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

[Luba]

Do you have your own Access ID or just a User Id? I would suggest that you swing by this link and create an ID specifically for completing the NumberSync during activation. Please note that you need to use your iPhone phone number and the last 4 digits of your iPhone's IMEI. If it says your iPhone is already assigned to another Access ID, use the second link to find the Access that owns your iPhone. Use the links in the gray box on the left.

Link: https://www.att.com/my/#/welcome?or...ughAction.myworld?actionType?ManageNumberSync

Link 2 https://www.att.com/olam/passthroughAction.myworld?actionType=ManageNumberSync:

I wasn't sure whether I had an Access ID or User ID so I went to the first link. The first link then text me a 4-digit code to "complete your mobile validation." After getting the text I was then suddenly worried of screwing things up badly by inadvertently creating two Access ID accounts, so I went ahead to the second link to see if I could login. I was able to login but I don't know if it was with an Access ID or a User ID. After "connecting" my iPhone with AW in order to pair it, the Watch app asked if I wanted to setup cellular. I decided to go for it . . . it worked! I'm now setup with cellular done completely through the Watch app (didn't need to call AT&T), does that mean I indeed do have an Access ID? Since I'm setup with cellular is that proof I have an Access ID and not a User ID?

 

[unbound spiral]

I had this error. While my Sim had been upgraded the phone that AT&T had listed was still an iPhone 5s that I was trying to link it to. This error is corrected when AT&T puts in the right Information for your Latest iPhone. Get them to fix the phone listing. Then it can accept the package.

@dave006

I gave the rep the above instruction and this released another package to the phone. But before that....

• If you get the HDVoice error I think that relates to an out of date IMEI associated with an earlier iPhone. I noted this problem on page 25 I think above.
• Today.... after some tech had days ago added a Sim for my Apple Watch I learned that while I had a cellular connection it would not accept incoming calls on cellular. This means it's the same as the watch is dead re battery and the calls always go to iPhone.
• The tech updated the IMEI to the watch number. It was incorrect! At this point dialing the number no longer got "there is no voice message set up" it actually rang my watch! However this was using the watch number and not my iPhone number. So despite number sync being active it wasn't working. (Note if you can ring your watch number and get "not set up - faulty IMEI, ring watch and talk but doesn't ring phone something is wrong with Numbersync start again. If you can turn your phone off and it rings the watch on cellular it works. If the watch and the phone is is off it will go straight to voice mail.)
  
• This was another unpair, reboot both devices etc. I also unticked enable WiFi calling before doing all of this. (I did activate it again afterwards)
• The tech did the above instruction. This time I got a number of NumberSYNC screens including keep old device and new device. We registered as a new device. This provided not only the log-in to the account with the primary log-in but then also presented a plan for the first time. A number of continue screens followed. Then got a Numbersync SMS confirmation. This was the first time I'd had a package that also had contract terms delivered to my phone.
• The watch continued to load the basic apps. This takes time!
• The watch did not recognize cellular when this had finished. I rebooted the watch and also received a SMS with a wearable is no longer synced. This may have coincided with the tech removing the faulty watch number no longer needed. Note there remains some confusion in these screens. Like the new number after choosing new device didn't show on my device. The old number was still there.
• After the reboot I could make and receive cellular calls when my iPhone was offline!! Success.

Summary this call time was over 2.5 hours and the rep called me back 30 minutes after the package was delivered. For the record. I picked my watch up at 10:00am on Friday last week. It took till 7:00 Wednesday to activate it properly. I spoke to apple (1.5 hours useless both time) AT&T including store time about 14 hours. I was active two three hours a day on this to get it done! NUTS.

For comparison... I spend a lot of time in India. There I have a JIO plan. It won't work with my watch but for 303 rupees a month (less than 5 bucks I get 1gb of 4G data a day prepaid working on iPhone for 30 days and unlimited calling and texts. Although their customer service is poor too. Still we pay 10 times per month at least in the US.

We are being ripped off at $10/month for this watch service as an add-on. The rest of our plans are a rip-off too regardless of what plan you have. I will enjoy the experiment. Make no mistake I'm doing this as I want the watch as my main device for when I'm out and about. There is no technical reason (other than battery life) this watch needs a phone partner! Not too far in the future it will stand alone. It is also be much cheaper to run than the data hog the iPhone apps make it.

