Hello,
I recently received a G800M unit that was on the "Claro" network, and I am having trouble unlocking. Several days ago, I used unlockunit.com to try and get an unlock code,though I have not yet received one. I provided them with the country identification of Puerto Rico, but I am now wondering if this was a mistake. When I looked up Claro, I guess I did not look hard enough, and thought they were based in Puerto Rico, only to discover later on that Claro is offered in many South American countries.
I have a couple of questions before I try again:
Is there a positive way to identify specifically which country this phone came from? I looked up the origin country through the IMEI, but that only tells you where it was manufactured, not where the unit was purchased by the first user.
Many of these unlocking sites (that don't list specific model numbers, ie, SM-G800F/M/Y, etc) list a "Galaxy S5 Mini" and a "Galaxy S5 Mini (QC)" ... what does the "QC" mean, and how do I know if I have one? I don't see anything about this in the settings...
This phone is still running factory (claro branded) kitkat if that makes any difference.
I am hoping you can answer my questions, and thank you for your time.
phone unlocked.
appye said:
phone unlocked.
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how did you unlock it?
Paid a site. Unlockunit.com I think...
Related
I saw a surprising note on clove.co.uk I think it was, they said all Samsungs shipped after 2013 are region locked. This was a note on the bottom of the page for a Tab S2 LTE. They went as far to say they were no longer selling sealed boxes because they are region unlocking all devices before selling to international buyers.
Can anyone confirm/deny there's a region lock on Samsung's 4G/LTE tablets? Thanks.
midnightrider said:
I saw a surprising note on clove.co.uk I think it was, they said all Samsungs shipped after 2013 are region locked. This was a note on the bottom of the page for a Tab S2 LTE. They went as far to say they were no longer selling sealed boxes because they are region unlocking all devices before selling to international buyers.
Can anyone confirm/deny there's a region lock on Samsung's 4G/LTE tablets? Thanks.
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I dont think that's true. My Tab S LTE is international unlocked made in mid 2014 and sealed.
Tab A 9.7 lte I bought last year same thing.
Thanks. I didn't buy from them after I read that, I bought from another place to make sure I didn't get an open box item for the prices everybody is charging. It has not been shipped yet although it was supposed to go out Friday. I guess I will use it on wifi just to be safe until I get to the region where I bought it. Heading there for work anyway. BTW I didn't mean carrier unlocked, I meant region unlocked. Not sure if that came through ok.
midnightrider said:
Thanks. I didn't buy from them after I read that, I bought from another place to make sure I didn't get an open box item for the prices everybody is charging. It has not been shipped yet although it was supposed to go out Friday. I guess I will use it on wifi just to be safe until I get to the region where I bought it. Heading there for work anyway. BTW I didn't mean carrier unlocked, I meant region unlocked. Not sure if that came through ok.
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I bought my 715Y from Amazon in USA.
It is unlocked but I still haven't gotten MM and it is out for 715Y for more than a week.
However my local SIM card works fine.
There was a time when you had to activate the SIM in the country you bought it from (mine is built in Vietnam, impossible for me) and then it was OK anywhere.
None of that merry go round with the 715Y.
Shofar1 said:
I bought my 715Y from Amazon in USA.
It is unlocked but I still haven't gotten MM and it is out for 715Y for more than a week.
However my local SIM card works fine.
There was a time when you had to activate the SIM in the country you bought it from (mine is built in Vietnam, impossible for me) and then it was OK anywhere.
None of that merry go round with the 715Y.
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Pretty much all of them are built in Vietnam.
In the end I couldn't find anyone to ship me an LTE model so I got the wifi only model which kinda sucks but is ok for now. I couldn't get the Exynos version either, the stores that would ship here only had the new one. I got a T819 with the Qualcom. I'll try to pick up an LTE version when I go to Europe for work later. Thanks guys.
ashyx said:
Pretty much all of them are built in Vietnam.
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Yeah it even says "designed and built in Vietnam" Kinda interesting, I had no idea Vietnam was a high tech center or that Samsung had a facility there.
Samsung UK support says LTE tablets are definitely region locked. I don't know if I believe them since they were trying to push me to buy a tablet in my country- which has no Samsung store, and no Samsung presence except for a company that is the "official importer" that has nothing in stock and doesn't import the tab s2 in lte anyway. I call B.S. and I would bet money the tablets aren't region locked like you guys seem to be saying. But I can't prove it until I see an LTE tab box with the region lock warning.
My S2 bought in Hungary died the day after i took it to the usa and put in a local sim. Specially the imei and the baseband went null. Hungary tech support says it's due to the out of region sim. Believe it or not.
