yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Galaxy Note 3 General] BarryH_GEG:
Actually, regional locking is quite clever. It's Samsung's obsession with controlling the sale of their products by region that's dumb.
[Galaxy Note 3 General] AcostaJA:
Ok, Assume I'm passive with all this ****, I buy my region-locked Note 3, and I activate with my local simcard which belong to the Note 3 region... Which Means It's unlocked then.

Then I'll travel anywhere and use local sim w/o issue.

But, what if if I need to do an Hard Reset ? (what ever circumnsance) and I'm away my region and I dont have my region simcard, It Will lock again or still segion unlocked ?

Dumb and Insane idea, AND WILL HAVE NO EFFECT ON GRAY MARKET AT ALL.
[Galaxy Note 3 General] eustilou:
It remains unlocked. Read UPDATE in blue towards the bottom of the article

http://ukmobilereview.com/2013/09/galaxy-note-3-sim-restrictions-full-story-unlock/

There are still reports that inserting a sim from your region first does NOT unlock the phone to other regions, so this thing isn't over yet.
[Galaxy Note 3 General] BarryH_GEG:
There's something about this that's odd. The Octa version isn't restricted and someone mentioned their LTE version from O2's been unlocked and doesn't appear to be restricted. There haven't been any reports (yet) from the ME, Asia, or Latin America about any restrictions either. Maybe this has less to do with Samsung and more to do with the EU carriers wanting to sell their own versions of the N3? Samsung's also using Qualcomm's Envelope Tracker chip for the first time. Maybe there's something unique about EU networks? If Samsung really was doing this to force sales within specific regions (kill gray market sales) they would have placed the same restriction on the Octa N3 and the SGS4 too. The latter sells in higher volumes too. They also know the importance of global roaming to business people so they know what the risk of restricting carrier access is to their sales. There's more to this than we currently know.
[Galaxy Note 3 General] beasty54:
I've put my simple mobile sim card into my uk Note 3 and there's no error message like you see on a locked phone. I guess there's a good chance we wouldn't get any sort of message anyway, it simply wont connect to the network once i get to the U.S.
[Galaxy Note 3 General] lm that guy:
So I contacted Negri and they said the Black TMO Note 3 here: http://negrielectronics.com/samsung-galaxy-note-3-32gb-lte-t-mobile-unlocked-black.html is infact a US model and it's warranty would be utilized within the US as well. So we are in the good?
[Galaxy Note 3 General] BarryH_GEG:
I guess it depends on your definition of "good." All the U.S. carrier phones Negri sells are the exact same phones the carrier's themselves sell. They've just had the SIM unlocked before they sell them. So each U.S. version has the radio that's unique to that respective carrier. So whatever T-Mobile's radio supports is what you'll get. How that plays out for use on networks other than T-Mobile's remains to be seen and wouldn't be any different than if you bought a N3 from T-Mobile directly and had the SIM unlocked yourself.
[Galaxy Note 3 General] lm that guy:
I actually don't care if the phone came unlocked or not. It's just an added bonus. I wanted a phone that I could use with a prepaid T-mobile plan. I had no plans of using any other carrier. So as long as its a US T-Mobile phone, Im cool. But still im going to cancel my pre-order just to be safe and see what others are experiencing. Better safe than sorry.
[Galaxy Note 3 General] moonlanding:
Just put a Telstra PAYG SIM I used in Australia last month into my GN3 (Carphone Warehouse, O2 SIM).

I got an error message in the notification bar that reads "invalid SIM" and then "network locked SIM card inserted".

Then a grey screen appears with a dialogue headed "SIM network unlock PIN" with a box to enter a PIN, and underneath that, two option buttons: unlock or dismiss.

Anyone diagnose this?
[Galaxy Note 3 General] beasty54:
You usually get that message when your phone is sim locked
[Galaxy Note 3 General] dovid:
American Restrictions, too

As stated in a new thread, we received our NOTE 3 units today, and they have the same sticker (attached), but restricted for the Americas (North, South & Central)

-Dovid
[Galaxy Note 3 General] moonlanding:
Thanks. Is that just because it is locked to O2, or is this to do with the OP problem?
[Galaxy Note 3 General] Scootmien:
This is exactly the case for me. If I can't put a USA sim in the phone then this is a huge deal breaker and basically means the phone is not fit for the purpose I want it for, business whilst travelling. This deserves more research I think. I shall dig away...
[Galaxy Note 3 General] tossero:
Hello,

I am unable to get a firm answer from my operator whether the Note 3 will function or not overhere .

