SIM restrictions on unlocked European Note3

RbbCHan · Sep 30, 2013

thx

mathieulh said:
The HK model isn't region locked to begin with, end of story. Only "Unlocked" models sold in continental Europe, middle east, and South America are region locked so far.

P.S. The only variant sold in HK right now is the 16GB version so it might not be such a good idea to purchase a note 3 there.

Sent from my SM-N9005 using XDA Premium 4

thx for advise, but my data are all in the cloud (Box,Dropbox +BoxCryptor; +Wuala, Tresorit and MEGA together 300 GB).
16GB plus 64 GB is enough for me on the divice.

anyway, I am fine now as it works for me.
have fun

AcostaJA · Sep 30, 2013

Ok Sammy, You didt . This is over I was purchasing every single Galaxy from S1 (except s2 and note 1); now I'm officially holding my plans to get another galaxy until this $hit is officially removed or Samsung officially provides us a tool to doit by our self w/o tricks (as activating on some zone ) .

samaliset · Sep 30, 2013

RbbCHan said:
Guys
I got really nervous about this issue so I called a friend, who is working for Samsung Korea.
And I called Samsung Germany.
Here the result: BOTH Korea and Germany confirm that this is OFFICIAL:

http://allaboutsamsung.de/2013/09/s...ndische-sim-karten-sind-benutzbar/#more-22806

it is in German, but: for the the English speaking world I can state that the content of my first post is the description of the situation:
means: one has to UNBLOCK and register the phone in a country which is on the sticker. Then it will work world wide.

they say also: some only some phone may block in some regions. But they said again. Once your phone has been unlocked in a region, the Samsung service worldwide CAN and WILL unlock your phone again if it blocks in another region. But this should happen only with some phones (also some S3 S4.....)
Hope this is true now ..................

---------- Post added at 05:38 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:24 PM ----------

as I said it is vital for me to know about the simlock of the note3.
So I asked my friend in Hong Kong to buy my new note3 ( I always buy HK models as the Chinese models do have restrictions for Google services, and the HK models worked for me fine since many years) . He did so, put in his HK SIMCard (I only have Chinese, German, Singapore and Australia) unlocked the phone for me. After that I used my German SIMCARD and it worked as well as my other Chinese SIMCARD.
So, it seems to me....problem solved.....

I can notice in this post that there are 2 key words ( UNBLOCK and registe). Is that means there are 2 actions need to be accomplished in order to get the device worldwide unblocked? One, activate the Sim card and two, register at Sumsung's web site. Is this the case and you people who get the device, did you do that? may be this a silly comment but in case if....

exileh · Sep 30, 2013

I've bought the european version (sticker was on the box) on friday. Samsung stated that it wouldnt block any simcard if activated once.

I used it for the last days with my german simcard. I also have a Thai simcard at home, as I have to travel to Thailand for business purposes a lot. When I get home, I will insert my Thai simcard and report.

senectus · Sep 30, 2013

Pretty sure the Australian model isn't locked, won't know till Thursday night when i pick up my pre order.

Sent from my GT-N7105T using Tapatalk 2

springer.music · Sep 30, 2013

lucfeenstra said:
So far Chinese and thai sim cards don't seem to work after activating with EU sim first

samisi said:
Here is the full MCC blacklist from the European note 3 (63 MCCs in total) by mathieulh:

460 China
454 Hong Kong
250 Russian Federation
255 Ukraine
401 Kazakhstan
259 Moldova
437 Kyrgyzstan
438 Turkmenistan
436 Tajikistan
428 Mongolia
400 Azerbaijan
282 Georgia
283 Armenia
525 Singapore
452 Vietnam
505 Australia
520 Thailand
515 Philipines
502 Malaysia
510 Indonesia
456 Cambodia
414 Myanmar
457 Laos
404 India
405 India
470 Bangladesh
413 Sri Lanka
429 Nepal
603 Algeria
602 Egypt
432 Iran
425 Israel
604 Morocco
424 United Arab Emirates
416 Jordan
606 Libya
420 Saudi Arabia
418 Iraq
286 Turkey
412 Afghanistan
724 Brazil
370 Dominican Republic
338 Bermuda
374 Trinidad and Tobago
706 El Salvador
734 Venezuela
714 Panama
712 Costa Rica
740 Ecuador
704 Guatemala
708 Honduras
710 Nicaragua
744 Paraguay
748 Urugay
736 Bolivia
732 Colombia
722 Argentina
730 Chile
716 Peru
621 Nigeria
620 Ghana
639 Kenya
257 Belarus

To those of you who are still prompted to unlock the phone after having correctly activated their GN3: have you tried using an unlock code from FastGSM (or another similar service)?
In a previous post I've read of a Russian site where you could buy unlock codes for the GN3 but that site does't seem to be accessible from all countries.

