yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Galaxy Note 3 General] midnite_blue:
suggested questions for posters with reports...

Thanks, elvinu. Glad you were able to get a phone in Romania that wasn't region-locked to Samsung's 'Europe.' Would you mind answering questions 1 thru 6? [edit: I added some additional questions for those who start out being locked.]

1. What's the name of your AP, CP & CSC firmware version codes and your RF Cal date of manufacture? (*#12580*369# on your stock phone dialer)

2. What country is identified in your customer.xml file... <Country>_________</Country>

3. Are there any lines in that file that contain the term 'NetworkLock?'

4. Where exactly did you buy this phone... and did you get it as part of a contract with a network provider?

5. Have you tried a sim from outside your region and, if so, what country was it from, where were you, when was this and what happened when you tried it?

6. Have you updated the firmware since you tried the out-of-region sim?

* * * * * if you started out region-locked * * * * *

7. Are you still region locked... and how do you know you're locked or unlocked?

8. Are you rooted and, if not, do you prefer not to be?

9. What did you do to follow what you believe to be the official instructions for unlocking?

10. Did it work and, if not:

. . . . a) could you give details of what else you've tried that didn't work?

. . . . b) could you give details of anything you've done to successfully release your phone from the region lock?

Thanks!
[Galaxy Note 3 General] goodhanrry:
useful，thanks
[Galaxy Note 3 General] The Best forever:
Armenia
[Galaxy Note 3 General] lion_sta:
Hey guys,

I just bought a Note 3 from Romania. I am from Moldova (not in the region lock zone). The phone was region locked - it said so on the sticker.

I was wondering if when first inserting a SIM, if it were from a Romanian carrier, would it unlock it, as I have read on the net?

Or there are other things that I should do?

Thx

P.S. The phone has not arrived yet.
[Galaxy Note 3 General] lion_sta:
Thx

Said something about about your post being too long, I love it, thx.

Well, thing is my sister bought it. It is cheaper in Romania than Moldova - that is the reason for this choise. Also warranty there is 2 years, while here 1 year:eek:

It was bought initially from Orange Romania, so it must be from Europe region lock. It was also bought recently, so I can only hope it has the codes you were mentioning.

I will ask her, my sister, to speak the 5 mins in Romania. It should arrive on Saturday or Sunday.

By then, it is inpatient waiting:D

Great people round here.
[Galaxy Note 3 General] midnite_blue:
that's great!

You are most welcome, friend!

Hey.. that's clutch, having a sibling ''on station'' in Romania! You might ask her if, before she activates with a Romanian sim and makes the voice call, she would do at least #1, if not also #2 & #3 from post #107.

If it's not asking too much of her, after she does the 5 minutes of voice she could test for success with an out-of-region sim from Moldova, Ukraine, Belarus, Russia or Turkey (or 57 other countries)... just so you don't have to send it back to her for another try in case it doesn't work. We don't really know for sure what the use-criteria are. Samsung Electronics (HQ in Korea) has said nothing. The bit about ''5 minutes'' came from subordinates who have been wrong before regarding the unlocking protocol.

Looking forward to hearing how it goes! :fingers-crossed:
[Galaxy Note 3 General] orly_mihai:
I have one buyed from Romania.On the box is written only for european country's.I look from were is the phone and have that code for baltic country.For me it hapened a strange thing wen i bought the phone first i tryed a german lebara sim and don't worked.Than i put romanian orange sim and used for a few days.Today i try again the german lebara sim and worked.
[Galaxy Note 3 General] midnite_blue:
Thanks, orly_mihai, for this report. Could you be more specific about exactly what happened the first time you put the German sim in your phone? Do you mean that you got a screen that asked you to enter an unlock key or code... or do you mean that you couldn't place calls with the German sim?

I'm assuming:

1. prior to all this you had paid Lebara for service and were up to date in your payments

2. the second time you tried the German sim, you were able to use it to place a call, and

3. all of the events you have described took place in Romania

Is that right?