The whole thing is kinda stupid. It seems to make some sick kind of sense with phones from a corporate strong-arming the customer point of view. On the phones they say you have to make an actual 5 minute voice call to unlock, they specifically say using data won't work. The whole point of an LTE tablet is not to make calls, although you can. It's supposed to keep you connected when you're away from wifi. So what are people supposed to do? Hold up a ten inch brick to their heads and make a 5 minute call to region unlock it?
The phones that are region locked are supposed to come with a warning sticker on the box. Unless your tablet packaging specifically warns of the region lock I call B.S. on Samsung support on this topic. Otherwise they've been reasonably helpful.
So I am looking forward to buy the S8 and I do want the unlocked bootloader. I heard that if you buy an S8 or S8+ from T Mobile then you get the U variant instead of T. Is it true? Because as far as I know the S8 and S8+ US variants got the U after the numbers which shows that the bootloader is unlocked.
T-mobile bootloader on the s8/s8+ is locked
KidKnowsTech said:
So I am looking forward to buy the S8 and I do want the unlocked bootloader. I heard that if you buy an S8 or S8+ from T Mobile then you get the U variant instead of T. Is it true? Because as far as I know the S8 and S8+ US variants got the U after the numbers which shows that the bootloader is unlocked.
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Every North American model is the U model, simply with different firmware. Whether you buy a carrier version or the US unlocked model (U1) they are all quite literally the very same U model. This means you CAN do carrier switching, with some work (for instance, install firmware from T-Mobile on to an unlocked model, or Verizon, or whatever) - this DOES NOT however, SIM unlock the device. There was misinformation on the internet that the model numbers would be like they were in the past, but it's not true. If you buy a T-Mobile model, it's the G950U, just like it's the G950U on Verizon and all other carriers (no longer are there "T" models, "V" models, etc). The unlocked model is the G950U1, but it's still the very same model, so the firmwares are interchangeable.
Currently, there is no known way to unlock the bootloader. As of this week, root is available (with some caveats), but no way to unlock the bootloader. The only models you can do that with are the international Exynos models, and the more rare Hong Kong Snapdragon model. I sincerely doubt we'll ever be able to unlock the bootloader, but I'd love to see the XDA community make it happen.
Damn, I guess the International version is better.
The U = carrier unlocked. Not unlockable bootloader. Besides most glass Mashers and text-while-driving people don't even know what the heck a bootloader is lol
Bootloader ? oem
I have been thinking about get a S8+, now my wife's S7 phone and tab S2 tablet you just go to developer options and turn on oem unlock dose the S8 not have that?
brightjh01 said:
I have been thinking about get a S8+, now my wife's S7 phone and tab S2 tablet you just go to developer options and turn on oem unlock dose the S8 not have that?
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No
stmims1124 said:
Every North American model is the U model, simply with different firmware. Whether you buy a carrier version or the US unlocked model (U1) they are all quite literally the very same U model. This means you CAN do carrier switching, with some work (for instance, install firmware from T-Mobile on to an unlocked model, or Verizon, or whatever) - this DOES NOT however, SIM unlock the device. There was misinformation on the internet that the model numbers would be like they were in the past, but it's not true. If you buy a T-Mobile model, it's the G950U, just like it's the G950U on Verizon and all other carriers (no longer are there "T" models, "V" models, etc). The unlocked model is the G950U1, but it's still the very same model, so the firmwares are interchangeable.
Currently, there is no known way to unlock the bootloader. As of this week, root is available (with some caveats), but no way to unlock the bootloader. The only models you can do that with are the international Exynos models, and the more rare Hong Kong Snapdragon model. I sincerely doubt we'll ever be able to unlock the bootloader, but I'd love to see the XDA community make it happen.
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So what you are basically saying is, 950U s8 models even though unlocked can only be used on other US carries and not internationally??
captainkbj said:
So what you are basically saying is, 950U s8 models even though unlocked can only be used on other US carries and not internationally??
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No, you should be able to use the U1 (North American implied variant) internationally, mostly without issue. I believe it supports most, if not all GSM/LTE bands (CDMA may be a different story). I was just saying you cannot unlock the bootloader on the North American models... Different than SIM/Carrier unlock
Hi!
So I've bought a Samsung S9 Duos recently and to be honest, although I like the phone and have been on a Samsung streak for the past few years, I'm getting seriously tired of their country dependant shenanigans. Because I live in Canada, when I buy a Global phone there's a bunch of stuff that either doesn't work or does only partially. And because the Canadian model is a SD proc, not an Exynos, it's an absolute nightmare to switch CSCs and get everything working right...