I am currently living in a French Overseas Island from Carribean region (Martinique) which is considered as french territory , part of the European Union , the main mobile operator is Orange Martinique - a branch of Orange France .

Do you guys think that I can keep my order with Clove ?

Thank you in advance !
[Galaxy Note 3 General] KevinsH:
Bought N9005 "Unlocked" yesterday in London, it don't work with all Russian's SIM :(

http://xdaforums.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=2282619&stc=1&d=1380130233
[Galaxy Note 3 General] shin lucifer:
So far do we know what is the sim restriction is based on? I mean is it software restriction or some hardware restriction? However overall this just seem such a BS move from who ever is responsible for this...
[Galaxy Note 3 General] RavenY2K3:
Obviously this is just my opinion but, I think it's gotta be a software thing.

They have 2 main variants of the Note 3, why (from a manufacturing point of view) would they go to the further trouble and expense to create further sub divisions at a hardware level, than the cost they've already incurred.

I reckon it's gonna be tied to something in the EFS, Modem, the way Knox works in the respective territories or, all of the above.

Further more, there's gotta be something significantly different about the SIM cards used in the countries used outside the EU (and vice versa) compared to everywhere else, like extra digits/data on the SIM cards or something, for it to detect the origin of the SIM card.

Like I said, only my opinion/theory, but don't think it's sounds too ludicrous. But I have no doubt that at the very least, some clever soul in the XDA community will figure out how they've done it, even if no work around its discovered.
[Galaxy Note 3 General] ShadowLea:
Isn't this simply because of the region lock Samsung put in their latest firmwares?
[Galaxy Note 3 General] ShaggyDragon:
Clove have added this to their Note 3 page:

We wish to make our customers aware of certain functionality limitation regarding SIM cards on the Note 3.

The Note 3 will work with any UK or European SIM card.

If you travel internationally (outside of the Europe) and usually insert a local SIM card when in the country, the Note 3 will NOT be able to use the local network. It will loose all mobile connectivity with the exception for emergency calls.

For example, if you travel to the USA and insert a SIM card issued in the USA, you will not be able to use the Note 3 for any voice calls, text messages and mobile date connection. It would work via a WiFi connection only.

We are accepting and shipping all orders from Europe, with the exception of those countries mentioned.

This is a real pain, it's the reason I'm not buying a Note 3 yet - I travel frequently and use local SIM cards in multiple countries.
[Galaxy Note 3 General] RavenY2K3:
I remember back in the day, when I had my Dell Steak, O2 had exclusivity and didn't release unlock codes, to use a SIM from another operator you had to use something called a rebel SIM, I wonder if using something like that will help?

http://rebelsimcard.com
[Galaxy Note 3 General] dovid:
Note 3 Americas SM-N900 LTA version - SIM LOCKED

B"H

Enclosed are some pics of what happened when I inserted a Vodaphone (Euro / UK) sim card into the NOTE 3 - SM-N900 LTA Spec phone.

This is not a software issue, but a hardware issue - this is a SIM LOCK, plain and simple.

Holy Cow - what is going on?

-Dovid

On The Go Solutions, Inc
[Galaxy Note 3 General] ShadowFlare:
Just got mine as well today (N9005 Europe version)... and to think I'll be bringing this phone as well on holiday to Asia in 4 days....

Dammit Samsung, you just screwed alooot of your loyal customers. Thanks alot for not mentioning about this part in advance.
[Galaxy Note 3 General] shin lucifer:
So as far as i understand this from reading so many post in various thread. The sim lock code; as long we can get the code, we can use the phone in different regions with different carriers. How ever the code is specific to different carriers. Now the question is will the carriers cough up the codes for us who bought the phone and are not on any contract?

