LTE in Apple Watch Series 3 Models Only Works in Country of Purchase

[tonoboon]

The price for the S3 LTE also the same as S2 and the price the S3 non-LTE equal as S1 before new version come out.
So what the big deal if we not much using the LTE?
For sport model with out LTE , Apple sell it cheaper than last year.
I'm going to the red dot for sure ,I just curious is that possible to setup without carrier support.

 

[InBruges]

this is not about eSIM.



it's limited by hardware.

How can it be a hardware limitation?? Apple site states "comes in three regional models – Americas, China, and Europe/Asia Pacific" - Therefore it's a single model for the whole of Europe and the UK.
I'm in Europe right now with my LTE watch and have no service unless my phone is with me which defeats the point and makes it no more independent than my 3 year old Series 0 original

 

[nicho]

How can it be a hardware limitation?? Apple site states "comes in three regional models – Americas, China, and Europe/Asia Pacific" - Therefore it's a single model for the whole of Europe and the UK.
I'm in Europe right now with my LTE watch and have no service unless my phone is with me which defeats the point and makes it no more independent than my 3 year old Series 0 original

the eSIMs don't - at this point - support roaming. its possibly best characterised as a hardware limitation, but not the hardware of the watch... its the infrastructure of the various telecom providers.

 

[RonnieRoon]

Hi there, Could someone please give some advise?

I live in The Netherlands, and currently the 4G version of the Watch is not supported over here, since our telecom providers don't have the ability yet to offer esims. Therefore, the 4G version of the watch is not for sale in this country.

However, in France, they support the esims and sell the watch series 3 with cellular. Since I go to France next week I'm in doubt of which version to buy.

The Watch 3 cellular has double the memory (16GB compared to 8GB in the Watch 3 GPS version) and has a ceramic back. First, is the improved memory capacity worth it to go for this one or don't you need all this extra memory? Second, If I buy the watch cellular in France, am I then able to use the Watch 3 cellular with my Dutch operator as soon as they start supporting it? or does it use e.g. completely different frequencies?

I hope someone can help me.
Thanks in advance!

 

[giggles]

Second, If I buy the watch cellular in France, am I then able to use the Watch 3 cellular with my Dutch operator as soon as they start supporting it? or does it use e.g. completely different frequencies?

If the second email in this post is legit:

https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...ntry-of-purchase.2067891/page-8#post-25042287

then yes.

So Swiss, French, German or UK LTE watches should be supported by carriers in other European countries once they get support (hopefully) in 2018.

 

[jhollington]

First, is the improved memory capacity worth it to go for this one or don't you need all this extra memory?

As with any question about memory, that depends on what you're planning to do with the Apple Watch. If you listen to a lot of music directly from your Apple Watch, there's definitely value in going with the extra memory as watchOS 4 now allows you to more effectively sync music to the watch in the form of multiple playlists.

Other than that, however, I can't personally see a huge advantage to the extra memory. Most watchOS apps are small, and the photo storage limits still haven't been changed — you can only still sync a maximum of 500 photos to the watch.

 

[RonnieRoon]

As with any question about memory, that depends on what you're planning to do with the Apple Watch. If you listen to a lot of music directly from your Apple Watch, there's definitely value in going with the extra memory as watchOS 4 now allows you to more effectively sync music to the watch in the form of multiple playlists.

Other than that, however, I can't personally see a huge advantage to the extra memory. Most watchOS apps are small, and the photo storage limits still haven't been changed — you can only still sync a maximum of 500 photos to the watch.

Ok, thanks for your reply. So probably the extra memory is not worth it. And what about the ceramic back of the watch, is that a real advantage compared to the material of the back of the series 3 GPS?

 

[jhollington]

...what about the ceramic back of the watch, is that a real advantage compared to the material of the back of the series 3 GPS?

Honestly, while the ceramic back seems nicer, I really can't tell the difference in practical use — it's certainly no reason by itself to pay more for an Apple Watch as far as I'm concerned, although I'm kind of surprised they went with a compose back on the GPS-only model, considering all of the Series 2 models included the ceramic back.

