Upgrading from iPhone 14 to iPhone 15 and impact on Apple Watch cellular plan

[tednol]

I upgraded from an iPhone 14 Pro to an iPhone 15 Pro and received my new phone on Monday. As part of this I switched from an iPhone Full Works tariff to an All Rounder iPhone tariff. I also have a SIM only Apple Watch service on my account.

Migrating from the iPhone 14 to the iPhone 15 was seamless, and as part of that flow I moved the e-sim from my old device to my new device and moved my Apple Watch to my new device. Cellular connectivity on the iPhone 15 is fine, but now the cellular service on my Apple Watch is now completely borked. I'm getting a "Your EE account is not eligible to enable mobile service on your Apple Watch. Contact EE on 150 for more information" message.

Spoke to 150 last night and after 30 minutes, mainly spent on hold, I was told it's a known issue and to just keep trying. In the nicest possible way, this felt like being fobbed off. Is anyone else having similar difficulties?

[MilesR]

Same problem here. 

Moved from a 13 Pro Max to the 15 Pro Max. 

As part of that setup process, the phone transferred my physical SIM to an e-SIM. 

No joy on being able to get my long-running EE watch plan back on to the watch since. 

Escalated to Tier 2 and my complaint closed, 'but it's really just on hold'.

Reading this thread and others makes me think this is the beginning of the end of my relationship with EE.

[cewuk]

I think I'm in the same boat. Seems to be no serious engagement from EE to resolve this issue, just a seeming agenda to ensure all tickets/complaints are closed by the end of the call, despite no resolution of the issue.

Don't want to leave EE as I've always been pleased with the service, but feel that my hand is being forced by EE's lack of effort to resolve this issue.

[Legge33210]

Experiencing the same issue! Upgraded from the iPhone 14 pro max to the iPhone 15 pro max and can not add data plan to my Apple watch ultra. Several calls to tech support and still no further forward. Advised they are looking into the 'known issue' but don't have a timescale. Joke really, paying for a service and ultimately not receiving that service! Was advised to just 'keep trying' and it might work.... Looks like this has been a known issue for years but yet we are still having the same issue. 

[Stansco]

At the moment I am visiting said friend. I went to a local EE shop and asked if I could get a replacement SIM card. I wanted to check if the eSIM might be the cause of it. However I don’t have photo ID with me so this will have to wait till Thursday when I’m back home.

If this doesn’t resolve it I am planning to cancel my existing watch sim and get a new one. I’ve read on other comments that this fixed it. 

[VDB123]

Seems like a decent idea actually to cancel the contract and get a new setup. I assume the watch would need to recognise that through the watch app to allow you to setup a new one (unless it can be done by support)? Interested to hear how that goes?

[Profile closed]

This is why I believe the SIM swap route on my earlier comment will solve this. The eSIM is tied to the device and it won’t activate on the new device as the EIDs don’t match. 

There could be some connection here even if the same watch is used and the phone has changed. Perhaps it’s relying on the old eSIM from the old phone which is no longer active.

[EvilSmoothie]

Worth a shot. I don’t want to cancel my plan as it will be more expensive to start a fresh. 

I’m using the same watch so there is no change in EID. Customer service checked the EID on the phone to me too but no progress. 

[Profile closed]

Like you say, worth a shot, even if it is the same watch. I had a few issues like this with Vodafone and the SIM swap fixed it each time. 

It was great having the connectivity when it worked but more often than not, especially after a big watch update it messed with the eSIM and it lost connection. 

[helloitwez]

As EE seem unable to fix it and are leaving people paying monthly for a service they aren’t receiving I’d suggest more people contact Ofcom.

I spoke to someone today and they were very helpful. Will follow up if I hear back. 

[MilesR]

Okay, folks here's your solution. EE essentially cannot provision your watch via an eSIM. However, Apple makes it really easy to make your physical SIM into an eSIM when you set up a new phone. It is a 1 click process. I was digging hard and found some really old documentation to say that the provider of your watch must be the same as the physical SIM in your phone. So I went to the EE store this afternoon, had my eSIM swapped back to a physical SIM and instantly I can engage data on my watch. This is clearly a UK/EE/eSim issue as in some regions now Apple sells the iPhone without a physical SIM slot at all... Who's to blame, who's lagging behind the times in their tech, is this consistent with all eSIMs EE issues, or are a small group of us just lucky... Who knows! But I am back to being set up. Huzzah!