Not sure what you were saying about Estonia, Latvia or Lithuania. What did you see and where in your phone did you see it?
[Galaxy Note 3 General] orly_mihai:
I install a program phone info and there i see the SEB thing for baltic country's like BTU for uk.It's a code for different country.If you enter samsung updates site you can see that.The german sim it's a prepay sim card not a contract.I used in one iphone 4 before so it worked.Yes all this thing happened in Romania.First time i put the german sim card i can't make calls no signal bars and only emergency calls.I put the romanian and it worked.The german back in iphone 4 and worked.After few days i used the phone with romanian sim card i try again for been more specific today after 10 days and surprise the german sim card worked full signall.Alsou for verify is not a general samsung problem or a sim problem i try the german sim card on my wife galaxy s3 and it worked.Alsou in samsung kies connected by usb cable you can see that 3 letter code for your country.Forget to tell you in this time i replace the baltic rom with the one from uk.
[Galaxy Note 3 General] lion_sta:
hm

Seems like I am a bit out of luck, I have attached the files and it ends in MI (or J) 4 at the end of CSC.

As for the rest of the steps she is reluctant for now. Will post as soon as I have news.
[Galaxy Note 3 General] orly_mihai:
Look here it shows you in samsung kies.Sorry for the big photos.
[Galaxy Note 3 General] midnite_blue:
that is interesting...

I understand now what you are saying about Baltic States.

Lol... I was writing a second post to you to ask if your German sim had been working in a different phone... then your second post came through! Thanks for that additional information.

Would you be willing to type *#12580*369# on your stock phone dialer and share with us the AP, CP & CSC firmware version codes and your RF Cal date of manufacture?

ES File Explorer and FX File Explorer are both free in the Play Store. If you don't already have a file manager that can get you into the system folders, would you be willing to download one of those apps and then browse to the system/csc folder and open the customer.xml file? It would be interesting to see what country is identified in your customer.xml file... <Country>_________</Country>. Also, does the '<NbNetworkLock>___</NbNetworkLock> line say '38' or '63'? (I'm guessing it says 63...)

And did you install any OTA-update downloads from Samsung between your two attempts to use the German sim?

VERY interesting...!

-------------------------

LOL, again... I was about to post the above and now I see your edit of post #116 (and your pics in #118).

So, you flashed the ROM in between the first and second time you tried the German sim? Did you happen to try the German sim immediately before and/or after the ROM flash?

Do you know what the firmware build number was before the ROM flash... or even just the last 3 characters of the CSC name where you now have MK2?

With two different variables changing -- and not knowing the exact sequence of ROM flash and phone-use with your Romanian sim -- we may not be able to sort this out. Still, it IS strange that the German sim didn't work initially.

Thanks for sharing all this info, orly_mihal! Let's hope that in addition to your in-region German sim now working, you're also no longer region locked.
[Galaxy Note 3 General] orly_mihai:
Now i have this one N9005XXUDMK2_N9005OXADMK2_N9005XXUDMJ7 from UK (BTU).Before i was having SEB-N9005XXUDMJ7.I look in es explorer and you're right i have "63" at that line were you sayed.What does this means?

Ok i dial that number.

AP:N9005XXUDMK2 CP:N9005XXUDMJ7 CSC:N9005OXADMK2 RF CAL:2013.09.30 HW REV:MP 0.602
[Galaxy Note 3 General] midnite_blue:
That's the number of Mobile Country Codes that are listed in the many lines that immediately follow that line. So unless or until your phone is region unlocked, there are 63 MCC's with sims that won't work in your phone. India has two MCC's, so it's 62 countries. Back in August, Samsung was blacklisting only 38 MCC's (37 countries) in the phones it was building for the configuration of states it calls 'Europe.' In September they added Belarus, Moldova, Georgia, Armenian, Turkey and 20 others to the list.
[Galaxy Note 3 General] orly_mihai:
Ok.But the bigest question is why didn't work de germany sim card at the begining and now is working?After i used the romanian sim some time.And how can i see if my phone is unloked?
[Galaxy Note 3 General] 1980aksoy:
I get my1 from ireland ..NO REGION LOCK
[Galaxy Note 3 General] midnite_blue:
Even so, she's a

great

sis for doing as much as she is!
[Galaxy Note 3 General] midnite_blue:
It's hard to say now why the German sim didn't connect with Lebara the first time... it may have had nothing to do with the ROM flash and almost assuredly nothing to do with the fact that you used the phone for a while with the Romanian sim. Since it was an in-region sim, I'm certain it had nothing to do with region locking. If it had been a region-lock problem, you would have gotten the region-lock screen asking for a code... but this isn't really possible since Germany's MCC is not on the blacklist.

