Cannot set up mobile service of Apple Watch

[LonMum]

I've spent an hour on the phone with O2 and am no nearer to setting up my son's Apple Watch.

We have a new Apple watch (SE + Cellular) bought from Apple, that is not yet linked to a network.

We have an Apple iPhone 12 which pre-exists my O2 account but the full "erase and transfer" procedure has been done on it before we set it up for my son. It has just been connected to O2 today via a physical SIM.

I have a monthly SIM-only plan (100GB)

I have put a £30 spending cap on it.

I have tried to set-up the mobile by using the Watch app > Mobile Service

It tells me "Your O2 account is not eligible to enable mobile service on your Apple Watch."

I've turned the phone off/on, and I've done a network settings reset.

 
The O2 representative says as far as he can tell, my account should have the ability to do this (direct debit in place, I'm on a monthly tariff, etc).

Any advice gratefully received!

[MI5]

Fingers crossed @LonMum 

[LonMum]

Further hiccups -- 

There was then an item in my "basket" in my online account when I logged in from my PC -- with an airtime package that mirrors the watch packages.  I don't want to have two £7 airtime tariffs on my account by accident but the O2 agent said to go ahead and do checkout as I can always call back and have one deleted if I'm billed twice. 

Tried to check out and got:

"Something went wrong - Sorry - we ran into an issue while processing your request. It may be a temporary problem; you can try again by re-confirming your selection."

So it will be a continued mystery for the next 24 hours!

[Oxonian]

We await tomorrow's instalment @LonMum ! 👍

[LonMum]

Unfortunately, I'm no nearer to a resolution. I've waited the requisite 24 hours and the watch is still showing that there is no connection. The O2 representative on FB messenger asked me to delete the service and start over again try to make a new tariff order, which I feel is just another 24 hour delay towards a resolution. Given how many attempts it took for me to get the order to go through in the first place, I'm hesitant to delete it and start over until they try to look into it on their end 😞  The tariff order is still sitting in my shopping basket unchecked out and the website on my side won't let me complete the check out process. 

[Oxonian]

I'd be inclined to try FB Messenger at a different time of day @LonMum ; you just might get someone else who has a different idea. 👍

[Peter_L]

Hello. Just so you know, when you're trying to set the Apple Watch Plan up, your iPhone needs to be connected to 4G/5G O2 UK Network, not to Wifi This could be the reason why the connection failed.

[pgn]

It could be, @Peter_L - Activate Apple Watch Guide does give guidance for this task.

[LonMum]

Thanks -- I tried both ways... and ironically the O2 rep that I was working with wanted me to retry it on pure Wifi. 🙈 

[LonMum]

Well after several days of back and forth, we are now up and running! I waited the requisite 24 hours and then got back in touch (actually, I messaged about 30 mins before the 24 hours was up but they made me wait the that 30 mins before they would help again 🤣). That agent tried a SIM reset and it worked almost immediately afterwards. I am so relieved that the many hours of life spent on this were not in vain! Thanks all for your help.  

[pgn]

Great news, @LonMum - so sometimes the "wait 24hrs" thing works, great to know!

Enjoy your new watch's functions 👍🏼