Cannot setup cellular on Apple Watch 3 with At&T

So just called AT&T since my watch was not getting added.

It seems that the sim card in my iPhone 6S is not compatible with VoLTE. The CS rep could see that the sim card was from iPhone 5s, which I had before my 6 and 6s I just kept moving the sim over to my new phones.

So they told me I need to go an AT&T store and get a new sim and then I should be all set

Apple has a support article on this.

Make phone calls with Voice over LTE (VoLTE) - Apple Support

Exactly my problem, glad i'm not alone. I can't go to an ATT store until at least Monday. Oh well, life won't end without LTE on my watch but this sure is a major malfunction.

Visited ATT store. Having established a device on my att account over the phone with the proper imei and eid, we had to modify the plan for this device to the $10/month wearable device add on. On the BACK END ATT systems, the device via the aformentioned identifiers indeed registers as an Apple Watch HOWEVER. When I log in to my web account, the new device with its telephone number in fact displays as a Motorola RAZR V3. So, we conclude that the identifiers aren't yet propagated to user facing systems in the ATT world. When I try to activate using iPhone watch app, I log in to the account, I select (the only) plan, hit continue, zilch- it continues to hang at this point. I did double check the access id on the ATT account being associated with the wireless number of the iphone the watch is paired to, and it matches. So.. thought is that we wait, perhaps some sort of overnight refresh or something might "fix" this on the ATT end.

I was told by someone at AT&T they are supposed to have a fix tomorrow.... systems are backlogged. I also never had the option to "add" to my plan. I signed into my account via the watch app and it went straight to numbersync.

Well that was interesting. ATT rep supposedely added a number for my watch after I gave him the imei, ccid and every other bit of information in the world. He now says everything looks good but will take a few days to activate?!?!? This whole thing is a major malfunction, not sure if it's ATT or Apple.

I spent a few hours on the phone getting transferred from one person to another. Started with the general AT&T customer support, then transferred to the online customer support, they transferred to the technical support, then transferred to a second tier technical support. All of them were as nice as could be. All but the first person seems to be aware that there was some sort of issue, but none seemed to have a clue as to what the issue was. They are tried various tweaks to my account and I am very afraid that come next week, my account will be totally jacked up from all the various things they have done to try and get my watch activated with AT&T. For what it’s worth, I started the activation process on my app, and all seems to be going smoothly— it even showed me the plan (share plan with my other devices) and sent a confirmation email saying it was in the process of being activated, but 24 hours later, nothing. Now when I click on the ATT tab in my Apple Watch (iPhone) app, I get an error message.

My opinion is, no one has a clue, but once they figure out what the problem is, all the watches having the issue will get sorted out. In the meantime, I will be the squeaky wheel just so they knnow the problem hasn’t gone away.

Are you sure you are on LTE or is it just because you are connecting through your phone? Leave your phone at Home. Go somewhere there is no wi-fi, then try.

In my case the cellular data plan isn’t properly activated or provisioned on my watch yet.

I too am having a similar issue and tried to set up the watch via the iPhone as everyone else has by following the steps. But I received an error number and had to call my service provider which is At&t. However, At&t requires you to add a NEW LINE to your existing account as if it were a tablet with cellular service. Then you are eligible to do NumberSync with your "new line" (Apple Watch) which will carry on your existing phone number. So this is very confusing well at least with At&t - you need to add a new line for the Apple Watch that has a new number but once that is done, At&t can NumberSync that new line to match your iPhone cellular number😐... Really? Oh and to top it off...even though I have an existing account with At&t, to "purchase a new line" onto my EXISTING account, I am being asked to do a credit check to add a new line!😠 I can understand if one were to just join At&t like opening a brand new account then yes credit check me if needed but I AM AN At&t customer already! WHY THE CREDIT CHECK! Yup not happen with the process and not sure if me buying the Apple Watch Series 3 via Apple instead of through At&t had anything to do with making the setup easier.

10/3 evening: Tried setting up cellular through Apple Watch app, I get through everything such as choosing my data plan and all, then confirm, then I get a message stating my order needs further review by AT&T personnel and when I attempted a screen shot it disappeared and went to the Apple Watch “set up cellular”(happened both days with NumberSync material). I then get an email order confirmation telling me my order is in process and I will receive a follow up email to activate. Nothing.