 

[HeadphoneAddict]

@dave006

We are being ripped off at $10/month for this watch service as an add-on. The rest of our plans are a rip-off too regardless of what plan you have. I will enjoy the experiment. Make no mistake I'm doing this as I want the watch as my main device for when I'm out and about. There is no technical reason (other than battery life) this watch needs a phone partner! Not too far in the future it will stand alone. It is also be much cheaper to run than the data hog the iPhone apps make it.

Yeah, I agree that the $10 is kind of a rip off - the main difference between my new S3 + cellular and my previous three month old S2 is the ability to still take/make calls if I forget my phone, although I am rarely without my iPhone 7+ when I'm out and about.

Otherwise my S2 was quite satisfactory. My main motivation to get the S3 + cell was so that I could hand my S2 down to my son, and he could pass his S1 down to his sister. So, I could have simply used the S3 without cellular as long as it worked as well as my S2 has, if I couldn't activate the cellular.

Or, I could have simply kept my old S2 for myself, returned the S3+cell for a Pink 38mm S3 no-cell for my daughter, then pocketed the $320 difference and left my son with his 6 month old S1 which he has been happy with other than no 50M WR.

 

[BlueMoon63]

Love passing down my iPhones to the kids and now the watches. Although I know part of it is so I can get the latest, I also hate selling when I know one of my kids would love it. Right now I have the S2 Hermès and will probably get the S3 with LTE and just give my Hermès to my son who has my S0 and loves it.

Not feeling very confident that when I get the S3 with LTE and ATT will be a snap to setup.

 

[HDJulie]

It is not a problem with the watch, the error as presented points to your mom's iPhone 7+. The first item is to inquire in the history of the hardware, there might be some missing LTE bands. So what can you tell us about the history her iPhone? Just kidding, we really need to know the Model information from Settings > General > Model

Was it initially purchased directly from AT&T or Apple to be used on AT&T? These combinations should be good to go bu the Model information should provide exactly where it can from and the initial Carrier.

The other thing that may be lurking is the verify that she has Wi-Fi calling already activated. Have you checked to verify by going to Setting >Phone > Wi-Fi Calling On/Off. Since it is required to make everything work, why not check it out.
Dave

WiFi calling is off & she can’t enable it even when away from the microcell. I’ll call AT&T this afternoon.

 

[dave006]

OK that is the expected outcome. HD Voice is a pre-req to enabling Wi-Fi calling.

While I was focused on the iPhone hardware. @unbound spiral reminded us in 2 posts yesterday that this issue can also be caused by having the wrong Device information on a line. For example if the line incorrectly shows a iPhone 5. Where have we seen that before, a problem that happens every year during the mass upgrade cycles.

You can check myAT&T to see what device is listed for her phone line. Just Click from the header bar the navigation icon Select MyAT&T > My Wireless > Manage my devices & features > See what device is shown for her line.

A call to a Customer Care rep will allow you to update the IMEI to match her iPhone 7+

Note it still could be the actual iPhone 7+ hardware, so if the information above does not fix it we a back to needing the Model information from Setting > General > About.

Dave

 

[sdsvtdriver]

Just talked to AT&T for another 45m. Agent stated my EID was already in use and had to get another person on the phone. Other person said they saw quite a few reserved lines on the account and need to clear them out, but stated that my plan is not compatible.

They said they had just received training an hour ago that stated the Nation plans with unlimited are not supported for the Apple Watch. I stated that must be policy based and not based on technical limitations as others have the watch working with the Nation plans. Their response was both policy and technical and the system will sweep for those that are activated on unsupported plans.

For me, it would cost $30/mo. to switch plans and add the watch due to my FAN discount. It just isn't worth it.

tl;dr Those of you that have grandfathered UDP w/Nation plans working with the Apple Watch, you're lucky. It appears AT&T is closing the door on the $10 unlimited wearable plan and the GUDP via ongoing training.

 

[bsb7140]

@dave006

I gave the rep the above instruction and this released another package to the phone. But before that....