There are a couple of big discussions on it here in the MacRumors forums from a couple of years ago, here and here.

 

[Osamede]

Ok, thanks for your reply. So probably the extra memory is not worth it. And what about the ceramic back of the watch, is that a real advantage compared to the material of the back of the series 3 GPS?

Anytime you are buying a smart device, especially one that will go through many iterations of OS upgrade, take max memory. Or you risk having a shorter useful lifespan for device.

 

[nicho]

I emailed Crag Federighi and Phil Schiller (who fowarded to Eric Jue, Senior Vice-President Product Manager Apple Watch) about buying a LTE stainless steel Apple Watch in US and using it in other countries (in my case, Brazil).

They said it'll work just fine using Bluetooth and WiFi connectivity, only LTE won't work.

View attachment 718240 View attachment 718241

https://twitter.com/cfrancklin/status/909024334718603264

Thought I should get back to you as I just spotted something...

https://www.apple.com/watch/cellular/

1. Hong Kong, Macau, and Brazil will use Model A1889 (38mm) and Model Model A1891 (42mm). Guam will use Model A1860 (38mm) and Model A1861 (42mm).

Thats's the UK/EU model FYI.

 

[Smallestsparrow]

A worryingly number of americans don't realize Apple sells it products to other countries, and people of other countries do tend to travel regularly ! ;-)

Actually Americans also travel regularly. Many in the EU seem to ignore the fact that many US states are much larger than most EU countries (for fun, compare the area of Texas, Alaska, or California to the EU); more laughs, compare California’s GDP to any country of choice in Europe. People criticize Americans for not speaking as many languages...uh, from sea to sea top to bottom of North America, there are three: English, French, Spanish. Most Americans speak at least two of the three. I admit my Spanish is the worst of the four I speak (five if we include Latin )...but walking the Camino in Spain I found no one could speak Arabic or Farsi, and only one who knew a little Russian. If I lived somewhere in a teeny tiny country surrounded by lots of teeny tiny countries, none of which shared a language...so let’s stop pretending Americans don’t travel. And oh, gee, how unfair some watches are only in the US right now. Hmm, why is that? Finally, the Cellular function isn’t part of some global conspiracy to ruin everyone’s lives—they could only put so many channels in the case. Wait a year or three. Luckily I can drive more than the distance of all the way across the EU and mine works just fine.

 

[SilentLoner]

Actually Americans also travel regularly. Many in the EU seem to ignore the fact that many US states are much larger than most EU countries (for fun, compare the area of Texas, Alaska, or California to the EU); more laughs, compare California’s GDP to any country of choice in Europe. People criticize Americans for not speaking as many languages...uh, from sea to sea top to bottom of North America, there are three: English, French, Spanish. Most Americans speak at least two of the three. I admit my Spanish is the worst of the four I speak (five if we include Latin )...but walking the Camino in Spain I found no one could speak Arabic or Farsi, and only one who knew a little Russian. If I lived somewhere in a teeny tiny country surrounded by lots of teeny tiny countries, none of which shared a language...so let’s stop pretending Americans don’t travel. And oh, gee, how unfair some watches are only in the US right now. Hmm, why is that? Finally, the Cellular function isn’t part of some global conspiracy to ruin everyone’s lives—they could only put so many channels in the case. Wait a year or three. Luckily I can drive more than the distance of all the way across the EU and mine works just fine.

That is incredibly a “**** you got mine” mentality.

 

[patent10021]

...from sea to sea top to bottom of North America, there are three: English, French, Spanish. Most Americans speak at least two of the three.

Reality distortion field.
[doublepost=1516435977][/doublepost]

That is incredibly a “**** you got mine” mentality.

His claim speaks words.

