(UK) Any word on more carriers supporting the watch?

[ascender]

It seems to have gone all quiet on whether we can expect other carriers to start supporting the Apple Watch. I know some carriers were saying they had no plans while some were saying "watch this space", but I've not see anything since launch and as EE isn't a viable option for me its a bit frustrating.

Has anybody seen anything concrete about this?

 

[KrisLord]

I follow all the relevant tech press and I’ve heard nothing at all. I switched to EE as I figured it’d be ages before anyone supports it.

 

[Brookzy]

EE's CEO mentioned they'd been working on it for nearly three years. I think Three and Vodafone have explicitly said they have no plans to support it, i.e. they're not working on eSIM/number sharing tech. So even if they started work today, it would be a matter of years rather than months IMO.

 

[ttforever]

I could've sworn I read on an EE quote they had exclusivity for 6 months then the others would support it.

EE's CEO mentioned they'd been working on it for nearly three years. I think Three and Vodafone have explicitly said they have no plans to support it, i.e. they're not working on eSIM/number sharing tech. So even if they started work today, it would be a matter of years rather than months IMO.

 

[KarimLeVallois]

I could've sworn I read on an EE quote they had exclusivity for 6 months then the others would support it.

Pretty sure the other carriers don't have the back-end technology to support it even if they wanted to.

 

[Manatlt]

I could've sworn I read on an EE quote they had exclusivity for 6 months then the others would support it.

Don't know where you got that from. There's no exclusivity. It's just that EE are the only carrier to go on board with the eSIM integration.

EE are a powerhouse, they can afford to implement newer mobile technologies faster than any other network.

 

[ttforever]

I'm sure the CEO or someone official on twitter said it, I'll see if I can find it again

Don't know where you got that from. There's no exclusivity. It's just that EE are the only carrier to go on board with the eSIM integration.

EE are a powerhouse, they can afford to implement newer mobile technologies faster than any other network.

 

[Manatlt]

I'm sure the CEO or someone official on twitter said it, I'll see if I can find it again

Please find it because I'm 99% sure there's no exclusivity. EE can claim Watch LTE is exclusive (because it is) that's because no other network jumped on board.

Apple will never make an exclusive deal with a network, even in the US. Not anymore.

 

[ttforever]

Sorry, I can't find it, but I remember it clearly as the 6 months was exactly when my EE contract ended and I thought it would be a good time to leave them - although I could just be totally wrong too!

Please find it because I'm 99% sure there's no exclusivity. EE can claim Watch LTE is exclusive (because it is) that's because no other network jumped on board.

Apple will never make an exclusive deal with a network, even in the US. Not anymore.

 

[Brookzy]

There was a rumour going around that EE had an exclusivity deal and this seems to have emanated from EE themselves - lots of store staff seem to think this is the case.

In reality, it's just that they are the only ones with the tech to do it.

 

[Sebby]

My understanding is that there’s no exclusivity, just that EE are the only ones to support it. From what I could gather, no other UK networks even have plans to support it, so I switched to EE. Too bad as Three were great and didn’t want to leave.

 

[Bazooka-joe]

I think it will be 2020 at the earliest before we see any other network options. That’s why I switched from O2 to EE

 

[Shanghaichica]

I’ve been holding off upgrading my watch because I’m waiting to see if o2 will support the cellular Watch.

 

[Sebby]

I’ve been holding off upgrading my watch because I’m waiting to see if o2 will support the cellular Watch.

They won’t. They definitely won’t. Sorry.

 

[The Game 161]

It seems to have gone all quiet on whether we can expect other carriers to start supporting the Apple Watch. I know some carriers were saying they had no plans while some were saying "watch this space", but I've not see anything since launch and as EE isn't a viable option for me its a bit frustrating.

Has anybody seen anything concrete about this?

There won't be. No other carrier can get consistant enough fast speeds to handle it. As it always needs 4G to work

Three were good for me but I wanted annual iphone upgrade and the LTE apple watch so I moved to EE and they have been amazing so far.

EE are even sending me a free gift for helping people with questions on the EE forums

 

[Shanghaichica]

There won't be. No other carrier can get consistant enough fast speeds to handle it. As it always needs 4G to work

Three were good for me but I wanted annual iphone upgrade and the LTE apple watch so I moved to EE and they have been amazing so far.

EE are even sending me a free gift for helping people with questions on the EE forums

EE don’t have good coverage here but I’m finally on an iPhone yearly upgrade plan with O2. I’ve been on the plan twice before with Samsung phones but after a few months I don’t own the phone anymore so I can’t even use the yearly upgrade. I know I will still have the iPhone X in a year. So I’ll just be able to get the latest iPhone every year.


Despite all my moaning about the price I’m paying £84 a month for my iPhone X. I was paying £76 for the note 8 so there really wasn’t much difference in price. It’s the exact same amount of data. Also with the iPhone I get a free screen replacement if I break the screen. I didn’t get this with my note 8. So when you factor that in its around the same price.

I’ve seen a good price for the Apple Watch series 2 in town so I’m just going to get that tomorrow, just have to find out when DPD are delivering my phone. it’s become apparent that o2 will not be getting the series 3. My series 0 needs an upgrade desperately.
[doublepost=1513500297][/doublepost]

There won't be. No other carrier can get consistant enough fast speeds to handle it. As it always needs 4G to work

Three were good for me but I wanted annual iphone upgrade and the LTE apple watch so I moved to EE and they have been amazing so far.

