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Tmo Gtab 7.0+ WANT to keep but MUST return due to inadvertent calls to dead number

Greetings fellow G-tabbers,
I appreciate everyone's input here and am hoping to be a long-term member of this community.
I would love to keep this tablet but am thinking it's going to have to be returned before my 14 day window with T-Mobile is up.
My questions: Is it possible to set up some kind of workaround to be able to receive CONDITIONALLY FORWARDED calls via the G-Tab/T-Mobile phone number to my other T-Mobile phone (basically, set up conditional call forwarding)? According to T-Mobile they can't because the tablet plan has a code in the system blocking calls.
Or if that's not possible, is there some other way, perhaps spoofing my own cell phone number as my outbound text number instead of using the assigned tablet phone number?
I realize that there are 3rd party apps out there but I'd much rather use the native text messaging application and not a 3rd party app such as Google Voice, Line 2, etc.
Here's the background:
I am a headhunter for a Federal DoD contractor and as such, I review resumes on various job boards (i.e. Monster.com, etc). As a way to connecting with candidates (I know who they are but they do not know me yet), I send them a text message, email and then voicemail. When setting up my Data Plan, I learned T-Mobile scripted within the system "call block" or "voice barred" feature, Tier 3 tech support at Tmo is unable to set up conditional call forwarding.
As a result of this, should a candidate decide to call my text number they'll get a dead number message saying something to the effect that this phone line cannot take incoming calls.
So what happens is that the candidate things I am unreachable or worse yet that the text message was spam (unless they fully read their text and check their email account).
Thanks so much in advance for your help and consideration.

Im assuming you have a GT-P6200 since tmobiles GTab+ doesnt have phone abilities.
Tell them you dont want/need a tablet plan becuase YOU DONT HAVE A TABLET!
tell them it IS a smartphone, have them try to put you on a smartphone plan, thats
how most of ATT guys sneak by.
at least try to find a smartphone SIM with data/voice to see if it works without issues. It should.
last resort: "bribe" a young tmobile rep to spoof an IMEI to put you on smartphone plan.

Thanks Chris! I'll try that! I am using 2 other phones (work + personal), I wonder if I set up call forwarding prior to swapping SIM cards if it'll work.
Your thoughts?

Yes i think the call forwarding should stickt

chrisrotolo said:
Yes i think the call forwarding should stickt
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Great!
I just realized that my mini Sims won't work. Have to buy an adaptor to try/test out.
Quick question... Only because I am new to Tmo and sim cards (just fired Sprint) . What is involved with spoofing an IMEI?
Thank you again for your help!
P.S. how do you use your tab? Do you have it rooted?
V/r.

I think other people here use smartphone sims with unlimited data on tmobile. Its do-able. Next time, a good rule is to always avoid telling your carrier how you will use your device because you know they think they know what is best.
Anyways spoofing an IMEI, means.. they need a smartphone IMEI in their "system", so a friendly helpful tmobile rep who doesnt care much about getting in trouble or knows his way around takes an IMEI from a never used phone like a demo model, you run an application that reports your IMEI the demo, etc. Its actually probably more involved than this. And Ive heard it may well be illegal, Class C felony. What you might want to ask them is if there is a way to just enter your device as a smartphone and not a tablet, but it is probably generated by IMEI.
PROTIP: if you do have 6200, it's good idea to make 2 backups of your /efs folder (if rooted).

MrJinx said:
Greetings fellow G-tabbers,
I realize that there are 3rd party apps out there but I'd much rather use the native text messaging application and not a 3rd party app such as Google Voice, Line 2, etc.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Google Voice is not a 3rd party app, it will completely and natively integrate with your Android stock dialer. If you were on an iOS device it would be terribly clumsy, but not on Android.

iso1600 said:
Google Voice is not a 3rd party app, it will completely and natively integrate with your Android stock dialer. If you were on an iOS device it would be terribly clumsy, but not on Android.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There is no stock android dialer in Honeycomb as it was meant only for tablets and not phones. I thought I saw a thread somewhere in here of people using Google Voice with a third party app to make calls. I think you could also use the Goolge Voice number for texting as there were threads on how to do this in my phones forum when Google Voice first came out. I think Skype will also assign you a static phone number to use if you pay for the service. I would also search the other tabs forums to see if anyone in those has a mod for it to work as a phone off a sim card from a carrier. Personally I would trade it in for the Galaxy Note if I wanted to use it as a phone and tablet.

or check out GrooveIP in play store one of the more popular VOIP/SIP applications, has option for 3G, cant guarantee quality will be the same as regular voice, but Im sure its one of the top 3 out there.