 

[alexe]

Actually Americans also travel regularly. Many in the EU seem to ignore the fact that many US states are much larger than most EU countries (for fun, compare the area of Texas, Alaska, or California to the EU); more laughs, compare California’s GDP to any country of choice in Europe. People criticize Americans for not speaking as many languages...uh, from sea to sea top to bottom of North America, there are three: English, French, Spanish. Most Americans speak at least two of the three. I admit my Spanish is the worst of the four I speak (five if we include Latin )...but walking the Camino in Spain I found no one could speak Arabic or Farsi, and only one who knew a little Russian. If I lived somewhere in a teeny tiny country surrounded by lots of teeny tiny countries, none of which shared a language...so let’s stop pretending Americans don’t travel. And oh, gee, how unfair some watches are only in the US right now. Hmm, why is that? Finally, the Cellular function isn’t part of some global conspiracy to ruin everyone’s lives—they could only put so many channels in the case. Wait a year or three. Luckily I can drive more than the distance of all the way across the EU and mine works just fine.

Gee, I hate that people like you represent us. So ignorant, so full of yourself . Even if you're right that Americans are more educated and cosmopolitan than our image, that attitude of yours alone is what people mean when they talk trash about Americans.

It doesn't matter how large our country is you moron, it's still all one cultural region. And the fraction of Americans who set foot beyond the borders of this cultural region ever in their lives is a lot smaller than for any other developed country in the world, there are statistics about that. That's what people mean. Not how large our country is or what our GDP is. What does that have to do with anything?

 

[Stella]

Yea I know americans travel and I don’t need a ****ing geography lesson either.

What has GDP / size of country got to anything with travel or the experience of? Bugger all - that’s what!

I don’t care if you live in New York State and travel down to Texas, for example your still in the same country - and stop fooling yourself otherwise. Travelling within the states is no substitute for travelling to a different country!

Most Americans speak multiple languages? LOL - sounds like total ******** to me! Immigrants who have obtained US citizenship more far more likely to be multi-lingual.

“but walking the Camino in Spain I found no one could speak Arabic or Farsi,”

I hope this didn’t surprise you! Because most people in Spain would speak Spanish! Why would you even attempt to speak those languages in the first place?!

I don’t think any one claimed amercians don’t travel - that’s all tonge in cheek.

However, the way some Americans speak on here, you’d wonder if they ever left their own state!

Actually Americans also travel regularly. Many in the EU seem to ignore the fact that many US states are much larger than most EU countries (for fun, compare the area of Texas, Alaska, or California to the EU); more laughs, compare California’s GDP to any country of choice in Europe. People criticize Americans for not speaking as many languages...uh, from sea to sea top to bottom of North America, there are three: English, French, Spanish. Most Americans speak at least two of the three. I admit my Spanish is the worst of the four I speak (five if we include Latin )...but walking the Camino in Spain I found no one could speak Arabic or Farsi, and only one who knew a little Russian. If I lived somewhere in a teeny tiny country surrounded by lots of teeny tiny countries, none of which shared a language...so let’s stop pretending Americans don’t travel. And oh, gee, how unfair some watches are only in the US right now. Hmm, why is that? Finally, the Cellular function isn’t part of some global conspiracy to ruin everyone’s lives—they could only put so many channels in the case. Wait a year or three. Luckily I can drive more than the distance of all the way across the EU and mine works just fine.

 

[MarcoPohlo]

Only 3.5% of the US population has EVER traveled abroad. But we should probably blow this up into a HUGE problem because EVERYONE has to have their watch to talk when they're traveling.

We couldn't talk on our watches before 9/22 but it's IMPOSSIBLE to travel without that ability after that date. Cancel my trip.

Nobody cares about the US oh my god. Wake up finally, you are not the centre of the universe. Rest of the world is traveling everyday. We have unlimited roaming in EU, so we do care about this.

 

[AndyMNE]

I’m disappointed this wasn’t addressed in series 4 either so looks like I’m still sitting out. I travel regularly between the U.K. and Slovakia and there is no carrier support in Slovakia so without roaming the cellular is useless to me. Shame as I would love to be able to leave my phone at home on runs.