Anyone got a Series 3 working with EE

[Brookzy]

So you can receive over WiFi but not make calls? Because @mzanker is having cellular issues at home right and they can receive calls when on WiFi but not make any.

I guess if that’s the case at least on WiFi it will save battery and still receive calls

Honestly I don't know for sure, and there isn't any documentation from what I can see.

However I've been thinking about this based on the following observation:

If you take your Watch outside it takes a good 15 seconds or so to go from being connected to your iPhone to being on cellular (with the red X in the meantime).

But if you go somewhere where it will connect to Wi-Fi instead, and then do something that requires cellular (e.g. making a call), the switch-on of the cellular connection seems much, much quicker than 15 seconds.

It's as if the Watch goes into a sort of low power state where it will maintain just enough of a connection to receive incoming connections, and then in theory when you do something that requires full power cellular (e.g. make a call) it will jack up the connection.

The issue that @mzanker is seeing seems to me to be related to the handoff issue that has still not been fixed and that the WSJ reviewer experienced - that the Watch clings onto Wi-Fi and won't activate cellular when needed, e.g. when making calls, but will activate cellular correctly when receiving a call.
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That's why I can't make calls on WiFi - because the watch won't connect to EE in this location. Interesting that I can receive them purely on WiFi, though...

When you receive the calls, are they crystal clear or do they break up and drop? Sounds like the handoff bug to me as I mentioned in my last post a moment ago.

 

[mzanker]

Incidentally, does anybody know if Field Test on the iPhone can show the TAC ID? I can see my current and neighbouring cell IDs (and their LTE bands) but it would be useful to see the TAC ID to see if this is a TAC-wide problem that I'm experiencing. It would be useful information to give to EE when they call me back on Monday.

 

[slayer1551]

Honestly I don't know for sure, and there isn't any documentation from what I can see.

However I've been thinking about this based on the following observation:

If you take your Watch outside it takes a good 15 seconds or so to go from being connected to your iPhone to being on cellular (with the red X in the meantime).

But if you go somewhere where it will connect to Wi-Fi instead, and then do something that requires cellular (e.g. making a call), the switch-on of the cellular connection seems much, much quicker than 15 seconds.

It's as if the Watch goes into a sort of low power state where it will maintain just enough of a connection to receive incoming connections, and then in theory when you do something that requires full power cellular (e.g. make a call) it will jack up the connection.

The issue that @mzanker is seeing seems to me to be related to the handoff issue that has still not been fixed and that the WSJ reviewer experienced - that the Watch clings onto Wi-Fi and won't activate cellular when needed, e.g. when making calls, but will activate cellular correctly when receiving a call.
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When you receive the calls, are they crystal clear or do they break up and drop? Sounds like the handoff bug to me as I mentioned in my last post a moment ago.

Ok that makes sense and if that’s the case then my friends issue might be a dud antenna or eSim since it just refuses to connect when mine does. I was thinking of a way to test the Wifi Calling definitively since the watch will only connect on 4G if I found a spot that’s 3G only and connect my watch to a hotspot with my phone off and see if I can receive calls.

 

[Brookzy]

Ok that makes sense and if that’s the case then my friends issue might be a dud antenna or eSim since it just refuses to connect when mine does. I was thinking of a way to test the Wifi Calling definitively since the watch will only connect on 4G if I found a spot that’s 3G only and connect my watch to a hotspot with my phone off and see if I can receive calls.

Or just disable cellular on the Watch while on Wi-Fi and try to make a call?

(Or am I missing something...)

 

[slayer1551]

Or just disable cellular on the Watch while on Wi-Fi and try to make a call?

(Or am I missing something...)

Your right it wouldn’t make or receive a call so it must connect to WiFi and use a low power mode to stay connected to a cell tower for receiving and making calls

 

[mzanker]

I don’t know if this helps but I turned my phone off and had steady connection all the way to the M1

We drove out towards this route this morning and all the way I was sticking the watch in and out of airplane mode but it still wouldn't connect. When we got to Chapel Brampton it finally picked up a 4-dot signal. What's more, it kept connected to the network all the way back home and now works fine at home

It will be interesting to see what happens next time I come back from Milton Keynes because that was when it broke the other day and yesterday. I'm wondering whether it might be some sort of handover issue in EE's network.

I did lose connection when we went into Sainsbury's and it wouldn't reconnect when we came out until I toggled airplane mode but that is something that Apple will no doubt fix in software updates.

 

[nortonandreev]

I'm so disappointed with EE. Still can't get the LTE to work.

 

[angusmcfisher]

I have managed to get wifi calling on EE. Turning my phone off completely still allows me to make and receive calls..

I initially had problems which seems to be as a result of having my old Apple Watch paired too, but unpairing it and then unpairing the new one and re-pairing fixed the issue.

It does take a minute or so to latch onto wifi calling (call failed happens) but this is true of the phone also.

It doesn't appear in the watch app, but appears in Settings > Phone.

