yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Galaxy Note 3 General] jetskibill:
Unlocked and any sim anywhere in the world?

Hi

I have a 9005 that originates from Malay and has been confirmed as such by Samsung UK when I registered it

It had no region stickers on the box and I believe it originated straight from the factory as it had blue Samsung seals on the box

Its supposed to be Region free / unlocked to be used anywhere in the world with any sim card.

There are no country code restrictions listed in the CSC

If this is indeed unlocked to use anywhere in the world with any sim and its running XME firmware from Malaysia can someone confirm if the region restrictions are firmware based as in the CSC file or are they locked down in the actual phone depending on where in the world its purchased?

If its in the CSC file and not hardware related would it not make sense to use XME firmware to un restrict our phones given that they have different laws within their countries where they cannot impose these restrictions?

I have tried a SIM card from the USA in the phone and it did not request an unlock code albeit I cannot use a connection in the UK to make a call

That said the information hard copied to the SIM would have indicated that its a foreign one and from which country it was from so that should have been enough for the phone to request the unlock code would it not?
[Galaxy Note 3 General] krooksrocks:
Hi I will share a new case

I purchased my s 930 unlocked from India

Used it for a month and now last week travelled to Amsterdam. Popped in a local NO sim it worked fine for a week but on Sunday I got T&C from Samsung in Dutch I ignored that . Phone worked fine. On Monday tried using india sim I get msg sim registration failed. My I did sim is on global roaming and was working till last Wednesday on n9000 but not now. Any suggestions ?

Is this reverse sim region lock ?
[Galaxy Note 3 General] Mustajab Is'haq:
Did you install any updates before/after going to Amsterdam?

There seems to be something fishy going in these back to back updates. Maybe they are slowly improving this (Lock) thing? Or maybe getting rid of this all together?

I'll be going to KSA around March-April, all I can do is pray and hope that till then this mess is sorted.

Samsung if you are reading this, I've seen you do a lot of pointless stuff before, but this maybe the worst of all. If I were a manager at Samsung, I would personally kick the genius in the balls (assuming he has any) who's idea this was.

Seriously screwed up garbage move by Samsung.
[Galaxy Note 3 General] lemon48:
I bought my Note 3 (n9005) from Andorra. If it will not work in my country (Turkey) when I return, this will be my last Samsung product purchase. This is not a restriction, this is a kind of rip off.
[Galaxy Note 3 General] krooksrocks:
I hate Samsung.. Will dump my Note 3 on the first opp that I go back to India

This was an unlocked device purchased from India from an official samsung cafe, with no region unlock unlike the EU Region lock thing.

I come to Amsterdam pop in the card and I get a message terms and conditions change for samsung on phone, and boom, now my phone is region locked in EU, what the **** .... Hate Samsung... I can't use my India Sim on Romaing on Note 3 have to only use the EU Sim

Hate Samsung for this.. This is a ****ing locked device.. wish I have a way to sue samsung and I would do it right away.
[Galaxy Note 3 General] lucfeenstra:
Probably should.. :( but been looking forward to this phone for soo long. Trying to get hold of Samsung at the moment but not having too much luck yet.
[Galaxy Note 3 General] tarekkkkk:
To test this u need the N9005 working in europe and another sim card roaming (connected) from abroad either asia/us and start testing. No need to send your phone to another country.
[Galaxy Note 3 General] artesea:
I doubt this will work. You tend to find that customer services are the last to know anything and are most likely guessing at everything.

From what we've seen so far, it appears that you will either need to obtain the unlock code for your device (likely generated from the IMEI), or use a software fix whilst rooted to remove the restriction.

The big question is who is officially providing the unlock codes, Samsung? your network? and how long until it's reversed engineered?
[Galaxy Note 3 General] Netskyliner:
Turn it back now and get it later if a solution is found mate.
[Galaxy Note 3 General] lucfeenstra:
Think it is probably Samsung.. Where would people go that bought the phone outright?
[Galaxy Note 3 General] mathieulh:
It's pretty obvious that the MCC lock is set though the CSC costumer.xml a setting the defines what MCC the lock is to be used on. Then the lock behaves as any regular sim lock does, as such it will prompt you for a NCK but there are none to be supplied (you can always try the default 00000000000 code but I doubt it works in this case since the lock is enforced on the CSC and isn't a regular lock that would match values in the EFS/NVM. The lock should easily be removable should you flash a modified CSC to the phone. Of course nothing guarantees that Samsung won't be adding countries to the list in future updates or change the way the MCC lock is performed.
[Galaxy Note 3 General] coolfreebies:
I guess its down to the Samsung as they are the manufacturer of the phone they should provide all unlock codes, but i bet that is what they are doing to get even more money out of us...

