If you're on the fence about upgrading to a Series 7 & are with T Mobile

[mk313]

Just an FYI, if you're debating upgrading to the Series 7 & use T Mobile cellular service on your watch, the 7 does not include cellular Band 71. It utilizes the same cellular bands as the 5, 6 & SE (not sure about the 4). Band 71 provides some of the widest coverage for T Mobile & is now included in all of the current iPhones. If you're in a larger city it might not matter, but in less populated areas it provides better coverage. Maybe there's a technical reason it won't work in watches & the 8 won't have it either.

Not really a deal breaker, but just something that caused me to hold on to my 5 for one more year & wanted to pass it along to others who may be in the same situation.

 

[musicpenguy]

I’m pretty sure the bands in AW are the lower power bands and does talk to different towers from the phone and a smaller subset of the towers which is why it gets not as good service as your phone would. I remember Rene Ritchie mentioning this with the Series 3 that there are some towers that somehow transmit the data in a more energy friendly way for the watch. Not quite sure the exact situation here.
Does the Series 5 have this missing band? Where did you find this info on the tech spec page?

 

[mk313]

I'm sure that there are other reception issues with the watch. The size of the antenna being one of them. It's very possible that there is something with how the towers connect to the watch that impacts the reception as well, but the Series 7 is still missing a newer T Mo cellular band that they are using to provide additional coverage in the US.

The Series 5 doesn't have it either, but it appears that the bands supported (at least on T Mo) are the same for the 5, 6, SE & 7. I'm not sure about the 4 as I wasn't shopping for a watch back then. I know that the 5 has all the T Mo bands up to 66 back from when I bought a Series 5. The series 7 (and SE) data can be found here: https://www.apple.com/watch/cellular/
Which is found on endnote #7 on the apple.com/watch page