yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Galaxy Note 3 General] bubblesmoney:
amazon has updated their product description to region locked

Thanks to everyone who posted comments and reviews and returned their handsets, now amazon uk has updated the product description to region locked

white version http://www.amazon.co.uk/Samsung-Galaxy-Note-Free-Smartphone/dp/B00F0FVKN6/ref=cm_rdp_product

black version http://www.amazon.co.uk/Samsung-Galaxy-Note-Free-Smartphone/dp/B00F0FVKRM/ref=cm_rdp_product

for those in the UK who were sold region locked handsets when not mentioned in the product description by any website, you can use the distance selling regulations and sale of goods acts to return the product for refund. the second act can be used for sales by shops as well.

has anyone any contacts at rogue dealers program on the bbc and gadget news spot on the bbc, probably they could try to get this issue high lighted, more so the fact that samsung is now planning on updating via OTA phones already sold to region locked versions. Hopefully they will pick up this news due to retrospective effect on phones already sold.
[Galaxy Note 3 General] iba21:
But it seems the most of the restrictions is with the qualcomm version

Probably the african and south asia n900 version is "free" til a mod by samsung

I'd want to buy the n900,but, the regional lock stops me..
[Galaxy Note 3 General] dxzh:
Reporting no MCC block list in CSC

I agree that this thread has had only one report of a non-Qualcomm phone with a MCC block list, and that was from the Americas region (Trinidad & Tobago). This might be the result of under-reporting because: this is primarily a European Note 3 thread with the most relevant model therefore being the N9005; and/or because people are understandably assuming that no sticker on the box means that there will be no MCC list in the CSC. It would be great to rule out any under-reporting bias by receiving feedback from those with no sticker on the box who have actually looked inside the system/csc/customer.xml file of their Note 3 just to confirm that: there are

no

network locks hidden away in their CSC (eg: no "NetworkLock" fields); and the name of that CSC file.
[Galaxy Note 3 General] barokov:
So, it seems that the problem is solved.

Hi guys,

I bout My GT-N9005 from Clove UK on September 26. Meanwhile I read this thread about the problem with the regional lock and get worried. I made the first activation with my SIM card - European SIM from Mtel Bulgaria - and phone works fine. After that I tried to use some of my Chinese SIM cards and the Unlock message appear immediately! Bad luck.

After that I checked the situation with the local service center and they told me that this solution must be working. I tried many times during last 10 days to put a Chinese SIM card and the result was always the same - unlocking code message. Today I decided to call the local call center and ask for the unlock code. Just before making the call I checked again with my Chinese SIM cards and surprisingly ALL OF THEM WORKING - THERE IS NO ANY UNLOCK CODE MESSAGE! May be one has to use a phone for some time and after that the phone unlock it self!!!

P.S. Just before putting the first Chinese SIM card today, when I restarted the phone, there was some message for the updating of some Samsung service on the phone. There was needed some confirmation of the new terms of use... Unfortunately I do not paid so much attention of the name of this service and I do not know if this update has something with the phone unlocking. I think this service was something like "Samsung push service"but now 100% sure...

Hope you find this post useful.

my CSC N9005OXABMI6

P.P.S. Just received a message for the OTA firmware update!
[Galaxy Note 3 General] dxzh:
Can you have a look in system/csc/customer.xml and find out what "NetworkLock" fields are listed so that can understand what might have changed in the OTA?
[Galaxy Note 3 General] wimbelgium:
This would be very good news and in fact confirming what Samsung told from the beginning...
[Galaxy Note 3 General] luketoms:
I have performed the OTA this morning on my SM-N9005 in the UK but all of the 63 NetworkLock country codes are still listed. I haven't got a SIM from another region so sadly I cannot check whether it will work. It would be very interesting to see if barokov's phone now has China removed from the list.
[Galaxy Note 3 General] dxzh:
Just to try and keep track of different CSCs, could you include the CSC file name? Can be shown by dialling *#1234# into stock dialler.
[Galaxy Note 3 General] Chranich:
I can't confirm that either. I had the same update for Samsung Push Up Service today but my S3 still requires SIM network unlock PIN with Chinese SIM card. My MCC did not get modified by that :(
[Galaxy Note 3 General] tmj12:
Let's us all report this Samsung fiasco to the BBC Watchdog programme in the UK (http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006mg74) to get wider coverage and the issues highlighted accordingly, and hopefully Samsung will take note and respond to it.
[Galaxy Note 3 General] ruscook:
Not necessarily, it could be the Telecoms carriers, "requesting" this from Samsung to keep their phones as a premium in store product. They do have strong partnerships.

