Spark has announced support for the cellular Apple Watch from 6 Dec 2019

Forums › Spark New Zealand (including Skinny and BigPipe) › Spark has announced support for the cellular Apple Watch from 6 Dec 2019

Obraik

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#261507 1-Dec-2019 11:50

Haven't seen any mention of it here, but it's finally happening!

https://www.spark.co.nz/shop/apple-shop/watch/apple-watch-series-5-cellular

What's better is that it looks like it will be supported on business plans too 👌

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'That VDSL Cat'
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#2363923 1-Dec-2019 11:56

Is posted in the thread on it, but that's pretty long.

I heard a rumor @paulspain is moving providers to one that supports it though ;)

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#2364074 1-Dec-2019 15:49

hio77:

Is posted in the thread on it, but that's pretty long.

I heard a rumor @paulspain is moving providers to one that supports it though ;)

Yes, I expect to make to swap which of my telcos provides service for my primary connection. I have had connections with both Vodafone and Spark for a long time (and sometimes with 2degrees too). It's essential with as a commentator on TV/radio/NZ Tech Podcast and as a futurist to be familiar with as many technologies as possible (old, new, future) so its only natural I'd need to make my primary connection compatible with the 'one number' capability across iPhone/Apple Watch.

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Obraik

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#2364085 1-Dec-2019 16:05

hio77:

9th december one number can be yours :)

Hmm, the website says the 6th December?

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hio77

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#2364086 1-Dec-2019 16:07

Obraik:

hio77:

9th december one number can be yours :)

Hmm, the website says the 6th December?

Yep, confused my dates, thus the deleted post!

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toejam316

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#2364094 1-Dec-2019 16:51

@jasonparis does that mean the race has begun?

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#2364100 1-Dec-2019 17:03

toejam316:

@jasonparis does that mean the race has begun?

they still gotta do esim first, it's a long legged race ;)

truth be told the mobile folk have done an impressive amount of work in such short timelines.

as much as it's fun to stir both 2D and Voda over it, It's no small task. Honestly, when i sat down to get a general understanding behind it with the right folk i was quite taken back with all the work involved. (Particularly with certain vendors)

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geekiegeek

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#2364109 1-Dec-2019 17:17

I'd be interested to know if it will be possible to buy a watch from apple as opposed to having to buy through Spark.

Obraik

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#2364113 1-Dec-2019 17:30

geekiegeek:

I'd be interested to know if it will be possible to buy a watch from apple as opposed to having to buy through Spark.

I'd imagine so. I'm assuming Apple is waiting on the network release date before listing them as available in NZ on their store.

I'm hoping this also means I'll now be able to get warranty work done on my Series 4 cellular watch that I got from Aus last year without having to go back to Aus.

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lesmiller

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#2365520 3-Dec-2019 10:58

I just spoke with Spark and the Apple Watch cellular is available for pre order on 6 December and will be available to take possession on 13 December.

I also understand that the cellular Apple Watch is only available to purchase from Spark because they are the only network NZ to support esim.

BlinkyBill

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#2365535 3-Dec-2019 11:34

lesmiller: I just spoke with Spark and the Apple Watch cellular is available for pre order on 6 December and will be available to take possession on 13 December.

I also understand that the cellular Apple Watch is only available to purchase from Spark because they are the only network NZ to support esim.

i wonder why Apple are advertising them for sale, pre-order on 6th deliver on 13th, on their website, then?

Obraik

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#2365537 3-Dec-2019 11:48

BlinkyBill:

lesmiller: I just spoke with Spark and the Apple Watch cellular is available for pre order on 6 December and will be available to take possession on 13 December.

I also understand that the cellular Apple Watch is only available to purchase from Spark because they are the only network NZ to support esim.

i wonder why Apple are advertising them for sale, pre-order on 6th deliver on 13th, on their website, then?

Yeah, Apple isn't going to give up sole distribution rights to a telco/reseller. Apple will sell it on their store and any qualifying reseller will be given the privilege to sell it as well ;) . I'd expect to see them at PBTech, Noel Leeming, etc etc as well. You just won't see them sold at Vodafone and 2Degrees stores.

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Obraik

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#2369580 6-Dec-2019 13:52

Looks like we're waiting on Apple to release an update for iOS and watchOS to enable support for this, so existing cellular watches appear to need to wait until next Friday as well.

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bp1000

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#2370869 9-Dec-2019 09:09

I went into a Spark store to sign up for Onenumber on Friday 06/12 using my Apple Watch Series 5 that I purchased from Apple in Australia. I was the first person that they had tried to provision onto this plan.

All the provisioning went through the Spark systems without any system errors, though my watch continued to show that Spark NZ "does not currently support Apple Watch with mobile plans", so I could not do set up mobile on the Watch app.

The team then went back to their internal support channels and eventually were told that non-Spark provided watches would be supported from Friday 13/12, which is the same date that stores will receive pre-ordered stock.

I can now see on the Spark website that ios 13.3 and watchos 6.1.1 is required as part of the Onenumber plan eligibility. So Apple must be planning on releases these updates on or before 13/12.

Hopefully by 13/12 and when I've installed these updates, I'll be able to setup the cellular service.

Obraik

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#2371699 10-Dec-2019 12:43

Sadly, I've been informed by our account manager that Corporate accounts aren't ready for this and to expect to wait a couple months until it's available :(

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bp1000

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#2372318 11-Dec-2019 11:23

I've installed the latest iOS and watchOS releases and the watch app shows Spark now support a cellular plan. I'm overseas for a couple of days so I can't finish the setup until I'm back.

It is annoying as a customer that these plans don't work when you are roaming - that is, the watch doesn't have cellular connection.

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