Alternative cellular carriers

[heartifoh]

Does anybody on here use their Apple Watch with cellular carriers other than Apple’s partners? I’m referring to the discount VOIP carriers? I’m with TextNow out of Canada. I have a Series 2 (GPS only). It was paired to an iPhone 6. Using Bluetooth, it was able to: make outgoing calls (through Siri or the dial pad) and receive text messages. You could not answer calls (but you could see who is calling) nor initiate text messages (but you could reply to them). It also provided VM transcripts from callers leaving messages. This was until two weeks ago. Now, TextNow no longer supports the iPhone native dialer (it did in the past). Because of this, it’s loss all connectivity with my iPhone. Even with these restricted features, it was fine for me. I use my phone maybe twice a day. I now pay $120/year for service. I refuse to pay $700+ for yearly service. Anyone else using discount carriers?

 

[akash.nu]

The watch needs to be on the same carrier as your iPhone and also the carrier needs to support  Watch as a device profile.

 

[xraydoc]

Does anybody on here use their Apple Watch with cellular carriers other than Apple’s partners? I’m referring to the discount VOIP carriers? I’m with TextNow out of Canada. I have a Series 2 (GPS only). It was paired to an iPhone 6. Using Bluetooth, it was able to: make outgoing calls (through Siri or the dial pad) and receive text messages. You could not answer calls (but you could see who is calling) nor initiate text messages (but you could reply to them). It also provided VM transcripts from callers leaving messages. This was until two weeks ago. Now, TextNow no longer supports the iPhone native dialer (it did in the past). Because of this, it’s loss all connectivity with my iPhone. Even with these restricted features, it was fine for me. I use my phone maybe twice a day. I now pay $120/year for service. I refuse to pay $700+ for yearly service. Anyone else using discount carriers?

The watch needs to be on the same carrier as your iPhone and also the carrier needs to support  Watch as a device profile.

Yep ^^

The phone and the watch have to be on the same carrier and the carrier has to specifically support the watch. There's a lot of behind the scenes tech required to get two devices with essentially two separate numbers to function together.

It doesn't have to be one of Apple's specific partners -- any carrier presumably can do it if they want to, but some obviously simply don't care or costs more to implement than they think they can get back in profit.

For example, in the US, xFinity supports the Apple Watch and isn't an advertised Apple partner. I believe they're an MVNO on Verizon's LTE-only network. But of course the phone and watch have to be both on the same carrier.

 

[heartifoh]

Yep ^^

The phone and the watch have to be on the same carrier and the carrier has to specifically support the watch. There's a lot of behind the scenes tech required to get two devices with essentially two separate numbers to function together.

It doesn't have to be one of Apple's specific partners -- any carrier presumably can do it if they want to, but some obviously simply don't care or costs more to implement than they think they can get back in profit.

For example, in the US, xFinity supports the Apple Watch and isn't an advertised Apple partner. I believe they're an MVNO on Verizon's LTE-only network. But of course the phone and watch have to be both on the same carrier.

Thanks for your response. I guess my original posting wasn’t clear. I know the watch has to be on the same cellular carrier as the phone. But that’s for a watch that’s cellular enabled. This is a GPS only iWatch. It’s connecting to the watch exclusively through Bluetooth. So the only carrier is the one on the iPhone. You need to have the phone near-by. I think when the iWatch was first introduced they were all like this (GPS only). It wasn’t until the 3rd generation they had a cellular option (and they made it clear that both the watch and the phone had to be with the same carrier, although they neglected to tell you the carriers were going to add a surcharge for using an iWatch!).

 

[xraydoc]

Thanks for your response. I guess my original posting wasn’t clear. I know the watch has to be on the same cellular carrier as the phone. But that’s for a watch that’s cellular enabled. This is a GPS only iWatch. It’s connecting to the watch exclusively through Bluetooth. So the only carrier is the one on the iPhone. You need to have the phone near-by. I think when the iWatch was first introduced they were all like this (GPS only). It wasn’t until the 3rd generation they had a cellular option (and they made it clear that both the watch and the phone had to be with the same carrier, although they neglected to tell you the carriers were going to add a surcharge for using an iWatch!).

If you're having issues with the watch receiving notifications and accepting calls as a bluetooth device, then it should function completely regardless of the carrier your phone is on.
Dig through all your settings to make sure nothing has been switched off inadvertently. Otherwise, my suggestion would be to unpair your watch from your phone then re-pair. That should get things working as new.

Edit: wait, re-reading your original post, it's now clear to me that your carrier's lack of support for the native iPhone dialer is going to wreak havoc with the watch. Unless they make a companion app for the watch, there's no way a 3rd party VOIP app is going to function with the Watch's built-in features. Frankly, I'm surprised a carrier like this even exists.

Unfortunately, you may be completely SOL unless you want to switch to a more conventional carrier, even one of the MVNO services.

 

[NoBoMac]

OP's issue is not with Bluetooth but with their VoIP service no longer support iOS native dialer, so, no hand-off.

For incoming and outgoing calls, CallKit displays the same interfaces as the Phone app, giving your app a more native look and feel. And CallKit responds appropriately to system-level behaviors such as Do Not Disturb.

CallKit | Apple Developer Documentation

Display the system-calling UI for your app’s VoIP services, and coordinate your calling services with other apps and the system.

developer.apple.com

Might look into a pre-paid plan. Won't get you to the $120 price point, but less than $700 (this is assuming with data plan).

Or, per profile, looks like you're in the US and just using a Canadian service, so, Google FI is an option. $20/mo + $10/GB if not a big cellular data user. Seem to recall that they allow iPhone now as a BYOD.

Or, Google Voice for a number. Free, believe it does use the native dialer, so, can take calls on Watch (Disclaimer: I have this as my "anyone not family and friends" number and set to Do Not Disturb permanently, so, have not tested taking a call with this via Watch).