They will probably announce that you can use it outside the EU and you will have to pat £50 for the privilege...

Not cool what they are doing...

coolfreebies
[Galaxy Note 3 General] lucfeenstra:
Are there any sightings of this sticker in Asia yet? Any people from Asia currently reading this?
[Galaxy Note 3 General] ShadowLea:
The S4 has the same Software-based region lock, do you people seriously not know this? Even SamMobile knows it.
[Galaxy Note 3 General] mathieulh:
Hum... I haven't seen it on mine. I haven't updated it since the Knox enabled firmwares showed up though.
[Galaxy Note 3 General] artesea:
Really? Because I would have expected to have seen that information in this post on SamMobile http://www.sammobile.com/2013/09/25/european-galaxy-note-3-wont-work-with-non-european-sim-cards/ and photos of those stickers months ago.
[Galaxy Note 3 General] DjeMBeY:
You CAN'T modify CSC and then flash it with Odin. It must be signed by Samsung :p

I could try to make modified system partition with modified CSC included..

I don't have N3 so anyone want to test it?
[Galaxy Note 3 General] mathieulh:
Oh ! I didn't know CSC packages were signed, that makes sense though. Then I guess you need to root the phone to remove the MCC lock. I wouldn't do that though ODIN since it'd blow the warranty void Qfuse. It would be a pain to find a root exploit on a SE linux system :/
[Galaxy Note 3 General] ShadowLea:
You generally don't notice it. They introduced it in the August update, but didn't advertise it.

Browse their forums, then. And I've not seen those stickers on the Note 3 box, either. They generally assume you don't actually leave your continent to go live abroad. Or just ask Samsung on their facebook, it's not a secret.

I had a bit of a discussion with Samsung NL and T-Mobile about flashing foreign stock firmware, in which the Region Lock came up as a reason for why they didn't advise it to mention to customers as a solution for specific issues. I can't show you the email, unfortunately, as it's confidential.

The most important thing is that it's FIRMWARE based. We're on XDA, how long do you think that lock will last once the CustomROMs start showing up?
[Galaxy Note 3 General] lucfeenstra:
Hi guys,

I've just had a reply from Samsung Mobile NL on Facebook which says the following:

"Hallo Luc,

Unlocken is helaas niet mogelijk. Op de verpakking en de handleiding van het toestel staat vermeld dat er een Regional Lock op zit. Het is wel zo dat Europese simkaarten wel werken in China, je kunt alleen geen Chinese simkaart in het toestel doen.

Groeten,

Samsung Mobile NL"

translated:

"Hi Luc,

Unfortunately it is not possible to unlock the phone. On the package and in the user manual it clearly states that there is a Regional Lock on this device. It is however possible to use European simcards in China, but you can't put a Chinese simcard in this device.

Best regards,

Samsung Mobile NL"

Looks like I will be returning by phone after having held the box for about an hour....Major disappointment.
[Galaxy Note 3 General] coolfreebies:
I wonder how many people will be actually sending there phones back and making a complaint.

Bad on you Samsung.... :(

Last Samsung product i will ever get!!!

coolfreebies
[Galaxy Note 3 General] TEKHD:
So this issue with the sticker should NOT apply for a US T-Mobile Note 3 right?
[Galaxy Note 3 General] DjeMBeY:
First of all is eFuse not Qfuse and it's just a rumor... Nothing has been confirmed yet.. :p

Unfortunately you CAN'T get root access and keep it at 0x0 (yet) , even flashing Official Pre-Rooted FW will trigger this flag because SuperSU is detected.. (tested on GT-I9505 with same Secured Bootloader)

