Cannot set up cellular on Series 3: Says AT&T not supported

[dave006]

Sigh... yesterday the reps in the store couldn’t get my watch activated and insisted I purchase a multi-line plan for $40 more a month. When I balked, they suggested I walk across the street (to t-mobile). It was tempting

Are you sure that you were at an AT&T Corporate Retail location and not a Dealer or Authorized Agent?

You can find the nearest Corporate Retail location on att.com.

Dave
[doublepost=1506197234][/doublepost]Have you reviewed this Thread / post: https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...ited-att-plan-ok.2068049/page-4#post-25097226

The key thing to keep asking them to add the "New" AT&T Unlimited Wearable plan for $10 per month. They really only need the EID and IMEI, both of these numbers are on the box the S3 LTE watch came in.

Dave

 

[coolaaron88]

Anyone manage to get their Apple Watch activated with AT&T? It’s been annoying trying to figure out.

 

[Uccle]

Yes! What the hell is wrong with these people? They really just don’t care!

In fairness (ugh, I hate being fair ;-)), the store I went to today (different from yesterday) had reps who were very professional and helpful. The ones downtown yesterday...sheesh! And it wasn’t even busy....

 

[HopeWV]

I got mine activated right away, no little bumps or anything. And yes it was activated on AT&T.

 

[denisej]

This is a long thread so please forgive me if this has been mentioned already but...so much for 14 day trial period.. down to 12 days or less by the time they figure it out...I am so frustrated...

I spent over an hour with 2 Apple reps and an AT&T rep together trying to figure out how to get mine activated with no luck.

 

[Uccle]

Are you sure that you were at an AT&T Corporate Retail location and not a Dealer or Authorized Agent?

Yes, absolutely. We have two corporate stores here and I first went to the one downtown as it is closer. They started off ok but it quickly went downhill when they couldn’t activate the Watch easily and were adamant I had to change my service. When I declined they pointed to the t-mobile store.

Today went to the other AT&T location and they were great. I know which one I’ll be going to in the future...

 

[eww7633]

Great story with this issue.

Chatted AT&T, after 45 minutes, they said I needed to call to get a line added.

So I call, and everything seems to be going well. Except they come back and say “we synced the watch to another line on your account and can’t remove it. You’ll need to go into an AT&T store and get the SIM replaced in the watch and phone, and that phone that we synced it also won’t work at all until you do this”.

Great. Also, I’m not sure they realize (still) that there is no removalable SIM card in the watch. I wish I could navigate the AT&T website to see if I could correct it myself.

 

[JWreck]

Regardless of whose fault it is, I fault BOTH Apple and AT&T. Obviously poor planning. I know things don't go swimmingly 100% every time, but this seems like a big oversight.

Also, with the wifi issue on the Apple Watch...again a very annoying issue that should have been caught prior to launch (but really, those of us that buy launch day devices are the REAL public beta testers).

 

[Uccle]

I wish I could navigate the AT&T website to see if I could correct it myself.

If these problems could be solved solely by using the website a lot of us here would still have a full head of hair

 

[keeponkeepingon917]

Regardless of whose fault it is, I fault BOTH Apple and AT&T. Obviously poor planning. I know things don't go swimmingly 100% every time, but this seems like a big oversight.

Also, with the wifi issue on the Apple Watch...again a very annoying issue that should have been caught prior to launch (but really, those of us that buy launch day devices are the REAL public beta testers).

This is what happens when Apple operates in a culture of secrecy.

The proper thing to do would be to begin carrier training 4 weeks out, however, that would threaten their secrets. Instead, they give the carrier ~10 days to learn about the products and distribute information. This is what we are experiencing.

I’m still in my boat. I can’t activate. I’ve spoken to Apple and att numerous times and I’m told to just keep power cycling.

In my case though, I have yet to see the “activate cellular” options during pairing nor do I get a cellular menu in my watch app.

 

[mizzourah]

I am pretty frustrated. 2.5 hours with an incredibly, what I though, helpful AT&T person who said they had it all figured out and would help me....2.5 hours into this and they cold transferred me to apple. Apple said clearly this was an AT&T issue. Duh. Got nowhere.

My wife thinks I need to exchange the watch...I don't want to go down that route..but that may be what is happening this evening.

I am beyond frustrated.

My wife's LTE watch works now.....we got a number synch AT&T text at 2:30 this afternoon..then her watch was working..so maybe it wasn't number synched before then.

 

[eww7633]

I am pretty frustrated. 2.5 hours with an incredibly, what I though, helpful AT&T person who said they had it all figured out and would help me....2.5 hours into this and they cold transferred me to apple. Apple said clearly this was an AT&T issue. Duh. Got nowhere.

My wife thinks I need to exchange the watch...I don't want to go down that route..but that may be what is happening this evening.

I am beyond frustrated.

My wife's LTE watch works now.....we got a number synch AT&T text at 2:30 this afternoon..then her watch was working..so maybe it wasn't number synched before then.

It’s definitely an AT&T issue. I feel bad for everyone who gets referred to Apple, and all the Apple employees who have to tell everyone it’s AT&T’s fault.

 

[dave006]

Anyone manage to get their Apple Watch activated with AT&T? It’s been annoying trying to figure out.

It was very easy if you had one of the listed Eligible iPhone plans. It works with more than these but the automated system does not always like older plans. Hey even these plans have caused customers issues.

Eligible iPhone plans:

• AT&T Unlimited Plus℠
• AT&T Unlimited Choice℠
• Mobile Share Advantage℠

What plan do you currently have?
What problem are you having?
Have you power cycled your iPhone and the Watch and trying again?

There are a couple of long threads that cover some of the issues with AT&T.

