SE with cellular (AT&T) ... I am "almost" happy with it.

[sublimaze1]

Newbie here.

I purchased an SE for use with cellular and, to date, I am almost pleased with it. My goals were:

1) listen to audiobooks (with and without the phone present)
2) exercise (run or jog) and listen to Spotify, 91x radio, and audiobooks without the iphone present.

So far, I have been semi successful.

- I have had to subscribe to apple music to listen to 91x (my preferred streaming radio station) with cellular function
- it takes a while to download (sync) my books to it but I only do one at a time, for memory purposes, so maybe that's my own issue

But here are the specific questions/issues.

1) I am on the 6 months free trial with apple music to listen to 91x, so in November, I will have to start ponying up dough. The 91x app is not one that can be installed on the watch. Does anyone know of any other streaming radio apps that are gratis that will use the cellular function of the SE when the iphone is not present?

2) When I do yard work, I like to use the watch without lugging the phone around the yard. However, the watch seems to preferably ignore its cellular function and try to link to my wifi or the bluetooth of the iphone. If I wander to the northeast corner of my lot, everything drops, disconnects, and the cellular function never kicks back in. (If I go through the menu, apps, etc.) I can get it to manually connect, but if I move back to the corner of the house, it picks the bluetooth or wifi back up and will eventually disconnect when I go back to that northeast corner. Does anyone know how to "convince" the watch to stop such shenanigans and just stay on cellular whilst I mow, or weed, or whatever I am going?

Thank you in advance.
WJ

 

[G35flyer]

Newbie here.

I purchased an SE for use with cellular and, to date, I am almost pleased with it. My goals were:

1) listen to audiobooks (with and without the phone present)
2) exercise (run or jog) and listen to Spotify, 91x radio, and audiobooks without the iphone present.

So far, I have been semi successful.

- I have had to subscribe to apple music to listen to 91x (my preferred streaming radio station) with cellular function
- it takes a while to download (sync) my books to it but I only do one at a time, for memory purposes, so maybe that's my own issue

But here are the specific questions/issues.

1) I am on the 6 months free trial with apple music to listen to 91x, so in November, I will have to start ponying up dough. The 91x app is not one that can be installed on the watch. Does anyone know of any other streaming radio apps that are gratis that will use the cellular function of the SE when the iphone is not present?

2) When I do yard work, I like to use the watch without lugging the phone around the yard. However, the watch seems to preferably ignore its cellular function and try to link to my wifi or the bluetooth of the iphone. If I wander to the northeast corner of my lot, everything drops, disconnects, and the cellular function never kicks back in. (If I go through the menu, apps, etc.) I can get it to manually connect, but if I move back to the corner of the house, it picks the bluetooth or wifi back up and will eventually disconnect when I go back to that northeast corner. Does anyone know how to "convince" the watch to stop such shenanigans and just stay on cellular whilst I mow, or weed, or whatever I am going?

Thank you in advance.
WJ

1. I use iHeart and Streamlets.
2. Disable Bluetooth on your iPhone and WiFi on your watch and it will stay connected to cellular.

 

[Matcha]

Does anyone know how to "convince" the watch to stop such shenanigans and just stay on cellular whilst I mow, or weed, or whatever I am going?

Thank you in advance.
WJ

This is my biggest gripe with LTE on the watch i have no idea how to convince it to use LTE only turning bluetooth from the phone doesn't work for me it stays connected. It seems you have to be completely out of range of your phone for lte to kick in.

 

[jav6454]

This is my biggest gripe with LTE on the watch i have no idea how to convince it to use LTE only turning bluetooth from the phone doesn't work for me it stays connected. It seems you have to be completely out of range of your phone for lte to kick in.

It's a shame it won't stay connected to LTE even with its own dedicated line. Although it makes sense if being connected to LTE constantly drains battery.

 

[sublimaze1]

@G35flyer
- Streamlets works well. 99 cent purchase which is reasonable. my radio station only streams at 48kbps though. but as much presbycusis I have, this is just fine.
- I can turn off the bluetooth and wifi from the apple watch app on the phone, but I don't seem to have a way to do it from the actual watch. thoughts?

@Matcha
- Concur with your LTE/cellular analysis. It always seems to do whatever will amount to the least incurred cost for the carrier (which I understand) ... however, it is an unpleasant experience when it bounces from your phone to your paid cellular and back .. wifi .. bluetooth. It always ends up re-joining whatever livestream in a different spot, or with another pair of commercials.

I will (most likely) keep this unit and update this thread if there are any mentionable moments ahead.

 

[Matcha]

@G35flyer
- Streamlets works well. 99 cent purchase which is reasonable. my radio station only streams at 48kbps though. but as much presbycusis I have, this is just fine.
- I can turn off the bluetooth and wifi from the apple watch app on the phone, but I don't seem to have a way to do it from the actual watch. thoughts?

@Matcha
- Concur with your LTE/cellular analysis. It always seems to do whatever will amount to the least incurred cost for the carrier (which I understand) ... however, it is an unpleasant experience when it bounces from your phone to your paid cellular and back .. wifi .. bluetooth. It always ends up re-joining whatever livestream in a different spot, or with another pair of commercials.

I will (most likely) keep this unit and update this thread if there are any mentionable moments ahead.

I called att and my EID number wasn’t added, my lte now works as it should thank you!!!