There's a BIG chance that flag won't get risen if I add CSC only ... NO ROOT = nothing to detect... theory... ;)
[Galaxy Note 3 General] mathieulh:
South american variants have the lock. It is likely north American variants will too. In fact the south American model is the most restrictive as it lists EU MCC in the network lock while the EU model does not lock North American MCCs.
[Galaxy Note 3 General] artesea:
We are seeing Note 3 sold in the Americas with stickers stating they will only work with their SIM.
[Galaxy Note 3 General] bubblesmoney:
just file a claim at the comsumer court in india, its easy you dont need a lawyer and ask for full refund as you dont want your phone to get locked repeatedly with every visit abroad! its easy filing a claim in comsumer court (i have done that in the past). the waiting time is long and samsung will have to hire lawyer to fight their case and you can self represent and claim costs for time and expenses involved and damages. So samsung might find it better for themselves to fully refund you instead of fighting the case as it can take 5y for intial claim sometimes and they will pay legal team for all appearances! see if the consumer court option suits you. it took ages for my case many years ago and now the wait times may be shorter (hopefully!)

take gps tagged videos for proof of location and sim not working for evidence in court proceedings. use voice recorder apps to record every call and discussion with samsung for evidence to be produced in consumer court in india. and also write to ndtv about your problem especially the popular gadget doctor program on ndtv so that they air this complaint on prime time TV in india and samsung should take a hit in sales as they rightly deserve to do so. shoot a video of the problem and upload to youtube and send links on twitter to all samsung accounts of twitter and g+ so that more consumers are aware.
[Galaxy Note 3 General] Mustajab Is'haq:
I totally understand your frustration. But you might want to go to the nearest Samsung Store, as they have said that they will unlock the phone for you. So before selling your device, give them a try and report back here what response you get.

Best of luck!
[Galaxy Note 3 General] tmj12:
Hi jetskibill, it seems that the N9005 you bought from Malaysia is working fine with the UK simcard. I'm thinking of getting one from Malaysia too in the next few week when I travel out there. I just want to be sure that it will work in the UK and any other countries as I travel a lot. Have you ever used in any other countries yet apart from the UK? Your feedback on the experience of using the Malaysian N9005 would be helpful and much appreciated.
[Galaxy Note 3 General] midnite_blue:
maybe not...

It's hard to say, Killberty, without actually traveling with it out of region and then trying to use an out-of-region sim. Examining your CSC and not finding a blacklist will, though, probably mean your phone's not region-locked... at least until your next OTA update.
[Galaxy Note 3 General] midnite_blue:
three points & possibilities... #1

Does anyone else find this interesting?

1. Samsung made a minimal effort to alert owners of phones built after July about region locking being included in 4.4 Kit Kat -- limited to announcements in a couple of countries, announcements that surely reached only a fraction of owners worldwide. They then proceeded to slip the region lock into even older phones in 4.3 Jelly Bean.
[Galaxy Note 3 General] Mrlovkim:
I have the Note 3 here in Holland and when I travel to the states for two months using a tot while I am there better work. They said if activate in the country you bought it then you can use it any where so while in the states like I did with the S3 going from va day one to ATT. This note 3 better be able to do the same thing or this is my last Samsung.

Sent from my SM-N9005
[Galaxy Note 3 General] avenging:
I am in KSA now. jarir bookstore said that once you use the sim from the original country that it will unlock. good luck.

PS. i bought SD version also in KSA.
[Galaxy Note 3 General] lemon48:
It didn't work for me. I paid the price and bought my telephone. Why I have to work so hard to make my telephone work ?? This my last Samsung. I will never and ever buy any Samsung product again.
[Galaxy Note 3 General] Rickdaddy:
chainfire's region lockaway doesn't work for you guys?
[Galaxy Note 3 General] Mustajab Is'haq:
Yes I know that's what every single person selling the N3 is saying. However it has been very difficult for people to use their phones outside of the region it they actually bought it from. Have you tried using it in any other country outside KSA?

P.S: Any price drops since launch? Also could you tell me the RAM available in the SD version. Is it 2.3 GB or 2.5 GB?

