Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Too many limitations

U

username:

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Dec 16, 2013
707
365
I am disappointed in the apple watch series 3. I was looking forward to cellular and freedom from the phone. but there are too many limitations. Only works in country of purchase. Only on certain carriers. I travel a lot and I don't have this middle age man lifestyle of living in one town for my whole life, so the current cellular watch is useless. It seems kind of contradictory too that it is meant to be for an active lifestyle yet only works in certain areas. "be active! (but not TOO active!)"

So does anyone think this is temporary? Perhaps series 4 will have more capability? i.e. international use and more flexibility with networks.
 
So basically it lets you go running around the block in your neighborhood.
Any further than that, your have to carry the phone with you
 
  • Like
Reactions: Lioness~
Personally I think it is astonishing this technology is already hitting the market, and so I’m not surprised at the limitations.

The issue with the roaming, from my understanding, is that the number sharing technology has to be supported at the carrier level.

I know services like Verizon NumberShare (I think it’s called that?) and T-Mobile’s DIGITS have existed for a while, but I believe these are artificial VoIP solutions with spoofing. The Apple Watch implementation is one of, if not the, first implementation of true number sharing without VoIP trickery.

(I’m still a learner here so I’m sorry if I’ve got the technicalities wrong and would happily be corrected.)
[doublepost=1505661865][/doublepost]
edhchoe said:
So basically it lets you go running around the block in your neighborhood.
Any further than that, your have to carry the phone with you
Click to expand...
No, you can go anywhere in your home country with LTE coverage.
 
  • Like
Reactions: KrisLord, WarHeadz and mk313
Brookzy said:
Personally I think it is astonishing this technology is already hitting the market, and so I’m not surprised at the limitations.

The issue with the roaming, from my understanding, is that the number sharing technology has to be supported at the carrier level.

I know services like Verizon NumberShare (I think it’s called that?) and T-Mobile’s DIGITS have existed for a while, but I believe these are artificial VoIP solutions with spoofing. The Apple Watch implementation is one of, if not the, first implementation of true number sharing without VoIP trickery.

(I’m still a learner here so I’m sorry if I’ve got the technicalities wrong and would happily be corrected.)
[doublepost=1505661865][/doublepost]
No, you can go anywhere in your home country with LTE coverage.
Click to expand...
They say on their website that roaming is not supported. I thought roaming meant going to areas where you have to use another companies signal because your carrier does not have coverage in that area
 
Brookzy said:
Roaming in this context means going abroad.
Click to expand...
Which tends to be far more common in places such as Europe than in the US where I can travel 4000km from my home and still be in the US.

Presumably such matters will get sorted out in time, though it'll be dependent on the carriers coming up with sharing/roaming agreements covering the device. My guess is the carriers just aren't ready (or aren't willing) to make it happen yet.
 
deeddawg said:
Which tends to be far more common in places such as Europe than in the US where I can drive for three+ days and still be in the US.

Presumably such matters will get sorted out in time, though it'll be dependent on the carriers coming up with sharing/roaming agreements covering the device. My guess is the carriers just aren't ready (or aren't willing) to make it happen yet.
Click to expand...
Up until literally two months ago, when the law changed, going abroad in Europe was a nightmare for everyone from a roaming prospective because you were charged for it. At best you could spend a few pounds a day for a modest allowance. At worst you were billed per megabyte.

So being able to painlessly roam is a very new thing.

Hence I can't help but feel "the Series 3 is rubbish because I can't use it in isolation from my iPhone when I travel abroad" is an overreaction to say the least, when two months ago doing so would have meant £££ if, hypothetically, it was possible.
 
  • Like
Reactions: danmart, SaddleSC, jhfenton and 3 others
Brookzy said:
Hence I can't help but feel "the Series 3 is rubbish because I can't use it in isolation from my iPhone when I travel abroad" is an overreaction to say the least, when two months ago doing so would have meant £££ if, hypothetically, it was possible.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info, I wasn't aware how recently easy roaming had come to Europe.

Overreaction is pretty much standard fare here in MacRumors. Apple could give away phones for free and someone would find a way to complain about it. :)
 
  • Like
Reactions: jhfenton, geekiemac, matrix07 and 1 other person
username: said:
I am disappointed in the apple watch series 3. I was looking forward to cellular and freedom from the phone. but there are too many limitations. Only works in country of purchase. Only on certain carriers. I travel a lot and I don't have this middle age man lifestyle of living in one town for my whole life, so the current cellular watch is useless. It seems kind of contradictory too that it is meant to be for an active lifestyle yet only works in certain areas. "be active! (but not TOO active!)"

So does anyone think this is temporary? Perhaps series 4 will have more capability? i.e. international use and more flexibility with networks.
Click to expand...

It's not as if it won't work.... it just won't connect to cellular. You can still use it tethered to your phone.
 
  • Like
Reactions: bambooshots, geekiemac and deeddawg
baldachin said:
99,9% of the population live in just one place. Has nothing to do with "middle age man".
Click to expand...

I am "middle aged" and have been around the world with my S0 SS. When I visit other countries I buy a SIM and everything "just works." The one limitation I have ever faced is the Japanese iPhone has a Sony radio that enables SUICA a contactless payment system that works with trains, vending machines and even some connivance stores.