I've used FastGSM in the past and they've always been very reliable:

LTE version:
http://www.fastgsm.com/en/samsung/galaxy-note-3-lte/unlocking/network-unlock

Non-LTE version:
http://www.fastgsm.com/en/samsung/galaxy-note-3/unlocking/network-unlock

exileh · Sep 30, 2013

i can confirm this. my with a german simcard activated european version does NOT work with a thai simcard.

Onweel2 · Sep 30, 2013

springer.music said:
To those of you who are still prompted to unlock the phone after having correctly activated their GN3: have you tried using an unlock code from FastGSM (or another similar service)?
In a previous post I've read of a Russian site where you could buy unlock codes for the GN3 but that site does't seem to be accessible from all countries.

I've used FastGSM in the past and they've always been very reliable:

LTE version:
http://www.fastgsm.com/en/samsung/galaxy-note-3-lte/unlocking/network-unlock

Non-LTE version:
http://www.fastgsm.com/en/samsung/galaxy-note-3/unlocking/network-unlock

I know they can do that. and it also being prove by many people here in this thread that buy the code from them it working.

I also do not mine to pay just 15-20 Euro for that. But now i just fight for that The Samsung say is not truth. and it seem many website move on with out proving anything.

dxzh · Sep 30, 2013

exileh said:
i can confirm this. my with a german simcard activated european version does NOT work with a thai simcard.

Can you confirm the name of the CSC file in your Note 3? Typing *#1234# in your stock telephone dialler should reveal its name. Perhaps not all European region Note 3s have quite the same CSC file.

exileh · Sep 30, 2013

dxzh said:
Can you confirm the name of the CSC file in your Note 3? Typing *#1234# in your stock telephone dialler should reveal its name. Perhaps not all European region Note 3s have quite the same CSC file.

there you go:

Huxflux · Sep 30, 2013

dxzh said:
I have just been speaking to Samsung UK customer service (+44 330 726 7864) again. Samsung UK say they will send me a statement direct about the use of SIMs following activation. If they do, then at least I personally can rely on it which is a start.

At the moment I draw less comfort from a local German PR firm statement sent to various blogs. It is not in writing on any official Samsung website as far as I am aware. This is slightly worrying as an earlier forthright written statement by Samsung Switzerland last week playing down the region lock issue seemed to have been disowned and withdrawn from Facebook over the weekend.

When you get it, can you please take a photo of it and put it here for us to see :good:

Onweel2 · Sep 30, 2013

exileh said:
i can confirm this. my with a german simcard activated european version does NOT work with a thai simcard.

So when you calling to them what they say ?

and please do not buy the code from any website yet. Please make some film and post it on youtube. for let the world see who is lieing and who is beining play

---------- Post added at 02:38 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:13 PM ----------

bubblesmoney said:
please make the video and upload to youtube and make sure you make an entry in the 'tag' section as samsung galaxy note 3 sim region lock problem or something similar, so that any search on youtube or google automatically brings up your video in the search.

I request others who are having the issue to similarly make a youtube video showing the first sim that works and also the sim that doesnt work in the video and dont forget to complete the 'tag' section as " samsung galaxy note 3 sim region lock problem" or something similar so that video is flagged automatically by google or youtube search by anyone. And dont forget to make the video public and available on all platforms, if you dont do that then sometimes it will only be available on desktops and not mobiles or embedded websites.

---------- Post added at 05:42 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:13 PM ----------

Before calling people clowns, did you even bother to read the comments posted on that link you googled and posted here! Cant you see the comments posted by people for whom the 'recommended' unlock procedure didnt work. Try having a read of the comments.

and did you even see samsungUK official twitter channel tweeting a reply to me on the 26th sept 2013 which i have already posted here long ago. https://twitter.com/SamsungMobileUK/status/383173182561452032 Please see my query the previous day and their reply copied below. You can see the entire conversation on the link

my query to them on twitter
"bubblesmoney ‏ @bubblesmoney 25 Sep @SamsungmobileUK will the note 3 bought in the UK contract free work with sims from USA and asia while travelling. Please confirm sim block!"

and see that the reply is from the official samsungUK twitter channel. They clearly say other sims from outside region will not work.

see quote

"
Samsung Mobile UKVerified account
‏ @SamsungmobileUK
@bubblesmoney Unfortunately no, due to different bands used in connection and frequencies."

This is a video. it is long video. Because i edit nothing. And it long too sorry for that.

If some one have the same problem i have. please help me by spread this video out. You do have to give me credit for make a video. Just try to spread it out.

Thank you

http://youtu.be/ri_tz6HlsKo

arjanr1973 · Sep 30, 2013

exileh said:
i can confirm this. my with a german simcard activated european version does NOT work with a thai simcard.

I have the same issue, my N9005 note 3 (local purchase in NL) works fine with KPN Netherlands bu tmy Thai (Tuemove) sim cards request me to enter a SIM Network unlock PIN. going back to KPN NL sim works fine.

