{"id":401756,"date":"2025-11-24T17:28:14","date_gmt":"2025-11-24T17:28:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/401756\/"},"modified":"2025-11-24T17:28:14","modified_gmt":"2025-11-24T17:28:14","slug":"setting-up-an-lte-smartwatch-was-more-trouble-than-i-thought","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/401756\/","title":{"rendered":"Setting up an LTE smartwatch was more trouble than I thought"},"content":{"rendered":"

I\u2019ve tried wearing a smartwatch on and off over the years, but only recently have I tried my first LTE model. Unfortunately, actually getting my watch connected to LTE service was a bigger pain than I expected.<\/p>\n

I prefer to bring my own device<\/p>\n

If you purchase both your smartphone and your smartwatch directly from your carrier, then you can ignore everything that I\u2019m about to say. Everything will just work for you. If you\u2019re shopping in-person, things will likely be setup and verified before you even leave the store.<\/p>\n

Unlike most Americans, I don\u2019t buy my phone from my carrier. I don\u2019t purchase postpaid carrier plans at all. Prepaid plans are substantially cheaper<\/a>\u2014so much so that the money saved is enough to buy a new phone every year (even a foldable one<\/a>). I purchase unlocked phones, and then I sign up for prepaid service. Thanks to eSIMs<\/a>, I can have my phone activated and ready to go in a matter of minutes. No waiting for a physical SIM to arrive in the mail.<\/p>\n

Naturally, when the time came to buy a smartwatch, I wanted to purchase an unlocked model and use it with a prepaid plan, just like I do with my phone. When I was recently shopping on Samsung’s website and the company offered a bunch of promotional credit that could go towards a smartwatch, I decided to take a chance on an LTE Galaxy Watch 8.<\/p>\n

\"samsung<\/p>\n

\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\tBrand<\/strong> \t\t\t\t\t<\/dt>\n
\n

Samsung<\/p>\n<\/dd>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\tOperating System<\/strong> \t\t\t\t\t<\/dt>\n
\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tWear OS<\/p>\n<\/dd>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\tCPU<\/strong> \t\t\t\t\t<\/dt>\n
\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tExynos W1000 (5 Core , 3nm)<\/p>\n<\/dd>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\tRAM<\/strong> \t\t\t\t\t<\/dt>\n
\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t2GB<\/p>\n<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n

Now thinner and more comfortable, the Galaxy Watch 8 adds new health-tracking features like sleep apnea detection and antioxidant readings.<\/p>\n

There aren’t many prepaid smartwatch plans<\/p>\n

\"A
\n Credit:\u00a0Bertel King \/ How-To Geek<\/p>\n

While there are only three nationwide carriers in the US, there are dozens of prepaid options out there. Each carrier directly owns and operates multiple prepaid options, such as how T-Mobile offers both T-Mobile Prepaid and Mint Mobile. For Verizon, there\u2019s Verizon Prepaid and Visible. AT&T has AT&T Prepaid and Cricket. Then there are the MVNOs<\/a> that aren\u2019t directly owned by a carrier but instead pay to lease cellular spectrum instead. Affordable options like Red Pocket, Tello, and Ting fall into this category.<\/p>\n

Across all of these options, most don\u2019t offer smartwatch service of any kind. Among those that do, some are limited to the Apple Watch. Those that do support Android smartwatches have, surprisingly, been slightly more likely to support the Pixel Watch than a Galaxy Watch.<\/p>\n

Currently, these are the six options I know are available to me as a Galaxy Watch 8 LTE owner:<\/p>\n