LTE Volt Needed for Series 3

[Fastskis]

Well....got new Apple Watch Series 3....setup with Bell was easy and voice calls are superb with AirPods and phone left at home.

However....was having issues with messaging. Finally called Bell and inquired about this.

Turns out that cellular service needs to be LTE Volt....is available in Vancouver and other cities in B.C. but not in Whistler where I live!

That means no messaging unless tethered to phone and also no streaming while on cellular with watch until this service extends.

Will check this out in the city and see if the “Genius’s” at the Apple Store know about this one!!

 

[dave006]

I think you mean VoLTE (Voice & Data) needs to be available and enabled on your iPhone. Your Carrier has to provide HD Voice coverage in your area.

What issue are you having with Messaging, iMessage or SMS/MMS?

Dave

 

[OriginalClone]

From my understanding, the watch only supports LTE for cellular connection. Until it’s supported in your calling area the cellular function of the watch will not work.

 

[Mabus51]

3G service does not work on the Watch anywhere. It only works with LTE.

 

[Fastskis]

Well after a visit to the Bell Store and an hour at the Apple Store, it turns out nobody really knows how messaging is supposed to work! At least it works great making calls! Will do more tests and see.

Anyone out there manage to send texts with phone turned completely off let me know. As far as I gather if left at home phone must be turned on. If that still causes non- delivery I am returning, to frustrating!

 

[Mabus51]

Well after a visit to the Bell Store and an hour at the Apple Store, it turns out nobody really knows how messaging is supposed to work! At least it works great making calls! Will do more tests and see.

Anyone out there manage to send texts with phone turned completely off let me know. As far as I gather if left at home phone must be turned on. If that still causes non- delivery I am returning, to frustrating!

It depends on your carrier. If your carrier uses GSM then the phone needs to be on. If your carrier is CDMA then it doesn’t matter if the phone is on or off. It just depends how your carrier handles the call forwarding.

 

[profets]

EDIT: I was incorrect in my post about Watch having only LTE. Does have UMTS (3G) & LTE. @dave006 corrects that below.

Like anywhere else in the world where you can use a cellular Apple Watch, you’ll have to be in LTE coverage for data to work, and VoLTE (Voice over LTE) has to be enabled by the carrier for voice calls to work. The Watch only has an LTE cellular connection (no UMTS/HSPA/3G or 2G GSM to fall back on).

It depends on your carrier. If your carrier uses GSM then the phone needs to be on. If your carrier is CDMA then it doesn’t matter if the phone is on or off. It just depends how your carrier handles the call forwarding.

I’m on Bell in Canada as well. Their base network is UMTS/HSPA/3G which was launched in 2009 after being CDMA only for many years.

They do have pretty good LTE coverage, though I’m not sure if their VoLTE coverage fully overlaps with their LTE coverage.

Here’s the VoLTE map:

http://support.bell.ca/mobility/rat...e-voice-and-video-over-lte?step=3#displayStep

 

[dave006]

Like anywhere else in the world where you can use a cellular Apple Watch, you’ll have to be in LTE coverage for data to work, and VoLTE (Voice over LTE) has to be enabled by the carrier for voice calls to work. The Watch only has an LTE cellular connection (no UMTS/HSPA/3G or 2G GSM to fall back on)..............

No, the watch supports UMTS, it is Bell that does not support it. Here are the UMTS bands that the watch supports for the Americas region LTE Watch. And Yes the Watch is designed to use LTE and fall back to UMTS (where available).

Apple Watch SE (GPS & LTE)

• UMTS

• 800 MHz

• 850 MHz

• 1700 MHz

• 1900 MHz

Dave
[doublepost=1506798106][/doublepost]

It depends on your carrier. If your carrier uses GSM then the phone needs to be on. If your carrier is CDMA then it doesn’t matter if the phone is on or off. It just depends how your carrier handles the call forwarding.

No it does not depend on your Carrier, This is a design restriction from Apple. Here is the summary: To receive SMS or MMS on your Apple Watch Series 3 (GPS + Cellular), your paired iPhone must be powered on and connected to Wi-Fi or cellular, but it doesn't need to be nearby.

Don't want to believe my please check this Apple Support Document: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT205547

Dave

 

[ZebraDude]

3G service does not work on the Watch anywhere. It only works with LTE.

