I am trying to set up a plan with a smaller carrier, but I have a feeling that since they are not on Google’s allowlist (even though I live in Canada), they will not let me use 5G with them. The Pixel watch supported carrier list also makes no sense, because for some reason the new carriers for the watch 2 don’t support the first version? I was thinking about switching to Samsung, but it seems they also pull off shenanigans in the way of region locking. Why are these practices in place?
They often don’t update the list for older devices. The supported list is whatever it was when the device came out.
I actually don’t know what you mean by “Google’s allowlist” but the underlying carrier might matter more than whatever small “carrier” you want to go with. E.g. Telus, Bell, Rogers(/Shaw), Videotron basically run all of the cell networks and then lease them out to the small carriers (which they actually either own, or will eventually).
So if those big guys are on the list, you’re probably fine (but I don’t actually know how it works). You can google “{name of carrier} mobile network” to find out whose network(s) they’re on.
I am trying to use SaskTel, which is the opposite: all carriers (except Rogers?) have an agreement to use SaskTel towers, and SaskTel uses other carriers’ towers in different provinces. I know that Bell and Telus work, but not SaskTel? They both use the same tower, so I don’t know why there is still no 5G for SaskTel on my Pixel.
https://support.sasktel.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/26177/~/5g-certified-phones