Anyone got a Series 3 working with EE

[H1JJY]

After a number of calls and emails with EE I got from 031 error to 021 error and then late on Saturday night a fully working S3 watch.
I can’t recommend Kayleigh at EE highly enough. Worked hard to get my faults fixed.
With EE if you get some to email you, your normally going to get it sorted (in the end)

 

[mzanker]

So. This is the problem I seem to have:

I can see my watch has mobile data connectivity. It shows on the phone.

I go to check it out and the best thing for me is to switch the phone off.

1. I can make calls without issue
2. I can use SIRI
3. I cannot send text messages.

I spoke to EE, they checked it all out, apparently unassigned and reassigned the e-SIM, still same issue.
I then went to apple store, I showed them I can call and use Siri, no messages (it goes “sending...” and he bar never finishes sending).
They ended up changing my watch, for it to still do the same thing.
There was a guy at the store that also had the same issue.

I don’t know what else to try.
Anybody had the same?

You can only send/receive iMessages (blue messages to other iOS/macOS users) if your iPhone is powered off. To send/receive SMS (and MMS) your iPhone must be powered on and connected to 4G or WiFi.

 

[mariana888]

You can only send/receive iMessages (blue messages to other iOS/macOS users) if your iPhone is powered off. To send/receive SMS (and MMS) your iPhone must be powered on and connected to 4G or WiFi.

Apple Genius Bar doesn’t seem to think that way (they swapped the watch)

So. Should I be able to send messages when I haven’t got my phone if it is on somewhere else?
It doesn’t seem to work either.


I don’t understand though, my watch is connected to 4G, why would it work for making calls and not sending messages. Especially when I have iMessages, using 4G

 

[mzanker]

Apple Genius Bar doesn’t seem to think that way (they swapped the watch)

So. Should I be able to send messages when I haven’t got my phone if it is on somewhere else?
It doesn’t seem to work either.


I don’t understand though, my watch is connected to 4G, why would it work for making calls and not sending messages. Especially when I have iMessages, using 4G

Apple Genius Bar are wrong

Yes, you should be able to send/receive SMS if your phone is on somewhere else (and connected to 4G or WiFi). I have found this to be unreliable on EE - sometimes they send straight away, sometimes it says that they failed (but they still get sent) and sometimes they send after around a minute. I tend to receive them straight away, though.

iMessages are different - they are sent/received over the internet, not via EE's SMS infrastructure, so will work with any data connection (and even if your phone is powered off).

This Apple article explains what you can and can't do with the watch in different situations:

https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT205547

 

[GoFlex]

Cancelled my Virgin Mobile contract ages ago and now thinking of getting EE. My phone constantly runs out of battery so I was hoping that I could use the cellular to send messages and check google maps without phone. My only issue is that, with all the problems stated in this thread, as well as other concerns about EE customer service, I'm not sure if I should?

 

[technoholic]

If you want EE support, post a message on the forum, they will sort it out for you or get someone who can. Kayleigh at EE has spent nearly 2 days solid with me sorting my watch out and it's now working fine. Great service.

 

[chillip]

Cancelled my Virgin Mobile contract ages ago and now thinking of getting EE. My phone constantly runs out of battery so I was hoping that I could use the cellular to send messages and check google maps without phone. My only issue is that, with all the problems stated in this thread, as well as other concerns about EE customer service, I'm not sure if I should?

Erm where do I start. Google maps has never been on Apple Watch and probably never will. Apple maps is though. Teething issues with the watch and EE have now all been sorted.

 

[Nell]

I moved to EE for the watch and it was all very smooth. It took a few days to port my number across (the weekend got on the way) but I activated cellular on the watch as soon as my phone was working with my old number and have had no problems at all.

I usually have a charger and external battery available in case my phone dies (it's a 6S which would probably benefit from a new battery) but having the watch means if my phone does die during the day I can still be contacted. That brings real peace of mind (I look after my elderly mother and need to be contactable in case she has cause to use her pendant alarm).

