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

[dave006]

What does it take to get a damn watch activated. Mine has been stuck on activating for over 13 hours and no one can seem to get it activated. I have turned on and off both phone and watch several times. We have even went as far as removing the watch from my account and re adding it. What's hilarious is when I go into my account under the ATT Unlimited Wearables plan it shows up as an LG 440G.

I have called ATT several times and am amazed at how ill equipped ATT is. I have talked to 15 CSR's today and still have not gotten my issue resolved. At this point I think I just might jet over to Tmobile and return the watch back to ATT.

Double check and see what your myAT&T account shows for a new line with a phone number that you don't already use.

I would suggest that you unpair, deleting the plan from the device along the way and then power cycle both devices and try activating again.

If that does not get you any progress then let us know what iPhone and plan you have on your account. For example do you have an individual line or multiple lines?

And yet again, don't worry about what device is listed on myAT&T it is the plan that matters. You should expect a random device name to be listed until your watch is actually connected to the cellular network. It will knock the network up side the head and say I am an Apple Watch.

Dave

 

[robertne]

Double check and see what your myAT&T account shows for a new line with a phone number that you don't already use.

I would suggest that you unpair, deleting the plan from the device along the way and then power cycle both devices and try activating again.

If that does not get you any progress then let us know what iPhone and plan you have on your account. For example do you have an individual line or multiple lines?

And yet again, don't worry about what device is listed on myAT&T it is the plan that matters. You should expect a random device name to be listed until your watch is actually connected to the cellular network. It will knock the network up side the head and say I am an Apple Watch.

Dave

I've done that. For the line that my apple watch is paired to it shows the LG device. I have done it over the phone with a CSR, unpair, delete the plan and power cycled both devices. Still nothing. The last CSR I talked with transferred me over to a supervisor and I got disconnected because the call center was closed. So I am SOL until the call center opens in a few hours. I have the ATT Multiline Plus Unlimited plan with the ATT Unlimited wearable plan on the Apple watch. Phone number that is on the unlimited wearable plan is the correct one that was assigned to the apple watch.

 

[bruinsrme]

I'm on with AT&T now. We've moved from stuck "Activating..." to the EDS0241 error. Mentioned TORCH to the rep and he's investigating but not familiar with it himself. Does anyone know what TORCH stands for?

EDIT: We've moved on to EDS4007 now.

EDIT: Back to the original error of EAPS360004 saying rate plan incompatibility, followed by EDS0218 "Oops..."

Agent stated the first error says I need mobile share plan or new unlimited (I passed) and second required him to submit a ticket (He did).

Now I wait.

Are you on with technical support or just like an account specialist. It’s a tool the advanced tech support used not sure everyone has access to it.

TORCH is a tech support program. I was told Stores and Level 1 tech support do not have access to it.
Essentially it allows the tech support rep to manually enter the IMEI, EID, bypass the ICC requirement, remove or add associations and override provisions.

 

[HDJulie]

This is a rare case that I suggest that your Mother might new a new SIM card in her phone. First hear me out, there are indeed differences in SIM cards and their capabilities.

You need an AT&T HD Voice SIM card that is UICC-G or higher installed in your smartphone to get AT&T HD voice. To verify that the SIM Card is HD Voice compatible, in the SIM card number look for the digits 27 or higher in the 9th and 10th positions.

You can check or have your Mother check, it can be done without removing the actual SIM. On her iPhone please go to Setup > General > About - scroll down until you see a line with ICCID look for the digits 27 or higher in the 9th and 10th positions.

Dave

Thanks, Dave. She has a 7+ but I don’t remember if we simply put in her old sim when we upgraded her phone last year. I’ll have her check the numbers.

 

[dave006]

I've done that. For the line that my apple watch is paired to it shows the LG device. I have done it over the phone with a CSR, unpair, delete the plan and power cycled both devices. Still nothing. The last CSR I talked with transferred me over to a supervisor and I got disconnected because the call center was closed. So I am SOL until the call center opens in a few hours. I have the ATT Multiline Plus Unlimited plan with the ATT Unlimited wearable plan on the Apple watch. Phone number that is on the unlimited wearable plan is the correct one that was assigned to the apple watch.

Sorry but there are just so many combinations and so many types of errors floating, so I try to get a baseline. Are you using an existing iPhone on your account or are you trying with a new or recently added iPhone? If it is a new phone how did you activate it on AT&T? The reason to ask about your iPhone is to make sure that it is correctly identified and know to the AT&T system.

As you activate the Cellular step, where exactly is it looping or hanging in the setup process?

