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Cellular Plan: Status = No Connection! So frustrated!

B

brob82

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Mar 12, 2017
20
8
Ohio
So I finally purchased an Apple Watch Series 3 yesterday after debating for a while. I had a Series 1 that I bought at launch for about a year, but decided to sell it due to it being slow and not having cellular connection. I thought cellular was what it really needed to be worth it to me. So, yesterday I finally Was able to add a cellular plan to the watch after about 5 hours of trying everything I could think of and calling AT&T tech service. The Watch App on my phone said I had a plan through AT&T so bam, I was good to go! Wrong...

Today I decided to actually test how cellular was on my watch without my phone. I tried to just turn my phone off...Watch didn’t connect to cellular. I attempted this several times. Never connected to cellular once! Mind you I did this in areas where the LTE signal is strong. So by now I’m super frustrated. I start going through the settings on the watch thinking maybe I missed something. I end up in settings -> Cellular. It reads Plan: ATT, Status: No Connection (photo attached)! I can’t find a fix for this no matter what I try. The watch refuses to connect to cellular service.

Has anyone had this issue and/or know of a fix for this? I waited for cellular to come to Apple Watch and now that it has it it refuses to work...

Any help, much appreciated! Thanks.
 

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I had major issues. After playing with the settings for a while something popped up and it started working. Sorry I wish I could be more help but I was literally randomly clicking things I think under my iCloud account. I certainly hope Apple fixes this **** with 4.1 and somehow improves the cell reception along with the transition from tethered to the Phone to cellular. Right now for me (and you) it’s a mess. When it works it’s great...I see potential here.
 
Let's check some basics. Have you power cycled both your iPhone and your Watch after AT&T helped you get the Cellular set up step completed? Next, did you receive a NumberSync email or SMS Txt depending on your AT&T account settings? The Watch can't work on Cellular until NumberSync is completed.

On the Watch app on your iPhone, scroll down to Cellular and Tap Cellular. On the Cellular Tab yous should see AT&T listed with an Information Icon on the right side. It is normal for it to take a minute to get going as it would normally list your Cellular Data Usage on the rest of the Tab.

You might also see a spinning Gear Icon on the Right of where AT&T is listed, that would indicate that Cellular is not setup correctly.

Dave
 
dave006 said:
Let's check some basics. Have you power cycled both your iPhone and your Watch after AT&T helped you get the Cellular set up step completed? Next, did you receive a NumberSync email or SMS Txt depending on your AT&T account settings? The Watch can't work on Cellular until NumberSync is completed.

On the Watch app on your iPhone, scroll down to Cellular and Tap Cellular. On the Cellular Tab yous should see AT&T listed with an Information Icon on the right side. It is normal for it to take a minute to get going as it would normally list your Cellular Data Usage on the rest of the Tab.

You might also see a spinning Gear Icon on the Right of where AT&T is listed, that would indicate that Cellular is not setup correctly.

Dave
Click to expand...
dave006 said:
Let's check some basics. Have you power cycled both your iPhone and your Watch after AT&T helped you get the Cellular set up step completed? Next, did you receive a NumberSync email or SMS Txt depending on your AT&T account settings? The Watch can't work on Cellular until NumberSync is completed.

On the Watch app on your iPhone, scroll down to Cellular and Tap Cellular. On the Cellular Tab yous should see AT&T listed with an Information Icon on the right side. It is normal for it to take a minute to get going as it would normally list your Cellular Data Usage on the rest of the Tab.

You might also see a spinning Gear Icon on the Right of where AT&T is listed, that would indicate that Cellular is not setup correctly.

Dave
Click to expand...
5D1E0BBB-24D5-4853-9969-58C2A108972D.jpeg

[doublepost=1509256222][/doublepost]
9F10970F-BC73-46B1-B391-947B061400B9.png
 
It seems you have things set up correctly. The next thing I would try, mind you I have T-Mobile and I had no trouble setting up cellular, tap the information icon next to ATT and select remove plan from watch. Then re-add the plan to the watch. You shouldn’t have any issues doing this, but if you do run into issues, keep in mind you may end up calling att again.

Just my advice.
 
I guess at this point I willing to try anything, but will that mess up anything with my wearable plan for the watch?
 
brob82 said:
I guess at this point I willing to try anything, but will that mess up anything with my wearable plan for the watch?
Click to expand...
No, removing the plan just removes the account from the watch. It does not cancel the line or do anything on the carrier side of things. Think of removing the plan as removing the SIM from the watch. Adding the plan back is like putting the SIM back in.
 
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Got ya. Ok let me give it a shot.
[doublepost=1509259388][/doublepost]No Dice. Added service back after removing it, made sure number sync was good, but watch still says "no connection" as status.
 
OK, looking at your picture above for your iPhone it shows one bar of Cellular Signal. With that low of a Cellular signal it is very unlikely that your watch can get a Cellular signal. The watch's antennas are quite small compared to the iPhone.

Additionally I have never seen the AT&T Wi-Fi ID when there is any Cellular signal. Do you happen to have a MicroCell and if you do, did you by chance add your watch's phone number to the access list?

Dave
 
This just happens to be where I’m at now that my cellular signal is low. I tried using it All day today in many different locations. It worked no where.

And what do you mean microcell and att WiFi ID? I don’t know anything about that?
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7815FF35-DD16-4779-8D1F-F008C021B1E4.jpeg
My signal now is only one bar under full...
 
A MicroCell is a device from AT&T that generates a Cellular signal and connects via your Internet connection to reach the AT&T Cellular network.

When you see the AT&T Wi-Fi on the top line (Status line) of your iPhone, it means that your iPhone is currently connected to AT&T using a feature known as Wi-Fi calling and no Cellular connection is available. Normally the status line shows Cellular signal 1-4 bars, Network ID: AT&T - for Cellular connection or AT&T Wi-Fi for a Wi-Fi connection using the Wi-Fi Calling feature.

Dave
 
I turned on WiFi calling and that’s what popped up. Here, I turned it off this is what it has...
[doublepost=1509262737][/doublepost]Also, no, I do not have a microcell
 

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brob82 said:
Got ya. Ok let me give it a shot.
[doublepost=1509259388][/doublepost]No Dice. Added service back after removing it, made sure number sync was good, but watch still says "no connection" as status.
Click to expand...

Are you forcing your watch to connect to LTE when you check the connection status?
If you're watch is connected via WiFi or Bluetooth, it will always say no connection because the watch is not connected to the Cellular network. In order to force the watch to switch to LTE, forget any WiFi networks at home, and put the phone in airplane mode. Then check what the watch says about the connection status once it has switched over to LTE.
 
I forgot all WiFi networks today and turned my phone completely off. All it did was show the red ‘x’ to show I was not connected to my phone and it was then not connected to WiFi OR celllular
 
brob82 said:
I forgot all WiFi networks today and turned my phone completely off. All it did was show the red ‘x’ to show I was not connected to my phone and it was then not connected to WiFi OR celllular
Click to expand...

This is very strange behavior. I guess as a last resort you could try to unpair the watch and repair. If still no go, then call or chat with apple or see a genius. It shouldn't be giving you this much difficulty to get cellular working on the watch.
 
I agree. This makes no sense. I will see if I can get help from Apple tomorrow.
 
dave006 said:
Hey @deadworlds my watch shows Cellular Status as Connected even with Cellular disabled on my watch using AT&T.

Dave
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Oh you're right mine says connected too while on bluetooth. I was incorrectly referring to the general->about page under "network". That will show as "no network" when on bluetooth. Thats what happens when I try to recall things from memory rather than checking. Either way OPs watch is not operating correctly.
 
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