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Galaxy S8 Sim region lock

(Topic created on: 20-10-2017 10:14 PM)
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rajkmohan
Apprentice
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Hi, 

 

I am staying in Switzerland. I am planning to buy S8 for my wife. But I came to know that S8 which I buy in Swiss will work only with European sim alone. but my wife will be travelling back to India in a some time so she need to use with indian Sim also. can someone sugges an option to buy S8 in switzerland that can work with any sim irrespective of region or suggest me options to overcoem this problem. 

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69 REPLIES 69
AndrewL
Moderator
Moderator
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@Dka1, the phone will have originally been sold to you as 'unlocked' however as soon as you installed the O2 SIM it became locked to their network. If you take the necessary steps to regionally unlock the device before your travels and obtain a network unlock code from O2 then hopefully you will be fine to use a Burmese SIM outside the UK.
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Dka1
First Poster
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Thanks. O2 said that they can't help as phone from carphone warehouse and car phone warehouse said it's not network locked so catch22.

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jos11
First Poster
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Hi,

 

Did anyone found solution for this problem? I have same problem after phone was unlocked in KSA with 5 min talk, I was using it for a few months in Europe and then few days ago i get error no service and can't use my phone. Please help me with this issue if you know how to sort it out, already tried reseting everything and nothing happens, even factory reset on the end but did'nt help.  I'm in Europe and don't have SIM card from KSA.

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HansComps
First Poster
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Hi,

What icon do you get where the signal strength usually is?  If it is a circle with crossout it might be your radio or stuck in airplane mode.

In my case it seems the radio broke; gave it in under warrenty in KSA (during my last visit) and the motherboard was replaced (took a week);  working fine now.

If you still see the signal strength icon (top right) and have the ability to make emercency calls the radio is still fine.  Best approach is to email Samsung KSA and ask for the region unlock code (they will ask for your IMEI code).  They will send you the unlock code and instructions on how to use it.

[PS, you can dial *#1100# and choose stack1 to check if our radio is still working - you sould see changing RSSI values]

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jos11
First Poster
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Can't dial anything on the phone(says no mobile network), I have that circle with crossout. Tried resetting everything, flashing firmware, but nothing works, seems they will need to replace motherboard or whole phone. I will never buy Samsung again.

Thanks HansComps for your answer, helped a lot...
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KevYou
Journeyman
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Galaxy s9, dual sim. As this post came top of my search, thought i would reply that this 'solution' did not work for me. after receiving the same advice from Samung messenger support, I placed a call on each sim while in my home region for 15 mins each. my sims are not network operator locked.

Got to Indoenisa after all my preperation to find that as soon as I put in my Indonesian sim it requests a network unlock code!

thanks Samsung, this totally screwed up my plans. Sam sim works fine in my wifes Iphone....

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KevYou
Journeyman
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update after further reading. a second call while in indonesia from my eu sim to a indonesian number for 5 mins unlocked the sim!
Chiril-Eftodii
Journeyman
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Can use a valid SIm Card, from the country origin of your phone, outside of that country to deactivate the regional lock.
Example: I bought a phone in Netherland. Used first time in Moldova, outside EU. Logical the sim from Moldova is blocked. I inserted my SIM from Netherland, detected it in roaming and used a regional Network, Orange MD, example, and made a 7 minute call to service in Netherland, spoke with robot, you know then you have to chose from options, press 1 or 2 or 5, and listen for 7 minute the same options from carrier. After 7 minutes I ended the call, turn off the phone, inserted the SIM from Moldova, turned on and WORKED and detected the SIM without problems. Problem solved!

Oth
First Poster
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Hi,

I tried this solution but it didn't work with my Galaxy A8, It's still locked 

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Chiril-Eftodii
Journeyman
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I don't know other solution. Another way is to pay for this option in your country, where are you now. There are mobile services/repair where they can totally delete this regional lock. In my country, this costs 10 euro. 

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