It will also be hard to stop. In a way it's similar to how Microsoft do corporate pricing.

MS Claim they don't set the price - because that is illegal in a lot of countries.

BUT the large account reseller says, MS only give's X percentage discount on licences so they have no room to move.

Which ever one you challenge says - it's the other guys fault!

I can see this happening. Samsung will say "carriers requested this feature" and Carriers will say "Samsung implemented it not us".

A petition may be the way to go, and letting all the Android sites AusDroid, android central, Cnet, the Register etc know so the media is on side.
[Galaxy Note 3 General] SousukeUK:
And you wonder why Samsung did it?

That's your reason right there why they locked the region.

Regional division losing money or sales because of grey imports or the local government don't like the idea of loss of tax revenue.

Or could be both.

We in UK also get the special "Being British Tax" so I can understand your pain e.g USD $499 get translate to GBP £499 all the time.
[Galaxy Note 3 General] lucfeenstra:
Sure, appreciate that.

Just read that the sticker is also found by the devices sold at the official Samsung store in London though, which is quite worrying..
[Galaxy Note 3 General] SousukeUK:
Interestingly enough all the screen shot of the Pin required splash screen reminds me of the last network locked phone I bought.

It was a Huawei Ascend W1 (Windows phone) I got direct from O2 UK with pre-paid SIM.

And it would not take a different SIM even though it was a pre-paid phone fully paid.

It would show the exact same type of SIM lock screen.

So I had to buy a unlock code from unlocking website using the IMEI number and type in the code at the lock screen, which allowed me to use other network SIM.

And it persisted even after factory reset, didn't had to type the code in again.

I sent the phone to my sister (who is living in Bangladesh), she is using the phone with local carrier SIM without any problem too.

So maybe same solution will work on Note 3 too?

Only time or XDA-Dev will tell.
[Galaxy Note 3 General] glurak888:
German carriers aren't that extrem to phones exported.

They are kind of accepting it, that's an issue Samsung wants because they earn more in england.

Also we pay more than the us users normally.

But **** Samsung.

Gesendet von meinem Nexus 4 mit Tapatalk 4
[Galaxy Note 3 General] Netskyliner:
Someone tried traditional sim unlock codes on "unlocked" note 3 or tried to guess if simlocked model got full unlock with these codes?

Someone tried rebel simcard on this model?

I do not have actually a Note 3 so I can't test these options by myself.
[Galaxy Note 3 General] kiyodi:
Asia/Pacific devices do not seem to be affected by this restriction. I purchased one in Malaysia and my European SIM's work fine.
[Galaxy Note 3 General] misfit2013:
oduldly stock

are you sure you have sm-m9005 version?
[Galaxy Note 3 General] 200mpx:
It seems that Russian N900 (Octa) has no restrictions with sim - at least Greek sim card is valid on it. It seems to me that sim restrictions has affected only snapdragon versions.
[Galaxy Note 3 General] omeryounos:
Stupidest mistake by Samsung...first flawed design (screen breaking) of SGS 4...and now this stupidity with region lock note 3. Seems like in trying to become the next Apple, they are digging their own grave...if they don't retract on there stupid mistakes....I'm moving out of Samsung for my next phone...may be Sony Xperia ultra or LG G2...or perhaps iPhone 5S....
[Galaxy Note 3 General] robster23:
A solution is probably easy to handle. Just have a look at a file called customer.xml in the csc folder (\system)...

