IPad Post Office Box and Credit Card Issue

As a bit of a “first adopter” when it comes to technology I stood in line on Friday to buy a 3G Ipad. There are lots of reasons, but professionally the aspect I am most excited about is being able to call up real time data and maps when out with clients looking at properties. There are lots of communities in the Carmel, Pebble Beach, and Carmel Valley area and often I set out with new clients to look at homes for sale and over the course of the first hour together we revise the criteria based on what they have seen and head off in a different direction. Having the IPad with me will allow me to call up showing instructions, photos, etc. on the fly as we tour.

So, Why the reference to post office boxes in the title? We don’t have street addresses in Carmel and it turns out that AT&T requires a physical billing address in order to activate the 3G phone. There are thousands of folks right now not able to activate the 3G because of this requirement.

This post is aimed at those frustrated souls who are searching the internet for an answer:

When you enter a Post Office Box in “billing address” for AT&T it will “kick you out” and tell you that PO Boxes are not allowed.

Several of us called our credit card companies and changed our “billing address” to our physical address in hopes of making it work. Still we were kicked off, even though the physical address is correct.

This is what appears to be happening:

1. The credit card fraud system is checking the zipcode you entered against the zipcode for your credit card.

2. AT&T is checking YOUR ADDRESS against the US Postal Service database of addresses.

So. If you live somewhere like Carmel and change your credit card info to your legitimate Physical address thinking that will work, it will but ONLY if your physical address is in the USPS database. My address for example, 3SW Santa Fe and 3rd is a real “physical address” which is what AT&T says they want, but it isn’t in the USPS database so they don’t accept it.

Therefore:

1. Make sure the zipcode you enter in the IPAD screen matches your credit card billing zipcode. AND

2. Make sure the physical address is one that the USPS accepts. You can confirm the existence of an address at http://zip4.usps.com/zip4/welcome.jsp

3. In the case of Carmel-by-the-Sea there are NO USPS addresses in 93921, ALL of the 93921 zip is PO Boxes and therefore not acceptable to AT&T.

4. So, I had to pick an address in the nearby zipcode of 93923, change my billing zip code with AMEX and then enter the 93923 address for AT&T. I will now change it back to the real billing address.

I hope this helps everyone else in the same predicament.

Cheers,

Malone

PS. AT&Ts’ explanation is that they need a physical address so they know what city/state etc to send a portion of the taxes they collect.