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Help No sims other than Euro ones (European version)

And do you think that will deal with region slugging as opposed to specific carrier slugging?

That's what's in question ATM,as this is obviously a slightly different scenario vs carrier unlocking,the potential for fingerpointing is infinite.

SAMSUNG would be where I'd start,since they're the one's who slapped the sticker on the box,then your service provider ATM,although I'm willing to bet initial contact w/both will be entertaining to say the least....

Please keep us posted w/any results/info provided by either.
 
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That's what's in question ATM,as this is obviously a slightly different scenario vs carrier unlocking,the potential for fingerpointing is infinite.

SAMSUNG would be where I'd start,since they're the one's who slapped the sticker on the box,then your service provider ATM,although I'm willing to bet initial contact w/both will be entertaining to say the least....

Please keep us posted w/any results/info provided by either.

It's nothing at all to do with my service provider as I bought the phone "unlocked" [ha-ha] straight from Samsung in London.

In actual fact, I never saw the sticker as one of the Samsung demonstrators took it out of its box in a vain attempt to show me how to use it.
 
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Are you saying that the Note 3 can be used with another Sim from outside the EU if unlocked?

Basically it's only region locked for first activation, at least that's what Samsung is claiming. Once you activate it with a SIM from the region it's mean for, you can use any SIM from anywhere in the world.
 
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Basically it's only region locked for first activation, at least that's what Samsung is claiming. Once you activate it with a SIM from the region it's mean for, you can use any SIM from anywhere in the world.

Oh that's just weird.

puke.gif
 
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Basically it's only region locked for first activation, at least that's what Samsung is claiming. Once you activate it with a SIM from the region it's mean for, you can use any SIM from anywhere in the world.

I can't wait that long for a Sim, the phone I'm using now is kind of busted.

What would happen if you put one of those sims in the phone and then unable to use your own sim?
 
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Following the statement from Samsung that 'first activation' with a sim card from the country of purchase (paraphrasing here quite a bit) will unlock a phone, one of my mates, who is a huge Samsung fan, bought the Note 3 from London, activated it with his Three UK Sim card and then went to Hong Kong on business on Saturday. I got a message from him that when he tried to put his HK sim card in the phone, it rejected it and asked for an unlock code. Now he has an expensive brick and no other phone to use out there unless he either purchases another one or agrees to the ridiculously high roaming phone charges from the UK (which is the reason he has an HK sim in the first place, plus his clients and colleagues out there have that number, not his UK one).

He is livid and intends on taking the phone back when he gets back to the UK and demanding his money back. Samsung lost another customer...

Now I have a friend, who I trust, experiencing this issue, the Note 3 is dead to me. Time to move on.

The XDA thread has gone up to 65 pages with a vast number of people all experiencing this exact same issue, irrespective of what is alleged to occur after a first correct activation.

For shame, Samsung, for shame.

FURTHER EDIT: My friend asked me to phone Samsung UK and get their response and they said (and I recorded the call but not sure on the quality yet) that there is no 'first activation' and any phone is region locked regardless of whether it is activated correctly and that I can get it unlocked by visiting a Samsung Service Centre and paying a fee.

My nearest Samsung Service Centre is over an hour away from where I live. This will cost me upwards of
 
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I have some new information.

I run a forum like this and one of my moderators went to Hong Kong last month, he has an iphone and he was not able to use there local sim. It seems it's not just a Samsung problem.

Thanks for your post Scootmien, I should get the correct colour Note 3 within the next few days and I will hunt down my nearest Samsung Service Centre. I shall let you all know the outcome and price.
 
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Correction. He said that it was Network locked, so this could be a Samsung thing after all.

I received the phone but this time they sent the right colour, it's on charge. I have no choice but to find a way to get it unlocked, we've paid money for it and what we do with the phone is down to us.

When I switch my phone on, I will call Vodafone and ask them to remove the lock. If they say "No", I will ask for a refund because it will be no good to me and this was not explained before the purchase.
 
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I've just checked on the Carphone Warehouse website and every review of the device that casts it in a bad light and/or mentions the region lock, has been removed, including the review by my friend in HK.

I've just spoken to a chap at CPW on the phone and he was absolutely insistent that if I buy an unlocked Note 3 it will work with ANY sim card anywhere. He started to get quite aggressive when I suggested (and I did it very politely too) that he check on Google for the note 3 region lock fiasco as he, his colleague sat next to him and his superior were all completely unaware of this issue.

Time to go into a store and ask, I think.
 
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've just spoken to a chap at CPW on the phone and he was absolutely insistent that if I buy an unlocked Note 3 it will work with ANY sim card anywhere. He started to get quite aggressive when I suggested (and I did it very politely too) that he check on Google for the note 3 region lock fiasco as he, his colleague sat next to him and his superior were all completely unaware of this issue.

Time to go into a store and ask, I think.

Fight, fight, fight.
 
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