• If you get the HDVoice error I think that relates to an out of date IMEI associated with an earlier iPhone. I noted this problem on page 25 I think above.
• Today.... after some tech had days ago added a Sim for my Apple Watch I learned that while I had a cellular connection it would not accept incoming calls on cellular. This means it's the same as the watch is dead re battery and the calls always go to iPhone.
• The tech updated the IMEI to the watch number. It was incorrect! At this point dialing the number no longer got "there is no voice message set up" it actually rang my watch! However this was using the watch number and not my iPhone number. So despite number sync being active it wasn't working. (Note if you can ring your watch number and get "not set up - faulty IMEI, ring watch and talk but doesn't ring phone something is wrong with Numbersync start again. If you can turn your phone off and it rings the watch on cellular it works. If the watch and the phone is is off it will go straight to voice mail.)
  
• This was another unpair, reboot both devices etc. I also unticked enable WiFi calling before doing all of this. (I did activate it again afterwards)
• The tech did the above instruction. This time I got a number of NumberSYNC screens including keep old device and new device. We registered as a new device. This provided not only the log-in to the account with the primary log-in but then also presented a plan for the first time. A number of continue screens followed. Then got a Numbersync SMS confirmation. This was the first time I'd had a package that also had contract terms delivered to my phone.
• The watch continued to load the basic apps. This takes time!
• The watch did not recognize cellular when this had finished. I rebooted the watch and also received a SMS with a wearable is no longer synced. This may have coincided with the tech removing the faulty watch number no longer needed. Note there remains some confusion in these screens. Like the new number after choosing new device didn't show on my device. The old number was still there.
• After the reboot I could make and receive cellular calls when my iPhone was offline!! Success.

Summary this call time was over 2.5 hours and the rep called me back 30 minutes after the package was delivered. For the record. I picked my watch up at 10:00am on Friday last week. It took till 7:00 Wednesday to activate it properly. I spoke to apple (1.5 hours useless both time) AT&T including store time about 14 hours. I was active two three hours a day on this to get it done! NUTS.

For comparison... I spend a lot of time in India. There I have a JIO plan. It won't work with my watch but for 303 rupees a month (less than 5 bucks I get 1gb of 4G data a day prepaid working on iPhone for 30 days and unlimited calling and texts. Although their customer service is poor too. Still we pay 10 times per month at least in the US.

We are being ripped off at $10/month for this watch service as an add-on. The rest of our plans are a rip-off too regardless of what plan you have. I will enjoy the experiment. Make no mistake I'm doing this as I want the watch as my main device for when I'm out and about. There is no technical reason (other than battery life) this watch needs a phone partner! Not too far in the future it will stand alone. It is also be much cheaper to run than the data hog the iPhone apps make it.

Can you s/r regular green sms when watch is on LTE only and away from phone? I understand this is not solely a ATT problem. Users on Verizon and TMobile report the same issues.

 

[HDJulie]

OK that is the expected outcome. HD Voice is a pre-req to enabling Wi-Fi calling.

While I was focused on the iPhone hardware. @unbound spiral reminded us in 2 posts yesterday that this issue can also be caused by having the wrong Device information on a line. For example if the line incorrectly shows a iPhone 5. Where have we seen that before, a problem that happens every year during the mass upgrade cycles.

You can check myAT&T to see what device is listed for her phone line. Just Click from the header bar the navigation icon Select MyAT&T > My Wireless > Manage my devices & features > See what device is shown for her line.

A call to a Customer Care rep will allow you to update the IMEI to match her iPhone 7+

Note it still could be the actual iPhone 7+ hardware, so if the information above does not fix it we a back to needing the Model information from Setting > General > About.

Dave

AT&T has her device correct. I’m getting her to send me the model number.

Got it. MN592LL/A

 

[dave006]

AT&T has her device correct. I’m getting her to send me the model number.

Got it. MN592LL/A

Good information. That model is an AT&T iPhone 7+ Black, so fully supported. Before you go back to calling AT&T, I just want to double check something from earlier in our checks. I may not have been clear that in addition to just seeing that Voice & Data, there has to be a Green Check mark by it.

Please have her go to Setting > Cellular > Cellular data slide ON > Cellular Data Options > Enable LTE should show Voice & Data and have a Green Check mark by it. I looked back in my posts and see that I did not indicate the need for the Green check mark.

