Apple watch Cellular model cheapest connectivity

murphydavid

I bought my apple watch Cellular model without doing enough research and now find that to use the cellular feature causes more disruption than expected. The sim plan in my phone is Lebara (£5.00 a month) but I am informed that Lebara do not do a plan for an apple watch only an iPhone. So as far as I can tell; to use the celular feature on my phone; means I have to take out a phone plan with a different company and the best I can find is £14.00 a month. I would appreciate any other advice on this subject. 

beckstar1975

I used to have a contract with O2 which charged me £5 a month for the cellular, but after a while I cancelled it as barely used it and realised it made the battery run down really quickly so was happy with it only being on wifi/connected to my phone. IIRC Apple keep a list of UK phone networks which supply watch data

flaneurs_lobster

This article seems up-to-date with smartwatch connectivity deals

https://www.simsherpa.com/networks/smartwatch-pairing

Looks like you need a deal with one of the main networks. Vodafone used to insist that you buy the watch from them, don't know if this is still the case.

I'd agree with @beckstar1975, I bought a Samsung 4G watch and connectivity deal from Vodafone, the watch and deal (you share one data allowance) worked very well but I made almost zero use of it. I too found that 4G made the rotten battery life on my watch even rottener.

Unless you are often without your phone (running? swimming?) it's hard to find a need. After a year (and a proposed price hike) I gave it up.

beckstar1975

Also to add you don't need cellular for notifications/messages etc unless you also don't have your phone - if you have your phone nearby it connects via bluetooth and the cellular plan is irrelevant.

I tried to use the cellular when swimming/going out for a walk without my phone and it caused the watch to die before I got back in both cases, unless you have a brand new watch using cellular diminishes the battery life significantly