Actually the watch does work with one form of 3G. UMTS

 

[profets]

No, the watch supports UMTS, it is Bell that does not support it. Here are the UMTS bands that the watch supports for the Americas region LTE Watch. And Yes the Watch is designed to use LTE and fall back to UMTS (where available).

Apple Watch SE (GPS & LTE)

• UMTS

• 800 MHz

• 850 MHz

• 1700 MHz

• 1900 MHz

Dave
[doublepost=1506798106][/doublepost]
No it does not depend on your Carrier, This is a design restriction from Apple. Here is the summary: To receive SMS or MMS on your Apple Watch Series 3 (GPS + Cellular), your paired iPhone must be powered on and connected to Wi-Fi or cellular, but it doesn't need to be nearby.

Don't want to believe my please check this Apple Support Document: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT205547

Dave

Damn, my bad. Thought the Watch only had LTE. Thanks for that info. Should have checked myself too since it’s listed on the cellular page.

I wonder why Bell is only supporting it on LTE.

 

[dave006]

I am wondering the same thing but Bell is not alone in not supporting UMTS. I know the design point was to use LTE and fall back to UMTS.

Dave

 

[fischersd]

Well, you have to remember that Bell and Telus were originally CDMA carriers. They made the switch to GSM not that long ago, which is why they're only supporting HSPA and LTE.

Now, why they're not supporting VoLTE in Whistler is a little confusing, considering they have LTE Advanced and LTE in Whistler, they certainly should!!! Maybe the rep the person talked to didn't know?

https://www.bell.ca/Mobility/Our_network

 

[profets]

Well, you have to remember that Bell and Telus were originally CDMA carriers. They made the switch to GSM not that long ago, which is why they're only supporting HSPA and LTE.

Now, why they're not supporting VoLTE in Whistler is a little confusing, considering they have LTE Advanced and LTE in Whistler, they certainly should!!! Maybe the rep the person talked to didn't know?

https://www.bell.ca/Mobility/Our_network

I remember that switch clearly (I was doing some contract work for Bell at the time). But when you check out the details, Bell is only supporting the Watch on LTE (not UMTS/HSPA). I mean, their LTE coverage seems pretty solid, but curious why they aren’t supported UMTS as well. I wonder if Telus will when they support the Watch later this year.

 

[Fastskis]

Ok glad I started this thread lol......after visiting Bell store and then an hour in the Apple Store, I have realized that nobody really has a definitive answer! There is so much I like about the watch and the phone calls are faultless for me with phone at home turned off. I could do all sorts of tests with the phone in various states of connection, but the fact remains....messaging is unreliable and flakey at best period!

The big question is why would Apple release a product that they did not test thoroughly and expect all their loyal consumers not to go nuts trying to figure out all the go arounds or if they actually work.

1). They need to get rid of iMessages it is plain stupid and only caters to the iPhone world. It was causing me distraction way before I got the watch.

2). They need to add the ability to turn off or disable wifi so watch can do its thing on cellular and not get all confused.



The whole marketing was an autonomous cellular device which it is not.

 

[fischersd]

Umm. You're supposed to have your iPhone turned on in order to get the most functionality of the Apple Watch. If you don't, some features are disabled. The iPhone must be on and either in cellular or wifi coverage.

Remember, the iPhone is the primary receiver of texts (SMS/MMS) - if it's not on, there won't be any forwarding (via continuity/iMessage) to other Apple devices.

The iPhone uses a nano SIM currently...not sure what you mean by that.

Physical SIM cards are going away. Expect iPhones without them as soon as next year (more likely 2019 if all the carriers don't have their eSIM provisioning live in time).

 

[Fastskis]

Umm. You're supposed to have your iPhone turned on in order to get the most functionality of the Apple Watch. If you don't, some features are disabled. The iPhone must be on and either in cellular or wifi coverage.

Remember, the iPhone is the primary receiver of texts (SMS/MMS) - if it's not on, there won't be any forwarding (via continuity/iMessage) to other Apple devices.

The iPhone uses a nano SIM currently...not sure what you mean by that.

Physical SIM cards are going away. Expect iPhones without them as soon as next year (more likely 2019 if all the carriers don't have their eSIM provisioning live in time).

Update....yes I actually am getting texts by leaving phone on and away, however still get did not send messages although they do forwarded, can live with that.