How many techs does it take to activate an iPhone?

I still was on the conference call with the friendly customer representative and a tech specialist trying to figure out why my iPhone would not activate. At this point we were approaching the 30 minute mark.

After verifying there was no service outage in my area the tech decided that the next thing to do was reseat the SIM card. They had me there. I'd never done anything of the sort before, being of the opinion that probing too deeply into the bowels of any FCC approved electronic device would promptly void the warranty and possibly start it transmitting a secret electronic signal to the Department of Homeland Security.

They assured me it wasn't difficult. All I needed to do was press the wire of a paper clip into the tiny hole along the top edge of my shiny new iPhone and the SIM card would pop out. Another hurdle and I wondered if there actually was a paper clip in my house. There certainly wasn't one in the box my iPhone came in. They waited patiently for me to procure my SIM card extraction device.

Surprisingly, there was a paper clip in the kitchen drawer but it was the large size and the wire wouldn't fit in the tiny hole. I learned that standard wooden tooth picks are too big and the wire inside a wire tie is small enough but too flimsy. The tech sagely advised me that I would need something "more substantial."

They continued waiting patiently as I rummaged around in the garage. I knocked over a garbage can. ("No. No, that wasn't the iPhone") I found a wire braid of the sort used to hang pictures and established that wouldn't work either. Maybe upstairs? Yes, there on the dresser was my salvation, a safety pin. I returned to the table, pressed the point of the pin into the tiny hole and yes, the SIM card did pop out. What looked like a piece of paper fluttered a bit as it dropped to the floor. It seemed unharmed. I carefully placed back in its holder and reseated the SIM.

We repeated the power up sequence. "Searching... Searching..." No service.

They decided the next thing to try was to take the iPhone down to bare metal and reinstall the operating system. I obediently followed their instructions and soon iTunes was dowloading a fresh copy of the iPhone operating system from its mysterious hiding place on the net. I responded with confident ease to the now familiar iTunes prompts (was that another credit check? I think so. Ah, well.)

It looked like we had reached a turning point. The iPhone happily chirped as it booted up and again we held our collective breath. "Searching... Searching..." No service. Ok, now I am scared.

The Apple tech decided this must be an AT&T problem and remarkably within just a few minutes managed to arrange for a nice lady from AT&T to join the three of us on the call. More later.