I am confused by your second sentence, when we talk about "pairing" of devices. Just wanting to reduce confusion: we pair devices and assign a device to a line(phone number) / plan. So just to verify that your iPhone shows up on it's line as the correct iPhone model that you are using to pair with your watch?

The next question I would ask is when you log in to AT&T from your iPhone during the cellular setup, are you are using a numeric id, like a phone number or an alpha letter? Also on your account is your iPhone listed first or is it listed down a long list of devices?

Finally have you received any emails related to the activation of your watch?

Dave

 

[robertne]

Sorry but there are just so many combinations and so many types of errors floating, so I try to get a baseline. Are you using an existing iPhone on your account or are you trying with a new or recently added iPhone? If it is a new phone how did you activate it on AT&T? The reason to ask about your iPhone is to make sure that it is correctly identified and know to the AT&T system.

As you activate the Cellular step, where exactly is it looping or hanging in the setup process?

I am confused by your second sentence, when we talk about "pairing" of devices. Just wanting to reduce confusion: we pair devices and assign a device to a line(phone number) / plan. So just to verify that your iPhone shows up on it's line as the correct iPhone model that you are using to pair with your watch?

The next question I would ask is when you log in to AT&T from your iPhone during the cellular setup, are you are using a numeric id, like a phone number or an alpha letter? Also on your account is your iPhone listed first or is it listed down a long list of devices?

Finally have you received any emails related to the activation of your watch?

Dave

Existing Iphone 7 plus on my account (I'm waiting to order the Iphone X tonight.) When activating the cellular step it goes through the entire process and says it's activated after I verify E-911 info and it gathers the info from ATT. It continues on through the syncing of everything and finish's successfully. When get to the watches "desktop" go into settings / cellular it says plan no sim, status no connection. The phone its self from the my watch app under cellular it says cellular plan AT&T activating with a spinning circle. No matter how many times I reset power cycle or pair and unpair it gets to the same thing where it says activating and never does. When logging into ATT I'm using my account username and password. My phone is not the first listed in the account. No emails in regards to activation at all.

 

[jekim]

So...for those of us who are partially working (calls, iMessage, notifications) but no SMS...do we just need to wait for the system to process or is there still an issue?

 

[conan-kun]

So...for those of us who are partially working (calls, iMessage, notifications) but no SMS...do we just need to wait for the system to process or is there still an issue?

Are we sure SMS works with no phone connected? I was under the impression that SMS did not work at all with no phone. I had no issue with activation and SMS isn't working for me.

 

[dave006]

Thanks for the update. I have a few things to try but first some bad news or maybe good news. We don't preorder the iPhone X to until Oct. 27 not tonight or very early tomorrow morning. Also the iPhone X gets to the first wave on Nov. 3.

First you need to get the activation step to stop. Pick a method, I like power cycling both devices and then disable Wi-Fi on your iPhone, we want to force it to use LTE for the rest of the items. Your iPhone can still connect to your watch via Bluetooth and your iPhone has to be connected via a cellular connection to AT&T.

Next we want to create a brand new id to use for the NumberSync from start to finish. For others following along please dont' try this unless you are in the specific state "spinning circle" for the plan.

Link: https://www.att.com:443/olam/passthroughAction.myworld?actionType=ManageNumberSync

On this page we want to choose the last option in the lower left: "Need an Access ID? Create one today." we are going to setup specific ID to trigger NumberSync and hopefully finish activation. On the next screen enter the phone number for your iPhone not your watch! Next enter the last 4 digits of your IMEI (again from your iPhone) and follow the steps to create a new Access ID that you will use in the next step.

Now from you iPhone Watch app start the setup of cellular again and when you need to enter a ID / password, use the one you just created.

Keep an eye on each step and let is know if it works or what happens next.

Dave
[doublepost=1506434306][/doublepost]

Are we sure SMS works with no phone connected? I was under the impression that SMS did not work at all with no phone. I had no issue with activation and SMS isn't working for me.

No SMS/MMS does not work if your iPhone is off or not available on the AT&T network.

Again for what seems like the 1000th time here is what AT&T says: *SMS/MMS text messaging requires that your synced smartphone must be powered on so SMS/MMS messages may be forwarded to your watch. iMessage must be enabled and your smartphone must be connected to the AT&T network via either a cellular or Wi-Fi connection. If using a Wi-Fi connection, your smartphone must have Wi-Fi calling activated.

Dave

 

[gsmornot]

What I am bummed about is the inability to setup the watch with a phone if the two are on different accounts. Wife has a work phone. I bought her a watch which is currently added to my account. I cannot activate the watch because the phone is not also on my account. Now we either have to forget it or move her work phone to my personal account or talk her work into paying for a watch. None of the options are good in reality.