After doing some Googleing and reading up on some GTab 10.1 threads it appears that Honeycomb 3.2 on a GSM tablet should be able to make calls if the carrier supports it. Which TMO doesn't. You could try getting a pre-paid sim card and dropping it in to see if it will work, maybe something like Virgin Mobile. There maybe something in the OS from TMO that may block other sims so not sure how that would work.
After thinking about it the tablet is more than likely locked to TMo and it has to be moded to use anohter carrier, like boost mobile. For phones its a complicated hack getting it on another network. I still think your better off getting the Galaxy Note but then you would have to pay for a second phone line and data plan to use both the tablet and your phone at the same time and then conditionally forward your calls as you suggested.

Hi,
I'm not interested in using my tab to make calls; only to send texts via the native in-built messaging app. I don't want to use other Android apps, just the stock messaging. I am able to do this to great success on Sprint. Sprint is able to go into the backend system and apply conditional call forwarding. Not the case with Tmo.
My main purpose is to NOT miss calls from people who may decide to call via reply to text as that's what appears as my callback number when it's not.
Thanks so much to everyone for your input.

MrJinx said:
Hi,
I'm not interested in using my tab to make calls; only to send texts via the native in-built messaging app. I don't want to use other Android apps, just the stock messaging. I am able to do this to great success on Sprint. Sprint is able to go into the backend system and apply conditional call forwarding. Not the case with Tmo.
My main purpose is to NOT miss calls from people who may decide to call via reply to text as that's what appears as my callback number when it's not.
Thanks so much to everyone for your input.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
.
Sorry to say, but TMO won't support this. They have silly notion that you should buy a separate phone from them if you want to make calls.

still not sure what device you have. this may be worth a shot, although I understand tmobile says its not possible, etc.
http://wiki.howardforums.com/index.php/T-Mobile_Conditional_Call_Forwarding
what is wrong with other messaging apps?, there are usually many on the market which have many more options than stock. just asking.

Fairy Princess said:
.
Sorry to say, but TMO won't support this. They have silly notion that you should buy a separate phone from them if you want to make calls.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi,
Don't want/need to make calls. I only need for texting, however, if one of my candidate prospects (I am unknown to them at this point) attempts to call me via the link on their phone because of my text from the tablet, it'll ring to a dead number, the tablet number.
I ONLY want the calls to be conditionally call forwarded to my other Tmo cell phone which already has unlimited phone minutes.

chrisrotolo said:
still not sure what device you have. this may be worth a shot, although I understand tmobile says its not possible, etc.
http://wiki.howardforums.com/index.php/T-Mobile_Conditional_Call_Forwarding
what is wrong with other messaging apps?, there are usually many on the market which have many more options than stock. just asking.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi Chris,
The reason I don't want to use other apps is if/when we move to ICS some of those apps may not be compatible for some time until they upgrade. I was burned using a VOIP app (Line 2) which worked very well and suited my needs on my older Gingerbread Tab (HTC EVO View) and when I upgraded to HoneyComb I learned that Line2 won't and never will support HC and I now know that the EVO View tab will not be upgraded to ICS.
I don't want to go there anymore, it severely impacts my ability to get my work done. I'd much rather use the native messaging app. Also because it doesn't use any data to use the native app, if I use an app from the Play Market, I'm likely going to have to use up my data plan and then I am prone to crashing, etc. Unless I am missing something are there any other alternatives?
V/r.

Two options:
(1) Sign up for GoogleVoice and port your number to that. This is very easy and will give you full control over where that phone call routes.
(2) Go get a straighttalk SIM ($15) and service ($45, for unlimited) and tell TMO they've lost your business.
Or, do both.

T-Mobile Wifi Calling Alternatives?

This has been a work in progress over on the N4 forums, with little progress. I have zero cell reception in certain parts of my home with T-Mobile USA. What can I use as an alternative? Without using a different phone number (i.e Google Voice). Does Hangouts send SMS over Wifi or Cellular? What are you guys using?

