Anyone else having problem activating galaxy watch 4 as standalone?

Update - so after working a full day with T-Mobile, we find that the ICCID is not writing from the T-Mobile back end to my Samsung Galaxy Watch.

For the novices out there, that is what I understand to be the esim (electronic sim) identifier that the watch needs to get lte service.

So - Tmobile finally did a ticket to their back office (where the average customer has no chance of talking to) to find out why their system will not write the ICCID to the watch.

In the mean time, I have just gotten tired of the run around.  Being a 20 year (yes since 2003 of Sprint) I finally lost my patience and went over to the V Store (you will have to figure it out).  They set me up with an account, their system wrote the ICCID to the watch and in an hour I had a new account, with two phone numbers and a stand alone Samsung Watch 4.

It is absolutely great!!!!  When the watch gets out of range of my phone’s bluetooth and wifi, it automatically switches to the carrier lte service.

All the BS about this not being a stand alone watch preached by half the tech department at T-Mobile is total hogwash.

The watch now does exactly what I needed - it is never off line (unless it runs out of battery).  I will be purchasing a watch for my Mother with Alzheimer's and will be tracking her with the Google Find My Device App.  Contacted Life360 and trying to find out if they will port the app to Wear OS.

Again - for all the people who are believing the stories being told by T-Mobile.  The Samsung Watch 4 is capable of stand alone.  THE ISSUE IS WITH THE CARRIER PROGRAMMING AT T-MOBILE.  The issue is definitely that their system will not identify the account and send out the ICCID to the watch, therefore the watch will never be able to connect to their network.

Just a side note for those of you naysayers.  Turn off your bluetooth and wifi on your phone.  The Samsung watch will convert to emergency calls only.  Dial 911 and apologize for the test call.  What happens, the watch goes to emergency stand alone mode and by default becomes a STAND ALONE unidentified watch device on the lte network.  Because it is emergency, the phone will connect to 911 on the lte network (but of course it doesn't have ICCID so can't be identified to connect to the back end of T-mobile).  

To bad - so sad T-mobile - you are losing great customers that are trying to help you get it straightened out.

Wow - what a mess - On the phone another 3 hours tonight with TMobile tech support….

I do want to let you all know that TMobile customer service and tech support are lying to their customers.

After spending about 2 hours on line, a tech by name of Michael, brought Samsung tech support on line for a joint call.  AlRashid from Samsung took my watch model number, serial number and imei number and verified that the Samsung Watch 4 with LTE is carrier unlocked, has an internal sim and all that needs to happen is the proper activation at carrier.  During this time, Michael just dropped off the line - so no further on that call - TMobile skirted around the issue again.

Called tech support back - tech by name of Saydi told me to go back to TMobile store for the 10th or so time - Store has been escalating about 6 weeks. Saydi skirted around the issue for a second time - no help from on line tech support - they just pass the issue somewhere else.

This is nuts that TMobile is so clueless - talking with half their techs, they are saying the watches are not stand alone.  The other half understands the issue, but I have not been able to find the right tech or combination to get this working.  

Looking even on this thread and others in this community, some people get the right combination - some don’t and many are just giving up and returning their watches.

Come on TMobile - get the issue under control - get the plan and setting right and train your tech staff.  

THIS IS POSSIBLE - TO MANY PEOPLE ARE REPORTING EVENTUAL SUCCESS!!!!!!!

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Artay wrote:

So I just got two LTE galaxy watch 4's to use when I don't want to carry my phone with me (while exercising). After spending two hours at a T-Mobile store and another hour on the phone with a technician, they escalate and another tech comes on and advises me that the galaxy watch 4 cannot be used as a standalone on t mobile. It can only be used when connected and near the phone its paired with! WHY would T-Mobile sell an LTE watch that can only be used when connected to the phone? That is called a Bluetooth watch! Very frustrated with them wasting 3 hours of my time, when this could have been mentioned when the watches were ordered. And even then, why sell LTE watches instead of Bluetooth watches? Has anyone one had this issue? 

The LTE Samsung watch will work with its own line. You only need the android phone for the software upgrades and a few other things but you do not need a phone line activated for a phone Samsung Watch will work as a standalone phone/watch 

syaoran wrote:

You can thank Samsung for that.  That is how their watches are designed.  It's a peripheral.

You are wrong this issue is T-Mobiles. I bought Samsung galaxy LTE watch 4 yrs ago and the first time I connected to T-mobile my watch had its own number the second time T-Mobile told me it was a glitch.

I was having the same issue and you don't need to go into a store to fix this. Some of the reps just aren't familiar with the device. Go to settings > connections>mobile networks> then scroll to the bottom to the last option (I don't remember what it said cause it changed when I connected it to a network). It will ask if you need to connect to a network and you need to open your phone to connect the watch to a network. The reason some of the reps will tell you they are unable to do this is because they need to activate which line on their end while you open this on your phone. If it stays stuck on a loading screen they just need to refresh the device on their end after you provide them with both numbers from the device imei.

this can be done by attempting to make a call from the watch with your phone off. You will be connected to T-Mobile as a result. I just explained what i was trying to do and they were able to activate the watch for this to work. You will need to give them info off of the watch like IMEI number and the EID number . And you will need a way for them to text you a security code to prove you are who you say you are for security reasons. After they are done just power off the watch for 10 to 15 seconds and power it back on and it should work. That process worked for me it getting done on mine.

