Sky Mobile - is eSIM being offered in 2021

[Fergus67]

I've just had an email from sky hinting at a "big announcement". Given the apple September event is imminent, maybe the esim support for Apple Watch is finally going to arrive???

[GD1]

@Fergus67  I highly doubt that the hint is the latest iPhone

[caesarome]

The new iphone is due out soon so the announcement is probably related to that and nothing to do with esims as I highly doubt that should Sky ever get around to supporting these that they would label it as a "big announcement".

[TrickyT]

Spoke to someone I know who may, or may not, work for a major network in the UK..  Their view is that Sky will not be introduing them anytime soon, if at all.  eSIMS have been around for quite a while now, so nothing new.

The sytem is quite straight forward to implement, but Sky is a mobile virtual network operator and only the three big operators support them, EE, O2 and Vodafone.  Even Three doesn't offer them as far as I know.

I made the mistake of moving to Sky with the data roll over and the piggybank.  But in reality, it doesn't offer much.  I have nearly 200GB in my piggybank as I went for a larger GB of data alowance that I thought I would need and then decided to get a cheap sim for the wife and move it over.  

Neither of us use as much data as we thoguht and you can always, if you are smart, pick up a free wifi network.

The best I can do is trade in 60GB to get £30 off a new phone, which I am sure I could do if I shopped around.

Seing what you can do with a esim in an Apple watch means I will be moving to on of the big 3 as soon as I can.

Trevor

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[Janmck]

I like my sky mobile and Apple Watch and am still waiting on sky doing an esim for watch - don't want to to another company to get this

[HodgeyHogger]

I think this related to the new Sky TV without the necessity of a dish!

[Fergus67]

I had 5 sky mobile contracts and I've moved two of them to o2 in the last month because we want esim support for 2 apple watches. The o2 deals generally aren't as good and we are still struggling to set up the cellular stuff on the watches. But I think sky has got away with vague promises for too long and I'd just got fed up of waiting. I don't understand why sky haven't sorted this out. 

[Janmck]

I agree I have been waiting 18 months for an esim and sky have done NOTHING ?????  !!!!!!!

[Tinatu]

Hi, I just assumed Sky used eSim. So annoying I didn't do the research. I too will leave once contract is up.  

[LisaBee123]

Having just moved (and being sold a 6gb sim which I was told would work with my existing series 4 watch... it doesn't!) I did a bit of research. Basically if you have the series 4 or above watch wise it will have Bluetooth 5 included, this dramatically improves the range to around 400 meters. In the two years prior in which I was in contract I have only needed the cellular twice as I usually have my phone nearby and this was when the battery had died on my phone, I generally have a battery pack to recharge it so not too much of a big deal, the other thing for me was the ability to use Apple Pay which you can do regardless of your phone being in range or not. I've just gone sim only for 12 months so I'm just going to see how it goes but if the range has improved as it's meant to then in reality it shouldn't be as much of an issue as my phone is always nearby so hey I've saved myself £6 a month. Granted for those who really want to leave their phone at home then it won't hit the spot but anyone that has tried to text with a watch will know, the watch really isn't a replacement for the phone 

[mddrake]

I think it's pretty clear now, the big announcement was for sky glass, esims aren't coming, end of.

This is why I'll be taking my mobile business elsewhere very shortly too.

In an age of pure connectivity, why stay with a provider that doesn't provide pure connectivity. 

[TrickyT]

Well looked into this a bit further.

EE are now charging £9 per month for an eSim and O2 it is £7.  

Changing to EE from my existing plan, to something similar will be an increase from £12 to £29 (£20 sim + £9 eSim)

Thats quite an increase, which in the current climate, not worth it for the benefit of what the eSim will bring.

Will just have to keep my phone with me to receive calls and text for the forseable future.

Trevor 

[Fergus67]

I'm with o2 for two apple watches and the monthly cellular charge for the esim is £5 for each watch (not £7). However, the charges are not well publicised at all and I was given incorrect information on 3 occasions by the 02 customer service line. Sky is definitely cheaper especially if you do family sharing but obviously no esim support. 

[Samijd]

Come on sky when are you going to get your esim? You're going to lose customers here 🤷‍♀️

[RedDragon2]

I'm in the same position, I think it's stupid that sky won't allow e-sims. As a major player I thought they would, so I will be taking all of my contracts away to EE probably as soon as they are out of contract.