10/4 2pm: I call AT&T, tell the rep what’s occurred, evidently the email and order # mean nothing. So I let her set it up to “add a line” for $10. She gets IMEI, and EID (asked for SIM/ICCID but Apple Watch doesn’t have one), runs a soft pull credit check, gives me my Watch phone number, had help from her manager, said activation can take 15 minutes and she’ll call back in about 20 minutes to verify activation. An hour goes by. No activation. No call.

10/4 3:35pm: Speak to Dwayne with Tech Support, update him, he can’t find the order or the Watch number given to me since it’s not associated with my account. I give him my IMEI and EID numbers, has trouble figuring it out, on/off hold, give him the NumberSync error message saying “Hmmm.... something went wrong... (EDS 4007)” and that helps him a little, on/off hold, saying they need a SIM number, says they need another credit check, set up another order with a WEARABLE plan added to my account, has me go to att.com/tc to type in the Watch number and zip code, doesn’t work, FINALLY they find the credit check is held up because for some reason there was an * in front of my first name, removed that, credit check worked, att.com/tc still doesn’t work for me, he tries on his end, it works, I’m able to use Apple Watch app to set up cellular (See AT&T plan below it), verify 911 address (had to update since it showed an address from 7 years or so), accepted terms, all good now!

He noted that the other rep that set up the Apple Watch as a stand alone number caused the problem, it wouldn’t have never worked or been associated with my account. Important to set up as WEARABLE under data plan.

Hope this helps someone!

UPDATE!

10/9: Left phone at home to go to gym, tried sending text message, wouldn’t go through, got a red “X” by the clock time in the upper right corner, in Settings > Cellular, it showed No Connection. Tried making a call, Call Failed. Called AT&T and logged into account on iPhone. Told the rep I set this up on 10/4, the first rep added a whole new line and sent me a SIM, when it didn’t activate the 2nd rep said it was because the 1st rep added it as another phone line not a wearable. 2nd rep said he added it as a wearable, then I was able to finally have an ICCID number (E-SIM), so thought all was well since it showed AT&T under Cellular in Watch App, and I was able to finish setup. Turns out someone added an entirely new plan of 450 Nation in addition to my Mobile Share 3G , AND the device was listed as a Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge. The 3rd rep asked if I could Add a Device. I told him it only let’s me add by buying a whole new watch and financing it with AT&T. He was able to get my Watch connected to Cellular finally, I powered on/off to take effect, cellular text from Watch worked but it still showed NoConnection under Watch Cellular. He assured everything was fixed. I said my plan is still wrong and it still shows an S7 Edge. Wrong device aside, he still hadn’t removed the whole new additional plan that they were going to bill me for. My plan is $51.60, when I set up the Watch to keep my 3GB plan and just add the Watch, it was supposed to be $10 more. They had my Current Plan at $99.99! Charging me an extra $40 for that new plan they added on their own! I FINALLY got him to realize this and they were able to cancel that bogus plan (after I had already cancelled it last week and gotten confirmation it was cancelled after the 2nd rep “fixed” it, AND a SIM card was STILL mailed to me! The 1st rep that did this said she knows I don’t need it for the watch but just put it aside or throw it away, should’ve been a red flag to her that she was doing something wrong!), and add my Watch/“S7 Edge” to my one and only wireless 3GB plan and the cost finally showed $61.60 as it originally said it would be BEFORE any reps got involved. The 3rd rep said the device image should update soon from the S7 Edge to the Watch. We’ll see if I have to fight any billing issues later! But I recorded the 1.5 hour conversation and made sure to get their verbal confirmation that since the plan wasn’t active until the 9th, I wouldn’t be billed prior to that, AND that I wouldn’t be billed for the bogus plan they set up!

yup. Been going through a gazillion things on this.. I'm still not activated. If there's a good ATT store nearby, go visit.

Are you trying to add it to your plan via the watch iPhone app?

Yeah, im on chat with ATT rep right now. Will report back when done.

good luck, that proved futile for me.