Series 4 Apple Watch Cellular doesn’t work

[Nsjmurray]

So, in typical Vodafone fashion they have come out with a new feature and product that doesn’t work at launch - in-fact it does several unannounced and unauthorised credit checks.

So I received my brand new iPhone and Apple Watch today and I have to admit, they look fantastic, after opening the iPhone box and just seeing the magnificence that is the phone I am definitely happy with my purchase.

I open up the oddly packaged watch box and start to set it up, everything is fine except for when I got to the mobile data setup section- at first it looked promising a Vodafone log-in screen, “Awesome” I thought, so I logged in and all of a sudden it was asking me to add a subscription for £5 per month.. I thought this was strange as I was already paying for the watch now you’re trying to charge me more for a subscription, I knew it seems to be a mistake so I just glanced at the terms, it seemed normal just about linking them together so it made sense, I went ahead and clicked add subscription knowing that I would just call Vodafone and explain the situation if they tried to charge me more.

Anyway, it shows me a loading screen and I’m simply waiting for it to complete the link between my devices.

After a short while it went to a blank white screen and then... what’s this... I HAVE FAILED A CREDIT CHECK AND I HAVENT BEEN CHARGED?!?!?

So not only did it fail.. Vodafone has performed a credit check, without authorisation just to link it to my existing plan that I was already credit checked on?

Good one Vodafone, will be returning the watch and the device and leaving the network for good, this is the final straw, I’ve had nothing but trouble with you for 7 years and I’ve stuck by you, but you just cannot get anything right first time, EVER.

wondering if anyone else had this happen to them.

[Norwichred]

24 / 48 hours?

i wish!

ive been told 7 working days!!!!!

[Dav1ey]

I will keep you updated!

Have had a couple of calls from Zisis who sounds quite competent, this afternoon, so hopefully he is on the ball... 

[antuk]

So finally after 3 weeks and my main phone number being disconnected 3 times I think this is finally working now.

However it doesnt work as I expect it to - can anyone else that has it working confirm if this is expected behaviour or if there is still something not quite right

With the iPhone switched off or on flight mode

Calling main number - Watch rings

Outbound and Inbound texts and notifications - do not work

With the iPhone switched on but not in bluetooth range of the Watch - Everyhing works as expected

I was under the impression that if the battery on the iPhone was flat the watch would fully take over, it appears that (at least in my case) it only takes over calls, for texts and notifications it requires the iPhone to be switched on somewhere even if its not in range of the watch

Is this how it should work? Or do i still have an issue with vodafones setup?

[garethr]

Yes, that behaviour is how it works.

The Watch will take calls at any time (regardless of the phone's status). For SMS (not iMessage) the phone needs to be turned on and connected to the same Wifi network as the watch - much the same as how message forwarding works accross other Apple devices. iMessage works fine, as will push notifications for any Watch apps themselves, but notifications for apps which don't have native Watch apps will not.

Not sure why Apple didn't implement full SMS forwarding, or non native Watch push notifications, but I'm sure there was good reason - I imagine keeping SMS and push notifications sync'd when delivered via separate cell connections would have been a technical challenge.

More info here: https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT205547

[morganomalley]

*sigh*

received an email for a sim swap yesterday and the day before

it does nothing,

currently

Watch app shows data plan but 'waiting'

watch itself says no data plan and no sim

anyone have this issue

[Norwichred]

Yep.

[Scottsole]

Yep...... I had the waiting and spinning wheel for weeks. Now it asks to set up data plan. Press that it says activating for a few seconds then jumps to a web page saying this won’t take long, then jumps back to setup data plan and just continues the cycle. Really really fed up now. I call Vodafone everyday and no one can help complete and utter rubbish. Bad show Vodafone 

[garethr]

---

@Scottsole wrote:

Yep...... I had the waiting and spinning wheel for weeks. Now it asks to set up data plan. Press that it says activating for a few seconds then jumps to a web page saying this won’t take long, then jumps back to setup data plan and just continues the cycle. Really really fed up now. I call Vodafone everyday and no one can help complete and utter rubbish. Bad show Vodafone 

---

If it’s any consolation this was exactly the same for me right before it started working. I had the spinning ‘waiting’ for ages and then back to this exact same ‘setup data plan’ message. 

About 24-48 hours after this I received a carrier settings update and it all sprung into life. 

[Scottsole]

I’ve had this for 4 days now. On top of nearly 4 weeks of not working. I received a carrier update so done that and made no difference. It’s annoying when I call Vodafone and they say “yes sir we can fix this for you today. Like it’s the 1st time I’ve called lol. Honestly Vodafone support is by far the worst call centre in the world. I have made formal complaints now about some advisers because they can’t grasp basic tasks like taking my mobile number. How these people pass their interview process is beyond me. I don’t hold much hope to getting it sorted anytime soon. But I refuse to pay for a service I’m not getting and will push compensation at the end with the time lost on the phone (hours) and the stress this causes. Really bad 

[ChOpSuEy]

Guys you do realise that there’s a fix for the cellular problems on another page? Well it’s fixed quite a few people’s watches with a few different problems I’ve copied and I’ll paste it here and yous can see if it works for yous... it worked for me and my cellular is working perfect now...

“ I just realised every time you re pair your Apple Watch it creates a backup on your phone.  On my iPhone I just went into settings, general, iPhone storage and then selected the watch app.  In here there were 5 watch backups.  I deleted all the backups apart from the existing one leaving only one backup.  I then refreshed all apps in my phone and turned off the phone.

i then restarted the phone and went into the watch app.  When I selected mobile data it thought for a bit and then connected to Vodafone automatically.  The watch now seems to be connected to cellular.  I hope this works for others. If it does let’s hope Vodafone support pick up on it.“ 

let me know if it works for any of you guys. 

David.