Have you ever called tmobile about this. They have given people cell boosters for similar problems
Sent from my GT-N5110 using xda app-developers app

I'm having the same issue with T-Mobile. I have full LTE signal all around my city but the second I walk into my apartment I have absolutely no service. It's quite frustrating and I'm trying to find an alternative. I tried calling T-Mobile about it but they said their cell boosters are "only for stand alone homes and won't work in an apartment complex", which seems ridiculous but whatever.
I'd be willing to switch to Google Voice but I haven't been able to confirm whether or not Google Voice makes/receives calls and texts via Wifi, or if I'll need a separate app to make it work. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

The typical method these days is Google Voice (since that's not specifically an SIP/VoIP thing itself) + either GrooveIP or Talkatone (which ARE those things) and you can then do SIP/VoIP calling from the Google Voice number, but as noted in the T-Mobile $30 plan thread multiple times (and other places as well) Google is removing the ability for third party apps to interact with GV at the end of April 2014 so that's when we (people that GV + third-party apps) will be forced to find other solutions to make SIP/VoIP calls).
And the other thing is that T-Mobile Wi-Fi calling setup uses minutes from your service plan - most people don't know this and it's not a big hassle on a 1500 minute or unlimited calling plan, but for those of us with the $30 plan it's basically pointless to use it when other alternatives (such as those I just described, at least for another 5 months or so) exist.
Skype is another option but you could be looking at some money involved based on what/who/where you're calling, and then there's stuff like Vonage if you use that service but that's an expenditure as well.

Google Voice for the Home via ObiTalk
sn0warmy said:
I'm having the same issue with T-Mobile. I have full LTE signal all around my city but the second I walk into my apartment I have absolutely no service. It's quite frustrating and I'm trying to find an alternative. I tried calling T-Mobile about it but they said their cell boosters are "only for stand alone homes and won't work in an apartment complex", which seems ridiculous but whatever.
I'd be willing to switch to Google Voice but I haven't been able to confirm whether or not Google Voice makes/receives calls and texts via Wifi, or if I'll need a separate app to make it work. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just FYI; I told AT&T to go fly a kite about 8 months ago for my home phone and have been using Google Voice on my home line as well as my cell phone for FREE. Yes; that's FREE incoming and outgoing calls.
I am using a small VoIP phone adapter found on Amazon called OBi202 from ObiTalk.com
Costs about $80 bucks and there is even a wifi adapter for $25 if you can't plug it in via Cat5 to your internet connection at home.
Anyway; you configure the phone adapter to use Google Voice and voila! You can connect 2 separate lines. I have mine and my wife's hooked up to cordless phones so I now have free home phone service.
Down side? The caller ID is a numer and not a name. I read about services available for a subscription that will give you the Name on Caller ID but if this is so important to you I guess you are OK with paying $60+ for phone service. (Yea right)
When you get a call it will ring simultaneously on your home phone and your mobile.
Free service; I LIKE THAT. And if you get bad reception at home from your mobile the nice part is that this could solve your issue because you give out your Google Voice number out and the phone will automatically start be ringing on your cordless when you are home.
Hope this helps you!!:good:
---------- Post added at 08:07 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:50 PM ----------
sn0warmy said:
I'm having the same issue with T-Mobile. I have full LTE signal all around my city but the second I walk into my apartment I have absolutely no service. It's quite frustrating and I'm trying to find an alternative. I tried calling T-Mobile about it but they said their cell boosters are "only for stand alone homes and won't work in an apartment complex", which seems ridiculous but whatever.
I'd be willing to switch to Google Voice but I haven't been able to confirm whether or not Google Voice makes/receives calls and texts via Wifi, or if I'll need a separate app to make it work. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh; to answer your question I sent myself and back texts using Google Voice over Wifi only and it worked. I have called with it via Wifi also when traveling.
So it does.

