PW4 no connectivity from Google Fi data plan

Has anyone else had this issue? I have a PW4 I got last month, and it has a watch LTE plan that is active. I still cannot use any internet features when I am away from my phone, though. I'm not 100% clear on what capabilities I'm "supposed" to have without the phone nearby - can you still text/call, and use Gemini/etc? Regardless... none of it works