Ok, mine is working now. I had the ATT is not supported message. Don’t know if this matters but I’m running the last beta released before the 19th. While waiting a long time for help ( never came) I heard a staffer tell someone (not Watch related) she would try a hard reset as a last resort on some other device. I had not tried that. Hard reset, message gone, Watch was able to sign up for LTE through watch app. Forgot the basics but All is well now.
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Some Apple Watch Series 3 Owners Facing LTE Activation Issues [Updated]
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I’m having the same exact issue. Apparently, both Apple and T-Mobile engineers are working on fixing this ASAP. Was given no time frame. Just told to keep trying every day.
EE in the UK is not working at all for me.. Just says 'This account is not ready to use with Apple Watch'.. Really annoying...
The problem is that support staff don't now how to fix it either. In fact one of them told me to remove the Sim from the watch and reinsert it
Im on EE too, and have the exact same error message. I have had 3 calls with EE today, and to be fair I can't fault their support, reading this thread suggests its a software/firmware issue, so I guess it's down to Apple to give them a fix. Very frustrating though.
Have to say the watch itself is lovely and the speed of it is a massive improvement over my series 1.
Just hope the fix does not take too long!
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Well aren't you the lucky one, you can clearly see from here ( and I have confirmation from EE here in UK) there are a significant amount of activation errors, check your facts before making mindless posts.
I also have a business account on T-mobile with EIN (even though T-Mobile has my SSN as well). Getting to the menu to start the cellular activation has nothing to do with your account type. The problem is that when that menu launches the T-Mobile activation page and you enter last four digits of your SSN or your EIN, the page reports “Authentication Failed”.
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Question: Was your T-Mobile Business account on any promotions? Mine has theee promotions applied to it.
A) I got two T-Mobile One lines for $100.
B) I got T-Mobile One Plus as a free add-on to T-mobile Plus for both lines.
C) I had a third T-mobile One Plus line added for free.
So, did you ask the store if you will keep your promotions when the account is converted from Business to Personal?
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I’m sorry you’re having activation issues and sincerely hope they get resolved soon. My post was referring to the widespread notion in the US that no one can activate their watch. My post was a little harsh and I apologize. I was merely trying to say that activations are in fact working for a lot of people.
I spent 2 hours on the phone with AT&T after the watch app told me I needed to call them. During that time, I was passed around To about 6 different people. The first person thought I wanted to buy a watch. I ultimately landed with a manager, but even he had no idea how to help me. I remain without service, but this article gives me hope it will be resolved soon. Now I just need to see how much they messed up our account during that process.
Apple Watch Series 3 models are being delivered across the United States and the rest of the world today, and as customers start attempting to activate their new LTE devices, some of them are running into serious setup issues.
On the MacRumors forums, several AT&T customers have received messages stating AT&T is not supported. Support reps seem confused about how Apple Watch activation works, with one rep telling MacRumors reader KG87 that his watch needs a new number.
Many of the affected AT&T customers have said the company seems to be having trouble activating watches not purchased directly through AT&T and have been spending quite a lot of time on the phone in an attempt to get the problem ironed out. Some customers are even being told to call back tomorrow. From MacRumors reader Greg:According to another AT&T support rep, customers who ordered an Apple Watch directly from Apple will not be getting them activated until tomorrow because they're missing key information Apple was supposed to send them.
Verizon users don't seem to be having as much trouble as AT&T users, but several have been told Verizon's systems aren't fully functional. Verizon is said to be doing maintenance to fix the problem and there's no estimate of when issues will be worked out. Many VZW customers may not be able to make phone calls due to the server issues.
T-Mobile customers also appear to be having significant issues, like MacRumors reader Jesse, who said he's spent several hours on the phone with T-Mobile trying to work out an authentication error with his social security number. "T-Mobile reps are completely unprepared for dealing with this issue today. Spent many hours on the phone with T-Mobile and Apple already. Apple claims this is T-Mobile issue," he told us.
T-Mobile customers have also been told the company is having system wide issues affecting the signal T-Mobile users are getting on the Apple Watch.
At least some of the activation issues are due to customers who have incompatible plans. AT&T customers with a grandfathered unlimited data plan, for example, are not able to use the Apple Watch Series 3, despite assurances from AT&T reps that the watch was compatible with the plan.
Across the pond, some EE subscribers in the UK are having the same activation problems, and EE reps are at a loss on how to helpThough some customers are having issues, others have been able to activate their LTE watches with no problems and have even said it's an easy process. For the subset of users running into issues, though, it's been a frustrating afternoon attempting to deal with Apple support and carrier representatives who are still struggling to figure out all the quirks and problems that come along with supporting a new device.
Article Link: Some Apple Watch Series 3 Owners Facing LTE Activation Issues
And they are not working for a lot of people. Being part of the lot for whom acrivation is not working, I don’t find it helpful when someone who doesn’t have this problem dismisses legitimate issues that affect at least thousands and more likely tens of thousands.
Really hope your watch gets activated soon and then you calm down and realize how trivial this is. I’ve already apologized and clarified what I meant. You will be mad no matter what till you get your issue resolved so good luck man. Wish you the best.
I'm completely calm, and I realize that all of these issues are first-world problems and are completely insignificant. This doesn't take away from the fact that Apple majorly screwed up with the release of both Apple Watch Series 3 with LTE and of iPhone 8/8 Plus.
With the LTE watch, we are witnessing a major technical issue on at least three out of four major US carriers when trying to activate the cellular feature in Apple Watch Series 3 with LTE, which is obviously a major miss on the Apple's part.
