When is the Apple Watch finally supported by any mobile carrier? MNOs/MVNOs/SPs

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Level 1

4 points

When is the Apple Watch finally supported by any mobile carrier? MNOs/MVNOs/SPs

Its been many years now, that Apple has selected a few (usually the former incumbant, or the one with many B2C subscribers) carriers, to be able to support e-sim for the Apple Watch.

When will this market distortion end? It is unreasonable to demand that smaller ServiceProviders or B2B focused MVNOs / specialized carriers should start selling 100,000´s of Apple Watches just to be able to activate an ESIM for the Apple watch?

It is also unreasonable that I as an end user with the Apple watch, is supposed to change carrier from a service I need and like, just to activate cellular on my Apple Watch?

Posted on Mar 14, 2025 5:23 AM

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Answer 1

BobHarris

Level 9

57,427 points

Mar 14, 2025 5:42 AM in response to ViktorSweden

The carriers have to want to support the Apple Watch.

Some MVNO have contracts with the carrier owning the physical cellular service, that does not include the Apple Watch, and getting a contract that includes the Apple Watch would increase the MVNO’s prices. Many MVNO’s depend on low prices.

I know of 2 MVNO’s that include the Apple Watch: Xfinity and Spectrum. But they also have cable TV businesses that can carry some of the cellular traffic via WiFi calling.

Also the carrier’s network needs to be able to bind 2 unique IMEI (or similar) phones to a single phone number. It is possible some do not have the equipment that does that.

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Answer 2

Randy-12

Level 7

20,189 points

Mar 14, 2025 5:38 AM in response to ViktorSweden

Ask the carrier when they will support the watch.

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When is the Apple Watch finally supported by any mobile carrier? MNOs/MVNOs/SPs

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