I'm not saying you should have posted about it when it happened, and I'm glad you shared this strange occurrence with us. But if you had reported it back then we'd have a better chance of answering your question. The first thing I would have suggested is taking the sim out and putting it back in again as sometimes the seating of the card in the card slot can be awkward. Or perhaps the problem had something to do with temporary difficulties roaming.

This isn't a perfect analogy, but... if a fellow had a car with a standard transmission, had trouble with 2nd gear slipping one day, replaced the clutch pedal & the clutch, then drove it around a while and found that second gear was fine, one would have to say the difference in performance may have more to do with the work he had done on the car than with the driving around. Maybe it was the shoes he was wearing that day... it's hard to say now because the old clutch pedal and clutch are now gone.

Now, in a functional sense, the phone this happened with no longer exists post-ROM-flash... there just isn't any good way of getting at the question now to find an answer.

I hope it is unlocked by now. Unfortunately, the fastest way to get an approximate answer is to put a blacklisted sim in the phone (a sim from one of those 62 countries) and see if you get the screen asking for an unlock code. Samsung has been making changes in the region lock process so rapidly, even the absence of a lock screen doesn't guarantee that if you were to travel to that country the sim that you successfully tested will actually work. Several XDA members -- for example, Yair1101m and krooksrocks -- took all the necessary precautions in preparation for travel only to find that the sim that had previously worked in their Galaxy phone no longer worked when they arrived at their destination.

Sorry that I don't have better news here.
[Galaxy Note 3 General] orly_mihai:
Ok.Thanks for the answer.And another thing.When i tryed first time the sim card i put inside.Tryed switching network on 4g,3g,2g restart the phone,then take out the sim card put it back and again try everything restarting and playing in the menu.Then again take out and put back.So i tryed few times and the sim card surely was puted good in the sim card slot.
[Galaxy Note 3 General] midnite_blue:
Good... you seem like the kind of guy who would have checked out that possibility!!
[Galaxy Note 3 General] E_L_I_E:
Lebanon N9005 Locked

Since there is nobody is selling the N9005 (LTE) in Lebanon, you have to buy it from another country. Wherever it comes from, you have to register your handset at Alfa or Touch, otherwise it will not work with a Lebanese carrier. To do so, you need a passport where it shows that you entered Lebanon within 30 days.
[Galaxy Note 3 General] lion_sta:
So here I have my Note 3. Region locked of course. My sis came earlier, without inserting a Romanian sim. What should I do?

You, midnite_blue, said that in the file (CSC folder) there would be the country codes of all unsuported countries - Moldova 373, is not in the list. Does that mean that there is even a remote possibility that it will work? It also has the names of all Romanian carriers - Vodafone, Orange, Cosmote. Could it be that this means that I should use first a sim from one of the romanian carriers, and then be able to use it in Moldova or any other country that is not present in that list? Just wild guessing.

Also, as I understand, I should not even try to insert a moldavian sim, since it might lock the phone?
[Galaxy Note 3 General] lion_sta:
http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=2466721&page=8

Here I found the Moldova is actually 259, I dont know why. This number is present in the file.
[Galaxy Note 3 General] orly_mihai:
If she have one romanian sim she can activated from there.She can make a call through roming.
[Galaxy Note 3 General] midnite_blue:
clarification...

I just now saw your most recent post in which you say, ''there,'' which I would understand to mean Romania. Did you mean, ''here,'' meaning Moldova?
[Galaxy Note 3 General] lion_sta:
hm

So I have made a big blunder, accidentally pressed install to an update when it showed up on the screen.

Step 1. - attachments

Step 2. <CSCEdition>ED002</CSCEdition>

<Country>Romania</Country>

<CountryISO>RO</CountryISO>

<Region>EUR</Region>

<SalesCode>ROM</SalesCode>

<NbNetworkInfo>3</NbNetworkInfo>

Step 3. <NbNetworkLock>63</NbNetworkLock>

Thing is I dont have a working romanian sim for now, she did not activate roaming - bummer.

I wonder if one can activate roaming or whatever with a sim that is not in the country of origin.

Anyhow, I understand this is getting harder and harder.

