BTW: First Verizon person in Dec told me “you won’t be able to use the AT&T watch with Verizon. You will have to buy a Verizon AW. “
She wasn’t supposed to be right, but maybe that was the honest truth. More recently, I noted a Google search turned up a Verizon statement re: AW and a vSim. V not e.
I know we covered this before but just to try to reduce further confusion should others stumble onto this thread.
There is no such thing as a Verizon AW. Apple Watch Series 3 (GPS + Cellular) comes in three regional models – Americas, China, and Europe/Asia Pacific!
The issue
@jbizzybeetle and others that have switched carriers have often reported is that the new carrier rep does not know how to enter the device specific information into their back-end system to allow for the watch's eSIM to be provisioned correctly by their carrier's back-end system.
The reason it almost always works the first time for a watch purchased initially from "your" carrier is that the correct information has already been provided to the carrrier's back-end system.
When you switch carriers, there is no way for the new carrier to know the information need to provision the eSIM. A carrier rep must enter the required information manually into their back-end system. Then and only then can the iPhone Watch app drive the on device activation workflow or the carrier rep must complete a manual provisioning of the eSIM by completing the registration of the required data and starting the required carrier workflow.
For example: if you purchase the watch from Verizon directly, before you ever get your hands on the watch the box was scanned and the bar codes on the bottom of the box identified the required information and recorded it in the carrier's back-end system. This is similar to how you can purchase an iPhone X directly from Apple that arrives directly from the Apple factory with the carrier's nano-SIM preinstalled. Just before your carrier iPhone is loaded into it's shipping box, it is scanned and the bar coded information is provided to the appropriate carrier's back-end system including the physical SIM that was installed in the iPhone at the Apple factory.
Note: the only difference currently is the Watch uses an eSIM instead of a physical SIM. The information from the bottom of the box is needed to actually provision the eSIM for carrier service. There are no shortcuts! Yes you can find the same information for the Apple Watch app and on the physical watch but I find it easier to just read off all the barcoded fields from the bottom of the watch box. Yes there are some long strings of numbers and that is another place where the rep can fail to enter the correct information. Without the exact information, there is simply no way to properly provision the eSIM.
Dave
