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.

[tom-scott]

Just got off the phone with a 150 Customer Service agent in Wales. Call lasted 17 mins but managed to get this added to my plan on 1st time of asking.

There was a initial attempt to say that he couldn't see any 5G standalone add-ons to setup on my plan but after I briefly explained what others have said on this thread and on MacRumors forum he went away, put me on hold and came back to say they had added it.

Also explained about the coverage areas and that my home postcode wasn't covered. I said I understood this and I know my office area is covered and I'd try it out on Monday. Obviously this is knew to the agents but I thought he dealt with it very well and was super helpful

[Christopher_G]

Hi, everyone.

Thanks for taking the time to share your experience. We completely understand your frustration, and we're sorry for any confusion this has caused.

All of the recently released Apple Watch models support 5G connectivity, and we’re working with our internal teams to clarify what may cause your Watch to connect to 4G rather than 5G to ensure that you have the correct information.

We will provide more information as soon as we can.

Chris

[BrokenHope]

We know what causes it to not connect to 5G, the 5G+ addon being missing.

Whats not helpful is customer service and managers telling us that there are no 5G Apple Watch plans when we know there are.

We are knowledgeable enough to know we are being told incorrect information, the average joe would not.

its ridiculous that you wouldn't train your staff correctly before releasing a feature on your network.

[zeea13]

Just to be clear -

It’s not a technical issue that is stopping our watches connecting to 5G - it’s a lack of training within the EE tech team.

My  EE level 1 tech guide told me yesterday there was no way to get 5G on the Apple Watch and that EE didn’t support it. When I corrected her  and told her EE were actually a UK launch customer for this and that other people had managed to get a 5G connection as per this forum - she then reached out to level 2 guides.

TWO level 2 guides then came back to her and again, said EE did not support 5G. It was only after I read out @dannclose91’s  forum reply from 2/10/25 to her requesting her to add on the ‘5G SOC’ option to the Apple Watch, was she able to follow. 

After she turned this on, she asked me to check my watch again and low and behold I instantly had a 5G connection. 

I dread to think what misinformation other loyal EE customers have been given that have not had access to this forum.

Please can EE do better with training their tech guides. 

Thank you 

[zeea13]

This is what saved me from cancelling my contract with EE yesterday - thank YOU so much for posting and for helping educate the other EE tech guides 

[ollie798]

What’s everyone’s experience of EE 5G on the watch?

I’ve not got around to my 3rd call to EE yet! 

[Radeon85OCUK]

Called EE earlier and spoke to one of the tech guides about the missing 5G add-on for the Ultra 3, and he said he's had a few like this over the last few weeks. Within one minute, he added on the 5G add-on, and as soon as I  ended the call to test it, 5G showed up immediately and is now working great. 

EE, you really need to look into this because if I never called them, I’d be on 4G most likely until the end of the contract or forever. No options either to even add 5G stand-alone via the EE app or website. No customer should have to test this out, figure out it’s now working, and have to ask a tech to essentially switch it on. 

You either need to make sure this add-on is enabled by default when you take out the plan, or at least add the option to the app so we can turn it on. And you really need to retroactively enable this for all existing 5G-capable watch customers without them needing to contact you.