Apple Watch Ultra 3 mobile plan not working on Three

[Pasty]

Trying to set up my Apple Watch 3, following the instructions on the three website (https://www.three.co.uk/support/sim-support/smartwatch-pairing-support) and get the following error from the three server:

403 Forbidden

Microsoft-Azure-Application-Gateway/v2

I called three support which were no help at all, but followed their advice and reset the watch, which obviously made no difference at all. I got passed to a technical advisor, but unfortunately they had no knowledge of this and were no help whatsoever. Over 2 hours wasted talking to people with no knowledge of the smartphone service offered by three.

Has anyone managed to get their Apple Watch Ultra 3 working with a Three mobile plan, or should I leave three & go to EE?

[PeteG]

Hello there. 

Sorry about that, editing this post as I thought you were referring to an older apple watch rather than the new one. I'm not sure about the error you're having. Where does that appear? and at which stage of the process do you get to before it appears? 

Pete .

[Pasty]

Hi, thanks for replying. I was following the instructions in the URL I posted earlier. The error occurs in the Watch app, after pressing “Mobile Service”, then “Setup Mobile Service”. As soon as I press the button on the next page of the Apple Watch app, I get the 403 error from the Three server. It is an unhandled error from the Three web server. I imagine this should be the page that you can sign up for the smartwatch mobile service, but the error prevents this, so it needs to be fixed at the server side.

iPhone 17 Pro Max running iOS 26.0 (23A345) and Apple Watch Ultra 3 running 26.0.1 (23R8352)

[PeteG]

Did you have an Apple Watch set up before getting the new one? 

Pete. 

[Pasty]

No. I moved to Three because I need the smartwatch pairing plan, so I can use the Apple Watch without my phone. 

[JonathanB]

Hi @Pasty,

I've seen this issue reported once before, in context of a Samsung watch pairing, but it seemed to be a temporary error as the customer retried later and it worked with no issues.

Have you tried pairing again in the meantime since you posted, does it seem to be a persistent error for you?

Thanks,
Jonathan

[Pasty · Accepted solution]

Hi Jonathan, thanks for replying. 

I have been trying for a week now, several times a day, but since seeing your post I tried again and it’s now working!!!!

it must have been something that was fixed server-side, because the UI is now working (no more 403 error) and I was able to sign up for the smartwatch plan.

thanks to everyone that replied and the mystery fixer at three that fixed the 403 error.

Chris