How to Activate Samsung watch LTE

It took 5 visits to a T Mobile the store to activate LTE on my Samsung Galaxy Watch. Before changing carrier and purchasing 2 new iPhone 11, I researched the issues I thought would occur changing carrier and transferring from an Android Samsung phone linked to the Galaxy Watch.

During the second visit, agent 2 set up the Galaxy Watch and a call was made. Some days later I discovered the Galaxy Watch was still connected LTE to the previous carrier so I deleted it from the watch. However, the issue was the eSIM in the Galaxy Watch was locked to my previous network.

During visit 3 it proved impossible to change this online but agent 3 at T Mobile was persistent and my previous carrier finally agreed to unlock the eSIM which took about 4 days. Because of other commitments, I did not manage visit 4 with T Mobile until a week later.

I explained the problem to agent 4 in the store who was adamant it was not possible to have LTE on a Samsung Galaxy Watch connected to an iPhone and the only available connection was Bluetooth. A manager also confirmed this. Their assertions did not match what I had previously been led to believe from my research concerning issues changing from Android to an iOS phone.

At home, I printed out from the T Mobile Support Web pages “How to Activate Samsung Watch LTE” on the T Mobile Network and went to the store for the 5 time with the printout. Sadly agent 5 was of a similar mind to the manager and agent from the previous visit. He refused to read what I had printed from the T Mobile Support pages, look it up for himself on the T Mobile Support pages or call the Support line saying "that was not his job". I asked if he was refusing to set up the LTE on my Galaxy Watch to which his response was "what do you want me to do?" I said we would follow the procedure set out in the T Mobile Support pages I had printed. I instructed him how to do this while he also attended to another customer. The eSIM was activated on the Galaxy Watch and the T Mobile network was available. The agent had walked away attending to another customer and showed no further interest which was a sad comparison to my previous carrier where the agents were courteous and after completing any transaction would walk you to the door with "thank you for your visit".

At home, I completed the LTE setup on the Galaxy Watch by selecting the T Mobile network and restarting the watch. I turned off the iPhone 11 Pro Max and called my T Mobile number from a landline. It works just fine.

I appreciate that the attitude of its staff reflects on the company itself and the employees will vary in both attitude and skills. For me, what was most concerning was the adamant attitude "that can't be done" rather than accepting their knowledge was incomplete and refusing to go beyond their existing knowledge. The next customer with a similar issue at this particular store will not be given the correct information so please use the information on the T Mobile support pages if you want to connect LTE on an excellent Samsung Galaxy Watch to an Apple iPhone.

This is the solo correct answer. The rest are valuable information, but the do NOT answer this question.

I have now spent a total of 8 hours on this issue, and it is resolved.  It took one T Mobile tech at the store, an online internal T Mobile tech, as part of an escalation, and finally an online technician at Samsung. 

So with a total of 24 person-hours, the conclusion is that neither T Mobile nor Samsung was prepared to release this watch.  Both companies need to apologize to their customers, AND prepare NEW documentation!  This watch is NOT the same as every other Galaxy watch.

I work in IBM Level 3 support, so I have a great deal of experience.  Here is the actual issue:

During the watch setup - which is done mostly on a phone (this is bad design), the network section of the setup is where the failure comes: the order of the steps, inside the software is backwards:

1) Find network

2) Download eSIM profile

The eSIM profile is the issue!  Without the eSIM profile, the internal eSIM cannot be activated - not by ANY T Mobile tech, nor Samsung. The mistake in the software is tying the eSIM prompt with the network discovery: if the network is not found ON THE PHONE, then the eSIM download is SKIPPED!  Unbelievable! No matter what your cell provider, the watch will NEVER work on a cell network without enabling the eSIM.  Ridiculous.

So, the "solution" is, you have to BUY a T Mobile phone!  Or, as elsewhere in this thread, find someone a T Mobile that will allow you to do the complete installation on THEIR phone - only so you can get past the (cell) network discovery, and thus download the eSIM profile.  Then, after the watch is completely set up on the "wrong" phone, you can pair is with any phone, and it work amazing!  You will automatically get texts, calls, messages from your phone, when in paired mode, and then from the cell provider (T Mobile) when in standalone.  Seamless and no configuration.

