Smart Watch

[JenJen]

I’m hoping to buy a smartwatch and have been researching which watches are supported by Three. Is it only Samsung and Apple Watches that can be paired with my phone through Three?

 I can’t find the price on the website for Smartwatch Pairing plans. I am directed to Price guides but can’t find any reference there to smartwatch pairing. I need to know how much it would cost.

 I can see that there is previous reference to the Google Pixel LTE 4g smartwatch not being compatible with Three network in March. Is there any progress or would I need to change my provider in order to use this phone. (I need a phone with fall detection)

 I would be really grateful for any information on how to go about buying and setting up the right smartwatch.

 Many thanks

[BenFromUK]

Don't bother getting a smart watch with Three unless you enjoy banging your head against a wall.

I wish I had read the numerous frustrated reviews from Three customers before doing so.

I bought an Apple Watch series 8 GPS + Cellular. Tried to pair it and purchased a SmartWatch pairing plan. Unfortunately, every time i activate the plan on the watch the Three web site gives me a "system error" message.

I spent time on the phone discussing the fault with a Three technician, who said he would escalate the issue. Next day my case was closed without a resolution.

Raised a new ticket, it was closed without a resolution.

Tomorrow I'm taking my watch back to the shop because frankly I'm sick of Three taking no ownership to resolve the issue.

[Ciaragh]

The three store argued with me yesterday saying they've never had an issue with apple or galaxy and the online chat I was referred to from here said smartwatch problems aren't a common occurrence. Looking at comments, it seems problems are more common than someone being able to pair it. 

Customer service is absolutely disgraceful. 

[Ciaragh]

Don't get a Samsung one. I'm on week 3 of being passed from person to person with no resolution of why it doesn't work. Final straw was yesterday at the store when they said it cannot be paired using cellular data because of a fault on my account apparently and to return the watch. 

There is plenty of complaints the same. If youre at the end of your phone agreement I would go somewhere else. My friend went to ee and had his set up in store within minutes. A lot more helpful and less messing around and stress. 

I've wasted a lot of time and effort trying to sort it and the customer service is absolutely shocking. Save your money and go elsewhere. 

[JonathanB]

Hi @JenJen,

Happy to help clear this up.

That's correct, currently we support Apple Watches, and the Samsung Watch 5 onwards for cellular pairing. With a pairing plan this means you can keep your watch connected whilst out of Bluetooth range of your phone. If you'd rather not pay this, or have an unsupported model of watch then you can keep it paired by Bluetooth whilst in range, and as long as the watch and phone are compatible with each other.

In terms of the Samsung watches you also need to have a compatible account too. If you have a Three Your Way plan (these launched 30 January 2023) then you'll be able to pair a Samsung Watch. If you have one of our older plans, we're working on system updates to make Samsung pairing, and other improved services available. As we have millions of customers on the older plans, the updates aren't happening for everyone at the same time. You'll receive messages about an upcoming system update a few days beforehand when this happens for you, and this should take place some point within the next couple of months.

In terms of pricing currently it's £7 per month for a rolling smartwatch pairing add on, if you set this up at the time of joining or upgrading we also have 12 months for £6 per month, and 24 months for £5 per month.

In terms of the Pixel Watch, it's not currently supported for cellular pairing so you'd only be able to use Bluetooth pairing for the moment. We are exploring options for expanding the range of watches we support, but it's too soon to be able to put a timescale on when we might have support for Pixel Watch at this stage.

Sorry for the length of the response, but there was a lot to cover. Hope it all makes sense and please let me know if there's anything you'd like more clarification on.

Thanks,
Jonathan

[JenJen]

Thank you answering my questions. I appreciate the detail you have gone into. I am really glad that I did this research before buying a smartwatch.

Best wishes JenJen

[sc1999]

At last a detailed response which should be attached to 3's watch sales pages.

[sc1999]

I think I'll stick with my Bulova Precisionist will still going long after Samsung has withdrawn support.