Thread 1: https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...ited-att-plan-ok.2068049/page-4#post-25097226

Thread 2: https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...ries-3-says-at-t-not-supported.2070565/page-9

Dave

 

[Lyons00]

Been on the phone with AT&T for 2 hours, the agent has been trying everything to get me up and running. I was on the grandfathered unlimited plan single user. We have tried everything and the watch can't setup cellular. He is a manger and has tried every workaround that he knows of. Changed to the unlimited plus single user and nothing. He has been talking with a engineer and still can't connect to cellular. I've read through all of these pages and explained to him, what I've read and it doesn't work. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks, Jerry... on hold now

 

[Uccle]

I've read through all of these pages and explained to him, what I've read and it doesn't work. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks, Jerry... on hold now

I’m not sure there is a single solution. That said, it kinda sounds like you and I are in the same boat with a single line new unlimited plan. I spent hours and hours on the phone yesterday and today and never was able to get it to work that way.

Finally I ended up going to the AT&T store. But go to a large one if you can (one where they are likely to have set up other watches). Make sure it is an AT&T corporate store and not some affiliate. I finally found someone who could make it work on the sf peninsula.

 

[WilliamG]

OK I have success. Here is what I did. Last night added the watch to my account. Rec’d the error message like so many have stated. Numerous calls last night and just gave up This morning did online chat asking if I have HD voice. Confirmed I did. Then I said by the way I tried to add a bring my own device line last night are you seeing this? I’m attaching pics to show my success!! Hope this helps!!

Just did that. Things seemed to be going swimmingly (similar to your experience) after the disaster trying to manually add the Watch to my account. And then, nope - disaster. They kept saying I need an ICCID number, which of course the Apple Watch doesn't work. Then the guy is offering to send me a new SIM for the Watch (oy... gevalt...).

Also, they were going to need to do a credit check and can't because I blocked that sort of thing since the Equifax breach.

Just... why... why... why?!

I'm probably going to need a new Watch now, since I can't re-do the order because the order is stuck in this limbo state and my EID and IMEI are now tied up indefinitely. Neither AT&T nor Apple can help.

"Leslie: Thank you very much for all the wait. We've been trying to add your Apple Watch Series 3 on your account and we've been getting an error numerous time and it says that the EID is not currently available for activation and with this being said we need to partner you to our Apple Care Support because we are having issues in adding your line due to EID issue."

For those manually adding your Watch, - it might work, and if it doesn't - you will likely need a new Watch. So BE CAREFUL.

 

[bradbomb]

I picked up my watch this morning from UPS. I ordered directly from Apple. I was able to restore from my Series 2 backup. Cellular setup fine for me on watch with AT&T. I used my AT&T Access ID I already have. I am on the Unlimited Plus plan with 5 iPhones currently on it. It worked well on my bike ride. Was able to make a call and I received texts

 

[denisej]

I just spoke with an AT&T rep at 1-800-331-0500. She said she had been helping customers with this issue today. She added the IMEI and ICCID from my IPhone 8 Plus to their system then added the IMEI and EID from the Apple Watch to their system. I went into the Apple Watch app on the phone selected cellular and went thru the steps to set up and it finally worked!!! So if you can get a representative who knows how to do this they can set the watch up. I was getting this message on ATT.com when I attempted to add the device by selecting... add device>bring your own device:

 

[WilliamG]

There are clearly several issues at play here. Some people's solutions will NOT work for those who already entered the EID/IMEI on AT&T's web site. If you did this, your Watch is likely going to need to be replaced.

 

[Uccle]

For those manually adding your Watch, - it might work, and if it doesn't - you will likely need a new Watch. So BE CAREFUL.

Wow. Maybe I did have to bring back my Watch after all. I did exchange mine today but thought it was probably unnecessary. Good thing the Apple stores have/had a decent supply of watches.

 

[denisej]

There are clearly several issues at play here. Some people's solutions will NOT work for those who already entered the EID/IMEI on AT&T's web site. If you did this, your Watch is likely going to need to be replaced.

I first attempted to enter the EID/IMEI on AT&T's web site and a representative did finally get mine set up. I did not have to replace the watch. YMMV

 

[bradbomb]

There are clearly several issues at play here. Some people's solutions will NOT work for those who already entered the EID/IMEI on AT&T's web site. If you did this, your Watch is likely going to need to be replaced.

I'm just curious as to why a watch would need to be replaced if they entered their EID IMEI info on AT&T's website?

 

[drew0020]

I just paired my 42mm Hermes watch with AT&T. I ended up changing my plan to Unlimited Plus and it worked immediately.

 

[dave006]

There are clearly several issues at play here. Some people's solutions will NOT work for those who already entered the EID/IMEI on AT&T's web site. If you did this, your Watch is likely going to need to be replaced.

Correct lots of different problems here due to the may different configurations being tried.

In your case, your EID / IMEI are already tied to a BYOD activation that is waiting for a manual "Review". 2 ways to proceed: wait until Monday after 9 AM or get a store or phone rep to go in and remove your BYOD line of if they have the skills push it through the manual Workflow step.

Dave
[doublepost=1506205508][/doublepost]

I'm just curious as to why a watch would need to be replaced if they entered their EID IMEI info on AT&T's website?

It is not needed but may be the fastest way around finding and making the correct fix. Remember we are only talking about a $10 a month plan. From a business value, not much value to spend much time working on the real problem vs offer a new SIM (can't happen since the LTE watch uses an eSIM) or have the customer exchange the watch to get a new EID / IMEI.

Dave

 

[Lyons00]

I just paired my 42mm Hermes watch with AT&T. I ended up changing my plan to Unlimited Plus and it worked immediately.

Are you on the single line plan, with unlimited plus? AT&T tried that and it didn't work, they said it has to be a shared plan.
Thanks