You have to call someone or let someone else call you. They say that the total minutes of you calling and or receiving any call should be 5 minutes. This has to be done with a local SIM card. After that the Region Lock is (supposedly) disabled. Have you tried that?
[Galaxy Note 3 General] midnite_blue:
to jetskibill #1

Samsung had an agenda when designing the specifics of their Region Locks, blacklisting some countries and not others. U.S. country codes haven't appeared on any of the blacklists so one wouldn't expect to get the code-requesting region-lock screen after inserting a U.S. sim. Not getting a region-lock screen when using a sim from a non-blacklisted country doesn't mean one's phone is not locked.

(You couldn't make local calls while having that sim installed since a) you weren't connecting with a local cell-service provider and b) you weren't able to roam using a U.S.-based network since, I assume, you don't currently have an agreement with either a U.S. carrier or a MNVO pre-paid reseller.)
[Galaxy Note 3 General] jetskibill:
Hi

This is correct I have not activated the USA SIM as yet as I am not visiting the USA until March 2014 so its fair to say I cant be 100% sure that it will be ok until I reach the USA where it will be active on their networks

What we need are more SIM cards from supposedly blocked/ black listed countries to try here but the same would apply as above as in it would not be 100% guaranteed until you get to that country to try the phone there

Given that though as I have previously said there are no Network Region locks listed in the csc file on my (hopefully) fully unlocked region free N-9005)

If you can advise me of a SIM card from a country that should initiate the PIN request for an unlock code I would be happy to source one in and try it in my phone (hopefully fully region unlocked) and post the results when known

Let me know if I can help further
[Galaxy Note 3 General] midnite_blue:
to jetskibill #2

Based on this, your phone is probably not region locked... for now.

Whenever you update your firmware, Samsung could introduce new and unpredictable restrictions to your phone. Or you may already have a Samsung-embedded trojan horse somewhere in your FW, ready to be activated by them at a time of their choosing.

CSC files with the region-lock blacklists started showing up this last summer. Samsung didn't send the Lock message until the fall, after the Note 3 was launched, keeping their plan under wraps most likely because they didn't want to impair their flagship's pre-release ramp-up with any negative PR.
[Galaxy Note 3 General] lemon48:
Thank you. I did, but it didn't work. It is not only me. I know some people who has the same situation.

SM-N9005 cihazımdan Tapatalk kullanılarak gönderildi
[Galaxy Note 3 General] jetskibill:
Yes agreed

I am awaiting the latest firmware that Samsung have released but wish to wait for the specific XME version for Malaysia rather than update to BTU (UK firmware) which probably does have Network Lock list in the CSC

It will be interesting to see if they apply region Network locks to specific countries in the newer CSC for the XME firmware but someone will have to confirm and compare these changes
[Galaxy Note 3 General] midnite_blue:
I think it's a good guess that -- unless your FW gets altered beforehand like with a recent update -- your phone won't be region-locked when you get here (though you may have to do some radio-frequency matching between your device and the various available networks, as you probably know).

But for those who were in fact region-locked and went through the prescribed steps... you're right that they won't know they're in the clear until they travel. Yair1101m successfully tested his Israeli sim while he was in the States, but it didn't turn out to work in Israel.

And there's krooksrocks' experience with his seemingly unlocked Indian N3 freaking out when he went to the Netherlands and tried a local sim. That must have been maddening, krooksrocks. Sad to hear that, man.
[Galaxy Note 3 General] jetskibill:
I know its tempting to take any firmware updates that are released through Samsung but I think I will stick with what I have at the moment as that will be my safest option

Ill update when I get back and then check the differences in the CSC field but hopefully by then Samsung will have seen the light and have done away with the region lock altogether .... yeah right!

If I order in a SIM from Israel (given your info above) do you think that this should pull up a region unlock code from my phone?
[Galaxy Note 3 General] midnite_blue:
it will take a serious fight...

Since you are probably safe from the region-locking disaster for now, I wouldn't think there is a sim that would cause your phone to prompt you for a code, jetskibill. (Your last post just now came through as I write this... ) No, not from Israel or anywhere, since your CSC has no blacklist. Of course the mechanism of the lock could change at any point.