If so, as some of us travel around the world very frequently we can just keep getting sim from diff carriers with unlock code... Or is it just me being overly optimistic.
[Galaxy Note 3 General] Koguchi9:
Hmmm some conflicting experiences with different people. Activate using local sim then change to another region sim and it will work, quite simple except it didn't in gfung's case.
[Galaxy Note 3 General] RavenY2K3:
Most simple solution would be to include one of those SIM cards you get in super markets for like £0.99 activate it in the phone then throw the SIM card away.
[Galaxy Note 3 General] Darkjamzi:
LOL.....

the optimal mobile experience would involve leaving this crap out of it...... :silly:

Whenever a company says "In order to provide customers with the (fill in word) experience, you can be 100% certain you're getting screwed. :highfive:
[Galaxy Note 3 General] shin lucifer:
So if i purchase the phone from ATT in USA. I have to first use ATT sim to unlock it. Then if i want to use T mobile sim i can use it. Or i cant use the T mobile sim because the phone was purchase from ATT.? and vice versa.
[Galaxy Note 3 General] Darkjamzi:
It depends, if ATT sim-locks the phone, you can't. This discussion is about region locked phones.
[Galaxy Note 3 General] mathieulh:
I went to a Samsung service center (there is one about 10 meters away from my place) about the network lock, they didn't even know about it...
[Galaxy Note 3 General] basilbaby:
Activating with local SIM not seems working

Activating with local SIM not seems working. I have tested, Even after making a call, the phone remain locked to other region SIM cards.

I have heard that the phone should pick signal from 5 different base stations before getting SIM lock removed.
[Galaxy Note 3 General] mathieulh:
Hum... where did you hear that ? How long did you have the phone connected to the home network for?
[Galaxy Note 3 General] BarryH_GEG:
There are links in the past couple of pages of people activating with a correct regional SIM and then being able to use multiple different SIMs from outside their region. This is the most important part of Samsung UK's announcement...

"When the device is activated with a SIM card issued from the other region, the device may be automatically locked until it is released at the dedicated service centre.​

I'd take that to mean if you turn on the N3 for the first time with a SIM card from a region it's not compatible with you're screwed and have to have Samsung unlock the device for you.

Link? And not a from a fellow XDA'r that's guessing.
[Galaxy Note 3 General] basilbaby:
[MENTION=777123]mathieulh[/MENTION] . From Samsung officials.. Almost 10mins.
[Galaxy Note 3 General] BarryH_GEG:
He's asking the same thing I am. You said you "heard" something and haven't provided any support for what you're saying.
[Galaxy Note 3 General] A-Alzayani:
Assuming this is true, there is still some q's need to be answered

Why they didn't say anything about this earlier, and released a proper and clear press statement

Why didn't Samsung tell their distribution partners about this

What about hard reseting the device, this for sure will undo the 'regional SIM release', and you maybe abroad when this happens

Why the warning label on the device didn't state clearly that 'Once a device is activated normally, the regional SIM lock is automatically released'

I got my Note3 on sep 25th before i knew about this, i check the customer.xml file in csc folder , and the good thing i am off the hook (it also didn't come with warning sticker), got mine from Bahrain local samsung distributor (SM-N9005, Build number JSS15J.N9005XXUBMI7)
[Galaxy Note 3 General] M_M_F:
Sorry for asking again, did anyone try these guys:

unlockunit.com/blog/how-to-unlock-samsung-galaxy-note-3-using-unlock-codes

and this one:

puman.ru/imei/productsandservices

1)Samsung Galaxy Europe ALL ( 2-24h )

2)ATT SAMSUNG i997 / i727/ i777 / Note / Note 2 /Note 3 /S4/ ETC

i am asking because this is the easiest solution for people how doesn't have a regional sim around. i hope others tried them as its the only hope for me.
[Galaxy Note 3 General] BarryH_GEG:
Samsung has and always will suck at communication. They do a decent job with product launches but outside of that that their communication is piss poor.

If the sticker on the N3's box said "WARNING: First activation must be made with a SIM card from this devices assigned region in order to fully unlock worldwide GSM roaming" we wouldn't be having this 38 page discussion as it would have been fairly self-explanatory. See the above for why it ended up a cluster f-.

