Five Reason Why I Chose Apple Watch Series 3 GPS Only Instead Of The LTE Version

When the new Apple Watch was launched in September, there was a lot of fuss about the fact that it now has LTE (cellular capabilities) which means you could connect it to your phone number and then leave your phone at home and have a fully working mini phone on your wrist.

You could make and receive calls and texts to the Watch without having to have your phone with you and most people who have bought the new Apple Watch series 3 have gone for this option, I didn’t.

Let me explain a few reasons why not:

I am not an EE customer – at the moment in the UK the cellular connectivity option is only supported by EE. If you are not an EE customer you can’t make use of this service and your phone and watch provider need to be the same, I’m not going to cancel my contract part way through, pay those cancellation charges just to move over to the EE for the sake of the Watch. Yes, I’m sure other providers will follow suit but there is no ETA on when this might happen.

I don’t want another contract – even though the cellular connection is using your existing phone number it does require its own data plan. This is around £5 a month I think but this could increase or change depending on your plan and I really didn’t want to have to pay another monthly fee on top of the cost of the Watch which is already pretty expensive.

I don’t have wireless headphones – unless you want to walk around with your wrist held up to your ear so that you can hear your phone calls you’re going to need wireless headphones. It is recommended to use the official Apple Airpods (of course it is) with the Watch but I don’t have these and won’t be buying them. Firstly because they don’t fit in my ears but also because they’re £160. Wireless headphones are something I’m interested in to use with my phone for music but I don’t own any at the moment.

I’m not leaving my phone at home – loads of people on Youtube have been talking about how liberating it feels to leave the house without your phone. Whilst I can see the benefit of this if your just popping to the shop for milk I can’t ever imagine myself leaving the house for a prolonged period of time without my phone and the reason for this is I never want to be without my camera. I take photos all day, especially if I’m out with Amelia and I would be gutted to miss out on a chance to capture a special moment with her because I left my phone at home.

The cost – any Apple product comes at a premium, that is just something we have to accept but if you want the all singing all dancing version then you are going to pay through the roof for it. If you want to have the LTE version of the Watch you’re looking at an extra £70 on the cost of the Watch alone and then you have to add the monthly contract in as well. I chose the 38mm watch and the GPS only version is £329 whereas the GPS + LTE version is £399. If you want the 42mm size then it’s even more expensive at £359 and £429 respectively.

So there you have it, those are my reasons for not choosing the LTE version of the Apple Watch and I’m completely happy with my decision. If you want or have the LTE version and you’re making good use of those extra features like double the memory and the ability to stream Apple Music directly to your Watch then I’m sure the extra cost and contract are worth it. So far, I’m super happy with the Watch I have chosen and don’t feel like I’m missing out at all.

Let me know your thoughts on leaving your phone at home, do you like the idea or does it fill you with dread?