You can use MagicJack. They also have a android app. I heard it pretty good, however to use the android app, you need to register your phone. Once you register your phone, you can't unregister it. This is info I pulled about a year ago. Look into it though.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

Port your number to Google Voice.
Get a VoIP account at a provider that has good latency for your location (I use voip.ms, costs $0.014/min outgoing, ~$0.01/min incoming).
Set up CSIPSimple on your phone (use g729a for good quality on slower connections, PCMU on faster connections; be prepared to fiddle with settings to get it down right)
Make calls using CSIPSimple from your voip.ms account
Set up Google Voice to ring both your voip.ms number when you receive calls, as well as your T-Mobile number (in case you don't have WiFi or data when the call comes through).

Tmobile Digits Beta warning!

I signed up for the Tmobile Digits service which is supposed to work somewhat like AT&T's number sync. Basically it assigns the same phone number as your phone to your watch or more than one device. The theory is that when you use your phone in standalone mode the watch acts like your phone for texts and calls. So I signed up. Big mistake and I should have figured. How would I forward stuff from my phone to my own number on the watch.
So I sign up and first thing is that Tmobile does is change my watch number to something different than the phone so basically my watch is useless in standalone mode because the watch thinks it's another phone number that doesn't exist. I can't even make phone calls from the watch in standalone.
I call support and they forward me to a special group that handles the new digits program. I basically tell them to forget about it and change my number back to the old number and nobody at Tmobile can change my number back. My watch now has a phone number that doesn't exist and tmobile can't fix it. They supposedly sent it to it another group which may take a few days to correct the problem. Not only that, the rep told me that they were having issues with gear watches not working with the service because messaging forwarding doesn't work when the watch has the same number.
So I am basically SOL for a few days until they can change my watch back to the old number.

I am also on Digits. I thought the same thing when the Beta software changed my number on the S3. Actually it is way better than the current call forward setup. Your watch now virtually simulates your main phone number to your phone. When you are connected via BT you get all your calls, data, etc... through the phone. Say you forget or leave your phone, your watch is now on the mobile network (if you set your mobile network settings to auto). So if you get a call or text to your mobile phone it will simultaneously ring/arrive on both your phone and your watch. You don't have to remember to turn on call forwarding. You can no longer call your Gear S3 number, it is tied to the virtual number.
It is still in beta so there are some bugs, but so far I have been able to add my Gear S3, Gear S2, and my primary phone to the Digits Service. All 3 devices ring or receive text at the same time when someone calls/texts me.

Bladder61 said:
I am also on Digits. I thought the same thing when the Beta software changed my number on the S3. Actually it is way better than the current call forward setup. Your watch now virtually simulates your main phone number to your phone. When you are connected via BT you get all your calls, data, etc... through the phone. Say you forget or leave your phone, your watch is now on the mobile network (if you set your mobile network settings to auto). So if you get a call or text to your mobile phone it will simultaneously ring/arrive on both your phone and your watch. You don't have to remember to turn on call forwarding. You can no longer call your Gear S3 number, it is tied to the virtual number.
It is still in beta so there are some bugs, but so far I have been able to add my Gear S3, Gear S2, and my primary phone to the Digits Service. All 3 devices ring or receive text at the same time when someone calls/texts me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
They're correct^^^
I had the exact same freak out and called into the department last week and they were so confused lol. Saw my sim numbers swapped on my account and the inability to dial out and had to explain everything to them, with them offering a potential fix upon more research.
I do agree with the above in terms of a better method of call forwarding when working with a non Samsung smartphone. I'm using an LG V20 and prior to Digits I would have to enable call forwarding if I knew I was planning to be away from my phone, not allowing me to forget my phone and remain connected.
However when using a Samsung smartphone, you have an auto call forwarding option in the Gear Manager app. I had my Note 5/S7E/Note 7 paired up to my Gear S2 Classic 3G and it would auto call forward upon being disconnected via Bluetooth, basically doing what Digits does without the virtual number.
Somehow my ability to dial out self resolved so now I'm digging this setup

Torridred04 said:
They're correct^^^
I had the exact same freak out and called into the department last week and they were so confused lol. Saw my sim numbers swapped on my account and the inability to dial out and had to explain everything to them, with them offering a potential fix upon more research.
I do agree with the above in terms of a better method of call forwarding when working with a non Samsung smartphone. I'm using an LG V20 and prior to Digits I would have to enable call forwarding if I knew I was planning to be away from my phone, not allowing me to forget my phone and remain connected.
However when using a Samsung smartphone, you have an auto call forwarding option in the Gear Manager app. I had my Note 5/S7E/Note 7 paired up to my Gear S2 Classic 3G and it would auto call forward upon being disconnected via Bluetooth, basically doing what Digits does without the virtual number.
Somehow my ability to dial out self resolved so now I'm digging this setup
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You may not be digging it when the beta expires and you have to start paying for it. Sometime in the Spring...

