I am looking to buy an apple watch and i want one with cellular but then i came across a fee to use LTE. would i have to pay this fee on top of my phone plan even if my plan does not have data? just want to text and call without my phone nearby.
The Apple Watch shares the iPhone’s phone number. Your iPhone cellular carrier must support the Apple Watch and this phone number Sharing. The carrier charges a monthly fee for this service. In the U.S. the fee is $10 per month added to your iPhone cellular bill.
Here is a list of carriers that support the Apple Watch
https://www.apple.com/watch/cellular
Your iPhone carrier must be listed by name, and an NVMO carrier piggy backing on a carrier that supports the Apple Watch does not count.
The carriers that support the Apple Watch may require a specific subset of iPhone plans that will work with the Apple Watch.
Note: a GPS only model can do Everything the cellular model can do as long as your iPhone is nearby. Where nearby is say in the same 3-4 bedroom wood frame construction house.
The Apple Watch shares the iPhone’s phone number. Your iPhone cellular carrier must support the Apple Watch and this phone number Sharing. The carrier charges a monthly fee for this service. In the U.S. the fee is $10 per month added to your iPhone cellular bill.
Here is a list of carriers that support the Apple Watch
https://www.apple.com/watch/cellular
Your iPhone carrier must be listed by name, and an NVMO carrier piggy backing on a carrier that supports the Apple Watch does not count.
The carriers that support the Apple Watch may require a specific subset of iPhone plans that will work with the Apple Watch.
Note: a GPS only model can do Everything the cellular model can do as long as your iPhone is nearby. Where nearby is say in the same 3-4 bedroom wood frame construction house.
You need to be able to access the Internet with your Apple Watch. That requires cellular data.
No cellular carrier is going to support your Apple Watch on an iPhone that does not also have data.
Contact your iPhone’s cellular provider and ask what plans include support for the Apple Watch.
Sorry, I think I should have worded my first response better. No, you do not need to purchase unlimited data to be able to use the cellular (only) version. It would be similar to your phone as you can still text and call as long as you are connected to WiFi. I may be wrong but I’m sure that all you’re doing is adding another device to your plan. If you want the watch to do what your phone is doing then there’s no reason to modify the plan. The difference between gps + cellular and cellular is gps will allow you to be able to use data to call and text off WiFi.
Thank you - I do not want data, I just want to use the watch for texting and calling when I do not have wifi without my phone nearby. With the cellular option do I NEED my phone plan to have data or can I use my watch the same way I use my phone (just calls and texts without wifi)?
Oh okay so you’re saying if I want to call and text without my phone nearby I would need to have data?
I’m not sure what exact phone plan you have so I don’t know if this can help. But I’ll tell you my experience, I got the Series 3 which added on another user (like another phone) to my family AT&T phone plan. I also got a new number for my watch. However, the plan I use does include unlimited data. If your current plan does not include data and you want the cellular option then you will have to pay the fee for data. But if you don’t want the cellular option then you should be fine without paying another fee for the cellular. That is just as long as you choose the watch without the gps option.
Help!!!