Gesendet von meinem GT-N7100 mit Tapatalk 2
[Galaxy Note 3 General] jutley:
Samsung this is a bad move business users will look elsewhere you better unrestrict the lock if you want to sell the device towards the business market.
[Galaxy Note 3 General] deeforums:
This looks promising... now we need a rooted device to test it on

And would be good to have an Octa version of the file...

to compare...
[Galaxy Note 3 General] non1oson:
it's unfortunate that nobody is in the same playing field as the note 3. I wish there was better competition
[Galaxy Note 3 General] WILD9:
Is there a chance that this is a temporary block during the launch to prevent people buying all the stock in certain countries and shipping them to countries that the device hasn't launched in yet? Maybe the next software update will lift it?
[Galaxy Note 3 General] artesea:
Assuming the numbers ending BB are just MCC numbers, it would appear that the list is those networks to block. Most appear as Asia / Russia. eg 510BB = Indonesia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_country_code

Fingers crossed for just replacing the file once rooted.
[Galaxy Note 3 General] coolfreebies:
Morning,

Spoke to a lady from Samsung customer service and she told me that Samsung didn't want the Note 3 used outside the EU and i could get my network to unlock the phone to see if that would work but could not guarantee this this would work 100%, my alternative would be to to take it back to store and get a refund and cancel my contract...

Do you think that there will be a hack for this to unlock it or it is permanently going to be like this.

coolfreebies
[Galaxy Note 3 General] iakovl:
and the phones you get from USA are all simfree and unlocked... :laugh::laugh::laugh:

rather then lock each phone to a company in EU samsung made it EU-free not Global-free

again, i have people in israel getting phones from USA all the time

there are guides here in XDA to unlock them

you can buy unlock codes for them

this is how things work in this world, thats the reason i don't think the regional lock is an issue... saves some time for ppl in EU
[Galaxy Note 3 General] non1oson:
so lol @ providing code and requiring code on phone to access from outside EU and doesn't even guarantee it will work. rofl what a joke.
[Galaxy Note 3 General] Koguchi9:
What gets me and makes me laugh at the same time is that leading up to the announcement of this phone there were so much info getting leaked that turned out to be accurate, so many previews and reviews that mentioned nothing of this.

Only when somebody actually purchased it did it come to light. It's definitely Samsung and being quiet about this restriction makes them look so shady.

What was it? You either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain? LOL I know, a tad dramatic ;)
[Galaxy Note 3 General] barokov:
I keep the old file and as soon I made the OTA will check what are the differences if any.
[Galaxy Note 3 General] dxzh:
Clove blog update

Just noticed that there is an update on the Clove website (see http://blog.clove.co.uk/2013/09/25/samsung-galaxy-note-3-sim-limitations/) which includes the following salutary statement:

"We now reiterate that our own experience and that of our customers and colleagues contradicts these statements. As a direct result of what we have learned, we will therefore not be allowing shipments outside of the compatible territories, without the express consent of the customer who we have ensured is aware of the regional lock limitations."

Pretty sad that Samsung is apparently incapable of issuing a clear reassurance about the regional lock to all of its customers and suppliers.
[Galaxy Note 3 General] luketoms:
Sure, my CSC is N9005OXABMJ1.
[Galaxy Note 3 General] barokov:
Actually the customer.xml looks completely the same as before - no any changes - just check it carefully.
[Galaxy Note 3 General] wimbelgium:
Apparently on my galaxy s4 EU version (2 month old)there is a blacklist too now in the customers.xml file for 38 countries, does this mean that there is than automaticly a block too?

I put a Senegal sim in it, that seems to work, but than Senegal is for THE moment not a blocked country as far as I can find...
[Galaxy Note 3 General] dxzh:
Samsung - deliberately damaging customer interests and innovation?

Another route would be to contact the European Commission to investigate - Ms Kroes as Vice President of the EC is already looking at this sector not just roaming and local MEPs might be prepared to take up this in the European Parliament especially if they have already been involved in roaming legislation.

Check out http://ec.europa.eu/commission_2010-2014/kroes/ and Ms Kroes' recent statement (see video on that page) on the future of the telecom sector and "consumers who need full and transparent access to telecom services".

The deliberate anti-competitive and anti-consumer aspects of this sort of regional lockdown generally and in particular by Samsung, given its dominant market share, should be of real interest to the EC whether:

- it is the lack of transparency and plain language used about the locks which are being imposed on European consumers, and thereby damaging the European consumers' ability to make an informed choice;

- it is the imposition of the locks on phones when they are being sold SIM-free or afterwards when software is being upgraded, to European consumers and businesses, and thereby damaging European consumers' and business' ability to roam freely worldwide and/or potentially increasing the cost to European consumers and businesses of doing so; or

- it goes to wider electronic hardware issues such as the unfair removal of warranties from European consumers simply because mobiles are being modified, and thereby potentially reducing technological innovation in Europe as well as damaging European consumers' right of recourse for issues not caused by such modifications.