 

[marmiteturkey]

I registered via the watch app on my phone today 1 was up and running with an EE data plan on a brand new watch within 3 minutes. All seamless here.

Have to say, Reading the comments here, I’m moved to say that I’ve been an EE customer for several years and the service has been very good. 4g is faster and less prone to disruption than my sky fibre home broadband. It’s expensive but far superior to O2 or 3, both of which I’ve also used.

 

[alFR]

Has anyone solved the problem with the "Set Up Mobile Data" button being greyed out and "This account is not ready for use with Apple Watch. Contact your carrier for more information." appearing in the Watch app on the phone > My Watch > Mobile Data? If so, how? 3 calls to EE support now and, though they've been very helpful, no success. So far they've tried:

• Taking the watch EID and IMEI and adding them to their system manually, then getting me to unpair / repair the watch. Result: Watch service plan now appears in My EE, still same message in the Watch app and no way of choosing / activating the plan on the phone.
• Trying a network refresh after adding a marker to my plan that should have marked it as one compatible with the watch, wait 15min for it to propagate through the network, try again. No change.
• Upgrading me to a newer plan as they thought it might be because my plan was quite old so the marker might not take (and discounting the new plan back to the same cost as my original one, full marks for that) and (presumably) adding the same marker: currently about halfway through the 24h they said it might take before this would work (I have no idea why it would take that long?) and no change so far.

Not particularly optimistic at this point...

[edit] - maybe we are getting somewhere - rebooted the phone and now was able to choose plan, currently "activating". We'll see if it goes through OK...

 

[andy2141]

Have to say I hope things improve for me as while initially all seemed well, I've noticed more and more recently that my watch has no service despite being in a good reception area where my phone would typically have excellent signal. I know it's a smaller device with smaller antenna but still...

Kinda defeats the point of having it if it can't pick up a signal most of the time. I'll see how the free six months go. Hopefully a few software updates will help.

 

[paulkerdot]

Have to say I hope things improve for me as while initially all seemed well, I've noticed more and more recently that my watch has no service despite being in a good reception area where my phone would typically have excellent signal. I know it's a smaller device with smaller antenna but still...

Kinda defeats the point of having it if it can't pick up a signal most of the time. I'll see how the free six months go. Hopefully a few software updates will help.

The watch is definitely less sensitive to radio, although I would expect this. What I find annoying though is that is sometimes loses signal altogether when in a good signal area. I need to put it into airplane mode and then back on again. A bit buggy but I love the cellular Apple Watch. Has come in handy a number of times. Using it with AirPods is a great experience.

 

[alFR]

[edit] - maybe we are getting somewhere - rebooted the phone and now was able to choose plan, currently "activating". We'll see if it goes through OK...

And yes, it did start working - a few hours earlier than promised as well. Credit where credit's due, good work by EE overall.

 

[ascender]

As an update to this, the service from EE on my phone seems to ironically have better/more widespread coverage than O2, but less reliable coverage. So much so I’m thinking of going back to O2 or switching to Vodafone. Which will mean losing the LTE capability of the watch, but the benefits of having a more reliable mobile service will outweigh that for me to be honest.

There’s also a fairly large area comprising my house and local villages where the EE coverage (or signal) is very poor, despite what their coverage maps say.

 

[Nell]

I’m finding EE coverage okay (in that it’s at least comparable with Three) but with a fairly slow 4G connection. I’d expected speediness where in fact there is sluggishness. Visual Voicemail though, it’s good to have that back.

 

[ascender]

Yeah, the speed of 4G has been particularly disappointing and sometimes just seems to stop altogether.

 

[Brookzy]

Sorry if this was addressed already somewhere else, but if I register my watch now with EE, will be process of moving to a new iPhone a hassle (ie I have to get in touch with EE directly for them to change things at their end)? I have a 6+ now, but will move to the X or 8+ in November. I would think it should be a straightforward process, but given that the watch is new, I am not sure...

