Regional locked phone.

[Tammera]

I live in the US and the UK, mostly the US. I purchased an A40 when I was last in the UK as I wanted the dual SIM, so I could have my UK and US sim in one phone rather than two, as well as the extra space. 

I put my US sim in it before I left and I didn't work, but for some reason I just assumed I had a roaming issue. I got it towards the end of my visit and I was rushing around and didn't stop to look into it properly. 

So when I got back to the US and it still didn't work, I looked at the box and it said locked to Europe *slaps forehead. 

So I looked around and the only thing anywhere says is to use the phone in that region for 5+ minutes, which I had done, one call was for 29 minutes. 

Anyway I was going to wait till I went back next and try and correct it. However the A5 I currently use, the battery is failing badly, to the point it's expanded enough to push the back of the phone away from the unit. 

I saw someone say that using a SIM from that region still may work even though I'm not in that region. Does anyone know for certain? As the roaming charges for that plan is not cheap. 

Otherwise what else can I do? They don't seem to have stores that help you with your phone in the US, like the do in the UK. 

My phone is not locked to a network

Thank you. 

[BandOfBrothers]

Typically to remove a Region Lock a person needs to have used a local sim card and make 5 to 10 minutes of calls to a local number @Tammera 

The other viable option is to contact the Samsung Customer services for the region it's locked to  i.e the UK support department, and see if they can remotely unlock it for you.

That or you'll have to wait until you return to the UK.