Hope this helps? Any questions feel free to ask

 

[chillip]

Sorry to hijack the thread but does anyone have this issue with their Watch where the edge of the screen looks like it has a backlight bleed effect? This is my LTE, which works great. Thanks

 

[mzanker]

Sorry to hijack the thread but does anyone have this issue with their Watch where the edge of the screen looks like it has a backlight bleed effect? This is my LTE, which works great. Thanks

Not EE or UK-specific so you'll get more chance of a range of answers starting your own thread. But no, mine doesn't do this.

 

[slayer1551]

I have managed to get wifi calling on EE. Turning my phone off completely still allows me to make and receive calls..

I initially had problems which seems to be as a result of having my old Apple Watch paired too, but unpairing it and then unpairing the new one and re-pairing fixed the issue.

It does take a minute or so to latch onto wifi calling (call failed happens) but this is true of the phone also.

It doesn't appear in the watch app, but appears in Settings > Phone.

Hope this helps? Any questions feel free to ask

Did you disable cellular on the watch?

 

[angusmcfisher]

Did you disable cellular on the watch?

Nope. But it will always default to WiFi before cellular, and I could see by both going onto the explorer watch face and control centre that it was using WiFi

 

[Brookzy]

Nope. But it will always default to WiFi before cellular, and I could see by both going onto the explorer watch face and control centre that it was using WiFi

Read the thread?

Cellular is being used.

 

[mzanker]

Read the thread?

Cellular is being used.

Actually I think you are both right. Now that I'm getting a cellular connection at home on the watch I tried doing this. I put the iPhone in airplane mode, confirmed the watch was on WiFi, and made a note of the IP address allocated to it. I then made a call and used tcpdump to monitor the network traffic from the watch. I saw lots of IPSec traffic to an IP address owned by EE - WiFi calling uses an IPSec tunnel.

I then disabled LTE on the watch and tried again. The call failed immediately every time. So it looks like it needs LTE to help set up the call but then uses WiFi calling after that.

 

[Brookzy]

Actually I think you are both right. Now that I'm getting a cellular connection at home on the watch I tried doing this. I put the iPhone in airplane mode, confirmed the watch was on WiFi, and made a note of the IP address allocated to it. I then made a call and used tcpdump to monitor the network traffic from the watch. I saw lots of IPSec traffic to an IP address owned by EE - WiFi calling uses an IPSec tunnel.

I then disabled LTE on the watch and tried again. The call failed immediately every time. So it looks like it needs LTE to help set up the call but then uses WiFi calling after that.

What happens if you cut the Wi-Fi mid-call?

 

[mzanker]

What happens if you cut the Wi-Fi mid-call?

The call drops and shows Failed on the watch.

 

[Brookzy]

The call drops and shows Failed on the watch.

I see. Is it definitely a proper call and not FaceTime Audio or something?

 

[mzanker]

I see. Is it definitely a proper call and not FaceTime Audio or something?

Yup, call to our landline.

 

[The Game 161]

so should i stay away from cellular for the time being then with EE? sounds like nothing but problems.

 

[mzanker]

so should i stay away from cellular for the time being then with EE? sounds like nothing but problems.

Well, it appears to be working for most people in this thread now. Recent activations seem to be working better than those who tried to activate on day 1, so you may well be OK.
There are bound to be teething troubles both with EE's network and Apple's software for a while but I expect it to improve as time goes on.

 

[The Game 161]

Well, it appears to be working for most people in this thread now. Recent activations seem to be working better than those who tried to activate on day 1, so you may well be OK.
There are bound to be teething troubles both with EE's network and Apple's software for a while but I expect it to improve as time goes on.

I’m close to pulling the trigger and ordering from very.co.uk for the space black stainless steel version and joining EE for the iphone x so will use it as normal until LTE access is available.

Has there been more issues for those who bought the watch through 3rd party than just through EE?

 

[danmart]

Has there been more issues for those who bought the watch through 3rd party than just through EE?

Where you bought the Watch from doesn’t seem to be a factor, but whether or not you are a new EE customer does seem to complicate things.

I bought my watch from Apple but have been an EE customer form years; had no problems signing up. Other people have moved to EE and bought the watch directly from them and then had issues.

Hopefully it should be well-sorted in the near future (if not already). I think we are primarily seeing teething trouble, which is disappointing but should at least be temporary.

 

[mzanker]

Where you bought the Watch from doesn’t seem to be a factor, but whether or not you are a new EE customer does seem to complicate things.

I bought my watch from Apple but have been an EE customer form years; had no problems signing up. Other people have moved to EE and bought the watch directly from them and then had issues.

I'm a fairly new EE customer (3 months) on a SIM-only plan and have used my SIM in a number of different phones (Android and iPhone). Also ported in a number recently. Even so, signing up from the watch app went fine and it activated the data plan in around 5 minutes.

 

[danmart]

@Brookzy I see in another thread that you have two S3 LTE. Out of interest are they both paired to the same phone?

 

[Brookzy]

@Brookzy I see in another thread that you have two S3 LTE. Out of interest are they both paired to the same phone?

Yes they are, but at the moment only one has a cellular plan until EE gets their act together. I’m getting error 007 (ineligible for another line) when trying to add the second. I emailed the credit department over the weekend but I’m not chasing it other than that.