If this setting has a Green Check mark then it is back to calling Customer Care. First thing is to ask the rep to double check that your mother's iPhone's IMEI matches. I find it easier to ask the rep to read what they have for the IMEI and for you to verify it against what you ask your mother to get from Setting > General > About. Just to cover all the bases you might want to ask your mother for the following items: Carrier (example: AT&T 28.4) IMEI, ICCID, MEID. Yes the ICCID has to already match since the phone is able to join the cell network.

Note: Let's not even mention the watch, just stick to "Trying to setup Wi-Fi calling" but can't get it enabled.

Dave

 

[HDJulie]

Good information. That model is an AT&T iPhone 7+ Black, so fully supported. Before you go back to calling AT&T, I just want to double check something from earlier in our checks. I may not have been clear that in addition to just seeing that Voice & Data, there has to be a Green Check mark by it.

Please have her go to Setting > Cellular > Cellular data slide ON > Cellular Data Options > Enable LTE should show Voice & Data and have a Green Check mark by it. I looked back in my posts and see that I did not indicate the need for the Green check mark.

If this setting has a Green Check mark then it is back to calling Customer Care. First thing is to ask the rep to double check that your mother's iPhone's IMEI matches. I find it easier to ask the rep to read what they have for the IMEI and for you to verify it against what you ask your mother to get from Setting > General > About. Just to cover all the bases you might want to ask your mother for the following items: Carrier (example: AT&T 28.4) IMEI, ICCID, MEID. Yes the ICCID has to already match since the phone is able to join the cell network.

Note: Let's not even mention the watch, just stick to "Trying to setup Wi-Fi calling" but can't get it enabled.

Dave

I just checked mine & it has a blue check, not green

 

[unbound spiral]

Can you s/r regular green sms when watch is on LTE only and away from phone? I understand this is not solely a ATT problem. Users on Verizon and TMobile report the same issues.

Yes as long as the iPhone is still connected - left at home. If the phone is off then green text s/r will not work from watch. Additionally other notifications that the phone might get will also not be visible. For example a WhatsApp notification. So leave home and leave your phone charging to get maximum use. Also you can unsync DND and Silent modes between the two devices. That's probably a good idea or your phone left on silent may affect your experience.

 

[willche]

I'm in the same boat - had tried to instruct ATT Support yesterday to add a wearable plan to my Nation Plan with ULD but she ended up creating a new line that cost $55/month. Had to scramble this morning to cancel the line to avoid any cancellation fee.

Just talked to AT&T for another 45m. Agent stated my EID was already in use and had to get another person on the phone. Other person said they saw quite a few reserved lines on the account and need to clear them out, but stated that my plan is not compatible.

They said they had just received training an hour ago that stated the Nation plans with unlimited are not supported for the Apple Watch. I stated that must be policy based and not based on technical limitations as others have the watch working with the Nation plans. Their response was both policy and technical and the system will sweep for those that are activated on unsupported plans.

For me, it would cost $30/mo. to switch plans and add the watch due to my FAN discount. It just isn't worth it.

tl;dr Those of you that have grandfathered UDP w/Nation plans working with the Apple Watch, you're lucky. It appears AT&T is closing the door on the $10 unlimited wearable plan and the GUDP via ongoing training.

 

[Luba]

My AW3 is all set up with cellular BUT it might be defective regarding another issue (my AW says I have only 13 GB storage and Music Sync is constantly in “updating” mode), so I might have to return this already nicely setup AW3. Would I simply just un-pair my AW3 and restore from backup with new AW and cellular would also be setup?? Or do I need to perform other steps?
[doublepost=1506625754][/doublepost]

Yes as long as the iPhone is still connected - left at home. If the phone is off then green text s/r will not work from watch. Additionally other notifications that the phone might get will also not be visible. For example a WhatsApp notification. So leave home and leave your phone charging to get maximum use. Also you can unsync DND and Silent modes between the two devices. That's probably a good idea or your phone left on silent may affect your experience.

What’s DND? And where on the Watch app can unsync Silence and DND mode? Unsync meaning “do not mirror iPhone”?