 

[tasset]

What I am bummed about is the inability to setup the watch with a phone if the two are on different accounts. Wife has a work phone. I bought her a watch which is currently added to my account. I cannot activate the watch because the phone is not also on my account. Now we either have to forget it or move her work phone to my personal account or talk her work into paying for a watch. None of the options are good in reality.

Yes I would think Apple and the carriers are acutely aware (or should have been before launch) that a lot of potential customers who will pay for the service are also on company-controlled business plans, and those companies handing out work phones are many years away from accommodating secondary devices. I would have thought Apple corporate internally even works this way.
So to make this feasible carriers have to allow standalone wearable plans (they in fact already offer this!) and make NumberSync/NumberShare work across accounts. I don't know if it is a technical hurdle at this point or a moneygrab trying to push people to consumer plans.

 

[gsmornot]

Yes I would think Apple and the carriers are acutely aware (or should have been before launch) that a lot of potential customers who will pay for the service are also on company-controlled business plans, and those companies handing out work phones are many years away from accommodating secondary devices. I would have thought Apple corporate internally even works this way.
So to make this feasible carriers have to allow standalone wearable plans (they in fact already offer this!) and make NumberSync/NumberShare work across accounts. I don't know if it is a technical hurdle at this point or a moneygrab trying to push people to consumer plans.

I don't know either. I mean, we are talking about a virtual connection between two numbers why would they both have to be on the same plan. Like needing to be on the same provider to forward a call, I don't get it. Billing even on the same plan is per device so I don't know.

 

[jekim]

"Again for what seems like the 1000th time here is what AT&T says: *SMS/MMS text messaging requires that your synced smartphone must be powered on so SMS/MMS messages may be forwarded to your watch. iMessage must be enabled and your smartphone must be connected to the AT&T network via either a cellular or Wi-Fi connection. If using a Wi-Fi connection, your smartphone must have Wi-Fi calling activated.

Dave"

But for me, SMS/MMS is not working with the phone on and connected to AT&T and I leave my phone at home and go to the store down the street. I get iMessage, Mail, Notifications and calls, just not SMS. Is this something that will eventually work or should I contact technical support.

 

[scmacdaddy]

Made some progress on the phone with att but now Stuck at activating. Any thoughts?

 

[dave006]

But for me, SMS/MMS is not working with the phone on and connected to AT&T and I leave my phone at home and go to the store down the street. I get iMessage, Mail, Notifications and calls, just not SMS. Is this something that will eventually work or should I contact technical support.

Sorry but it will not fix it self by waiting. Did you double check that you meet all the requirements in my post and you still can't send / receive SMS/MMS Txt messages. Quick follow-up question: You can't send or receive SMS/MMS txt messages. You have tried to both send and receive with someone and neither works as confirmed by the other party?

Your might get send errors even when a text you send is actually delivered due to retries.

Dave
[doublepost=1506437585][/doublepost]

Made some progress on the phone with att but now Stuck at activating. Any thoughts?

Please see my post above #534 or wait for an update from @robertne they have / had the same problem.

dave

 

[Scotty_T]

I'm trying Twitter now... I can't bear to call back into CS again today
Will let you know what happens

 

[jtmatchett]

Anyone here order their Apple Watch Series 3 on the 20 month installment deal through AT&T?

I ordered mine via Direct Fulfillment this way... Normally, when you order a device via Direct Fulfillment, you need to call or go online to activate the reserved line and accept terms and conditions. Without doing so, the line never actually activates in the system. I believe my issue lies here... The problem is I get an error and I cannot activate the reserved line via calling in (IVR) or going through the activation website. I believe this is why when attempting to activate the watch through the Apple Watch app it will not work because it does not have an active line to associate it with. Problem now is, how do I get the line out of reserved status that the Watch Installment plan is associated with so I can NumberSync the Watch...

 

[jekim]

Yes i have WiFi calling on. I confirmed with my mother who doesn’t have an iPhone and send fails to her from my watch and the one she sent reached my phone but not the watch.

Under calls on other devices should the watch be there?

Also, I logged into the number sync site you posted and it shows my phone and the watch as a synced wearable.

Thank you for taking the time to help all of us out!

Sorry but it will not fix it self by waiting. Did you double check that you meet all the requirements in my post and you still can't send / receive SMS/MMS Txt messages. Quick follow-up question: You can't send or receive SMS/MMS txt messages. You have tried to both send and receive with someone and neither works as confirmed by the other party?

Your might get send errors even when a text you send is actually delivered due to retries.

