Vodacom has informed subscribers who bought its V-SIM devices that their services will be discontinued on 1 August 2024.
This includes its Linea panic-button watch, which it launched just over two years ago.
Customers will no longer be billed for service with recurring charges, and connectivity for the devices will no longer be available.
In its statement to customers, the company emphasised that “Design & Connected by Vodacom” and V-SIM devices will no longer work.
“Please ensure you download any pictures you wish to retain via the Vodafone Smart App before this date,” it said.
“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.”
Vodacom said customer support services will also no longer be available.
Impacted devices include the Neo Kids Watch, Curve Smart GPS Tracker, Linea watch, V-Kids Watch (Alcatel MT30), and the V-Bag (also by Alcatel).
Vodacom noted that all V-Home services — including the Hub, camera, and multipurpose sensor — already came to an end in 2022.
The Linea watch was a digital wristwatch featuring a built-in panic button, which Vodacom launched in April 2022 for R499.
Like the other discontinued devices, it had an embedded Vodacom Smart SIM to enable connectivity.
Crucially, it was a once-off purchase with no recurring subscription fee for the watch to work.
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.
MyBroadband tested the Linea watch shortly after it came out, with disappointing results.
The first problem we encountered was when buying the watch. The product page explicitly states that delivery is free.
However, once you get to your cart, it states that delivery is R130 extra. Free delivery is only available for orders of over R600.
Unfortunately, this was only the beginning of our issues with the Linea watch.
Although the watch kept the time, the panic button feature — its selling point — did not work.
The watch would silently fail to send the SMS messages to the five numbers we had configured it to send them to.
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.
However, no messages were sent.
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.
After communicating with two different customer support representatives, the agent we spoke to last concluded that it was a hardware problem and the watch should be refunded or replaced.
This also proved challenging, as Vodacom’s business rules did not allow its physical stores to process our return, and there was no online system to log a return for repair, replacement, or refund.
MyBroadband asked Vodacom for comment about its decision to discontinue its “Design and Connected by Vodacom” range.
The company said the discontinued devices form a small part of the overall Vodacom Consumer Internet of Things (CIoT) portfolio, the balance of which will continue to operate fully.
“Vodacom launched the ‘Connected by Vodacom’ portfolio in 2019 when the CIoT market was in its infancy,” the company said.
“At the time, there were very limited products and services in the market to integrate our CIoT solutions into.”
Since then, a wide range of solutions and devices have become available.
Another development was the launch of its “Enhance” product, which allows customers to personalise their contracts, Vodacom stated.
“Enhance is proving to be popular with customers who are bundling smart tech and consumer IoT products onto their contracts, allowing them to pay one single monthly instalment,” said Vodacom.
“Since the launch of our summer campaign late last year, we have also seen smart tech and consumer IoT offers registering high sales growth.”
Asked whether customers would be offered refunds for devices they purchases, Vodacom said customers could request one.
“While we will deal with requests on a case by case basis, our terms and conditions show that Vodacom reserves the right to terminate services once the linked 24-month contract runs its course,” it said.