Your Smart Watch has had a problem downloading the eSIM

[xxchristenxx]

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I received my new Apple Watch 9 series today, all set up fine but won’t allow me to add my data plan, I bought the cellular model on purpose so I could leave my phone at home and still receive texts and calls. Now I am getting this message repeatedly: 

“Your Smart Watch has had a problem downloading the eSIM, click "Done" below to try the download again.

It can take up to 4 hours. Your phone will notify you when the activation is complete.”

I have tried resetting the Apple Watch to factory settings,  pairing it again, resetting my phone and watch, I have tried it with the wifi off on both devices and on but nothing is working. 4 hours has passed like it says on the error message, 

I see many posts from people in a similar position and it’s not being sorted. But I am not about to be paying for a data plan for my watch that I can’t use.

EDIT TO ADD: both my phone (iPhone 14 pro max) and watch (9 series) have latest updates installed, both are through EE on the same account. Also my previous Apple Watch which I upgraded from (7 series) had no problems like this and was connected to my data plan just fine, I have reset that device to factory settings and removed the data plan. 

Help would be appreciated. 

Christen 

[Chris_B]

@xxchristenxx  just to check you are a contract customer ? 

[xxchristenxx]

Yes that’s correct 

[Chris_B]

@xxchristenxx  Have you called customer services about this ?    You might of seen many posts about this on here but in reality it’s very few who have an issue.  People don’t come here when it works to say it’s working.  

[xxchristenxx]

I haven’t called EE yet, I didn’t think they’d be open this late. I have seen a few people who have had success but not many. I have been trawling the internet for ages looking for a solution and I’ve tried everything I’ve come across so far. 

I thought I’d post here and see if there was any solutions available before I call tomorrow 

[xxchristenxx · Accepted solution]

How I got it sorted if anyone has similar problems -

Called EE, the lady on the phone took my watch’s EID number, made sure it wasn’t connected to any other accounts, deregistered the watch’s data plan number, set up the data plan again, connected it to my phone number and all sorted. If you have this issue you will need to call EE. 

Thank you Chris B for your direction.