Apple watch overseas?

[Twitchly]

Has anyone used an Apple watch overseas?

 

We will have Verizon’s daily international plan for my phone, which only charges you if you use data (or make a call) within a 24-hour period. I’m wondering if using the watch will trigger the data plan. Or if it will trigger a separate, even more expensive data charge. Or nothing at all. 
 

I’m interested in using the watch to pay for things via Apple Pay instead of pulling out a credit card. Again, though, I’m wondering if this will trigger the data plan or separate charges.

 

Anyone have any experience with this?

 

 

Edited July 10, 2022 by Twitchly

[cmaasfamily]

Can't answer for Verizon specifically, and "overseas" is a bit broad, but by design Apple Pay does not require a connection of any kind to be active at the time of payment - just as the chip in your card does not require a connection. You validate yourself to the device (face, touch, etc.) and your device provides a secure token to the payment terminal via NFC (Near Field Communication) - same as your card does - and it all happens in the cloud.  We paid exclusively with Apple Pay on our recent Viking Homelands and it worked flawlessly everywhere we went. 

[Twitchly]

1 hour ago, cmaasfamily said:

Can't answer for Verizon specifically, and "overseas" is a bit broad, but by design Apple Pay does not require a connection of any kind to be active at the time of payment - just as the chip in your card does not require a connection. You validate yourself to the device (face, touch, etc.) and your device provides a secure token to the payment terminal via NFC (Near Field Communication) - same as your card does - and it all happens in the cloud.  We paid exclusively with Apple Pay on our recent Viking Homelands and it worked flawlessly everywhere we went. 

Great. So I can turn off cellular on my watch, put my phone in airplane mode, and still use Apple Pay. That’s very helpful, thanks!

[LindaS272]

1 hour ago, Twitchly said:

Great. So I can turn off cellular on my watch, put my phone in airplane mode, and still use Apple Pay. That’s very helpful, thanks!

But how will it “connect to the cloud”?

[Twitchly]

36 minutes ago, LindaS272 said:

But how will it “connect to the cloud”?

It won’t need to, as cmaasfamily says above. Not to use Apple Pay, anyway. 

[DrKoob]

You (in the future) might want to consider a switch to T-Mobile who gives you unlimited free data in all but six countries in the world. And those aren't places you will probably want to go (like Yemen). Because T-Mobile is affiliated with Duetsch Telecom, the coverage in Europe is usually better than it is in the USA. They are an absolute best choice for people who travel internationally. We are in Canada all the time and never pay for data. And anywhere in the world, phone calls are 25¢ a minute.

Edited July 10, 2022 by DrKoob

[cmaasfamily]

The "cloud" portion I referred to is between the payment terminal and the financial institutions; your device is out of the picture for the rest of the equation. Eventually, when you next connect, there is some sync'ing that occurs, but that is limited to the reporting of transactions you see, not the transactions themselves.

 

BTW: I was very suprised to find that our AT&T plan also had free unlimited  data in the countries we visited - didn't know that until we were back. I was bracing for a giant bill as we had turned roaming on for map purposes several times. We did pay for sending texts and  pictures while at sea (and not on ship wifi) but it amounted to less than $15 for the whole trip. 

[LindaS272]

Thanks for the clarification about your comment that it all happens”in the cloud” because that’s what I was responding to. We use T-Mobile also and don’t have to worry about a huge international roaming bill.