(I am sure there could be similar arguments made by those from other affected regions to their own regional policy-makers.)
[Galaxy Note 3 General] wetsleet:
Another possible point of pressure for UK buyers would be Ofcom, who as well as being the "Independent regulator and competition authority

for the UK communications industries", have issued this following advice to UK travellers:

"Another option is to buy a local pay-as-you-go SIM card when you arrive at your destination. It means you’ll be using a different number but will ensure you pay local prices and can be particularly worthwhile for people who frequently visit the same country."

They might at least add a rejoinder "...unless you have a Samsung phone, in which case tough!"

And in their role as the industry's competition authority they ought to be interested in Samsung's attempt to subvert competitive pressure on UK foreign roaming fees.
[Galaxy Note 3 General] dxzh:
It seems that you have a regional lock but, without testing it with different SIMs, there seems no easy way currently to know if the regional lock is switched ON. The good news is that no list of NetworkLock MCCs seen in a CSC so far on this thread has included Senegal.

If there are 38 countries the odds are that they will be exactly the same ones as for each of the following CSCs: N9005OXXBMH1, I9300DBTEMG3 and I905AUTDMI1, none of which refer to Senegal. It would help if you could comapre the list on your customer.xml file against the list for the other CSCs - see http://xdaforums.com/showpost.php?p=46089580&postcount=762 - and confirm it is the same. Also would you confirm what CSC file is on your phone by dialling *#1234# in your stock telephone dialler?
[Galaxy Note 3 General] wimbelgium:
Yes it is exactly the same list in the customers.xml file, CSC is I9505OXADMH5
[Galaxy Note 3 General] Ficob:
I could not use the code *#7465625# to see the state of my note 3, is there other code? Is european.

1. [OFF] Network lock (NCK)

2. [OFF] Subset lock

3. [OFF] SP lock

4. [OFF] CP lock
[Galaxy Note 3 General] stirfry:
Last Saturday I went to Media Markt in Austria to check out the Note3 and get some information about this issue. Staff told me that according to Samsung one has to make at least 5 calls using a SIM from european provider and after that any SIM will work. However, they recommend to make at least 10! calls before using a non-european SIM, just to make sure?! Would be interesting to know if people had their SIM locked even

though they followed this procedure.

Just as a side note, they said Samsung implemented this troublesome region lock thing to fight the black market.
[Galaxy Note 3 General] dxzh:
Unfortunately following the move to JellyBean, the really neat lock state screen which I believe was generated by the personalization.apk, a system app in earlier Samsung phones such as SGS, SGS2 and SGS3, has been removed. As a result, the lock state screen no longer runs when the *#7465625# code is entered. I am not aware of any other rooted or unrooted way to generate an equivalent screen indicating the ON/OFF state of the various different locks, or if there is any file in which such information can be easily read - others might know though?
[Galaxy Note 3 General] bubblesmoney:
the bbc watchdog website reporting form seems to be glitchy. you can use the email instead to report your issues

If you have problems using the form below you can email your story to watchdog@bbc.co.uk
[Galaxy Note 3 General] weasley:
I got an O2 locked Note 3 and due to get the unlocking code for it. Will i have the same issue with using another country sim when i unlocked with the code provided by o2?
[Galaxy Note 3 General] dxzh:
OXA CSC

Is your new CSC following the OTA now N9005OXABMJ1 ?

Does your post-OTA CSC customer.xml file have exactly the same 63 NetworkLock MCC list set out in http://xdaforums.com/showpost.php?p=46018692&postcount=584?
[Galaxy Note 3 General] Mrlovkim:
I just went from S3 to a Note 3 this past Saturday and was not happy to see that sticker when I got it at Vodafone. I am American and spend a month maybe two in the states with my family and always go to ATT and use their no comment plan. Now if I go to the states in June this does not work I would be very upset.
[Galaxy Note 3 General] wetsleet:
So if it is that simple and straightforward, why has Samsung failed to communicate a global statement to that effect?

