Apple Watch Ultra 3 won’t have 5G

[Yatesy83]

I received my Watch Ultra 3 today and as i suspected only has 4G. Called EE to be told that no watch plans currently support 5G. Spoke to a manager aswell to confirm and its true. At the moment although the watch is 5G compatible we are stuck with 4G for the moment and they have no set plans to change it.

Had a but of rant stating that is doesnt specify anywhere that devices will only receive 4G and he got the hump. I  then said if they were selling 5G phones and only provided customers with 4G they would all kick off and naturally you would expect 5G or the plan to at least state its 4G only. He had no reply to that and just kept repeating same crap saying we dont promise 5G anywhere when purchasing. I just figured it was a given. He was happy for me to return it but it’s not the point.

Just be prepared that if your getting device expecting 5G service currently it won’t happen with EE.

[BrokenHope]

EE need to add 5G+/5G standalone to your watch plan or you won't ever connect to 5G on the watch, you can check the watch addons on the EE app, you also need to be in a 5G+ area.

[Clever_Trevor]

Thank you. 
I checked and not seeing that for watch plan. 
I shall contact EE. 
 ( the advisor said I was but seems not )

thanks.

[Fatboy71]

@Clever_Trevor  when you call EE back. You need to ask them to  add the “5G standalone SOC” to your watch plan. 

Once they have done this, you should see the following in your add ons on your account:

[Clever_Trevor]

Thank you for helping me. Am delighted. 

this worked. 👍

Called EE - they added the add-on & 10 mins later 5G appears on the watch. 
( odd they don’t just add it on as default but anyways ). 

all is working great

[Clever_Trevor]

Yes, this worked for me. 👍

[Fatboy71]

@Clever_Trevor That's great to hear. And you are very welcome 😀

[welshbaron]

Been told this is not a 5G, whilst it will show 5G it will be on 4G download speed. EE are not offering 5G plans, so sadly we won't be getting it yet.

[welshbaron]

Nope, been told whilst it shows 5G it's not on 5G speeds, it's still 4G. There are not offering 5G. Maybe in the future who knows 😞 

[Fatboy71]

Yes, the 5G Redcap (which is what the Ultra 3 uses) has slower speeds than the other 5G technology that are on smartphones, but you don't need super fast downloads speeds on a Smart Watch. But it still is 5G, albeit in a reduced form. If we had the full 5G that we have on Smartphones, on the Apple Watch (or Smart Watches in general), the battery would awful. 

The 5G Redcap gives better performance, more energy efficient (which is ideal for a smart watch), when compared to 4G.