• by Wendy Davis , Staff Writer @wendyndavis, July 6, 2007

It hasn't been the best week for AT&T. First, the company -- the exclusive wireless carrier for Apple's new iPhone -- wasn't able to activate service for some of the device's purchasers. Since Apple designed the iPhone so that the music, video and Web services only work after the phone has been activated, those buyers were left with useless "iBricks" until AT&T could fix the glitch.

AT&T eventually got people set up, but now faces another problem: "DVD Jon," the same software guru who figured out how to defeat DVD copying restrictions, also came up with a way to activate the iPhone's music, video and WiFi services without going through AT&T.

As with his other workarounds, Jon Lech Johansen made the information publicly available, in this case in the July 3 post, "iPhone Independence Day," on his blog, "So Sue Me." The technique appears to work, according to today's Wall Street Journal. The paper tracked down at least one user, Jean Sebastien, in Paris (where no wireless companies are providing iPhone service), who was able to use the workaround to browse the Web and use the phone's iPod features.

Sebastien isn't alone, at least going by some of the blog posts on the issue. What's driving people to turn to this workaround clearly isn't thriftiness; after all, these are the same users who shelled out up to $600 for a new gadget. Instead, it seems that these users simply resent being forced to deal with AT&T, either out of principle, or for more practical reasons, such as the set-up glitches that occurred over the weekend, or the company's relatively slow mobile Web network, or sometimes spotty reception.

Some observers have already predicted that Apple and/or AT&T will update its software to defeat this workaround. Of course, even if that happens, DVD Jon and others will figure out -- and post -- ways to get around the new software. Ultimately, the only long-term fix is going to come from giving consumers the mobile service options they want.