Here are additional problems that tech support doesn't know

1) The entire initial setup requires connection to the internet (wi fi).  You can't set up the watch without connecting your phone to wi fi, even if you have a T Mobile phone connected to mobile data.

2) There is NO WAY to unpair the "wrong" phone after the "false" setup!  There is no unpair menu option!  Wow! Instead, you need to go to the watch menu, and select "Connect to other phone".  This is nerve wracking, since it then says "Resetting" - you worry that the reset will delete the eSIM activation.  After this, the other phone's data is erased (I guess?!?!?)

3) On the watch, prior to eSIM profile download, the watch gives the message "Please insert SIM card."  This is TERRIBLE programming!  There is no physical way to insert ANYTHING into this watch - the SIM is built in!  So, no matter what, that message should NEVER appear on this device. Instead - imagine this! - a message that says "Would you like to download the eSIM profile?" 

4) In paired mode, when you make a call from the watch, it actually makes the call from the phone's number, not the watch's.  Just fyi

As for the DIGITS account, T Mobile never had any problem with this: my DIGITS accounts was easily activated, I got a phone number for the watch, and could send calls to voicemail.

There is no LTE  call and tex for galaxy watch on any carrier yet. chat with samsung support they said no one claim this issue please take action and claim this issue to Samsung , because T- mobile and any carrier did not take action at all and they sell this watch without care about customers.

this is the link  Relojes inteligentes | Official Samsung Support  right click on the link then open new tab

• Miembro desde: 6 de nov, de 2018

There is no LTE  call and tex for galaxy watch on any carrier yet. chat with samsung support they said no one claim this issue please take action and claim this issue to Samsung , because T- mobile and any carrier did not take action at all and they sell this watch without care about customers.

this is the link  Relojes inteligentes | Official Samsung Support  right click on the link then open new tab

• Miembro desde: 6 de nov, de 2018

There is no LTE  call and tex for galaxy watch on any carrier yet. chat with samsung support they said no one claim this issue please take action and claim this issue to Samsung , because T- mobile and any carrier did not take action at all and they sell this watch without care about customers.

this is the link  Relojes inteligentes | Official Samsung Support  right click on the link then open new tab

⁵4G LTE standalone connectivity only available on Samsung Galaxy Watch LTE version. Standalone voice calling on LTE version requires initial pairing with eligible Samsung Galaxy device and separate qualifying wireless plan. Your carrier may not support standalone voice calling, or support may be available only in certain areas. Consulta a tu proveedor para obtener más información. Standalone functionality limited if paired phone is not powered on or connected to a wireless network.

Silver Samsung Galaxy Watch - 46mm LTE | Samsung US

So you would need a galaxy phone in order to make standalone.

I am mortified…I just bought a Samsung Active 2 LTE watch for $400 and have yet to find any clear information on how to set this up on my Tmobile account.  I've dug through all of my account settings.  I've searched these threads, the internet, youtube.  There is not one person anywhere that gives a borrar answer.  I was under the impression before purchasing this expensive device that I could simply add an LTE line for $10 a month for this watch.  In fact, before purchasing I asked support on twitter if I could purchase this watch and add it to my existing account and they said yes.  

Here’s their answer:  “Hi, thanks for reaching out to your #MagentaTeam today! My name is Deb, I value your time as I want to make sure you have no worries with setting up devices on your account!”

"Now with your AutoPay feature, adding a Data paired with Digits line is only $10.00 a month, which you can add to your account at any time, and use a watch from where ever you want to purchase it from! You can add the line now, or wait till you actually have your watch! What ever works best for you okay?"

Ok, I give...please tell me where the secret data paired with digits for $10 a month is located.  

Why have these threads been going for over two years without any real step by step resolution?  I've been a Tmobile customer for years with 4 lines going and I would assume they'd want me to stay aboard and add yet another device to their network.  

Gracias.

@kronikole@magenta10419802 and other trusty and intrepid explorers going where no man (or woman) has gone before.