Also, what is the "black market" they speak of? There is a "grey" market, which is just the losing side's name for "free trade". But a "black" market, really? That would be a matter for the authorities.
[Galaxy Note 3 General] cgi:
Even if that's true, it would be still quite a ****up. It can take me half a year to make 10 calls. Mainly using messaging stuff. Nothing about that in the handbook either. Is there any company that is worse at communication than samsung?
[Galaxy Note 3 General] avenging:
great to know hopefully this will work too on the other note 3s that had this problem in europe
[Galaxy Note 3 General] avenging:
interesting comment in this article

http://gigaom.com/2013/10/07/app-re...ion-lock-but-samsungs-motives-remain-unclear/

john mentions that after the firmware update his region locked phone to the middle east was able to use his roaming sim hope this solves some of your problems guys
[Galaxy Note 3 General] maidangisme:
hopely Samsung update package released yesterday will official disable Region Locked, Nothing is clear now, We should wait for owners from EU and America to report.
[Galaxy Note 3 General] dxzh:
Security policy update in OTA

See mab71's post at http://xdaforums.com/showpost.php?p=46269202&postcount=31 which highlights apparent security policy update file in yesterday's OTA. Effect of content currently unknown.
[Galaxy Note 3 General] midnite_blue:
When 4.3 came out this summer, purported to improve security protocols, I thought it was my security that was being looked after. Do I feel like a fool.
[Galaxy Note 3 General] LostZeit:
Just a note my Thai SIM card is still asking for a PIN after the OTA update for the Middle Eastern locked version of the phone.
[Galaxy Note 3 General] Chainfire:
If someone can pull that APK ...

Anyway, the logo matches KNOX, so I doubt it has to do with the region locks
[Galaxy Note 3 General] dxzh:
Labelling of mobile devices capable of connecting to a telecommunications network

Credit should include htc6500uk as OP.

If nothing else, legislators (such as Ms Kroes, Vice President at European Commission) should urgently be asked to consider introducing into consumer legislation, in the interests of transparency and competition in telecommunication services, a law along the following lines:

Section [XXX]. Labelling of mobile devices capable of connecting to a telecommunications network

(1) It shall be unlawful to sell or offer for sale to any consumer any GSM-equipped or similar mobile device capable of connecting to a telecommunications network if that device contains any lock which restricts access to a Mobile Country Code (MCC) or Mobile Network Code (MNC) or similar determinant necessary for selection of or access to a particular telecommunications network, unless:

(a) that device contains a simple and transparent way for any consumer to read the lock state of each lock on that device at the point of sale and at all times thereafter without the need for access to any other external equipment, device or confidential information; and

(b) any consumer purchasing such device is clearly informed about the device and its lock state in writing with equal prominence to any other promotional and other technical information supplied with the device at the time of sale.

(2) Any retailer who fails to comply with subsection (1)(a) or (b) is guilty of an offence and liable to a fine of [][5,000] for each such offence.

(3) Any consumer purchasing a device referred to in subsection (1) shall be entitled to receive from the seller of any device which fails to comply with subsection (1)(a) or (b):

(a) a full refund for the price paid for the device; and

(b) release without cost or penalty from any contract for telecomunications services entered into with any person at the time of or in connection with the purchase of the device.
[Galaxy Note 3 General] claudioita:
I activate the phone with an italian SIM last week in Italy. After reading all this problems I tried my Chilean SIM (I go there tomorrow) in Italy, and had the region lock.

I was pissed like hell. So I rooted the phone and installed your region unlock.

Now the Chilean SIM works in Italy, (I am sure will work in Chile too)
[Galaxy Note 3 General] Ariel:
A South African first?

South Africa is usually towards the back of the queue when it comes to releases of new phones, but the Note 3 was released here on the 27th Sep,

The Note 3 (N900 & N9005) are both sold by Vodacom without any region lock (I bought both - the N900 by mistake and refunded)

I decided to experiment and tested my UK SIMs (Virgin & Talk Mobile) also my (probably expired) Spanish SIM (SIMyo). After entering the SIM PIN on the N9005 the phone started as normal for all the SIM's.

Not sure this advances matter much, but I thought it would add to the body of knowledge.

As I say in the title, an African first?

EDIT: SA law prohibits network locking so any phone you buy is network free