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]

@LonMum 

It's not uncommon unfortunately.

It may need a few days for the new contract to be updated on all systems.

Activate Apple Watch Guide 

Guide: How to find help & contact O2 

[LonMum]

Thanks. Very frustrating! I will keep trying.

[pgn]

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@LonMum wrote:

Thanks. Very frustrating! I will keep trying.

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As the guide Apple Watch shared by @MI5 above invariably mentions "contact the Social Media team *here* for help", @LonMum, you may find either of the links just below this post of use - each uses a direct message channel (one in X, one on FB Messenger) which keeps a history of your interactions with the team (using some of the regular X or Facebook "boards" fragments the information and makes it harder to keep track of.

I had a couple of interactions on the public-facing X which "disappeared", presumably deleted by an over-zealous X admin or somesuch.  Good luck!

[MI5]

There is a message button on each of the links, It would be inappropriate to post your personal details on the public boards. Common sense, no?

[LonMum]

Thanks both, I appreciate your help. I've copied this same message to FB messenger and hopefully someone will be able to figure it out. I'm super fed up -- I have spent so long on this today 😞 

[pgn]

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@MI5 wrote:

There is a message button on each of the links, It would be inappropriate to post your personal details on the public boards. Common sense, no?

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Given the number of people who click the links in the Apple Watch guide, which goes to linktr.ee, and then click on the O2 Website or Community buttons near the top... 🤦

The two links I have below go straight into X DMs (envelope icon on regular X) and FB Messenger equivalent.

Easier, no?

[MI5]

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@LonMum wrote:

Thanks both, I appreciate your help. I've copied this same message to FB messenger and hopefully someone will be able to figure it out. I'm super fed up -- I have spent so long on this today 😞 

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You're welcome @LonMum 

[LonMum]

This morning it allowed me to click the "Set Up Mobile Service" button (it was no longer greyed out like yesterday) but when I clicked it, it immediately told me "Connection Failed - The connection to the server was lost. Please try again later." I tried it a few times and got the same repeatedly.

I tried to do a network settings reset (General> Transfer or Reset iPhone > Transfer> Reset > Reset Network settings) but still got the same 'Connection Failed." I had plenty of signal, the watch was charged and it sitting right next to the device.

A few minutes later, I 'woke' the watch up and while the screen was active, I tried again. I got through a log in screen/code challenge and even managed to select a tariff and accept Ts&Cs.  But the next screen was "oops, something went wrong" screen. I tried again and got the same result 3x.

The O2 agent on FB messenger replied as I was doing this and we rebooted both devices and tried doing it with Mobile Data only, and then with Wifi only. No luck.

I turned both Mobile Data and Wifi back on. In Mobile Data I turned Roaming to On and I turned "Limit IP Address Tracking" off. THIS TIME IT WORKED. It could be entirely a coincidence -- the O2 agent could have been squirrelling away doing something in the background that worked, or it could be just the fanciful whims of IT gremlins changing their minds!

Now I've gotten to a screen that says "All done -- We've added your new Airtime plan... it can take up to 24 hours to activate." Fingers crossed!

[Cleoriff]

@LonMum 

Well that seems a great step forward. Fingers crossed it all works 🤞