Worst case scenario you'll have to call EE and get them to do it on their end again.

The good news is that process seems to be far quicker now, at least based on my experience today vs. last week.

However I can imagine there being a surge of requests once the X is out so probably best to get in there first.

It is still a while away though so hopefully EE will get their systems working properly by then, though I'm not holding my breath.

Some more news on this...

A new Apple support document shows that you can unpair an Apple Watch without removing its data plan:

For Apple Watch Series 3 (GPS + Cellular), choose to keep or remove your cellular plan.

• If you want to pair your Apple Watch and iPhone again, keep your plan.
• If you don't want to pair your Apple Watch and iPhone again, remove your plan. If you aren't going to pair with a different watch or iPhone, you might need to contact your carrier to cancel your cellular subscription.

Therefore, it should not be necessary to make any changes on EE's end when moving your Apple Watch to an iPhone X.

 

[cvdb1969]

Some more news on this...

A new Apple support document shows that you can unpair an Apple Watch without removing its data plan:

Therefore, it should not be necessary to make any changes on EE's end when moving your Apple Watch to an iPhone X.

Thank you, Brookzy. This should be useful to others as well. In the meantime I decided to get the iPhone 8+, which I bought 2.5 weeks ago. Setting up the watch and the registration with EE a few days later was without any problems.

 

[keeper]

I had issues getting mine connected, advisor knowledge seems a bit patchy.
But one I got connected to the correct team they were great, called me back exactly when they said they would.

To connect I gave them the IMEI and EID numbers.
They had to put me on a known iPhone watch plan which they did without changing my monthly payments.

Once they had that they did the config, from my side, unlinked watch from any old plans, turned off wi-fi on iPhone and reset the network.
Phone rebooted and setup plan within a few minutes.

Overall a bit of a faf to get it working but the guys from EE were very helpful and seem to be understanding the various issues and how to resolve them.

 

[BillGates1969]

For once in my life I was lucky

I took out a new EE contract, popped the SIM in the iPhone, paired my new AW S3 and then activated it in the Watch app. Took about 5 minutes while the app said 'activating' or something like that, then all good. Went for a quick walk to test and works fine.

 

[ttforever]

Stupid question, but does it only work in a 4G area, or will the watch go down to 3G, Edge, GPRS etc? Thanks

 

[Brookzy]

Stupid question, but does it only work in a 4G area, or will the watch go down to 3G, Edge, GPRS etc? Thanks

It only supports 4G in the UK, and won't use 3G, Edge, or GPRS.

This is apparently an EE limitation rather than Apple Watch limitation, because on paper the Watch supports the cellular bands EE uses for 3G, but it isn't supported in practice.

https://www.apple.com/uk/watch/cellular/

"UMTS [i.e. 3G] not supported. Contact your service provider for more details."

 

[ttforever]

Thanks, that's what I thought, although apple "genius" told me different!

It only supports 4G in the UK, and won't use 3G, Edge, or GPRS.

This is apparently an EE limitation rather than Apple Watch limitation, because on paper the Watch supports the cellular bands EE uses for 3G, but it isn't supported in practice.

https://www.apple.com/uk/watch/cellular/

"UMTS [i.e. 3G] not supported. Contact your service provider for more details."

 

[Brookzy]

WatchOS 4.1, released today, seems to include a carrier settings update. It is now 'EE 2.0' - previously it was 'EE 1.0'. I wonder if we will see any connectivity improvements.

(First impressions of LTE Apple Music and the Radio app: exceptional!)

 

[The Game 161]

tried to set my apple watch up today and it came up with a 007 error so rang 150 and a guy called matthew set up up and within an hour my extra EE line was all set up and ready to use.

the whole process of ordering my iphone x and getting set up for my apple watch has been great.