After waiting a few weeks on the waitlist on the Google Store and missing out on the small windows of stock at Best Buy, I was lucky to snag one at an AT&T store in NYC. Many of their stores actually have them in stock, but initially, all the stores I tried in NJ near where I live wouldn't sell me one without signing up to AT&T and activating a line, even if I was looking to buy it outright, full price. The NJ stores went as far as telling me that their system wouldn't even allow ringing it up without an activation... that turns out to be a little bit of an "untruth," proven by own "untruth" as well...
When I went to an AT&T store in midtown during my lunch break, I had a plan: As a tech support guy at a firm in the city, I just told the sales rep that a partner of my firm sent me out to get one for him at lunch. (They actually do that to us every now and then: buy, then reimburse, or with their card or a company credit card.) Granted, I brought an unused AT&T line on a SIM card from work, and I'm an authorized user on our firm account, since I do set up iPhones and iPads for the staff, just in case they ask or if I had to temporarily change the line to a wearable. I was ready to legitimately activate it on the firm line if it came down to it, then just change it back when needed.
HOWEVER, maybe I'm just convincing or maybe they've had that scenario happen before, but simply telling the AT&T sales rep that I needed one for a partner was enough to get them to just sell it to me outright, full price. No activation, no contract, not even breaking the shrink-wrap. They didn't even ask for the number of the line or the account. The sales manager and rep did mull it over a few seconds, but then said to just sell it to me. They did ask if I wanted to change the line I had on me to a wearable, but I told them I was going to do it all back at the help desk 'when I was going to set it up for the partner.' They simply replied, "OK, no problem."
So, if anyone is still on the prowl for an LG Watch Sport and can't find it anywhere, maybe a similar scenario as the one I mentioned may work. Note that I went to an actual AT&T store, not one of those stupid "authorized resellers." They were willing to do it, also, but they were selling it at a $100 premium at $449, simply because they know it's a hot item. Jerks.
Lastly, it should be known that there are actually two different models of the LG Watch Sport. LG-W280A is the AT&T version, and LG-W280V is the Verizon version. It's not known whether or not there's any difference in LTE bands or if it's carrier-locked, and since I was going to use it specifically on T-Mobile, I thought that my best chances of it working out of the box was from an AT&T or Best Buy store. The T-Mobile SIM cards I have, both a smartphone line and a DIGITS duplicate SIM line, each worked perfectly on the AT&T model. It's therefore not domestically carrier-locked, and probably not internationally carrier-locked as well. Can't vouch for the Verizon version, though.
Hope all this helps.
When I went to an AT&T store in midtown during my lunch break, I had a plan: As a tech support guy at a firm in the city, I just told the sales rep that a partner of my firm sent me out to get one for him at lunch. (They actually do that to us every now and then: buy, then reimburse, or with their card or a company credit card.) Granted, I brought an unused AT&T line on a SIM card from work, and I'm an authorized user on our firm account, since I do set up iPhones and iPads for the staff, just in case they ask or if I had to temporarily change the line to a wearable. I was ready to legitimately activate it on the firm line if it came down to it, then just change it back when needed.
HOWEVER, maybe I'm just convincing or maybe they've had that scenario happen before, but simply telling the AT&T sales rep that I needed one for a partner was enough to get them to just sell it to me outright, full price. No activation, no contract, not even breaking the shrink-wrap. They didn't even ask for the number of the line or the account. The sales manager and rep did mull it over a few seconds, but then said to just sell it to me. They did ask if I wanted to change the line I had on me to a wearable, but I told them I was going to do it all back at the help desk 'when I was going to set it up for the partner.' They simply replied, "OK, no problem."
So, if anyone is still on the prowl for an LG Watch Sport and can't find it anywhere, maybe a similar scenario as the one I mentioned may work. Note that I went to an actual AT&T store, not one of those stupid "authorized resellers." They were willing to do it, also, but they were selling it at a $100 premium at $449, simply because they know it's a hot item. Jerks.
Lastly, it should be known that there are actually two different models of the LG Watch Sport. LG-W280A is the AT&T version, and LG-W280V is the Verizon version. It's not known whether or not there's any difference in LTE bands or if it's carrier-locked, and since I was going to use it specifically on T-Mobile, I thought that my best chances of it working out of the box was from an AT&T or Best Buy store. The T-Mobile SIM cards I have, both a smartphone line and a DIGITS duplicate SIM line, each worked perfectly on the AT&T model. It's therefore not domestically carrier-locked, and probably not internationally carrier-locked as well. Can't vouch for the Verizon version, though.
Hope all this helps.
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