EE are even sending me a free gift for helping people with questions on the EE forums

EE don’t have good coverage here but I’m finally on an iPhone yearly upgrade plan with O2. I’ve been on the plan twice before with Samsung phones but after a few months I don’t own the phone anymore so I can’t even use the yearly upgrade. I know I will still have the iPhone X in a year. So I’ll just be able to get the latest iPhone every year.


Despite all my moaning about the price I’m paying £84 a month for my iPhone X. I was paying £76 for the note 8 so there really wasn’t much difference in price. It’s the exact same amount of data. Also with the iPhone I get a free screen replacement if I break the screen. I didn’t get this with my note 8. So when you factor that in its around the same price.

I’ve seen a good price for the Apple Watch series 2 in town so I’m just going to get that tomorrow, just have to find out when DPD are delivering my phone. it’s become apparent that o2 will not be getting the series 3. My series 0 needs an upgrade desperately.

 

[Bazooka-joe]

They won’t. They definitely won’t. Sorry.

Other carriers don't have the infrastructure to support LTE on the watch. I moved from O2 to EE and have to say that i am quite impressed. LTE on the watch configured with no issues and the service has been rock solid plus i got 6 months of Apple music for free

 

[KarimLeVallois]

Other carriers don't have the infrastructure to support LTE on the watch. I moved from O2 to EE and have to say that i am quite impressed. LTE on the watch configured with no issues and the service has been rock solid plus i got 6 months of Apple music for free

I moved from O2 too and the speed improvement was crazy.

 

[The Game 161]

I moved from O2 too and the speed improvement was crazy.

agreed

It's amazing and i'm coming from three

I get 100MB download speeds at work and at least 50MB at home.
[doublepost=1513556199][/doublepost]

EE don’t have good coverage here but I’m finally on an iPhone yearly upgrade plan with O2. I’ve been on the plan twice before with Samsung phones but after a few months I don’t own the phone anymore so I can’t even use the yearly upgrade. I know I will still have the iPhone X in a year. So I’ll just be able to get the latest iPhone every year.


Despite all my moaning about the price I’m paying £84 a month for my iPhone X. I was paying £76 for the note 8 so there really wasn’t much difference in price. It’s the exact same amount of data. Also with the iPhone I get a free screen replacement if I break the screen. I didn’t get this with my note 8. So when you factor that in its around the same price.

I’ve seen a good price for the Apple Watch series 2 in town so I’m just going to get that tomorrow, just have to find out when DPD are delivering my phone. it’s become apparent that o2 will not be getting the series 3. My series 0 needs an upgrade desperately.
[doublepost=1513500297][/doublepost]
EE don’t have good coverage here but I’m finally on an iPhone yearly upgrade plan with O2. I’ve been on the plan twice before with Samsung phones but after a few months I don’t own the phone anymore so I can’t even use the yearly upgrade. I know I will still have the iPhone X in a year. So I’ll just be able to get the latest iPhone every year.


Despite all my moaning about the price I’m paying £84 a month for my iPhone X. I was paying £76 for the note 8 so there really wasn’t much difference in price. It’s the exact same amount of data. Also with the iPhone I get a free screen replacement if I break the screen. I didn’t get this with my note 8. So when you factor that in its around the same price.

I’ve seen a good price for the Apple Watch series 2 in town so I’m just going to get that tomorrow, just have to find out when DPD are delivering my phone. it’s become apparent that o2 will not be getting the series 3. My series 0 needs an upgrade desperately.

Yeah annual upgrade is a big reason I moved to EE.

That and being able to use the apple watch

Too much hassle buying the new iphone every year and this year I wasn't even able to order the iphone x on the apple site by time I tried the wait was ages. Luckily I ordered with EE first and got mine on launch day

I know for next year I have to do the upgrade in store with annual upgrade with EE. Not sure if it's the same with o2 or not?

I have my ipad pro 10.5 with EE as well where I get 20GB of data a month. Best thing I have done phone wise moving to EE for all my tech.

I won't buy another ipad without cellular again now. It's been so useful

 

[Shanghaichica]

agreed

It's amazing and i'm coming from three

I get 100MB download speeds at work and at least 50MB at home.
[doublepost=1513556199][/doublepost]
Yeah annual upgrade is a big reason I moved to EE.

That and being able to use the apple watch

Too much hassle buying the new iphone every year and this year I wasn't even able to order the iphone x on the apple site by time I tried the wait was ages. Luckily I ordered with EE first and got mine on launch day

I know for next year I have to do the upgrade in store with annual upgrade with EE. Not sure if it's the same with o2 or not?

I have my ipad pro 10.5 with EE as well where I get 20GB of data a month. Best thing I have done phone wise moving to EE for all my tech.

I won't buy another ipad without cellular again now. It's been so useful

I’m not sure. Online it says you can do it in store or online. I will find out when it gets close to the time.

 

[ascender]

Thanks for the info, I didn't realise it was a fundamental as that - i.e. other carriers simply don't have the available bandwidth & infrastructure to support it. I notice EE are still making a big thing of the Apple Watch only being available on their network so I was starting to think its just going to be them for the foreseeable future!