[tonysracing]

I was lucky enough to have a SIM and installed it in the watch. I went to the Verizon bring your own device setup page, and it will not recognize the IMEI as valid.

https://forums.androidcentral.com/e?...token=hBSgAtX6

Did the chat with a rep and was told if it's able to be activated it will let you, otherwise it will not. I see the watch is still on Preorder status, i'm guessing it won't get added until it's officially launched?

Any way around this? Seems silly to have a watch and a SIM and have to wait.

[Ytaay]

I don't have a SIM but I have the same issue: Verizon cannot find the IMEI (device ID) in their database. They are going to get some heavy tech dudes involved I guess and contact me tomorrow. Sounds like Big Red is NOT prepared for this. I went to a Vzw store, too, and they were clueless - said the only thing I could do is return the watch I bought at the Google Store and buy one from them - HA! I don't think so!

...to be continued.

[hagar852]

I don't have a SIM but I have the same issue: Verizon cannot find the IMEI (device ID) in their database. They are going to get some heavy tech dudes involved I guess and contact me tomorrow. Sounds like Big Red is NOT prepared for this. I went to a Vzw store, too, and they were clueless - said the only thing I could do is return the watch I bought at the Google Store and buy one from them - HA! I don't think so!

...to be continued.

I heard the same exact thing... But guess what I had mine activated tonight and I had bought it from AT&T.. They basically added it to their system as if it was a LG Urbane 2nd Edition using my IMEI and grabbing some other iccid I believe it was. Took a while for watch to provision and you have to use Verizon message+ to text. Also have to run through the "Call Setup" to get voice calling activated.

I had multiple battles.. I kept getting the device isn't compatible, my video proves it is. And I will post that in my next video updating that situation

Once again I bought mine from AT&T and activated it on Verizon.

[1valence29]

How can i get verizon to activate mine exactly? I bought mine from att yesterday and the store was clueless, and the byod site rejected my ID

[BeaverPuncher]

I went though this the first 48hrs I owned the sport. The problem is the imei numbers are not in the database yet. They probably won't be in till close to the March 16th sales date for Verizon. Welcome to pre order hell at a carrier.

The good thing is the blue sport does recognize a VZ 4g sim but the network state is disconnected. The other thing I found out is that if you look on the card you pop the sim out of, the letter after NFC - should be a "S" not an "A". They do not have this variant in stores yet.

[hagar852]

How can i get verizon to activate mine exactly? I bought mine from att yesterday and the store was clueless, and the byod site rejected my ID

Yes the BOYD will reject.. I first went into a store and they flat out said they can't do anything, and told me to return it and just buy it from them. (Yeah sure $30 more than the other two retailers at MSRP) I then called customer service and still go the the device is not compatible, but I demanded for them to give me the information that indicates that. I eventually got a manager who then said, "Yes I do see the device is compatible" and he then began to explain that if he uses an available ID on their system and just map the IMEI to that ID it should then connect. So instead of having them send me a SIM and waiting over the weekend I went to the store which he also said was an option. He did also mention it would be a smartphone SIM but would make sure I would only charged at a device rate. They updated my account with the notes and off to the store I went.

So at the store(Take 2) still a little resistance as now the story was that the store person couldn't do what the rep on the phone suggested. So they ended up doing what I mentioned previously above.

I just kept on them, and basically said that the information you have saying that the device isn't compatible on the network is NOT CORRECT, IT IS WRONG!! I just kept at it and after roughly 3-4hours of dealing with this is was finally activated, and now I can finish my Battery life review video.

[1valence29]

so why exactly does it have to be on verizon? can't you use verizon messages and have it sync texts and call even on att networks?

att wants 40 a month for the watch off plan with no other devices and that's just for service!

[hagar852]

so why exactly does it have to be on verizon? can't you use verizon messages and have it sync texts and call even on att networks?

att wants 40 a month for the watch off plan with no other devices and that's just for service!

I am already a Verizon customer and it is $5/month to use it on my existing plan.

[afblangley]

att wants 40 a month for the watch off plan with no other devices and that's just for service!

Coinciding with the release of the Sport, Verizon introduced a single line wearable plan for as little as $10/mo. This piece even undercuts T-Mobile's wearable plan. AT&T only offers wearable as an add on to a existing line or will put the watch on a regular smartphone plan. They need to get with the program...

