“In early 2018, I did some math and came to the conclusion that I was paying AT&T too much for monthly service on my Apple Watch Series 3,” Jason Cipriani writes for ZDNet. “The peace of mind, at that time, just wasn’t worth the $13 or so I was paying each month on top of my wireless plan.”
“I kept the data plan disabled until the Apple Watch Series 4 was announced — when I once again ordered the cellular model,” Cipriani writes. “After it arrived, I reactivated my plan, and I’ve been paying for cellular connectivity on my watch.”
“Admittedly, I haven’t used standalone connectivity on the Series 4 any more than I did when I had it the Series 3. In fact, I’ve probably used it less, if that’s even possible. But I don’t anticipate canceling my watch’s cellular plan this time around,” Cipriani writes. “So, why the change of heart?”
Space Black Stainless Steel Case with Space Black Milanese Loop (40mm and 44mm)
“It still fascinates me that a set of Apple’s AirPods and a watch on my wrist is all I need to leave my phone behind and remain reachable… Text messages, emails, phone calls, even FaceTime audio calls, Facebook Messenger, music, calendar… it’s all there, on my wrist,” Cipriani writes. “I’m not accident prone by any means. Heck, I can’t remember the last time I slipped and fell, but knowing that if something did happen… It’s reassuring.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: The Apple Watch data plan costs, in the U.S., at least are too high. The carriers need to come up with something more palatable than what they’re offering now. They’d sell more Apple Watch data if they did.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Fred Mertz” for the heads up.]
The slimy carriers would LOVE that Apple Watch data, the scumbags.
Though I wholeheartedly agree with you, it’s also why I’m not a fan of any company.
My goal from both is to extract as much value as possible for the least cost. Their goal is to extract maximum shareholder value, and that comes from us.
Since you have to have a phone anyway they should throw in the watch connectivity.. Hopefully one of the carriers will through it in to try to make customers switch.. I mean you can only use one data/voice source at a time..
At 74, with a few falls in the last year an Watch is in my future. As an Apple user I’ll either stay with ATT or go with T-Mobile. I need that ability to use the “Help I’ve Fallen” feature. Right now it is all about total monthly costs and I think T-Mobile will win out.
We pay $190 for 3 phones with AT&T. I tried to switch to Verizon last year but they weren’t interested. Basically said that we wouldn’t save any money.
I certainly don’t see why I would have to pay $10 for watch data. sounds like a ripoff to me.
I assume that you have an unlimited data plan. If you are willing to cap your high bandwidth cell data access, then there are cheaper plans. My family plan on T-Mobile with six iPhones costs a lot less than $190 per month. Of course, we are only allocated 4GB per month each of fast access. After that, many functions are not that usable because of the slower speeds.
With taxes and fees on ATT it’s just shy of $20 a month for the watch. They wanted to charge me a $30 activation fee as well.
$5 per month here in Australia
In the US I pay $10 extra per month to T-Mobile for a program called “Digits” or something like that. It’s really $15 but autopay saves you $5 per month. It’s worth it just to know I’ve got n important safety device strapped to my wrist.
No, you’re a pathetic little adolescent weasel living in his mom’s house who thinks lobbing lame insults at deceased visionaries is clever.
And a homophobic illiterate, and a pariah. Nobody likes you.
This was the last straw. AF&T charging me an extra $10 a month for a cell service that I already have? (It’s still just one person using the service at a time, doesn’t mater to them if I temporarily switch devices)
I’m now switching to a cheeper services that doesn’t offer the watch option. And saving a lot of money. I’ll just keep my iPhone in my pocket.
my wife and I have a apple watch 3 with cell connection. We never activated them. The cost for Verizon plan was to much for both to connect. We just use Wi-Fi at this time. We don’t need another $30 plus out of our pockets. Bring the costs down Verizon!!!
I can understand a small per device access fee. But the bucket of data should be shared across all of the registered devices to that account. They could put a limit on the number of devices per account to reduce unauthorized “sharing” of a cell service, if necessary.
Eventually consumers will force the dumb pipelines to respect us and address our needs rather than gouging us at every opportunity. That step is long overdue.