Does iPhone still have to be powered on and connected to cell service for watch elsewhere to get cell service there?

Hi Javaliga. Thanks for that link, which had a lot of useful information. I just ran another set of at-home tests. As before, with her iPhone off, my calls to her just go to voicemail. This time, actually leaving a message for her, the answer is that she gets no notice of the pending voicemail on her watch until after her iPhone is turned back on. I'll retry this test after she is out of range on a beach walk with iPhone on vs. off, instead of in the same room with iPhone on vs. off, but I expect the same result.

As for contacting Apple, instead of Spectrum, that was a GREAT suggestion. Something the agent said, when I told him my calls just go to voicemail if her phone is off, is that this is supposed to happen. It never occurred to me to test if she can still make an outgoing call on the watch with the phone off. That actually works, which eliminates the safety concern if she would ever need to call for help while phone left behind at home has died. Not being notified of a missed call is a trivial issue not worth worrying about.

Problem solved!

So one more update. This time with my wife out on the beach, she was able to call me with her iPhone left home here with me turned on. I then powered off her iPhone and she was able to call me again.

One last test, I was also able to call her iPhone this time, instead of it going to voicemail like every earlier test had done. I have no idea why calling her with her phone turned off now actually reached her on her watch, unless it was because she is now on a different cell tower. In any case, it’s working perfectly for our expected routine scenario. Yippee! Case closed.

Double checked. I confirmed that cellular watch activation was successful, and I can use another phone to call my wife at a distant location far from her iPhone, but that only works if her iPhone is powered on and connected to cell service. As soon as I power off her iPhone, cellular service to her watch is no longer available until her iPhone is powered back up.

While not a deal breaker, this is an undesirable result since the workaround is to ensure the iPhone left behind has enough juice (or is on a charger) for the duration of the separation. I have no idea if this is a limitation of the Spectrum implementation, but might be since online research is giving inconsistent answers to the question.

Thanks, brbo. See my reply to BobHarris. I do understand that your reply was regarding using wi-fi on the watch and not cellular service. I’m not sure if/when that would ever mitigate the issue.

Even if you are suggesting wi-fi calling can be done via the watch wi-fi connection, which I’ve never tried with my own non-cellular watch, it’s unlikely my wife would ever be in range of a public wi-fi hotspot during the times when cell service fails due to her iPhone being powered off.

Thanks for the reply, by BobHarris, but it appears you replied to my original question and didn’t see the subsequent “Double Checked...” reply to myself. I confirmed her watch is properly provisioned with cell service activated, and successfully used cell service while remote from her iPhone. It worked fine until her iPhone was powered off.

I spent an hour with a Spectrum agent who confirmed the testing proved her iPhone needs to be connected to cell service for that same cell service in a distant location to work with the activated watch plan. This appears to be a limitation of the new Spectrum service for Apple watches, and not Apple’s fault.