Transfer data plan to new Series 7 Apple Watch

[Umiamz]

I'm going to be upgrading to a Series 7 watch today so I'm wondering, after a few years supporting the Apple Watch, if there is now an official procedure for transferring the data plan.

I've been through this process a few times before and it has always been a complete pain with even the technical staff not able to to get it right. Every time, I've ended up being without data for a few days until I manage to get the one person who actually knows what to do.

A cursory search of the forum still indicates that some say keep the data plan when unpairing, some say remove it.

So, is there now a proper procedure in place to do this with the minimum of fuss?

[Chris_B]

@Umiamz  If you’re going to be selling the watch and not keep it for yourself then you need to remove the data plan.  The plan is linked to that watch.  

unfortunately there will always be issues as it’s an IT connection that links the watch to your account and things can and sometimes do go wrong, sometimes it’ll go straight through and you have no problems at all.  If EE knew what causes issues then there would be no issues but unfortunately when it comes to changing things like this problems can happen,   It doesn’t happen because EE want it to happen. 

[mbdrake76]

Ditto.  Hopefully this will arrive a little faster than the 1Tb iPhone 13 Pro Max 😉

Info can be found about transferring the data plan here:

https://ee.co.uk/help/help-new/getting-started-and-upgrading/using-your-phone-features/how-do-i-set-...

In essence: just unpair the current watch, but keep the existing data plan.  When you pair the new watch, the data plan will be applied to that.

[Umiamz]

@Chris_B I'm talking about when you unpair the watch to make the backup to restore to the new watch.

It makes no difference to selling the watch whether you remove the data plan or not at this stage because you can do a full erase to factory defaults, which will remove the data plan. This is what I've done before.

[Umiamz]

@mbdrake76 Sorry, I can't see anything on that page about transferring the data plan - just how to set up a new watch.

In the past, EE have had to transfer the old watch's e-SIM to the new watch. You call them, give them the e-SIM's EID, and hope for the best. This is where it usually all goes wrong.

I was hoping that EE had managed to automate things like many other networks here and abroad have managed to do.

I guess we'll see...

[bazooka-joe]

Sorry but unless things have changed I disagree with that. I’ve had a data plan on my series 3, 4, 5 and 6. I have always kept my data plan when unpairing my old watch. Then when I get my new watch,I pair it,  ring EE and give them the EID number of the new watch and they transfer the LTE plan to my new watch. That has always worked for me. If you delete your data plan then you’ll have to take out a new plan with EE.

I have the iPhone pro max 13 straight from Apple and my series 7 stainless steel graphite watch is arriving from Apple next Friday and I shall do exactly the same procedure as I’ve always done and that is to un pair my watch from my iPhone and ensure that I keep the data plan and get EE to transfer it to the new watch. 

[Umiamz]

@bazooka-joe 

Glad it's always worked out for you and I hope it continues to do so, for both of us.

Incidentally, deleting the data plan when you unpair doesn't affect your actual plan at EE's end. I've done this a couple of times, then re-paired the watch without any issues.

[bazooka-joe]

Thanks for that. That’s always interesting to know.

[Umiamz]

New Series 7 arrived and now fully working with original data plan.

I unpaired the old watch, keeping the data plan.

Paired the new one using the backup that was created by the first step.

When it asked me to set up the data plan, I got a screen telling me to call EE with error code 003. I did this and spoke to the wonderful Rowena in the Welsh call centre, who was great. I gave her the new watch's EID and she said it would take 4 to 24 hours.

Came off the phone and 5 minutes later it was working!

Well done to EE (and especially Rowena) for making it a painless experience this year 😀