Dave
[doublepost=1506437585][/doublepost]Please see my post above #534 or wait for an update from @robertne they have / had the same problem.

dave

b

 

[bsb7140]

"Again for what seems like the 1000th time here is what AT&T says: *SMS/MMS text messaging requires that your synced smartphone must be powered on so SMS/MMS messages may be forwarded to your watch. iMessage must be enabled and your smartphone must be connected to the AT&T network via either a cellular or Wi-Fi connection. If using a Wi-Fi connection, your smartphone must have Wi-Fi calling activated.

Dave"

But for me, SMS/MMS is not working with the phone on and connected to AT&T and I leave my phone at home and go to the store down the street. I get iMessage, Mail, Notifications and calls, just not SMS. Is this something that will eventually work or should I contact technical support.

Still having the same problem, SMS do not work neither do any third party apps. About to head out so will test again today.

Anyone here order their Apple Watch Series 3 on the 20 month installment deal through AT&T?

I ordered mine via Direct Fulfillment this way... Normally, when you order a device via Direct Fulfillment, you need to call or go online to activate the reserved line and accept terms and conditions. Without doing so, the line never actually activates in the system. I believe my issue lies here... The problem is I get an error and I cannot activate the reserved line via calling in (IVR) or going through the activation website. I believe this is why when attempting to activate the watch through the Apple Watch app it will not work because it does not have an active line to associate it with. Problem now is, how do I get the line out of reserved status that the Watch Installment plan is associated with so I can NumberSync the Watch...

Is this reserved line on the same account as your phone, or different? If its not then you need to tell them to just add a new line to the same account your phone is on and just get rid of the other one. They can park the IMEI and EID on the new line. That's what I had them end up doing... the line that was initially created for my watch was not set up properly. They had to delete it and re-add it with a different number and provision it properly.

 

[bmdub]

Anyone here order their Apple Watch Series 3 on the 20 month installment deal through AT&T?

I ordered mine via Direct Fulfillment this way... Normally, when you order a device via Direct Fulfillment, you need to call or go online to activate the reserved line and accept terms and conditions. Without doing so, the line never actually activates in the system. I believe my issue lies here... The problem is I get an error and I cannot activate the reserved line via calling in (IVR) or going through the activation website. I believe this is why when attempting to activate the watch through the Apple Watch app it will not work because it does not have an active line to associate it with. Problem now is, how do I get the line out of reserved status that the Watch Installment plan is associated with so I can NumberSync the Watch...

I ordered mine on the 20 month plan through AT&T. I took the watch out of the box, opened the Apple Watch app, scanned the code, logged into MyAT&T account, and was active. So don't worry about activating the phone number...you don't need to.

 

[bsb7140]

I ordered mine on the 20 month plan through AT&T. I took the watch out of the box, opened the Apple Watch app, scanned the code, logged into MyAT&T account, and was active. So don't worry about activating the phone number...you don't need to.

Exactly, once you add the plan in the app it activates the watch. The line doesn't need to be activated before hand.

 

[HDJulie]

Thanks, Dave. She has a 7+ but I don’t remember if we simply put in her old sim when we upgraded her phone last year. I’ll have her check the numbers.

Her ICCID has 27 as the 9th & 10th digits. The rest of it is similar to what mine has.

 

[montpyt]

was getting the same error apparently they had my iPad as the main device number. as soon as they switched the main device to my phone it worked after a restart

Still no resolution...had AT&T store put each wearable on its own plan. On the phone with Level 2 tech support and the person I am speaking with has never done the watch before. I have mentioned all the things posted, TORCH...provisioning...etc, 1 hour later still working on it.

 

[dave006]

Anyone here order their Apple Watch Series 3 on the 20 month installment deal through AT&T?

I ordered mine via Direct Fulfillment this way... Normally, when you order a device via Direct Fulfillment, you need to call or go online to activate the reserved line and accept terms and conditions. Without doing so, the line never actually activates in the system. I believe my issue lies here... The problem is I get an error and I cannot activate the reserved line via calling in (IVR) or going through the activation website. I believe this is why when attempting to activate the watch through the Apple Watch app it will not work because it does not have an active line to associate it with. Problem now is, how do I get the line out of reserved status that the Watch Installment plan is associated with so I can NumberSync the Watch...

Did you get a chance to see my response to your post on the previous page, here is the direct link.

Link: https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...t-not-supported.2070565/page-21#post-25120426

Dave

 

[bsb7140]

Still no resolution...had AT&T store put each wearable on its own plan. On the phone with Level 2 tech support and the person I am speaking with has never done the watch before. I have mentioned all the things posted, TORCH...provisioning...etc, 1 hour later still working on it.

what a test in patience...