Apple Watch - LTE in NZ?

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chris021

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#2378080 18-Dec-2019 21:59

chris021: Good to know. The Spark store in Kerikeri don’t do a lot of eSims and couldn’t yet figure out how to do it for me. I have my watch eSim all good, but want to free up my sim slot for my Australian sim.

I take back what I said about Spark Kerikeri, I got a call back from them about 6pm tonight (they close at 5) and invited back to the store where they sorted both my eSim and Dani021's. Can't beat that for amazing service!!!

hamish225

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#2380264 22-Dec-2019 23:17

ive just bought myself an Apple Watch in the UK and activated an EE plan on it, seems to be working which is more than can be said for the esim in my iPad.

Anyone know if when I come back to NZ, will my watch work on spark?

*Insert big spe*dtest result here*

jarledb

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#2380269 23-Dec-2019 01:20

Yes, looks like that should be possible. You just have to make sure you switch plans on both your phone and your watch, and you need to use the same carrier on both.

See Apple´s support document

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BlinkyBill

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#2380304 23-Dec-2019 09:22

100% confirmed a cellular watch purchased in Japan works in Australia. In fact, there are only two versions of each watch model globally, one for North America and one for everywhere else. The only difference between NA and RoW is the 900 band, otherwise they appear the same.

so as long as you don’t need the 900 band (LTE Band 8 and UMTS 900MHz) per North America, either version of the watch will work anywhere in the world.

Geektastic

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#2390791 13-Jan-2020 09:07

BlinkyBill:
100% confirmed a cellular watch purchased in Japan works in Australia. In fact, there are only two versions of each watch model globally, one for North America and one for everywhere else. The only difference between NA and RoW is the 900 band, otherwise they appear the same.

so as long as you don’t need the 900 band (LTE Band 8 and UMTS 900MHz) per North America, either version of the watch will work anywhere in the world.

Does that suggest that if you travel regularly to NA and want to be able to use the watch in this way, you need to buy one from there?

BlinkyBill

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#2390801 13-Jan-2020 09:43

Geektastic:
BlinkyBill:

100% confirmed a cellular watch purchased in Japan works in Australia. In fact, there are only two versions of each watch model globally, one for North America and one for everywhere else. The only difference between NA and RoW is the 900 band, otherwise they appear the same.

so as long as you don’t need the 900 band (LTE Band 8 and UMTS 900MHz) per North America, either version of the watch will work anywhere in the world.

Does that suggest that if you travel regularly to NA and want to be able to use the watch in this way, you need to buy one from there?

If you select a service provider in NA that provides service on LTE Band 8 or UMTS 900 MHz, then you will need a NA watch. I’m not aware of which service providers deliver service on those bands, but a quick squiz on this page https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_LTE_networks indicates that not many do, if any.

in other words, you can use your NZ watch in North America using major service providers like Verizon, AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, etc. At least, that’s what I’m taking from looking at that page - I have no direct experience in this. I’m not an expert in cellular bands, so please confirm for yourself. The only places I saw Band 8 were Peru, British Virgin Islands ... and NZ 2 Degrees (which implies an NZ watch won’t work on 2Degrees band 8!).

Personally, I would have no hesitation in using a NZ-sourced watch in NA, and I would expect it to work.

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Geektastic

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#2390828 13-Jan-2020 10:25

BlinkyBill:

Geektastic:
BlinkyBill:

100% confirmed a cellular watch purchased in Japan works in Australia. In fact, there are only two versions of each watch model globally, one for North America and one for everywhere else. The only difference between NA and RoW is the 900 band, otherwise they appear the same.

so as long as you don’t need the 900 band (LTE Band 8 and UMTS 900MHz) per North America, either version of the watch will work anywhere in the world.

Does that suggest that if you travel regularly to NA and want to be able to use the watch in this way, you need to buy one from there?

If you select a service provider in NA that provides service on LTE Band 8 or UMTS 900 MHz, then you will need a NA watch. I’m not aware of which service providers deliver service on those bands, but a quick squiz on this page https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_LTE_networks indicates that not many do, if any.

in other words, you can use your NZ watch in North America using major service providers like Verizon, AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, etc. At least, that’s what I’m taking from looking at that page - I have no direct experience in this. I’m not an expert in cellular bands, so please confirm for yourself. The only places I saw Band 8 were Peru, British Virgin Islands ... and NZ 2 Degrees (which implies an NZ watch won’t work on 2Degrees band 8!).

Personally, I would have no hesitation in using a NZ-sourced watch in NA, and I would expect it to work.

Thanks; good to know if VF ever manage to support the device - and Apple ever manage to get a battery to last a decent time...! 😇

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