Transferring Apple Watch Cellular Plan to new Device (Series 9 / Ultra 2)

[Snook]

Hello 🙂

Anyone who's reading these forums likely knows what a disaster the Apple Watch Cellular Plan is with Three at times, leaving many people months without service for months when they get a new device. So I was hoping, considering many people may be upgrading on the 22nd Sep when the new devices come out, what's the proper process or the best way to do it, to achieve a good outcome?

I've heard different approaches:

• Remove the Plan from the Old Device; wait a while then setup the new Device
• Just go straight for setting up the new Device and during setup, just enable Cellular and it somehow works.
• Factory Reset the old Device, then setup the new device.

It would be good to know which of the following approaches (or any others I've missed) worked for people, to successfully transfer the plan without having to spend 10+ hours with the Three Support team and many months and still be unsuccessful? Trying to make the process as smooth as possible - and hopefully this thread can help others too.

@JonathanB - Could you give your input here if possible please?

[IanM]

No, I didn’t remove the cellular plan from the old watch first. I was amazed how easily the setup process handled it. Almost instant.

[Poly_phonic]

That’s really helpful. Thank you, IanM. 

[IanM]

Yes, I was moving the plan rom Apple Watch Ultra to Apple Watch 10. It took about 30 minutes.

[Fwuffybunnyfeet]

Anyone got this to work on a series 10? It has been saying activating for well over an hour after advised to remove it as wouldn’t pair grrr

[IanM]

Found these instructions which worked! No need to contact Three.

Transfer an existing cellular plan to a new Apple Watch

You can transfer your existing cellular plan from your Apple Watch with cellular to another Apple Watch with cellular by following these steps:

1. While wearing your Apple Watch, open the Apple Watch app on your iPhone.
2. Tap My Watch, tap Cellular, then tap  next to your cellular plan.
3. Tap Remove [name of carrier] Plan, then confirm your choice.
4. You may need to contact your carrier to remove this Apple Watch from your cellular plan.
5. Remove your old watch, put on your other Apple Watch with cellular, tap My Watch, then tap Cellular.
6. Follow the instructions to activate your watch for cellular."

[Bernardclissett]

Morning,

I have just come across these posts and it alarms me to see that this pairing issue is still a big problem, which I am experiencing myself at this moment after to visits to my local three store and many phone calls to three I am still unable to use my data plan add on from my new Apple Watch I’m losing the will to live this is a problem that no one at three seems to be able to sort out this is very frustrating.

[JonathanB]

Hi @Snook,

Sorry for the delay in answering, and thanks for starting this thread, I think it should be really helpful especially with new Apple devices on the way.

To my understanding you'd want to unpair the existing Apple Watch first using the info here: https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT204568

Then once that's completed you should be able to pair the new watch. Your existing add on should still be intact on your Three account so that you don't need to remove this and wait till the next bill cycle.

I wouldn't recommend going straight into pairing a new device, as the IMEI of the watch is stored in the background systems, conflicts with more than one IMEI can cause errors.

And for the factory reset suggestion, this is advised by Apple but only if one of the devices, phone or watch, is lost/stolen, similar to the previous scenario the IMEI may not remove itself from our system.

Please let me know if there's still any errors when following these suggestions.

Thanks,
Jonathan

[Poly_phonic]

Hi Jonathan

Three years ago, you were helpful in resolving an issue with a delay in activating cellular service on my Apple Watch Ultra. I got it to work eventually, but only after waiting nearly 3 weeks (and a new billing cycle).

I wondered if you could help me again?

I've just bought a new Apple Watch Ultra and I want to transfer the service from one to another. I've found contradictory information on these forums, so could you tell me the process to transfer the service from my old watch to my new one? After the delay and hassle last time, I'm a bit paranoid! Thank you. 

[MichaelP]

Hi there @Poly_phonic,

Thanks for reaching out to us here. 

Apple have some helpful steps to guide you with transferring your plan to your new Apple Watch.

You should also see some more guidance directly from your new watch when you power it on😀.

Please give that a go and let us know if you encounter any issues.

Thanks,
Michael