Apparently based on comments above it doesn't. Maybe some dev-types can add some commentary as to why that would be true.

Excellent question. ;)
[Galaxy Note 3 General] tester5224:
Do you mean that you have the right area SIM card, but you're connecting it to the phone in a different area for the activation, and it doesn't work because it can't find the SIM's native network ?
[Galaxy Note 3 General] MickyFoley:
*scratch* I see it:

*** Get your Samsung Galaxy Note 3 with a free regional SIM-card! ***

User comes, activates it & throws it into the trash. Nobody will win in this case. And be sure: It'll come, because otherwise, it'll become a slow- or non-seller.

Also as said before: The black-market will also win. You'll get a phone with a broken seal, but unlocked phones will make their way through. Samsung should've known this.
[Galaxy Note 3 General] waleed-:
I just received my note 3 from Handtec. The phone has not activated with KU/EU SIM card before. Now it works with At&t, T-mobile, H2O and Straight Talk SIM cards, but does not work with Saudi's SIM card (asking for pin). I am looking for unlock the handsets, is there any trusted website to purchase the code?
[Galaxy Note 3 General] M_M_F:
Waleed, try these and PLEASE tell me if they work, waiting for mine tomorrow in Egypt and if it works with you i will try it:

unlockunit.com/blog/how-to-unlock-samsung-galaxy-note-3-using-unlock-codes

and this one:

puman.ru/imei/productsandservices
[Galaxy Note 3 General] tester5224:
It might not help also. There's a report here that the native area sim need to to have reception to its native cellular network for the unlock to succeed. Which means, even if you have the right SIM but you're in a different country, it would not unlock. Of course, its only a single report, might be BS.

But if it's indeed like that, I couldn't care less, Because it will only hurt Samsung. Not everyone that's buying Samsung from a different country, will buy in his own country. And when it hurt the grey import in the local country, some people will instead choose to buy something from other vendor, like HTC, LG, SONY....
[Galaxy Note 3 General] Netskyliner:
I cancelled my Note 3 command. Will wait till tuesday to get sure of it´s unlockable or not. Otherwise will buy Sony Z1 instead
[Galaxy Note 3 General] BarryH_GEG:
You realize that's exactly what Samsung's trying to do, right? They only want people to buy Samsung's products within the region(s) they are intended to be sold in. So region locking will have one of three impacts: 1) people will continue to buy Samsung product but only from the correct region, 2) people will continue to buy grey market Samsung products and figure out ways around their safeguards, or 3) they'll buy other brands that support the grey market. You'd have to think Samsung's run the numbers on the possible impact of all three scenarios and will be fine with any of them.

People saying that because of region lock they won't buy another Samsung product are giving Samsung exactly what they want. To stop the sale of devices outside the regions Samsung wants them sold in. So your boycott of Samsung could be seen as somewhat of a victory on their part. If it's a couple of hundred thousand people that's pretty meaningless against the 250M mobile devices Samsung will sell in 2013.
[Galaxy Note 3 General] tester5224:
No no, Samsung want you to buy Samsung's devices, but in your country. If you don't buy samsung at all, it's a lose lose situation for Samsung,

About only thousands sales lost. I think you're wrong. In some countries, gray market is much cheaper than the official importer, and sells even at higher numbers, so people will just find an alternative to samsung by buying other cheaper vendor device

And bigger and smarter companies than Samsung made critical mistakes in the past. I'm not saying this one is a critical mistake, but its gonna hurt them anyhow.

---------- Post added at 09:37 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:26 PM ----------

Better yet, if only few thousands phones are sold are ones that originate from other areas, why would Samsung care about that? It's because it's substantial number, and not few thousands,

They hoping that almost all people will still buy samsung even when they have to pay much higher price. I guess we will have to wait and see if they are right about that.
[Galaxy Note 3 General] Xshinobi:
Is the Octa version the only one that is offered to the Americas region? Or can I get a unlocked U.S carrier version and use it in the Caribbean?
[Galaxy Note 3 General] chrisn0123:
Just been posted on Twitter:

http://mashable.com/2013/09/27/samsung-region-locking-phones/
[Galaxy Note 3 General] edem84:
Hi,

The Galaxy Note 3 is zoned! Locking the SIM card? NO!

