Hi Folks
I thought I'd post my experience getting a Pixel Watch 2 LTE (PW2lte) connected to a cellular network in NZ
FYI, my watch in an import from Oz.
I had planned to connect to my P6 Pro via my One NZ (vodafone) account with "One Number" at $5/month but unfortunately this is not supported as according to my OneNZ contact (thanks, you know who you are :) ) this needs to be enabled at the carrier level and according to them, it is complex and expensive so for OneNZ it is limited to Apple and Samsung in NZ. Boo.
With 'One Number' not an option, and after reviewing 2D and spark eSim offerings I decided on a basic prepay plan from OneNZ to give it a go ($14/month). Obviously this means any 'tethered' functionality to my phones 'number' is broken but more on that later.
As the PW2lte is not supported in NZ by Google or any network for 'tethering' I had to use a workaround that is described in this XDA forums link: https://xdaforums.com/t/using-lte-version-in-other-countries.4505999/page-5 to get the eSim loaded.
This involves sideloading an old version of the pixel watch app to enable the QR scanner to open to scan the eSim QR code. No problem for me up to this point, however, for me to get the eSim to download I had to enable all the watch app permissions for the watch app on my phone (location sharing, call logs phone access etc.) before the eSim download would complete successfully, note that this is not mentioned the XDA post above.
Once all these permissions were on, the eSim download worked and LTE and call access was operating. The watch app on the phone can then be updated to the latest through the play store.
What works:
- Calls into and out of the watch (via its own eSim obviously)
- Data in and out of the watch and (I think data sync between the phone and watch via cellular for most notifications but this is not easy to test/have time to test).
What does not work:
- Sending/receiving texts from the PW2lte's eSim number. Received texts come from the phone 'number'. I have not tried sending texts from the watch yet or trying to text from the watch when the watch and phone are put of bluetooth/wifi range. This seems to be normal for a 'tethered' PW2lte
- Some apps such as Google Chat need a sideloaded version on the watch where there is not a native watch version of the app, not sure if this is an issue where 'normal tethering' is available.
I'll provide more updates if there is any interest here.
Other comments on the PW2lte
Calendars other than your default google calendar (such as exchange or off365) do not sync to the watch, notifications do appear but there is not way to look at Outlook/Off365 events on the watch. Goddam it google.