kronium said:
You may not be digging it when the beta expires and you have to start paying for it. Sometime in the Spring...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is the first week of beta testing. Issues are to be expected. Those (like me) who have no appetite for dealing with this shouldn't volunteer.
T-Mobile will figure it out. Sharing a number across devices will become a necessary linchpin as we become increasingly more connected.
T-Mobile won't charge much for Digits. AT&T and Verizon don't charge for their (admittedly less capable) service. And Google Voice, which Digits is modeled after, is also free.

kronium said:
You may not be digging it when the beta expires and you have to start paying for it. Sometime in the Spring...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Personally I'm not too worried. They state the service shouldn't cost much once it arrives, though I do feel they should issue the finished product free to beta testers for a limited time for our services.
If I go back to Samsung which is most likely, that will eliminate my need for it. If I don't, well the discount on my bill makes it dirt cheap that I'm not losing sleep over it. Perks of working at T-Mobile haha

Well all I know is that they changed my watch number to to some different number that doesn't exist on my account and nobody can correct it or change it back to the old way. I'm going on 3 days now and nobody can resolve the issue. I asked that they just take me off the beta and they can't even do that.
I understand that it's a beta and you live with the growing pains of bugs but PLEASE! They can't even take me off the program and restore my service back to normal! That means this is more of an Alpha than Beta stage! You don't release a Beta when you can't even get the basic functionality right!
Not to mention I am being sent numerous text messages that I added a new line to my account and when I call tmobile is clueless as to why I am getting those messages which I am sure it is due to digits.
Tmobile has nice customer service reps and great prices but when it comes to company communication and overall customer service experience they are clueless. I have never experienced a company more clueless and disorganized! I went through the Note fiasco with them and when I first started they shipped me like 10 iPads when I only ordered 1.
Sorry but Tmobile is a joke. I only stick with them because of convenience.

I'm having a great experience with the beta program so far, it's way better than the Samsung Auto forwarding. Because when I'm out and about and I make calls from the watch when the phone is at home it shows my actual phone number and not the watch phone number, and everything important is forwarded to my watch as well.
Sent from my SM-G935F using XDA-Developers mobile app

In the beta digits program also I have my gear s3 and gear s tied to my original number. I have to wait for the gear s tho cause they are sending me a sim card I don't know why I can't use the one I already have in it.

Digits works well for me
I am really enjoying my digits experience. I frequently leave my phone at home or in the car on the charger. Before digits my calls would not always be forwarded from my s6 edge to my gear s2 causing me to miss calls at times. That defeated the purpose of me paying for the watch number. I also hated that in the event I left my phone at home and forwarding was not working people could not reach me on my watch had I not given them that number. I have no trouble placing calls from the watch in standalone mode. My only annoyance with the program is when I do go outside of Bluetooth range all my texts are synced to my watch, which I just do not need. I wish there was an option to turn this off or on since I do not need it but some people might. I will definitely keep digits provided it does not cost me much more than the watch line I pay for currently.

sorry I am late to the party, and this might be a dumb question (but the T-mobile special tech people can't seem to answer it)...
Do I cancel the Gear S2's service and then use its SIM to sign up for the beta? Or do I have to keep the service active? Cause that's what I did - kept the service, signed up for the beta with the SIM number, but nothing's happened and the watch still has its own number. Does it take a while to change over?
Thanks.

hawk1500 said:
sorry I am late to the party, and this might be a dumb question (but the T-mobile special tech people can't seem to answer it)...
Do I cancel the Gear S2's service and then use its SIM to sign up for the beta? Or do I have to keep the service active? Cause that's what I did - kept the service, signed up for the beta with the SIM number, but nothing's happened and the watch still has its own number. Does it take a while to change over?
Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
T-Mobile will send you a welcome to digits email and instructions on how to set up on your phone. It took 24 hours for me to get the email. You can also call t-mobile and ask to speak to the digits beta team and they will patch you through and the beta team can pull up your request and speed up the process.

