MFA phone number updated to my watch. I cant login to my account and support doesnt know how to fix it

statikdc

I upgraded to an Apple Watch Ultra 3 and activated it on my Verizon account. After activation, my multi-factor authentication (MFA) phone number was automatically switched to the watch’s line. I do not have direct access to the watch’s number because it uses Number Share and, in effect, shares my cellphone’s phone number. This means I cannot receive MFA login codes—so I am locked out of my account.

I’ve tried to resolve this through support, but was told both my numbers are SIM-locked and they couldn’t help for another 30 days. Support also deactivated my account, had me re-register, and the issue still wasn’t fixed. The representatives seemed unsure how to proceed and, ultimately, closed the case without resolution.

Is there a way to restore my MFA/verification code delivery to my main cellphone number? Any advice or step-by-step guidance would be greatly appreciated, especially if anyone has successfully resolved this after an Apple Watch activation.

statikdc

This has been resolved. Verizon Wireless customer service raised a ticket to backend support on Wed, Oct 8th at 9:54 am ET, and I received a resolution on Sat, Oct 11th at 1:51 pm ET. Support called and text messaged me to let me know this was a fraud prevention feature that would kick in automatically. They requested that I authenticate using another phone number you own. The problem for me is that I own the second number the MFA codes were sent to, but it's not active because I use number sharing for my watch. I was told to give up to a week for my active phone number to switch back for receiving MFA codes, and as of today, Oct 15th at 3 pm ET, its back in order.

I would like to know if I should have paid for the 2nd number when I got my first Apple Watch years ago, when I was told I had to have one. Now, today, I'm using number share, etc.