 

[unbound spiral]

My AW3 is all set up with cellular BUT it might be defective regarding another issue (my AW says I have only 13 GB storage and Music Sync is constantly in “updating” mode), so I might have to return this already nicely setup AW3. Would I simply just un-pair my AW3 and restore from backup with new AW and cellular would also be setup?? Or do I need to perform other steps?
[doublepost=1506625754][/doublepost]
What’s DND? And where on the Watch app can unsync Silence and DND mode? Unsync meaning “do not mirror iPhone”?

DND - Do Not Disturb

On / In the Apple Watch App on iPhone Go to General (this is the watch app!) and Select behavior - same for airplane mode etc. Also check and settings for phone and messages you may not want to mirror your phone....

 

[dave006]

Just talked to AT&T for another 45m. Agent stated my EID was already in use and had to get another person on the phone. Other person said they saw quite a few reserved lines on the account and need to clear them out, but stated that my plan is not compatible.

They said they had just received training an hour ago that stated the Nation plans with unlimited are not supported for the Apple Watch. I stated that must be policy based and not based on technical limitations as others have the watch working with the Nation plans. Their response was both policy and technical and the system will sweep for those that are activated on unsupported plans.

For me, it would cost $30/mo. to switch plans and add the watch due to my FAN discount. It just isn't worth it.

tl;dr Those of you that have grandfathered UDP w/Nation plans working with the Apple Watch, you're lucky. It appears AT&T is closing the door on the $10 unlimited wearable plan and the GUDP via ongoing training.

OK thanks for the update. We all need to understand that this is something that AT&T has the right to do. They get to make the rules and set limits for their systems and Cellular network.

I fully understand the "not supported verbage" but it is not a technical challenge. The conundrum is that there is still a method to add the plan to "unsupported" plans. They have made a decision to "not" to remove the ability to add this plan to specific plans and accounts (post-paid vs pre-paid), that clearly means it can be done using existing tools. So Business choice vs Technical limitation.

We can debate it further and still not like it but AT&T get's to set any rule or requirement that they want. We as customer also have a choice to continue to evaluate our spending. I agree that an increase of $30 per month is pretty high just to have LTE on your watch. Hey, I think the $10 per watch is high but I have only seen Bell in Canada requiring a $5 per watch plan.

Dave

 

[bsb7140]

Yes as long as the iPhone is still connected - left at home. If the phone is off then green text s/r will not work from watch. Additionally other notifications that the phone might get will also not be visible. For example a WhatsApp notification. So leave home and leave your phone charging to get maximum use. Also you can unsync DND and Silent modes between the two devices. That's probably a good idea or your phone left on silent may affect your experience.

Negative. Phone is on and connected, SMS continues to fail. Apps, phone calls, iMessage, notifications...all work.

ATT has no idea whats the problem... they have submitted a ticket to the engineers.

 

[HDJulie]

Good information. That model is an AT&T iPhone 7+ Black, so fully supported. Before you go back to calling AT&T, I just want to double check something from earlier in our checks. I may not have been clear that in addition to just seeing that Voice & Data, there has to be a Green Check mark by it.

Please have her go to Setting > Cellular > Cellular data slide ON > Cellular Data Options > Enable LTE should show Voice & Data and have a Green Check mark by it. I looked back in my posts and see that I did not indicate the need for the Green check mark.

If this setting has a Green Check mark then it is back to calling Customer Care. First thing is to ask the rep to double check that your mother's iPhone's IMEI matches. I find it easier to ask the rep to read what they have for the IMEI and for you to verify it against what you ask your mother to get from Setting > General > About. Just to cover all the bases you might want to ask your mother for the following items: Carrier (example: AT&T 28.4) IMEI, ICCID, MEID. Yes the ICCID has to already match since the phone is able to join the cell network.

Note: Let's not even mention the watch, just stick to "Trying to setup Wi-Fi calling" but can't get it enabled.

Dave

She does have voice & data enabled with the blue check mark. I’ll call AT&T tonight or tomorrow & will report back.

 

[nippyjun]

Does wifi calling enabled/disabled on the iphone have any impact on the use of LTE on the watch?

 

[dave006]

She does have voice & data enabled with the blue check mark. I’ll call AT&T tonight or tomorrow & will report back.