I noticed the Japanese S3 Apple watch now has SUICA also. I would love to get a Japanese Apple watch that allowed me to use SUICA in japan but still make calls at home. That's not the case.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: geekiemac
DamFu said:
I’m middle aged and travel internationally all the time.
Click to expand...
I don't think anyone said middle aged people don't travel. The point he was making is that the OP is overreacting and that the majority of people DONT frequently travel internationally and therefore this "limitation" is only a limitation for a tiny number of people.
 
  • Like
Reactions: yegon
t mobile offers free texting in over 120 countries for no extra charge.
if roaming was allowed it would have been awesome.
I would go to europe and go to the swimming pool without my phone, for example.
 
No roaming is different than "only works in the country of purchase".

If you travel abroad, you use roaming to get onto a local carrier with which your own carrier has an agreement. Your watch won't have LTE then, but it'll still work just as the S1/S2 does.

If you buy a watch abroad, or move abroad, the watch will work in your country of residence with a local carrier, no matter where you purchased it (provided they use the same technology).

I don't know if it's a physical limitation of the watch, or something at the carriers' level, though.
 
pasadena said:
If you buy a watch abroad, or move abroad, the watch will work in your country of residence with a local carrier, no matter where you purchased it (provided they use the same technology).
Click to expand...

Citation? I feel like this is inaccurate from everything I have read. As far as I can find out, the Watch LTE only works in country of purchase.

[doublepost=1505710160][/doublepost]
Brookzy said:
Up until literally two months ago, when the law changed, going abroad in Europe was a nightmare for everyone from a roaming prospective because you were charged for it. At best you could spend a few pounds a day for a modest allowance. At worst you were billed per megabyte.

So being able to painlessly roam is a very new thing.

Hence I can't help but feel "the Series 3 is rubbish because I can't use it in isolation from my iPhone when I travel abroad" is an overreaction to say the least, when two months ago doing so would have meant £££ if, hypothetically, it was possible.
Click to expand...

Also citation? I have been with Three for almost 2 years. They have had free roaming in over 26 countries since I joined. I can travel around Europe using my phone at no extra charge. Certainly not for only the last two months.
 
pasadena said:
If you buy a watch abroad, or move abroad, the watch will work in your country of residence with a local carrier, no matter where you purchased it (provided they use the same technology).

I don't know if it's a physical limitation of the watch, or something at the carriers' level, though.
Click to expand...

I'm sorry but you are incorrect.

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

As you can see each region has a very specific set or radio frequencies. This is a limitation of the hardware and can not be changed.Not through software nor can the SIM be replaced. even if you visit another country with a partner agreement you will not be ale to use your wants on LTE because it will be unable to communicate with the towers in the area.
[doublepost=1505711746][/doublepost]
username: said:
Also citation? I have been with Three for almost 2 years. They have had free roaming in over 26 countries since I joined. I can travel around Europe using my phone at no extra charge. Certainly not for only the last two months.
Click to expand...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Union_roaming_regulations
 
  • Like
Reactions: username:
Carriers have only been barred from imposing roaming charges within the EU for a couple of months but many opted to drop them much longer ago.

It's not a deal breaker for me but being able to leave my phone in my room when heading for the beach would be a good thing and if I'm on the beach, I'm abroad.
 
username: said:
but there are too many limitations.
Click to expand...
Too many limitations in your use case, not for the majority of people.

I suspect its related to the fact there's no SIM card, and apple has been working with carriers but it hasn't been all rainbows and unicorns and the carriers may have been resistant.

Aside from the LTE issue, what other limitations are you concerned about? You mention too many limitations but only mention the issue about traveling.
 
  • Like
Reactions: fischersd and profets
Incremental steps. Series 3 is better then 2 and 1. Each iteration will add features and freedom. Imagine the possibilities of where this product will be a few years from now. Amazing.
 
  • Like
Reactions: username: and mk313
Tdadlani said:
Incremental steps. Series 3 is better then 2 and 1
Click to expand...
That's the apple way, and I'm not knocking it. The 3 represents a significant improvement over the 0, but yet even with that said, I'm still wondering if I made the right decision to buy the 3. $430 dollars is still a lot of money, well it is for me, and I want to be perfectly sure that I'm getting value for that or to put it another way, could that 400 dollars be used elsewhere for a better value.
 
Cellular is a step in the right direction. It has a long way to go before I get one though. Maybe series 5 or 6.
 
maflynn said:
That's the apple way, and I'm not knocking it. The 3 represents a significant improvement over the 0, but yet even with that said, I'm still wondering if I made the right decision to buy the 3. $430 dollars is still a lot of money, well it is for me, and I want to be perfectly sure that I'm getting value for that or to put it another way, could that 400 dollars be used elsewhere for a better value.
Click to expand...

I think you will get value. The experience of having the latest technology and all the usefulness of a better processor and more memory will certainly make you enjoy the product more.
 
Something that i find much more of a limiting factor than the roaming issue is the fact that the LTE Watch can't be set up with anything else than an iPhone. Why can't i have it connected to an iPad or MacBook? I hope at some point the Apple Watch won't be dependent on the iPhone, because with it being able to have its own connection i could live without the iPhone entirely. Its just there now so the watch can be set up initially and then sync the watch data once in a while which is just a stupid waste of hardware.
 
  • Like
Reactions: username:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back