Read this, it's actually pretty well thought :)

http://www.sammobile.com/2013/09/27...cking-works-and-its-not-as-bad-as-we-thought/
[Galaxy Note 3 General] samaliset:
Many thanks

Indeed it looks very clear and informative. anyway for , while I was waiting since the first post.

By the way i have read on a French forum Hardware.fr that some ones got theirs from Bouygues telecom provider with no sticker on the box he mentioned that his device is completely simunlocked. Iwrote him to make sure if that means all region.

Anyway with SamMobile clarification I think the subject is close for me and I can go and buy mine.
[Galaxy Note 3 General] BarryH_GEG:
Ding. Ding. Ding. We have a winner!
[Galaxy Note 3 General] tester5224:
So ? If the price will be higher, don't you think that many people will go and buy other brands? How this help Samsung ?
[Galaxy Note 3 General] Netskyliner:
Yes but phones from Bouygues are branded so they are always simlocked.
[Galaxy Note 3 General] BarryH_GEG:
It supports their regional distributors who carry the overhead of sales, marketing, and support that unauthorized resellers don't incur. It also allows Samsung to set the cost each regional distributor pays for the products they sell which also affects the actual selling price in each region. Samsung can also control the customer experience when their products are sold by authorized resellers. Crappy experiences people have at the hands of grey market resellers reflect on Samsung.

I'm not defending the policy; I don't like it any more than anyone else here. But I do understand the logic of it.
[Galaxy Note 3 General] samaliset:
I am not sure, please read this post; 27-09-2013 à 18:07:23 on that forum (http://forum.hardware.fr/hfr/gsmgpspda/telephone-android/unique-samsung-galaxy-sujet_25849_51.htm) if you understand French.
[Galaxy Note 3 General] Dumbo53:
I think we all understand the logic behind Samsung's desire to hinder gray market sales, but we may be losing sight of another motivation behind all this if they are using a whitelist to enforce their "region lock". It may be possible for example to travel from one region to another and use a "Samsung approved carrier" there, but users may find to their frustration that it is the most expensive carrier in the country.

This strategy would allow Samsung to get money or favors from major telecoms in exchange for butressing their (carriers) monopolistic position in their local markets. It's called "making relationships with trusted partners". They could at the same time make the argument that they sell unlocked phones because they work on certain carriers in different regions. More money for them and the carriers they favor; highly anti-competitive. :sweet:

That possibility is why I would urge everyone to be patient and wait to see what happens in practice when more users get the device in all regions and report on their experiences, rather than pouncing on every tortured statement from Samsung's PR or legal department or the latest bit of annecdotal evidence and seeing it as proof of deliverance or disaster.

Now you are all free to jump on me all at once for baseless speculation...
[Galaxy Note 3 General] Netskyliner:
It´s listed as sim unlocked. But as I live in France, I know till now that bouygues does not sell unbranded phones.
[Galaxy Note 3 General] samaliset:
OK fair

I am too French and I am thinking picking it at Virginmobile with 500e.
[Galaxy Note 3 General] tester5224:
I understand their motives. Although, I don't agree about crappy experiences from grey market resellers. Many times the crappy experiences come from the official seller, which put a lot of bloatware and does not update the rom at timely fashion \ stop OTA updates early. Not all markets has the same support level from Samsung. In some markets, Official importer that does not belong to Samsung but sells and give the support, and there's no Samsung support center at all.

But after all said and done, this probably will not change the market much. Grey resellers will activate the phone using the right SIM, in the final location. And if it will not be possible, they will do that in the source country... Unless Samsung have a way to prevent this. And in this case, I think its gonna hurt Samsung more than it gonna benefit them.
[Galaxy Note 3 General] Netskyliner:
Same thing but I cancelled my order. As I travel a lot, need to be sure that It could be full unlocked. Otherwise Will be buying Sony Z1 instead :(