   I love reading these stories and realizing it's not just me.  The way the forum is set up also leaves a lot to be desired.  T-mo, you could do better than this.  We are all relying on your good will as we ferret our way through this system of lack of proper signage, documentation, and software.  This thread is over 3 years old, but I hate to say it , still relevant.

   Today is Oct.1, 2021.  I thank God I did not have to go through what most of you had to do.  But it is still very far from seamless and intuitive.  You do not need the 'Digits' app.  You need the Samsung Wearables app and then another Samsung app piece of software for the SS watch 4, which is comparable to the latest Apple watch coming out later this month or so.

  The t-mo documentation at this point is better. But I do not think every step is totally spelled out.  I am assuming the SSwatch 4 device should be able to communicate with any/every other device of any brand as long as they are all connected to the internet in some way. The watch functions as kind of an access point to one of your phones and uses it as a base.  The watch is not a standalone device which is not made clear by anyone. Its number is never used, but is like a number assigned to a hotspot device, used as an indentifier in their system, as far as I can tell.

You do most everything from your mobile phone with/thru the Samsung Wearables App.  Your phone must 'find' and 'recognize' the watch first, and then you can jig with the settings, AND it is much easier to do that on your phone, not on the tiny format of the watch.  I may be crazy, but I keep two phones going, and having or being able to leave one at home (as a backup and a spare) and just use the watch would seem to offer some utility, but I wish someone along the way had properly explained how this all worked.  I am going to play with this thing for a couple of more days before I decide to return it.  thanks for the use of the hall.

Dullblade wrote:

@kronikole@magenta10419802and other trusty and intrepid explorers going where no man (or woman) has gone before.

   I love reading these stories and realizing it's not just me.  The way the forum is set up also leaves a lot to be desired.  T-mo, you could do better than this.  We are all relying on your good will as we ferret our way through this system of lack of proper signage, documentation, and software.  This thread is over 3 years old, but I hate to say it , still relevant.

   Today is Oct.1, 2021.  I thank God I did not have to go through what most of you had to do.  But it is still very far from seamless and intuitive.  You do not need the 'Digits' app.  You need the Samsung Wearables app and then another Samsung app piece of software for the SS watch 4, which is comparable to the latest Apple watch coming out later this month or so.

  The t-mo documentation at this point is better. But I do not think every step is totally spelled out.  I am assuming the SSwatch 4 device should be able to communicate with any/every other device of any brand as long as they are all connected to the internet in some way. The watch functions as kind of an access point to one of your phones and uses it as a base.  The watch is not a standalone device which is not made clear by anyone. Its number is never used, but is like a number assigned to a hotspot device, used as an indentifier in their system, as far as I can tell.

You do most everything from your mobile phone with/thru the Samsung Wearables App.  Your phone must 'find' and 'recognize' the watch first, and then you can jig with the settings, AND it is much easier to do that on your phone, not on the tiny format of the watch.  I may be crazy, but I keep two phones going, and having or being able to leave one at home (as a backup and a spare) and just use the watch would seem to offer some utility, but I wish someone along the way had properly explained how this all worked.  I am going to play with this thing for a couple of more days before I decide to return it.  thanks for the use of the hall.

I hope the person who wrote this knows she isn't alone. I found this 3 year old thread because there have been 3 software updates to the Galaxy watch 4 that apparently T-Mobile hasn't LTE hasn't gotten - so I have a feeling as long as there's a t mobile and smart watches this will remain relevant. Also glad I'm not the only one who is baffled by the 'digits' as well. The guy at my store was trying to explain what he finally conceded makes no sense. They have the app or service called digits but also refer to (in guides and troubleshooting) the phone number assigned to the watch in order to link to the phone as 'digits' but the digits for the LTE watch apparently don't have or don't need the actual digits app and if you attempt to do things through the digits app you will likely end up being billed for something. So there's the digits app, the digits service and the word digits - "any of the numerals from 0 to 9, especially when forming part of a number." Which are all related... Sort of. If they were all people the far enough apart that they could legally get married but they may not wanna have kids.

Come on T-Mobile! At least pretend you don't want to be the inbred child of the phone services world!