Hope this is still relevant
hawk1500 said:
sorry I am late to the party, and this might be a dumb question (but the T-mobile special tech people can't seem to answer it)...
Do I cancel the Gear S2's service and then use its SIM to sign up for the beta? Or do I have to keep the service active? Cause that's what I did - kept the service, signed up for the beta with the SIM number, but nothing's happened and the watch still has its own number. Does it take a while to change over?
Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So I was paying for watch plan when I signed up for digits beta. Tmobile was more than happy for me to keep paying. However I was having issues with digits not working and still missing calls. Finally I got someone on the phone that knew that I didn't need the watch line I only needed the digits line. Has worked great since they stopped the watch line and linked my digits with my phone. The digits line incluse so many my of data which is why the separate watch plan is unneeded.

Brand spankin' new watch doesn't work.

Got mine (LTE through TMob) a couple of days ago and immediately started with problems. I have a separate watch line with an S7 Edge. Essentially I can send/receive text in the stand alone mode but can not call out or receive. (Can on BT) Had the tech guys play with it (they thought it was a line issue) and they put a ticket in. That might get it working in a week. I thought I could bypass the problem with the line using DIGITS and my cell but nope. Turns out (according to the DIGITS guru) its a sim card problem so they are exchanging the watch. Not an impressive first start but I'm hopeful it'll get better. Hopefully...
Everything BT seems to work but its only been 2 days. I still need to check all the stand alone things when I get the replacement. And, of course, stand alone was the point of the watch.

Also make sure it works in remote connect mode, which is more useful than standalone mode.

How does remote connect work? Wifi?

The connection mode is shown by pulling down on the watchface. It will say "standalone", "connected via BT", or "remotely connected via carrier".
In remote connection mode, the watch doesn't communicate with the phone. Only calls and messages directly to the watch's number are transmitted. No notifications (ie. email, missed calls, Hangouts) from the phone are passed through. In remote connection mode, the watch communicates via it's LTE radio to the phone whether it be in different room or a different state. This allows all notifications to be passed through.
I keep WiFi turned off, it seems (inadequately) redundant for an LTE watch.

And the difference between that and Stand Alone is what?

afblangley said:
In remote connection mode, the watch doesn't communicate with the phone. Only calls and messages directly to the watch's number are transmitted. No notifications (ie. email, missed calls, Hangouts) from the phone are passed through.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I made a typo. What I meant to say is that in standalone mode the watch doesn't communicate with the phone.

afblangley said:
I made a typo. What I meant to say is that in standalone mode the watch doesn't communicate with the phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
AHHHHH... That makes more sense. I'm going to use DIGITS. Do you know how that impacts? Or if it does?

rogerperk said:
AHHHHH... That makes more sense. I'm going to use DIGITS. Do you know how that impacts? Or if it does?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nope, sorry. I use Google Voice, so I don't​ have first hand experience with Digits.

afblangley said:
Nope, sorry. I use Google Voice, so I don't​ have first hand experience with Digits.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How does Google voice work with t-mobile
Sent from my SM-N950U using Xparent Purple Tapatalk 2

cherylbaker said:
How does Google voice work with t-mobile
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Click to collapse
Google Voice for the most part, is carrier ignostic. Calls to a GV number can be forwarded to any of several landlines, cell lines, or digital lines. Outgoing caller ID is a bit trickier and device dependent. Messages can be handled through the messaging app or Hangouts.
In my setup, since my public number is under Google's custodianship, carrier assigned numbers are irrelevant/disposable. My watch, phones, and tablets each have their own carrier number, GV is configured to forward calls to each of these numbers, and they ring simultaneously and independently. Ditto with messages. The carrier has no input in this process. The Gear is also ignorant of this. I don't need to use it's call forwarding setting.
I don't doubt that T-Mobile, AT&T, and Verizon will eventually get all the kinks worked out of their number sharing system. But Google has been at it for a few years and offers more features, flexibility, and gives power back to the user.