I also got the same issue. I ordered 2 different watches on 2 different months via T-Mobile chat with the standalone feature. I specifically asked T-Mobile agents to confirm that I wanted to use the watch independently with its own separate number without having the phone around before I asked them to process each of my purchases.
1. The first watch arrived, setting up was a breeze and I was able to use it as a standalone (had it own number, I could make a call/text when I didn't have the phone with me). I was happy with it so I decided to get another one and handed the 1st one to a family member after 2 weeks used. However, because that person used the iphone and the galaxy watch 4 cannot be used with iphone, I contacted T-Mobile to setup that Samsung standalone line on her apple watch and agreed to pay an additional $5/month (because they said the plan for apple watch is different and more expensive). We kept the 1st Samsung watch as a Bluetooth only to play around.
The 2nd one came and I can never be able to activate the mobile plan. The screen keep getting stucked at the stage "Connecting to your service provider" (see picture below). Yesterday I spent 10 hours with T-Mobile from text to call, was being sent from departments to departments and back to the square one. 2 different Tech Supports, 2 customer supports, and 1 supervisor told me that T-Mobile does not offer standalone, independently plan for Galaxy Watch 4??? I asked them then why even right now in T-Mobile website, it still shows 2 plans for you to select (see attached picture as well)? They straightforwardly told me that the standalone only works on older generation of Samsung watch??? Then I asked them why I was able to use the 1st watch (now showed the apple watch in my account) as a standalone before? They told me it's a mystery that the 1st watch worked because T-Mobile never offer a standalone for it and it will never work as a standalone. I told them to check the usages on the date range before I changed to apple watch and they told me just focus on the 2nd ones??? Unbelievable! What kind of business is that? 10 straight hours wasted for nothing with total 5 different agents and 2 supervisors. 2 of them even told me to use it as a Bluetooth version or change to Digit plan. Standalone was the only reason why I bought the watch, and they told me to use it as Bluetooth or force me to change to Digit plan?

Seeing that many of users here are having the exact same situation as me, it makes me think that T-Mobile is lying to the consumers. They lured the customers to buy their products butT-Mobile does not provide the service that they promised. I will not stay silent for this kind of business. I have everything in written from before I made the purchase to asking for support. I also recorded the conversation with the customer service and Tech support agents. I will fight for my customer rights. 

Just in case this helps anyone else…. I bought my GW4 LTE watch at Best Buy and took it to the T-Mobile store to get activated.  Many hours and trips later I got success.

1 - If your having problems, call 611 and get the help of the Digits tech team.

2 - The line has to be set up with the Data with Paired Digits TE plan.  Your watch technically has a separate number, but the Paired Digits feature makes it so the watch can share the same number as your phone, even when your phone is turned off or far away from you. 

3 - Even after the Digits tech team guy set up the correct plan.  The watch wasn't sensing a mobile plan.  It was showing a 3001 error code which the tech guy said was a Samsung error code that meant the watch was broken (to him) and should be returned to Best Buy.  

4 - An hour later, just before I go to the store, I checked the Wearables app > Watch Settings > Mobile Plan one last time.  An actual T-Mobile plan showed up (T-Mobile-866F).   The watch seemed like it sorta worked but not really.  I went into Airplane mode for some reason.  I rebooted the phone and watch.  It still wasn't correct, but there was definitely the plan being recognized by the watch!   So, I think there is some time involved for the watch to pick up the plan from step 3 above.

5 - On a whim, I went back into the web browser and looked up my T-Mobile account.  I noticed that the Phone was NOT "digits" paired with the Watch line.  You will see an indication in the T-Mobile account, next to your Watch line #.  I was able to set this in my account, it takes you to a Digits pairing screen.

6 - Success, the watch started to work correctly (can't remember if I needed to reboot or not).

7 - You know it's working correctly by pulling down the top menu and you should see a "LTE" icon in between the bluetooth and wifi icons.  (You need to turn off the phone (or at least BT and Wifi), because the watch will only switch to LTE mode, if it doesn't sense being connected to the phone - this is assuming the Settings > Connections > Mobile Networks setting on the watch is set to Auto).\

8 - Another couple notes.  I read on the thread above that many others had setup problems.  One person commented that the "companion" feature needed to be turned off on the line.  The Digits tech guy said that he didn't recognize that as a Tmobile term - not sure if accurate or not.  Another person said that they needed to select the proper device type in their T-mobile account (e.g., the Watch image should show up for that line).  For me, this happened automatically, I didn't need to changes this.

Hi everyone. I am having the same problem.  I told the CSR the information I got here.  They set the account to standalone.  I rebooted the watch and still doesn't work.  Did you guys have to reinstall the wearable apps and do the setup again?  Were you able to go to the watch setting, manage mobile plan and open it up?  The watch is not able to call, or text but only can do emergency call.  I just need to know if there is anything else need to be done after they set the account to standalone because it is not working for me. and i have been bounce from tmobile, to samsung to tmobile again.

the watch is not activated to the phone number that i signed up for.

Gracias.

Elflo wrote:

@Jarods350z y @N2wood what do you mean "companion" feature? I have another digits line that I want to keep, but I think I have to remove it or convert it to a voice line. Any tips? 

Sorry I was offline for a while the companion mode is a feature through them you have to have the phone operator turn it off.  now with that being said without a phone you are limited because you need a phone to change the watch faces. so what I did was find an old android phone and used it for connection first then just put it in a drawer once the setup was complete. 

still a few bugs to work out (like tracking the watch on google maps) but I am pretty happy with the results so far. I can get ahold of my 10 year old without her having access to a smartphone