With iPhone 8 / 8 Plus, Apple should not have announced iPhone X earlier this month, especially knowing full well that iPhone X is not ready for release yet and they have no ability to satisfy the demand for iPhone X. Apple should have delayed the announcement of iPhone X until after the holiday season - say in February 2018 - once the holiday sales of iPhone 8 an iPhone 8 Plus have been completed and the two-week return period have run out. By making this asinine announcement of iPhone X in September of 2017, Apple majorly fouled up fiscal Q4 of 2017 and Q1 of 2018.
Saying this doesn't bring me, as an AAPL shareholder, any joy as I saw a decline of my AAPL portfolio by over $100,000 just in the past few days of this week.
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Over the course of 12 hours yesterday I tried activating cellular. Spoke with ATT 6 times and Apple twice. That last round they were blaming each other for the issues. Apple Senior Advisor said ATT was confused about how to active the virtual sim and ATT said Apple was having issues. At the end of the day it’s not that big of a deal but dang I will never get that time back. I’m ready to send the watch back as I don’t have the time to fool with it any more. I am, however an expert at pairing and unpairing an Apple Watch. 
Update: ATT bring your own device web page is down. Tried one more time this morning with no success.
Update: ATT bring your own device web page is down. Tried one more time this morning with no success.
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Set yourself a reminder for 10 days from now to try to activate again. If it doesn't work, take the watch to the local Apple store and return it before the 2-week return period runs out.Over the course of 12 hours yesterday I tried activating cellular. Spoke with ATT 6 times and Apple twice. That last round they were blaming each other for the issues. Apple Senior Advisor said ATT was confused about how to active the virtual sim and ATT said Apple was having issues. At the end of the day it’s not that big of a deal but dang I will never get that time back. I’m ready to send the watch back as I don’t have the time to fool with it any more. I am, however an expert at pairing and unpairing an Apple Watch.
Same issue here as the latest T-Mobile response is:
“I totally understand your concern about the Apple Watch, unfortunately, as much as I love to assist you further, Support teams are working to have a solution as quickly as possible for this issue, although there's no current ETA.”
Just spent 48 minutes with a rep “promising” me she would get my watch up and running. That promise went to “we see there is a problem on the system and our expert engineers are working hard to correct this issue”. Their fix is “we will call you the moment the issue is resolved”. Now back on phone trying your suggestion with telesales.
Had same issues. Picked up watch. Got home. If would not activate using AT&T iPhone activation process. 2 calls to AT&T and finally told me must go to Att store for activation. Sent to local place and they were able to easily activate in 10 minutes. Epic fail for Apple for what should have been an easy activation process.
I just got my Apple Watch last night and the activation was flawless. I called to unlink my Samsung watch and sync with my Apple Watch and it work with no issue.
My rep at AT&T gave up.
I had to give him:
My IMEI number
Some other lengthy string of numbers
My driver's license so they could run a credit check on a $10 activation
This is friggin' crazy.
An hour later? Nothing.
The latest word I am getting is that AT&T is so bogged down because of all these manual activations that their system cannot handle it and it will take a few hours for the LTE activations to go through.
I am being reminded to power cycle my watch on/off in a few hours.
This is insane.
I wrote an angry letter to Tim Cook. While he won't read it, corporate will and they always respond.
I had to give him:
My IMEI number
Some other lengthy string of numbers
My driver's license so they could run a credit check on a $10 activation
This is friggin' crazy.
An hour later? Nothing.
The latest word I am getting is that AT&T is so bogged down because of all these manual activations that their system cannot handle it and it will take a few hours for the LTE activations to go through.
I am being reminded to power cycle my watch on/off in a few hours.
This is insane.
I wrote an angry letter to Tim Cook. While he won't read it, corporate will and they always respond.
I’m in the same boat as you with the three promos. I called T-Mobile asking about switching to a personal account and got routed to the Business Care dept. I was told that I would be able to get an equivalent two T-Mobile One Plus lines for $100 if I switched to a personal account, BUT I would lose the free third line. (Not sure if it would make any difference, but I had elected to use my free third line as a data/tablet line instead of a voice line.)
If I wanted to keep the third line, I’d end up paying an additional $30/mo., so I decided that I’m just going to wait until T-Mobile figures all this crap out and keep using my business account. I guess they can’t take too long to get this mess sorted out. I’d give them about a week...
I had issues all day yesterday activating with Verizon where their internal reporting was finding my iPhone 6S+ ineligible for NumberShare. From reading lots of forums I found out the root cause is having WiFi Calling disabled on your device.
If anyone out there is having similar issues, in order to activate the watch on your line you need to have WiFi calling enabled (Settings --> Phone --> WiFi Calling). Good luck!
If anyone out there is having similar issues, in order to activate the watch on your line you need to have WiFi calling enabled (Settings --> Phone --> WiFi Calling). Good luck!
Yea, this is worse than a hurricane and nuclear war combined!!! My thoughts and prayers are with them as well...
I am putting on a WatchAid concert next Friday to raise money for the victims...
Could not activate cellular with T-Mobile. Spend at least 2 hours on the phone with T-Mobile support, who are totally unprepared for this, then with Apple support and back to T-Mobile. Finally, I was told there is an issue that T-Mobile is working on and they would let me know by text message when it is resolved.
I was one of the first to get an apple series 3 watch yesterday. I was making an unboxing video which turned into an AT&T activation fail video. Includes documentation of the one hour phone call. All the gaps and wait time has been time compressed so that the viewer can see the actual experience without it taking over an hour. feel the burn... https://www.youtube.com/edit?o=U&video_id=n-q5h0e_KPg
Wont support old unlimited Verizon plans, so dont bother trying. Ive talked to numerous reps and been to the store already, everyone is trying to get me to upgrade. What a disappointment.