Apple Watch cellular plans - any alternatives?

Forums › New Zealand Mobile and Wireless › Apple Watch cellular plans - any alternatives?

gzjdoe

37 posts

Geek

#306568 4-Aug-2023 01:09

It seems that Spark is the only provider supporting the Apple Watch Cellular in NZ (for circa $80 per month🙄).

Now that one.NZ supports esims is there a chance of them (and Kogan mobile) to become an option too or does Spark have an exclusive agreement with Apple in NZ?

Aucklandjafa

398 posts

Ultimate Geek

#3111658 4-Aug-2023 06:31

Spark’s wearable plan is $12.99, defo not $80.

https://www.spark.co.nz/help/mobile/set-up/one-number-wearable-plan

gzjdoe

37 posts

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#3111665 4-Aug-2023 07:26

Yes, but it requires you to have a $65 mobile plan on your phone as well so that you can have that plan for the watch alone. I was referring to the total cost.

Aucklandjafa

398 posts

Ultimate Geek

#3111672 4-Aug-2023 07:53

Oh, right. But sure you need a phone plan anyway, right? If you add another person/line you'll get 20% off, so only pay $52/month for the phone.

corksta

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#3111709 4-Aug-2023 09:17

To answer your question, eSIM for Apple Watch is coming to One NZ and 2degrees. They've both said as much so it's just a waiting game at the moment.

Right now Spark is the only provider that supports the cellular Apple Watch. There's no exclusivity agreement or anything like that, it's just the way it worked out.

So your only options are to go with Spark or wait for the others to catch up.

tripp

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#3111710 4-Aug-2023 09:17

talk is that One is releasing on samsung yesterday and apple is releasing later (could be ios10 / watchos10)

2d still nothing on the release date

wellygary

8328 posts

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#3111719 4-Aug-2023 10:09

Apparently support for Apple Watches on One's new $5 plan is "on the way"

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/one-nz-joins-smartwatch-fray-with-5month-plan-how-others-stack-up/4URCOJGPK5BFHGBTUF4QIPQCCM/

shk292

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#3111785 4-Aug-2023 13:34

wellygary:

Apparently support for Apple Watches on One's new $5 plan is "on the way"

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/one-nz-joins-smartwatch-fray-with-5month-plan-how-others-stack-up/4URCOJGPK5BFHGBTUF4QIPQCCM/

$5 vs $12 seems of little importance if you need to go on a $65 contract to enable this - if another network allows this on non-exorbitant plans including prepaid they will really have a point of difference

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gzjdoe

37 posts

Geek

#3111790 4-Aug-2023 13:54

shk292:
$5 vs $12 seems of little importance if you need to go on a $65 contract to enable this - if another network allows this on non-exorbitant plans including prepaid they will really have a point of difference

Precisely why I’m asking. I’m paying $18.75 to Kogan for 4Gb of data (enough for me) and would like to keep my costs around $25 if possible.

I wonder how long Kogan will take to start doing eSIMs here in NZ

Dulouz

883 posts

Ultimate Geek

#3112035 5-Aug-2023 11:21

shk292:

wellygary:

Apparently support for Apple Watches on One's new $5 plan is "on the way"

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/one-nz-joins-smartwatch-fray-with-5month-plan-how-others-stack-up/4URCOJGPK5BFHGBTUF4QIPQCCM/

$5 vs $12 seems of little importance if you need to go on a $65 contract to enable this - if another network allows this on non-exorbitant plans including prepaid they will really have a point of difference

There are more options to choose from than the $65 plan. See below:

Eligible options for your primary plan

$100 Endless Plan
$85 Endless Plan
$65 Endless Plan
$45 Endless Plan
$39.99 Endless Plan*
$39.99 3GB Rollover plan
$35 Companion plan
$15 Rollover plan**
$25 Rollover plan**

Amanon

gzjdoe

37 posts

Geek

#3112065 5-Aug-2023 13:56

Dulouz:

There are more options to choose from than the $65 plan. See below:

Eligible options for your primary plan

$100 Endless Plan
$85 Endless Plan
$65 Endless Plan
$45 Endless Plan
$39.99 Endless Plan*
$39.99 3GB Rollover plan
$35 Companion plan
$15 Rollover plan**
$25 Rollover plan**

Cheers. So, any pay monthly, instead of prepay, plan would be sufficient to pair up with a wearable plan at Spark. I honestly would like to understand why anyone would pay $25 for the rollover plan (500mb of data) instead of the $20 prepaid (1.25Gb of data). The maths of the telco providers make no sense to me. 🤷‍♂️

cokemaster

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#3112143 5-Aug-2023 20:17

People can and do - thats why Telcos keep some of these illogical plans around.

$100 that Spark will drop their pricing to match Ones wearable pricing either slightly before or directly after they go live.

Over here in Aus, all the main providers (Optus, Vodafone, Telstra) offer wearables plans for pay monthly/postpaid/upfront plans and charge $5.

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shk292

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#3112275 6-Aug-2023 10:21

gzjdoe:
Cheers. So, any pay monthly, instead of prepay, plan would be sufficient to pair up with a wearable plan at Spark. I honestly would like to understand why anyone would pay $25 for the rollover plan (500mb of data) instead of the $20 prepaid (1.25Gb of data). The maths of the telco providers make no sense to me. 🤷‍♂️

It's a mystery. I'm on spark $19 prepay which gives me 7GB per month with the data stack. Would have to pay a lot of money to get the same on contract. People spending other people's money is my guess

gzjdoe

37 posts

Geek

#3112339 6-Aug-2023 11:32

shk292: I'm on spark $19 prepay which gives me 7GB per month with the data stack. Would have to pay a lot of money to get the same on contract. People spending other people's money is my guess

That’sa great deal. Are you grandfathered into this plan? I went to the Spark website straight away in hopes of finding it. 🤣

shk292

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#3112390 6-Aug-2023 14:01

gzjdoe:
shk292: I'm on spark $19 prepay which gives me 7GB per month with the data stack. Would have to pay a lot of money to get the same on contract. People spending other people's money is my guess

That’sa great deal. Are you grandfathered into this plan? I went to the Spark website straight away in hopes of finding it. 🤣

The way data stack works is you get an extra stack of data that is 100MB bigger each month. I've been on that plan for about 6 years, hence the big stack i get every month.
I'm not sure if it's still available, should say so on the spark site.
It is an extremely good retention measure!

antant

115 posts

Master Geek

#3112393 6-Aug-2023 14:16

shk292:
The way data stack works is you get an extra stack of data that is 100MB bigger each month. I've been on that plan for about 6 years, hence the big stack i get every month.
I'm not sure if it's still available, should say so on the spark site.
It is an extremely good retention measure!

Yep still around - https://www.spark.co.nz/shop/mobile-plans/datastack/ .

I joined up just over a year ago as I was finding most of the other $20ish plans I'd "just" run out of data. So it's great to have some breathing space that gets larger each month.

Was quite shocked that the $25 rollover plan only has 500mb of data. I find that Apple's "system services" often uses more than that!