[Ytaay]

I heard the same exact thing... But guess what I had mine activated tonight and I had bought it from AT&T.. They basically added it to their system as if it was a LG Urbane 2nd Edition using my IMEI and grabbing some other iccid I believe it was. Took a while for watch to provision and you have to use Verizon message+ to text. Also have to run through the "Call Setup" to get voice calling activated.

Success!

I never got a call back from Verizon, so based on what hagar did, I decided to just try another Vzw store, and it worked. I was fortunate enough to get a general manager w/ 14 yrs experience helping me, and she had a really great attitude. I told her the trouble I had and how somebody online was successful by mapping an existing ID to the device ID, and she was eventually able to do that - took a bit of time. One thing that confused her was that the IMEI # was a GSM#, not Vzw. Anyway, once it got activated and provisioned - which was very quick for me - it showed up on the system as a "non-Vzw" device but for $20/month, not the $5 it's supposed to be. But she was determined and, as she put it, "did something she's not supposed to do", and got it to finally register as $5/month. She was awesome. She said she would get audited - they have a LOT of mechanisms in place due to rampant fraud - but she said it wasn't the first time and she didn't care.

She said once the LG Sports are in store and for sale on 3/16, come back and she'll swap in a "good" SIM card that will be fully legit. Otherwise, she said the next time I make a change I was going to have problems because it's showing as a "non-Vzw" device.

I could have just waited until 3/16, but I wanted to do a full evaluation, fully functioning with LTE, within my 15 day return window with Google, so I didn't give up. The most important factor, though: I was fortunate to find a really knowledgeable person with a great attitude that just wanted to solve my problem.

P.S. One thing I did not realize: the watch has it's own phone number (I knew that part), but if somebody calls my phone, and it's off or not with me, it will still connect to my watch, which is how it should work. I had previously thought I would have to do some call fwd'ing every time I wanted to go on a run and leave the phone home - this was according to a Vzw employee who did not know what they were talking about.

[tonysracing]

Congrats!! I really need a solution that doesn't leave me spending an hour arguing in a VZW store...

[skinnytoo201]

I got mine today from AT&T also. I called CS and was persistent with the rep. It seemed as though she got it working with an extra sim I had lying around, but under settings them connectivity then cellular it showed my old tablet number which was correct, but the service was suspended. I couldn't text (just using Google messenger, couldn't download messages+) and when I called the watch number it was a fast busy. So I called CS back and the guy messed it all up. He deactivated then said he couldn't activate again. Argh!!!

So I'm gonna head into a store tomorrow and try my luck there.

BTW, how do we get messages+ on the watch ?

[MAK-VA]

I just spoke to VZW Technical Support, and fortunately reached someone that knew something about activating the device on VZW. My call started with Tele-Sales, and I was lucky that the young lady that took my call was willing to explore watch activation further, instead of stopping at the "the device is incompatible with Verizon Wireless" line in her script.

Technical Support took the IMEI number and manually added it to the "Device Management Database." They also took the SIM card number, but I'm not certain whether that had any bearing on this portion of the transaction (although, apparently, knowing that it was Dark Blue was required). Adding it to the DMD was the process for (as I was told) "adding a certified and compatible device that wasn't purchased at Verizon to the device database." This particular tech had already done this two days ago for another customer (with a Galaxy Gear S2), and so was familiar with the necessities. He said he would get a reply from the database people in about 90 minutes that the 'add' was successful, and he would call me back.

Once he returned my call, he transferred me back to a live human at Tele-Sales, so that I could add a line under the $5/month promotion. I asked whether, once it had been added to the DMD, could I add the line using the web site, and he said that I need to talk to a human.

So, after talking to the human (I think, or their AI is really good), I have a new number assigned to the LG Watch Sport and it has become fully functional on Big Red.

The technical support guy said the 'magic words' to use when speaking to VZW Tech Support are "manually add it to the Device Management Database," after which any VZW tech should know what to do. Tele-Sales is also authorized to do this, but most of them don't know how.

As always, YMMV. And CCBS, along with all the other disclaimers.

[skinnytoo201]

I just spoke to VZW Technical Support, and fortunately reached someone that knew something about activating the device on VZW. My call started with Tele-Sales, and I was lucky that the young lady that took my call was willing to explore watch activation further, instead of stopping at the "the device is incompatible with Verizon Wireless" line in her script.