So here's what we got after 5 days:
With my second watch in hand Im informed that the tMob engineers have decided the watch os bad and needs to go back to Samsung. After explaining that the odds against 2 bad watches were pretty small and demanding to be escalated I got a good manager who agreed. The watch is fine. After some digging she decided the problem was that the line is screwed up on the back end and won't connect voice. Problem is she has no idea why or how to fix it. So I'm waiting for their "engineers" to look at it again with her cracking the whip. Bottom line for me is if I can't get a stand alone watch I'm not interested and expect a full refund AND for them to not market what they can't provide. We'll see.

If the line is messed up, why can't they just start from scratch and assign the watch a new number? Then setup the watch without a phone to make sure it works. This is true standalone. If that works, then the problem is with Digits, not the watch or the line.

afblangley said:
Google Voice for the most part, is carrier ignostic. Calls to a GV number can be forwarded to any of several landlines, cell lines, or digital lines. Outgoing caller ID is a bit trickier and device dependent. Messages can be handled through the messaging app or Hangouts.
In my setup, since my public number is under Google's custodianship, carrier assigned numbers are irrelevant/disposable. My watch, phones, and tablets each have their own carrier number, GV is configured to forward calls to each of these numbers, and they ring simultaneously and independently. Ditto with messages. The carrier has no input in this process. The Gear is also ignorant of this. I don't need to use it's call forwarding setting.
I don't doubt that T-Mobile, AT&T, and Verizon will eventually get all the kinks worked out of their number sharing system. But Google has been at it for a few years and offers more features, flexibility, and gives power back to the user.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well THAT certainly cleared up the question...

REALLY PISSED OFF!! Over a week now and TMob STILL can't fix whatever THEIR problem is with getting this watch to use voice! They were really happy to take my money though! SO PISSED!!

So today it actually.worked! With the phone off!
Then it stopped.

Wrote the CEO of TMob and got an answer in 2 days. Seems not all of their networks supports Voice-over-LTG on 4G lines so it doesn't work everywhere (or something like that). Like where I am. They are hoping the Tizen 3.0 will correct that so the watch accepts a.lower quality line but not sure. Outstanding...
UPDATE 15 Oct - if I ran the watch as truly stand alone it would work. By using DIGITS it only uses 3G, which my area does not have. More info.

Huawei Watch Sport 2 LTE SIM works on Tmobile USA LEO-DLXX

The Huawei Watch Sport 2 LTE SIM (LEO-DLXX) works on Tmobile USA
Before I purchased this watch I couldn't find any definitive information regarding whether this watch would work on the USA Tmobile network. It does work in 3G HSDPA and 2G H+ modes in my area with very good reception. Standalone call quality is very clear, with people on the other line surprised to learn that I am talking with them via a watch speakerphone and not a phone or headset. This watch does not support the Tmobile USA LTE bands, but I think that is a non-issue for my use case.
The purpose of this device is so I can leave my phone behind on occasion, yet still have limited connectivity. I have been using the watch with wifi off, cellular on automatic, bluetooth on, with OK Google off. With a mix of Cellular and Bluetooth use I am getting a full day of use running the latest Wear 2.1 firmware.
To activate on Tmobile you need to add a wearable line to an existing line for $15 per month ($10 with autopay). You can then "pair" this line with your phone line so both devices send and receive SMS messages and make and receive phone calls from the phone line number. Some Tmobile CSRs don't understand how to add a non-Tmobile supplied wearable to their system, so you might need to hang up and call again. First you need to call regular customer service to add the line, then they transfer you to a Digits CSR to add the new wearable line to your main line.
The only apps I use are Ultimate Watch 2, Google Fit, Messages for SMS, and Whatsapp through linked notifications. I wish there was a standalone Whatsapp so I could send new Whatsapp messages - right now I can only reply to Whatsapp notifications.
So far, very impressed with this device, especially with the $250 ebay via Hong Kong seller price.
I am looking forward to future generations of LTE Wear OS watches. Once someone introduces a new more power efficient chipset with USA LTE support, the platform is a long term winner. I am not sure what Google is thinking by neglecting this market. From my experience the wearable market is going to be a long term winner once technology makes minor additional advances.

Thanks for this information since there is hardly anything online stating which carriers work. Do you really have to use the digits program though? Why can't I just ask for a sim card with a different number from T-mobile
Thanks

You can start a whatsapp conversation by using assistant, just say "send a whatsapp message to <contact name>"