T Mobile Use

[rellim]

Does anyone know if you can purchase the Urbane Lte from AT&T off contract and without their sim and then add it as a wearable device with a T Mobile sim? I have the 3G Samsung S2 but would love to purchase and compare it to the Urbane before the 14 day return period expires. My only other option appears to be to wait for Amazon to notify me when the unlocked Urbane is available for $399.

 

[foxbat121]

You have two hurdles to overcome:
1. ATT devices are always locked to ATT. You have to get it unlocked first.
2. Tmo uses Imei number lookup to only allow wearable plan to work on devices released by TMo. If you use it with a device that is not recognized tmo watch, your wearable plan will be canceled and you will be charged full price.

 

[rellim]

Thanks for quick reply. I guess I'll wait for TMO to release it. Have you heard anything about that? I seem to recall that it took forever for the Gear S to be nonexclusive to AT&T.

 

[foxbat121]

Nope. I have no stake in T-mo. Original Gear S was released almost simultaneously on AT&T, Verizon, Sprint and T-Mobile (within a week or so). Right now, only Verizon version is confirmed to come.

 

[FitzAusTex]

You have two hurdles to overcome:
1. ATT devices are always locked to ATT. You have to get it unlocked first.
2. Tmo uses Imei number lookup to only allow wearable plan to work on devices released by TMo. If you use it with a device that is not recognized tmo watch, your wearable plan will be canceled and you will be charged full price.

I'm potentially in think situation. Don't expect at&t to wish to unlock, but don't they have to if you bought at full retail?

And do you mean that tmo will won't allow the $5 add-on plan unless you get the wearable through them?

 

[foxbat121]

I'm potentially in think situation. Don't expect at&t to wish to unlock, but don't they have to if you bought at full retail?

Nope. If you are not an AT&T customer, they have no obligation what so ever.

And do you mean that tmo will won't allow the $5 add-on plan unless you get the wearable through them?

Correct. Initially, a year ago, when Gear S first released, T-mo allows any watch to be put on wearable plan. But I guess a lot of ppl abused it. Using a cell phone, instead of watch on the same line. So later on, T-Mo changed the policy. If it is not a T-mo branded watch (which currently only applies to Gear S, Gear S2 3G and this one), it can't be used on wearable plan. They have automatic system in place to verify the watch's IMEI number.

 

[xendula]

Are you sure about that? I use an ATT Gear S on T-mo with a wearables sim in it. Granted, I got it last November, but if they checked for T-mo only IMEI they would have blocked my card at some point, I imagine.

 

[xendula]

I'm potentially in think situation. Don't expect at&t to wish to unlock, but don't they have to if you bought at full retail?

Sadly, they don't have to in the US :S The fact that they sell locked devices full price here is crazy.

However, ATT will unlock their devices if you have ever been a customer and can give them the phone number you had with them, or if you know someone who is a customer who can request the unlock for you. I originally bought my Gear S from T-mobile, but they refused to unlock it even though I was their customer. I returned the T-mo version and bought the ATT version, and ATT kindly unlocked it for me.

Warning: things may have changed since last November when I went through all this, so double-check.

 

[foxbat121]

Are you sure about that? I use an ATT Gear S on T-mo with a wearables sim in it. Granted, I got it last November, but if they checked for T-mo only IMEI they would have blocked my card at some point, I imagine.

Yep. There are a lot of talks about this particular issue on Gear S forums.

 

[FitzAusTex]

Next question is does anyone yet know which lte/3g bands are in the tmo and which are in the at&t? Same exact? Not? If we don't yet know, does the Gear S have the same bands for both companies, or was a unique model produced for each company?

 

[foxbat121]

Gear S has the same bands for both, 850/1900 but it does not support LTE. AT&T version of lg watch has similar 850/1900 for 2G/3G/LTE with additional 2100 band for 3G. TMobile and Sprint run LTE on different frequencies. That's probably you don't see anything for those carriers yet as it is difficult to add more band support in these watches.

 

[xendula]

Great news: sounds like the ATT version comes unlocked and works on T-mo (potentially with less LTE support?)! See cpiddy's post in this thread.

 

[Jaycemiskel]

See, I thought you might would be able to do this. That's great. I had planned on popping a prepaid sim in, but I ended up getting the Verizon version

 

[xendula]

See, I thought you might would be able to do this. That's great. I had planned on popping a prepaid sim in, but I ended up getting the Verizon version

Why did you get the more expensive version? Are you a Verizon customer?

 

[daddyd302]

Great news: sounds like the ATT version comes unlocked and works on T-mo (potentially with less LTE support?)! See cpiddy's post in this thread.

I can confirm that it works on T-mobile as well. I took the sim out of my Gear S and put it in and made a few calls.

If anyone is wondering, the Gear S cannot make calls on it's number if it's connected to my S6 Edge. If I call from it it'll use my S6 number. It will only use it's own number if it's not connected to my S6.

The Urbane LTE can make calls on it's own if you choose to make the call from it and not from your phone. It will show up on the caller id as itself. I also was able to call the watch and the S6 didn't ring even though it was connected to the S6. This was a major annoyance with the Gear S for me.

 

[foxbat121]

Gear S can make calls from its own number if you set cellular settings to Always On instead of Auto. I wish the Auto on LG watch (it only has two settings, Auto and off) behave the same as Gear S, e.g. disable the cellular radio when connection via BT, to save more battery power. I never gave my watch numbers to anyone. So there is very little need for me to call from the watch number when it is connected to the phone.

 

[rellim]

Thanks...I am curious, did you purchase the LG from AT&T without a contract or an account with them? If so, what was the price? I'm on TMo and want to get the LG and use it on my TMo account. Thanks!

 

[foxbat121]

$299 is the price for everyone if they are willing to sell to you.

 

[rellim]

Thanks, I'll call them and find out if they are willing to sell it without att account.

 

[Jaycemiskel]

Why did you get the more expensive version? Are you a Verizon customer?

Yeah, I'm a Verizon customer. I figured it they might employ some special stuff in order for me to use the same number as my phone so I just bit the bullet. I had unlimited data though so to avoid having to pay a lot more a month, I added it to my brother's plan for only 5 a month. Works out to be cheaper than going prepaid so I'll make up some of the difference in price as time passes