With a Mold sim will try in a couple of hours.
[Galaxy Note 3 General] orly_mihai:
Yes i mean with romanian sim through roming in your country Moldova.a
[Galaxy Note 3 General] lion_sta:
As long as it is possible I am not willing to spend money unnecessary - also I dont use the phone function of the smartphone that often. But the thing with not turning on wifi - no go. I am handless like that, but will make sure I dont install another one.

As for the sim - I will post announces on net and will keep on looking for options.

Big thx for your support and friendliness.
[Galaxy Note 3 General] midnite_blue:
You're welcome. Hopefully you can save some money by not having to buy an online unlock code!

Yeah, that thing about having WiFi off was just for the brief period you were going to be activating with your sis's sim.

I hope you're enjoying the N3... let us know how your sim search goes!
[Galaxy Note 3 General] orly_mihai:
The easy way is to root and then install region unlock apk and you're good then.
[Galaxy Note 3 General] lion_sta:
Don't feel like loosing the warranty.
[Galaxy Note 3 General] orly_mihai:
No.You have a old bootloader so you have some option on xda for rooting without triping knox so without losing waranty.
[Galaxy Note 3 General] lion_sta:
SUCCESS !!! Knox 0x0 with Mobile Odin Pro 3.85 !!! - Talking about this thread?
[Galaxy Note 3 General] orly_mihai:
No.Search for "Universal root de la vega 0.5" or other one "Saferoot:Root for..."
[Galaxy Note 3 General] midnite_blue:
Hi, lion_sta... sent you a PM.
[Galaxy Note 3 General] Varun Kunder:
Region Unclock ?

So does this mean if i buy a note 3 LTE version from UAE , it will work in india ? without any region lock issues? provided there are no stickers?
[Galaxy Note 3 General] hayat55:
Yes, I got mine from UAE and it works in the UK :D
[Galaxy Note 3 General] Varun Kunder:
Region Unclok !

May i know if u took seal box to UK ... or u happen to use ur phone in UAE networks first ?

i heard we hav to use Note3 LTE version first in buying region and then ship it nywhr u want?
[Galaxy Note 3 General] hayat55:
The first time i used it was in the uk with a uk sim
[Galaxy Note 3 General] midnite_blue:
who, what & how...

Finding a region-unlocked phone is more a factor of who you buy it from than where. The UAE is a source of region-unlocked phones only when you buy them from someone selling in the parallel free market (who potentially could also be selling stickered, region-locked phones). These resellers are typically buying phone lots on the spot market and selling them over the Internet, but some also sell through shops. While their offices might be in the UAE, they could be sourcing their phones from anywhere in the world.

Buying in the UAE through an authorized Samsung channel will predictably land you with a region-locked phone, replete with a 'Middle East' sticker naming the UAE as one of the destinations for the region-locked phones with a blacklist of 50 Mobile Country Codes.

While the Indian consumer market is on every region-lock blacklist, the consumer market in the UK is on none. Try a UK sim in any Note 3... you'll get no problem from the region-lock mechanism, even in region-locked phones. A working UK sim in a 'Middle East' phone tells you nothing about the phone's region-lock status.The UK sim works because the UK market isn't blacklisted, not because the phone is not locked to some region.

One thing a UK sim can't do is unlock a 'Middle East'-locked phone. If you want to try Samsung's official unlock procedure, you'll need to use a 'Middle East' sim... and you'll need to use it in the 'Middle East.'
[Galaxy Note 3 General] Varun Kunder:
Region Lock !

SO does this mean If i get a note 3 from UAE which does not hav a sticker like EU/US . that phone is unlocked? and can b used anywhere?

or i hav to still activate in UAE and take it anywhr later?

---------- Post added at 05:49 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:46 PM ----------

Ma i know if ur Note 3 BOX had any stickers? like the one in US / EU ? saying region network blah blah !
[Galaxy Note 3 General] midnite_blue:
Whether or not Samsung has continued or will continue to put stickers on the boxes of region-locked phones is up to Samsung...

...and whether or not the phone you buy is in the original box is up to the resellers up the distribution chain.

But that said...

A phone in an unstickered box is probably region-unlocked and can be used anywhere with any sim without going through the region-unlock process.

