Ok, so I ordered it from amazon.com and it arrived yesterday. After I opened it, inserted the SIM, powered it on, and waited for a long, long time, I got... nothing. I was supposed to get a message on the phone indicating what my AT&T Wireless phone number would be.
So I called tech support. The phone jockey asked if I had power-cycled it. Yes, I had. "Did you remove the battery?" Nope, but Ok, I'll do that. Nothing. "Ok sir, let me transfer you to someone who is qualified to help you." Ok.
After a brief second explanation... "Yes, have you turned it off?" No, how would that help? "When we activate the phones they must be off. I guess they somehow get the signal when they are off." WTF? How do you even respond to that. Ok, I said. "Then wait 45minutes or up to 24 hours." With it off? "Yes." Then if it does not work? "Bring it in to an AT&T Wireless store." While on the phone he asked me for all my identifying info... Name, SSN etc. Turns out that their system doesn't even list me as a subscriber. Maybe Amazon hasn't got the paperwork over to AT&T yet? Nah, that can't be it... their an IT company. Surely they did this electronically, ie. instantaneously.
After some swift googling this morning, I found the troubleshooting FAQ for the SMT-5600 on AT&T's site, a review on ePinions, a How-To Add A Podcast to your SMT-5600. A coworker found the AT&T magic to activate your phone though... (** Enter). Still this did not work).
In the meantime, my phone has said variably "No service" or "searching...", interspersed with error messages that it cannot connect. My guess is that the phone has been attempting the ** on its own to activate the phone, but AT&T doesn't know who the hell I am yet. Sigh. Why can't technology be easy?