No, Samsung is not the type of organization that backs down on this kind of thing. This is a 'from the top' directive in a very top-down company... and the boss has been convicted of some serious stuff... tax evasion, slush funds, bribing government officials... including judges, prosecutors and legislators. Samsung just got caught -- and fined for -- paying people to post positive reviews of their products. Doesn't sound like there's been any character-changing epiphemy for the son of Samsung's founder and head of Samsung Electronics. The Korean Justice Department tried to get a sentence of seven years in prison and the equivalent of $350 billion. He was convicted but the sentence reduced to three years suspended jail time and $98 million... chump change to a man with a declared worth of $12.6 billion. He's received two Presidential pardons over the years and serves on the International Olympic Committee. This is someone who's used to doing what he wants and getting away with it.

---------- Post added at 06:14 AM ---------- Previous post was at 05:59 AM ----------

Your circumstances, jetskibill, illustrate an important point, belying Samsung's official position that they've done all this to curtail the 'grey market.' My understanding of their complaint -- and please correct me, anyone, if I'm mistaken in this -- is that cheaper phones from Asia are being moved to Western markets, reducing sales of the marked-up phones which yield Samsung a higher profit margin.

How does leaving cheaper Asian phones unlocked -- so that they continue to work in the west and offer western consumers the new advantage of avoiding the whole unlocking hassle -- discourage the flow of products from east to west?
[Galaxy Note 3 General] Rickdaddy:
Anyone?
[Galaxy Note 3 General] midnite_blue:
three points & possibilities... #2

Interesting, isn't it...

2. Region-Locking's introduction coincided with the appearance of Knox and the locked bootloader... in part to try to prevent or, if that didn't succeed, punish any effort to circumvent the lock?
[Galaxy Note 3 General] louiscar:
Just thought I'd mention that I'm thrashing out an issue with Amazon because the phone I bought from Amazon uk (market seller fulfilled by Amazon) turned out to be a Malaysian phone. In my case I wasn't happy because Samsung are telling me that they will not service it under the warranty in the UK. It has to go back there. However, since you are after one from this region you might do well to buy one from Amazon's market sellers. (the seller that I bought from was Tedrex)
[Galaxy Note 3 General] Mustajab Is'haq:
I might try that if I decide to root it. I'll see if the store guys check if the device is rooted or not. If they don't check it, then I'll be happy to try that method too.

I'm supposed to travel there next year though.
[Galaxy Note 3 General] louiscar:
If Samsung confirmed your phone is a Malaysian one I presume they also told you any warranty will have to be from there too?

Mine had no sticker either - is a Malaysian one but had a custom sticker saying "region locked phone". That sticker was a requirement presumably by Amazon (uk) to the market seller as they had got a lot of complaints and Amazon adjusted their description to Galaxy note 3 - region locked phone. Given the CSC though it's unlikely a locked phone.
[Galaxy Note 3 General] jetskibill:
Hi

Mine had no region locked stickers at all just the blue Samsung seals.

When I called and registered it with Samsung UK they said it had 24 months warranty worldwide and that's live on my account now

There are certainly a few flavours of this phone but if yours originates from Malaysia it should not be locked nor region locked to their local laws in their country which makes it illegal to do this

Have you checked your firmware as being XME and if so have you checked your CSC file for Network Locked country codes?
[Galaxy Note 3 General] akdenizx:
I have bought my phone from Saturn Tech Shop, Berlin. At the moment i can use it without any problems within EU countries, such as Lithuania. But a friend of me has a Turkish SIM card and it was blocked when i insert it first time. But after some days, (phone calls more than 20 minutes), the Region lock for Turkish SIM card got lost.

Please check http://xdaforums.com/showpost.php?p=47463769&postcount=1371 this post.
[Galaxy Note 3 General] jetskibill:
So correct me if I am wrong ..... you tried the Turkish SIM and it was blocked .... you then removed it and fitted your original SIM I would guess and used it for 20 minutes or so?

You then re tried the Turkish SIM and it worked with no region lock and no unlock code was requested the second time?

Is this a correct version of events?
[Galaxy Note 3 General] akdenizx:
@jetskibill, exactly as you wrote. Now the phone has no region lock. But it has disappeared after a few days use with EU sim card.

Ps. During this time, I made phone calls up to 20 minutes.