At any time, however, Samsung can install the region lock onto any previously unlocked Galaxy phone via an Android update.
[Galaxy Note 3 General] treash:
Different IMEI

Gud day just curios about my note 3 imei because they have different imei the box and the back sticker is the same but when i pres *#06# it has different IMEI numbet the unit is bought at KSA they said its factory unlock is it normal.
[Galaxy Note 3 General] Amrismael:
According to sammobile now u can unlock it

Last night it was confirmed that u can unlock it by unlock code and maybe u will need to install firmware official one same version but 0 bug

So u can unlock it by code by the first arabic site to unlock

---------- Post added at 02:46 AM ---------- Previous post was at 02:32 AM ----------

Next 3 hours i will let you know and confirm what has been wrote at sammobile site

I bought my note3 n900 3g from Iraq and i tried all website to unlock and all refund my money so why not try this one whatever its expensive 40 usd for it but iam ok with it if my knox still 0x0 and no root

Pray for me
[Galaxy Note 3 General] Smartphoner:
A little bit confused

I live in kuwait, i bought a SM N9005 (carrier unlocked and CSC is MJ4 KSA) with a sticker of region lock on which i discovered after i opened the box (too late coz i didn't know about this issue until i read in the forums).

I activated and used the phone and after i knew about the region lock issue; i wanted to test this by applying a UK sim. The phone got network and i found the network bars and an "R" next to it.

Does this makes my phone region unlocked, or it is just using the country's network for activating the UK sim.

Will it work outside the region? I'm traveling to UK and to the US soon and don't want to take the risk without making sure it will work there.

Any clues?
[Galaxy Note 3 General] Amrismael:
I unlock my note3 region unlock

I was very happy to unlock mine and sorry I forget to confirm here

Well the site that was written in sammobile work

My friend roaming doesnt unlock my note3 n900

And even if u u make a call or receive for days will not unlock it

I did everything u can imagine and finally I found this site

And they sent me a code next 48 hours after payment
[Galaxy Note 3 General] Smartphoner:
Can u plz send me the link
[Galaxy Note 3 General] Amrismael:
done

Done the link has been sent
[Galaxy Note 3 General] pac-mannan:
So I does this mean my note 3 (brought in UK) will work when I take it to Pakistan?

Sorry I don't seem to understand how this locking works
[Galaxy Note 3 General] Amrismael:
well try to use sim from different country out ur region

Try sim from a different country there's alot of Pakistans in UK if your note 3 accept the sim card well it fine

If not and ask for unlock sim pin code then its locked
[Galaxy Note 3 General] ahmednabeel:
I'm using T-Mobile Note 3 ( SM-N900T.) at Egypt running. 4.3 and it works fine in egypt... so i'm wondring if i do an update to Kk 4.4.2 I'm going to face any problems with the carrier signal?!
[Galaxy Note 3 General] SleemLDJ:
Nigeria??
[Galaxy Note 3 General] goga1009:
need help with note 3 unlock

i have sent you message about the phone unlock problem, please read it.
[Galaxy Note 3 General] jdomadia:
Wrong Info u received @ goga10009, authorized seller in UAE are selling unlocked version of note 3, company's who sales threw internet are selling mostly rooted & changed IMEI to unlock the phone.

Sorry its for midnite_blue
[Galaxy Note 3 General] goga1009:
reply

may be you don't have full info about me. i will explain detailed what is my situation, i bought the brand new, unopened samsung galaxy note 3 N9005, international version, on the box is written european sim model. about the international, i checked it with official samsung chat and they confirmed my imei that it is international. so when i switched on my phone, and put in sim, it appeared such message, "sim network unlock pin", so it requires pin to unlock the phone, i contacted with the seller, and still waiting from him the unlock code, but if there is other way, i want to unlock it fast. first on the phone was 4.3 version android, but on the forum one told me and i upgraded it to 4.4.2, later i was told that it is more difficult to unlock the phone. i live in georgia, it is not state of georgia, it is republic of georgia. so i want your help. i don't understand android and such thing, but if you will tell me, i will do exactly everything. please help me. if you will need, i will send imei and S/N if it will be necessary. one user here, Kachow and UltraDroid told me that it is very difficult and advised me to contact midnite_blue because he knows that how to fix. if anyone can help me, please write to me. i will be thankful for that.
[Galaxy Note 3 General] jdomadia:
My advice to u is don't give IMEI or sr.no or MONEY to anyone, If possible try to contact samsung store if u have nearby or try to chat with samsung for help.
[Galaxy Note 3 General] ultramag69:
+1000000, you never give out your IMEI or serial number and definitely don't give out both... You're asking for trouble....