Having called Samsung in the Netherlands have confirmed me that the phone is NOT going to work with SIMS from outside europe! I hope these guys are not yet properly informed

CSC: N9005PHNBMI2

dxzh · Sep 30, 2013

Problematic German CSC

exileh said:
there you go:

From that CSC file name which is shown in the thumbnail you sent as N9005DBTBMI1, this apparently problematic CSC could be parsed as follows:

* DBT - Germany

* B - [I do not know what this signifies here]

* M - 2013

* I - September

* 1 - version 1

Onweel2 · Sep 30, 2013

arjanr1973 said:
I have the same issue, my N9005 note 3 (local purchase in NL) works fine with KPN Netherlands bu tmy Thai (Tuemove) sim cards request me to enter a SIM Network unlock PIN. going back to KPN NL sim works fine.

Having called Samsung in the Netherlands have confirmed me that the phone is NOT going to work with SIMS from outside europe! I hope these guys are not yet properly informed

CSC: N9005PHNBMI2

You are the same like me. And if you calling one more 1 time they would give you a different answer. If you go to Samsung Service Center. They can not help you.

dxzh · Sep 30, 2013

Problematic Dutch CSC

arjanr1973 said:
I have the same issue, my N9005 note 3 (local purchase in NL) works fine with KPN Netherlands bu tmy Thai (Tuemove) sim cards request me to enter a SIM Network unlock PIN. going back to KPN NL sim works fine.

Having called Samsung in the Netherlands have confirmed me that the phone is NOT going to work with SIMS from outside europe! I hope these guys are not yet properly informed

CSC: N9005PHNBMI2

This problematic Dutch CSC could be parsed as follows:

* PHN - Netherlands

* B - [I do not know what this signifies here]

* M - 2013

* I - September

* 2 - version 2

basilbaby · Sep 30, 2013

DjeMBeY said:
DO NOT Flash it on any other phone!! It's for SM-N9005 ONLY!!!
I can prepare same kind of FW for other phones , if you guys want to try but I'll prefer to TEST it on N9005 first as it can be road to nowhere..

Not sure though, few guys tried SIDE-WAY flashing , from ZHU.. to XXU.. and can't do it, Odin failed on system.img.ext4 NO GO

Waiting no See N900 Custom firmware from you..

dxzh · Sep 30, 2013

Onweel2 said:
You are the same like me. And if you calling one more 1 time they would give you a different answer. If you go to Samsung Service Center. They can not help you.

Have you checked that you have exactly the same CSC - i.e. N9005PHNBMI2. Dial *#1234# in telephone stock dialler to find out.

wfire · Sep 30, 2013

Not unlocked - region locked - and retroactivity...

wfire said:
(Hypothesis-Opinion) SIM-FREE phones are not SIM-FREE, but REGION-FREE. Or, viewed from the other direction, they are in fact SIM LOCKED... but to a wide variety of carriers in a predefined region. I don't think the activation sequence matters one bit. I think these phones work with any SIM from any carrier in that region, but you cannot go out-of-region regardless of your activation sequence... unless you buy an unlock code. In other words, all these European phones are in fact SIM locked, but just to a very wide scope of (European) SIMs. Once you buy an unlock code, it seems to me that the European locks are fully removed, and you can go global. Again, this is just my opinion, based only on what we've seen reported so far.(/Hypothesis-Opinion)

mathieulh said:
We can easily confirm that there is no such thing as an "activation" process and that peole that successfully "Activated" are simply using SIM cards that aren't the in the MCC lock list. Basically you need the unfreeze or the NCK to properly unlock the device without rooting it (and losing warranty)

It appears that we guessed correctly. The activation process is a lie, or a mistranslation. Phones are locked to a region, whether based on master region designations and/or the CSC blacklist, the effect is the same. These phones - and the others that will be "updated" by KitKat, I'd guess - are no longer "globally unlocked" - they are simply locked to a region, the same way US phones are locked to a carrier. Activation is not relevant. Looks like you have to unlock your phone to get global access.

Hmm. I wonder how Samsung will deal with this.

Interestingly, I have a Note 2 N7100, which I bought "Unlocked." While at the moment I notice that I can use any SIM from anywhere, I also notice that the "Personal SHA256" settings are ENABLED. This means that my "unlocked" phone really isn't "unlocked", it's just "permitted" on all sites globally. So later on, when Samsung pushes their KitKat update to it, it will retroactively lock down to a region quite nicely, and lock me out of my own phone.

UGH!

dionysos77 · Sep 30, 2013

Hi eveyone

I have a very basic question.
I live in Turkey.
as you may know Turkey is NOT a member of Eurpean Union (EU)
but a member of European Economical alliance(EEA).

So here is the question, if I buy one N9005 from Spain, will I be able to use it in turkey with a local carrier sim card.
Do I need to "activate" the phone in Spain first ?
Is there a risk of getting "re-locked" after a while ?

Thanks in advance.

SIM restrictions on unlocked European Note3

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