Well, that's the problem. You have to activate locally first before having an unlocked phone. So basically, the only way to buy a phone from elsewhere is to buy it used. Like I said:
No Gold S4 for you! ...unless it's used...
Well, that's the problem. You have to activate locally first before having an unlocked phone. So basically, the only way to buy a phone from elsewhere is to buy it used. Like I said:Looks like its not the issue people thought it was.
Once you've activated it with a local SIM its unlocked to work in any region.
Android central linkage
Well it's not so much of an issue around the world, but in the US, I feel that there's more of a reason to get an unlocked phone to avoid the carrier branding, bootloader locks, etc. That's why the unlocked phones in the US are international versions that come from all over the world.So in other words this is only an issue for the gray market. Normal consumers are good to go.
How long ago? I had a hybrid GSM/CDMA phone from Verizon in 2007, and that wasn't the first one they had. I believe all of their current LTE phones are world phones as well. The Trophy I replaced my OG Droid with in 2011 was 3G CDMA/GSM as well.
Well, that's the problem. You have to activate locally first before having an unlocked phone. So basically, the only way to buy a phone from elsewhere is to buy it used. Like I said:
No Gold S4 for you! ...unless it's used...
Why do they lock the phones into a specific region?
Well, that's the problem. You have to activate locally first before having an unlocked phone. So basically, the only way to buy a phone from elsewhere is to buy it used. Like I said:
No Gold S4 for you! ...unless it's used...
i can confirm this. my with a german simcard activated european version does NOT work with a thai simcard. – original post
I have the same issue, my N9005 note 3 (local purchase in NL) works fine with KPN Netherlands bu tmy Thai (Tuemove) sim cards request me to enter a SIM Network unlock PIN. going back to KPN NL sim works fine. – original post
First I used a swedish sim, then a thai sim didn’t work (I was still in Sweden at that time), Used a swedish Sim some more. Then tried Thai sim again, didnt work. – original post
Hi,
I bought my Note 3 in UK and activate it normally with one of UK operators. I then travelled to Cairo, Egypt and when try to use a local sim card it didn’t work and keep say the you need to enter unlocked key.
What Samsung say about first activate with local EU sim and then lock will gone is not true and it is rubbish to force me to keep using the very expensive roaming service. – original post
this is terrible and i hope it creates a huge backlash for them. i travel alot and was one of the reasons why i got my S2 back in the day. it was unlocked from the start and knew it could work anywhere in the world.