Vodafone e-sim in Apple watch

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David321

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#302987 9-Jan-2023 07:47

Hi all,

My wife is dead keen on getting an apple watch with cellular capability, but there is a few things she does not know about them yet and with me being the tech guy of the household she has come to me for answers.

The thing is I really know nothing about the things myself, I figure what better place to ask than here.

1 - I have read the enitre thread on E-Sim's with Vodafone here https://www.geekzone.co.nz/forums.asp?forumid=40&topicid=298701 but was wondering if there was any update on when Vodafone will have e-sim compatibility with wearables? as far as I can see there is no update and it is still "2023", but my wife said a Vodafone sales person in the mall told her that it wont be until later in 2023, after reading the thread I just linked I am doubting this as surely someone would have picked up on this and posted it by now?

2 - We are on a shared vodafone plan with our mobiles we have two seperate numbers but share our data, I am not sure of the name of of it, but its the type of plan where her number is added to my plan for an extra $20 per month. The vodafone app tells me its "Red+Lite - SIMO" (whatever that means). Will this plan be compatible with an E-Sim in the apple watch?

3 - About the watch itself, these are new to me, so what exactly are they? I am guessing my wife can check facebook messages and make and receive calls on this watch if she were to leave her phone at home or something? and importantly her phone number would be the same on the watch as it is on her phone?

Thanks all!

_David_

MaxineN

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#3018847 9-Jan-2023 07:53

1. It's still 2023, it will be ready when it's ready.

2. Out of market plans are likely a no go, Red+Lite SIMO is old(we could SIM Swap you to eSIM now for the phone, but you'll likely need to move to a plan that will include wearable. We won't know, can't tell you until we're ready to finally announce things).

3. It will work as if it's it's own phone with the same number as your main phone, meaning you could leave the phone behind and still get your calls.

Ramblings from a mysterious lady who's into tech. Warning I may often create zingers.

David321

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#3018854 9-Jan-2023 08:20

MaxineN:

2. Out of market plans are likely a no go, Red+Lite SIMO is old(we could SIM Swap you to eSIM now for the phone, but you'll likely need to move to a plan that will include wearable. We won't know, can't tell you until we're ready to finally announce things).

Thanks for the reply, gutted about the plan being a sticking point, my wife and I get two different numbers and 10g of data to share every month for $50 ($30 for me being the plan holder and $20 to have her number added to it). I have not looked into what plans are available recently but every time I have looked in the past nothing came close to the value we were getting now.

To clarify we do not need e-sim on our phones, my wife just want her potential new watch to share her number.

I did not consider that only certain plans will have e-sim compatibility, I guess we have to wait (hopefully not much longer) and see.

_David_

alasta

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#3018868 9-Jan-2023 09:03

David321:

3 - About the watch itself, these are new to me, so what exactly are they? I am guessing my wife can check facebook messages and make and receive calls on this watch if she were to leave her phone at home or something? and importantly her phone number would be the same on the watch as it is on her phone?

It's a slightly geekier version of what you'd get from a Garmin or Polar watch, so it's largely health and fitness orientated. It will provide daily monitoring of things like heart rate and sleep, and for running and swimming it will track things like distance, speed, cadence, VO2 Max, etc.

It's an extremely useful tool if you're into health and fitness, but otherwise it's not much more than an expensive toy although it will do some cool things like mirroring notifications or controlling audio playback on your iPhone.

David321

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#3018879 9-Jan-2023 09:26

alasta:

David321:

3 - About the watch itself, these are new to me, so what exactly are they? I am guessing my wife can check facebook messages and make and receive calls on this watch if she were to leave her phone at home or something? and importantly her phone number would be the same on the watch as it is on her phone?

It's a slightly geekier version of what you'd get from a Garmin or Polar watch, so it's largely health and fitness orientated. It will provide daily monitoring of things like heart rate and sleep, and for running and swimming it will track things like distance, speed, cadence, VO2 Max, etc.

It's an extremely useful tool if you're into health and fitness, but otherwise it's not much more than an expensive toy although it will do some cool things like mirroring notifications or controlling audio playback on your iPhone.

Thanks for the summary, my wife isn't into health and fitness, but I think she wants something that can mimic her phone when she does not have it on her.

_David_

dfnt

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#3018935 9-Jan-2023 12:08

I'd say the watch is more useful for checking notifications, then actioning them on your phone.. rather than try use the watch to do it

steve98

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#3019757 10-Jan-2023 20:34

dfnt:
I'd say the watch is more useful for checking notifications, then actioning them on your phone.. rather than try use the watch to do it

The current generations with larger screens and full-screen keyboard makes it very easy to reply. Voice dictation is also very fast and accurate.