Ok, yea Blue vs Green. I am color blind so Blue looks Green to me sorry for any added confusion. I think we have covered all the possibles on this side so your update tomorrow is anticipated.

Dave
[doublepost=1506629336][/doublepost]

Does wifi calling enabled/disabled on the iphone have any impact on the use of LTE on the watch?

Yes. For SMS/MMS, your iPhone will need to be powered on and have a connection to the AT&T cellular network, or via a Wi-Fi connection (with Wi-Fi calling enabled on iPhone).

Here are all the pre-reqs for Messaging on the Watch:

Messaging

If you would like to receive SMS/MMS messages and iMessages on your watch, you’ll need to ensure the following have been set up on your iPhone:

• iMessage is enabled.
  
• NumberSync is enabled (allows access to AT&T cellular network to receive messages on your watch when away from your iPhone).
  
• For SMS/MMS, your iPhone will need to be powered on and have a connection to the AT&T cellular network, or via a Wi-Fi connection (with Wi-Fi calling enabled on iPhone which requires HD Voice aka VoLTE (voice & data)).

Dave

 

[unbound spiral]

Negative. Phone is on and connected, SMS continues to fail. Apps, phone calls, iMessage, notifications...all work.

ATT has no idea whats the problem... they have submitted a ticket to the engineers.

Can you make cellular calls from your watch? Can you receive cellular calls to your watch? If you can make cellular calls but cannot receive cellular calls then NumberSync is not correct. To test this turn your phone off! go and find a cellular signal with your watch and make a call to it from a non-imessage/non-facetime device so you know that the call could not be affected by iCloud. My guess is you don't get this call.

Also try calling your new Watch number directly. If your watch rings then you have an error in NumberSync. You should get a voice mail box not set up message. Turn your watch and phone off. Call your iPhone number. It should go direct to VoiceMail.

 

[Hillshock]

I went to an AT&T store and showed them Dave006’s instructions and got my Apple Watch LTE enabled along with my grandfathered unlimited plan in 20 minutes. Thanks Dave! The only surprise was the 25$ activation fee.

 

[BlueMoon63]

We just had our first AT&T LTE watch show up and because of this thread I was ready. Did a backups of the old watch first. Setting up the new one with a restore went right to cellular setup and login to AT&T. Got the prompt to add for $10 a month and $55 in credits and continued. Got a oops that it couldn’t be conpleted now. Hit cancel and did again and this time when after logging in to AT&T it said I was successfully added to NumberSync and a few seconds later it said it was done.

Restore continued and now it works. Took only a few minutes total even with the oops. Longest was the restore.

 

[dave006]

I went to an AT&T store and showed them Dave006’s instructions and got my Apple Watch LTE enabled along with my grandfathered unlimited plan in 20 minutes. Thanks Dave! The only surprise was the 25$ activation fee.

That activation fee should be waived / credited back to you. It is part of the 3 Months free and Waived Activation that was announced in the Apple Keynote and has as value of $55. AT&T is using bill credits.

More details:

$55 CREDIT OFFER: Subject to change. Must purchase eligible device/have eligible devices and activate with eligible service. Eligible Devices: Requires (i) Apple Watch Series 3 purchase at full price, on installment agreement, or bring your own (excludes ones purchased on 2-year agreement) and (ii) HD-voice activated iPhone 6 or newer. Eligible Service: Both Apple Watch Series 3 and smartphone must be on same account with postpaid wireless voice & data services. (i) Apple Watch Series 3 requires min. $10/mo. when added to eligible shared plan;(ii) Smartphone requires min. $50/mo. for a new eligible plan (may be less if on an existing eligible plan). Bill Credit: Account and service on your line must remain active to get up to two credits ($30 service + $25 activation) w/in 3 bills. No activation credit if already waived. Offer Limits: Max. of 1 activation credit/waiver per device. One credit offer per eligible Apple Watch Series 3 activation. May not be combinable with other offers, discounts, or credits.

Dave

 

[Libby55]

I went to an AT&T store and showed them Dave006’s instructions and got my Apple Watch LTE enabled along with my grandfathered unlimited plan in 20 minutes. Thanks Dave! The only surprise was the 25$ activation fee.

Which page of this thread did you find Dave's instructions that you took to the store?