Vodacom has informed subscribers who bought its V-SIM devices that their services will be discontinued on 1 August 2024.Customers will no longer be billed for service with recurring charges, and connectivity for the devices will no longer be available.
“If your device has an embedded Vodacom V-SIM it will not be possible to replace the V-SIM with an alternative SIM from another operator.”Impacted devices include the Neo Kids Watch, Curve Smart GPS Tracker, Linea watch, V-Kids Watch , and the V-Bag . Pressing its panic button sent an SMS to five pre-determined trusted contacts with a date, time, and a live GPS location link that could be monitored for 30 minutes.The first problem we encountered was when buying the watch. The product page explicitly states that delivery is free.
After pressing the panic button, the watch displayed the sunflower icon, which was supposed to confirm that it had sent out the messages and that tracking was active.We left the watch for a day to ensure the service had enough time to activate, but the same problem occurred when we tested it again. MyBroadband asked Vodacom for comment about its decision to discontinue its “Design and Connected by Vodacom” range.
“At the time, there were very limited products and services in the market to integrate our CIoT solutions into.”Another development was the launch of its “Enhance” product, which allows customers to personalise their contracts, Vodacom stated.