Technical Support took the IMEI number and manually added it to the "Device Management Database." They also took the SIM card number, but I'm not certain whether that had any bearing on this portion of the transaction (although, apparently, knowing that it was Dark Blue was required). Adding it to the DMD was the process for (as I was told) "adding a certified and compatible device that wasn't purchased at Verizon to the device database." This particular tech had already done this two days ago for another customer (with a Galaxy Gear S2), and so was familiar with the necessities. He said he would get a reply from the database people in about 90 minutes that the 'add' was successful, and he would call me back.

Once he returned my call, he transferred me back to a live human at Tele-Sales, so that I could add a line under the $5/month promotion. I asked whether, once it had been added to the DMD, could I add the line using the web site, and he said that I need to talk to a human.

So, after talking to the human (I think, or their AI is really good), I have a new number assigned to the LG Watch Sport and it has become fully functional on Big Red.

The technical support guy said the 'magic words' to use when speaking to VZW Tech Support are "manually add it to the Device Management Database," after which any VZW tech should know what to do. Tele-Sales is also authorized to do this, but most of them don't know how.

As always, YMMMV. And CCBS, along with all the other disclaimers.

I had a CSR who finally was able to add it on my account t as a non vzw device, but he said I need a standalone tablet plan. So he added the cheapest one which is $50 for 5GB. Seemed a lite fishy to me so I called back a couple days later. First call I got a nice CSR and asked about adding it to the device database. She said sure and submitted a ticket. It was added the next day. Now I have the $5/mo wearable on my shared plan. So happy!!! Thanks MAK

[Kangpaul]

I just spoke to VZW Technical Support, and fortunately reached someone that knew something about activating the device on VZW. My call started with Tele-Sales, and I was lucky that the young lady that took my call was willing to explore watch activation further, instead of stopping at the "the device is incompatible with Verizon Wireless" line in her script.

Technical Support took the IMEI number and manually added it to the "Device Management Database." They also took the SIM card number, but I'm not certain whether that had any bearing on this portion of the transaction (although, apparently, knowing that it was Dark Blue was required). Adding it to the DMD was the process for (as I was told) "adding a certified and compatible device that wasn't purchased at Verizon to the device database." This particular tech had already done this two days ago for another customer (with a Galaxy Gear S2), and so was familiar with the necessities. He said he would get a reply from the database people in about 90 minutes that the 'add' was successful, and he would call me back.

Once he returned my call, he transferred me back to a live human at Tele-Sales, so that I could add a line under the $5/month promotion. I asked whether, once it had been added to the DMD, could I add the line using the web site, and he said that I need to talk to a human.

So, after talking to the human (I think, or their AI is really good), I have a new number assigned to the LG Watch Sport and it has become fully functional on Big Red.

The technical support guy said the 'magic words' to use when speaking to VZW Tech Support are "manually add it to the Device Management Database," after which any VZW tech should know what to do. Tele-Sales is also authorized to do this, but most of them don't know how.

As always, YMMV. And CCBS, along with all the other disclaimers.

Watch gets data and shows that it's connected to Verizon Wireless network, LTE with signal bars. The phone and text using the watch's specific telephone number assigned to the SIM card does not work. I've talked to several techs over the course of a month and I've been through a couple of SIM cards.

The LGW280 (specifically the one I purchased from the Google store) has only one compatible band with Verizon Wirelses. VZW LTE band frequencies are 700/1700/2100. The LG Watch Sport supported frequencies are 850/1700/1900. We're only using one band basically which at this point what I've determined is, A) limiting data thoroughput (explains why it's kind of slow for me inside a building anyway), and B) phone and text aren't compatible even with VOLTE because the 1700 frequencies might not carry that functionality?.

That's the way the tech explained it to me although initially he said I wouldn't even be able to connect to VZW when clearly I was getting data directly (phone on airplane mode and watch wifi turned off).

I requested to "add to the device management database" and although it was still pending, he said it wouldn't work. Again the tech didn't seem very knowledgeable to begin with (I'm almost certain he was just Googling things because he suggested I install VZW's messaging to get it to work, which is also what I've found on multiple threads).

I simply want my watch to be able to make calls/text independently from connection to my phone... I guess I'm asking too much.