, like the cameras and processor. But, Joan's iPhone 8 it getting long in the tooth. We discussed her getting a new phone, but she said she'd rather have my current iPhone 11 Pro and I could go for the new model... since I do a lot of photos and video. But now, she doesn't have to rely on my phone as a hotspot, since Visible only allows one device on a hotspot... but her coverage includes a hotspot, so she will not have to depend on me being there when we're out and about; she now has her own hotspot.
The iPhone 14 Pro arrived yesterday. Ordered on Friday, "next day delivery free"... and here it is on Monday. Still faster than what I was quoted for the delivery time on Visible's website. No advantage to ordering from them, other than the fact that getting the same phone from Apple would take 4 weeks.
We had to sign for the delivery. The FedEx guy was quite taken with Rufus, as he stood in the doorway beside Joan. "Can I pet him?"
"Sure, he's a very social boy."
I brought in the box, opened it, and checked out the phone. It is pretty: silver finish, and not a fingerprint anywhere... I almost felt bad about touching it.
Visible had all 4 colors in stock. Since my phone has been known to get quite hot when out on my motorcycle, I decided to go for silver instead of black. Not that it matters, because it will have a case on it... when the case gets here. Joan also ordered a new case for what will be her new phone.
I plugged in the phone to make sure it had a full charge. Uploaded the most current operating system. And then, putting the phones next to each other to start the transfer process...
The phone told me, "This will take about 45 minutes." We'll see. One minute away from finishing, and...
All that was left: transfer the eSIM to the new phone. That didn't go so well. It did not transfer using their info, so I got on a chat with a Visible rep. He tried a couple things, and that didn't work, either. So, I was "moved up to a specialist" who supposedly can do the change from their end and will let me know by email that the switch is complete. "In a couple hours."
This is a known issue with Visible, so not unexpected. I just thought they might have it fixed by now. Getting on their Community chat, there are iPhone 14 Pro owners who aren't happy with how long the fix is taking, and a couple who never got the problem resolved. Which would be crappy, to get a new phone that you bought from this company and they can't connect it. So, waiting...
Never got the e-mail from Visible, so I went after it myself while getting back in the que with Visible "Customer Care." The guy I got didn't have any notes on the issue I was dealing with, so it was like starting over. And speaking of "starting over," he had me reset my phone to factory specs... meaning all the data, apps, etc went bye-bye. Then, he wanted me to load just the Visible app, and put everything else off... meaning I would have to manually reload apps, and download photos, etc, from iCloud. I nicely explained where he could put this phone.
He sent me a QR code to load a new eSIM... after I dumped any sign of an eSIM that was already on the phone. Three times. I started working on this at 5:00 pm (after spending an hour transferring data)... I finished up with most of the info back on my phone, an actual working phone, text enabled, and data. Around 10:30 pm. So, a win. After a long, frustrating wade through what Visible says "is an Apple software issue." I'm not aware of anyone other than Visible having these issues.
Going through it all on the phone, it doesn't want to let me do "wifi calling" on this phone... it says, "Contact Visible"... that shit ain't gonna happen tonight.
So, this morning, I got on Visible's chat once again, and the "robot" that starts the chat always asks what the issue is. It told me to check to make sure I had the latest version of Visible on the phone... 40.0. I have 53.0. It's a bigger number, so I assume that it is the latest version; the phone didn't tell me to update. Shut the phone off again, turned it back on, and now wifi calling is able to be turned on. It is helpful here because our Verizon signal is one bar at the house.
I will check through other stuff on the phone at my leisure. I remember back in the good ol' days, when getting a new phone meant "usually something smaller"... as phones have become "more capable," updating phones has become an ordeal... and usually with some lost data (such as photos) and having to re-input every password. So, other than the phone not wanting to be a phone, and spending hours on the Visible chat to get that resolved, the transfer of photos, contacts, passwords, etc seems to have happened. Of course, I had to do that transfer twice yesterday, so I'm getting good at it. Maybe that will help me in getting Joan's phone switched next? In a couple days.
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Pairing my Apple Watch. I had to go through the procedure several times to get the new phone to recognize my nearly ancient Apple Watch. I think it is in the pairing process right now, but it is taking more time than I expected. The phone finally gave me the "Apple Watch is Syncing" message. Joan said, "You need a new watch." I like my watch. Yes, it is an old version, but it does what I need: tells time, taps me on the wrist when using the phone to navigate, gives me local weather at a glance on the watch face, and has a bunch of apps I use, like working as a shutter release for the camera on my phone. Or checking the tide.
Looks like the pairing has finally completed. Joan equated it with: "Using an 8-track tape player to try to update the modern navigation system in the car." Funny.
I have ordered a Quad Lock phone case for this phone, since it is infinitesimally larger than my previous phone. Just enough that the old case won't work. And I am set up to use that Quad Lock feature on my bike, motorcycle, in the car, and on a tripod mount. Not sure when the new case will come in (it was ordered right after I placed my order for the phone); coming directly from Quad Lock. In the meantime, this new phone is slippery. It feels like it is going to squirt right out of my hand. Not unusual, as my previous iPhones felt the same... until I got a case on them. Yes, another first world problem.
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