I hesitated long and hard to get a P20 pro, but the fact it wasn't available anywhere in Canada made me nervous. But my carrier (Rogers) recently announced it so, being really tired of this Samsung ****e, I'm considering returning the S9 and getting the P20 pro (even if it doesn't have a lot of stuff I like such as the headphone jack, SD card and wireless charging).
TL;DR
My question is, if I get an international (dual SIM) model of the P20 pro, is it going to be different than the Canadian one? Is there an equivalent of CSC codes with Samsung that I have to worry about, or can I assume it will be the same phone and I just need to activate it to get carrier specifics?
Thanks
I'm not an expert, but before I bought my P20 Pro, I made sure that it worked with the AT&T's network frequency bands. Each network has different bands and if the phone doesn't support the band, it won't connect.
https://www.droid-life.com/2015/02/...sm-cdma-wcdma-lte-verizon-att-sprint-tmobile/
https://www.worldtimezone.com/gsm.html
Here are the tech specs from Huawei:
4G FDD-LTE, TD-LTE: B1/B2/B3/B4/B5/B6/B7/B8/B9/B12/B17/B18/B19/B20/B26/B28/B32/B34/B38/B39/B40
3G WCDMA: B1/B2/B4/B5/B6/B8/B19
https://consumer.huawei.com/uk/phones/m/p20-pro/tech-specs/
honua said:
I'm not an expert, but before I bought my P20 Pro, I made sure that it worked with the AT&T's network frequency bands. Each network has different bands and if the phone doesn't support the band, it won't connect.]
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Thanks for the input. I checked the bands for sure, and they are covered since it will be sold on my carrier soon. I guess what I meant is more the model itself, if there are variants per country or if we (Canada) are getting the same global version.
You see I come from a Samsung user's background and they have these silly country codes that dictate what you can use and where. I'm not sure it's related, but I found that even if on paper all LTE bands are covered with my S9, it still has shoddy reception compared to a Canadian S7. I could try to flash my CSC code to the phone, but a) it's complicated and risks bricking the phone and b) since the Canadian model is NOT the same as the global one, my CSC cannot be applied to this phone no matter how hard I try...
DenisEhm said:
Thanks for the input. I checked the bands for sure, and they are covered since it will be sold on my carrier soon. I guess what I meant is more the model itself, if there are variants per country or if we (Canada) are getting the same global version.
You see I come from a Samsung user's background and they have these silly country codes that dictate what you can use and where. I'm not sure it's related, but I found that even if on paper all LTE bands are covered with my S9, it still has shoddy reception compared to a Canadian S7. I could try to flash my CSC code to the phone, but a) it's complicated and risks bricking the phone and b) since the Canadian model is NOT the same as the global one, my CSC cannot be applied to this phone no matter how hard I try...
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FunkyHuawei offers a rebranding tool, which changes the region of the ROM. I used it because I bought mine from a Chinese e-commerce website. I rebranded to European region.
I couldn't find anything about International or Global versions of the phone. I know they are region locked, but the rebranding tool will fix that. You can also flash a firmware from FunkHuawei or use HuRUpdater tool from TWRP custom recovery.
I have used both tools, and had 100% success.
https://funkyhuawei.club/rebranding
https://forum.xda-developers.com/honor-9/development/tool-flash-official-firmware-recovery-t3769279/
https://forum.xda-developers.com/huawei-p20-pro/development/recovery-twrp-3-2-1-0-t3779400
https://forum.xda-developers.com/tools/general/huawei-firmware-finder-team-mt-t3469146
honua said:
FunkyHuawei offers a rebranding tool, which changes the region of the ROM. I used it because I bought mine from a Chinese e-commerce website. I rebranded to European region.
I couldn't find anything about International or Global versions of the phone. I know they are region locked, but the rebranding tool will fix that. You can also flash a firmware from FunkHuawei or use HuRUpdater tool from TWRP custom recovery.
I have used both tools, and had 100% success.
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Cool thanks, I'll see how this could help me out. I'm giving my S9 one last chance but short of that, I'll cough up another $1000 for this phone; I just don't want to end up in the same trap!
Hello!
I've been interested in buying a Galaxy Note 9 for some time, but I'd like a Snapdragon version (from what I can tell by reviews and tests it's better than the Exynos in performance, heat and battery and I don't really want to install custom ROMs, so no problem about the locked bootloader). Today I happened to stumble across an offer on a retail website where a seller just 20 km away from me is offering a Galaxy Note 9 which he says is new and bought from Samsung store in the USA (so I'm assuming it's the N960U carrier unlocked USA version), but he's also stating that it needs to be region unlocked. I've been searching online and I don't really understand what that's all about. I know the first step in purchasing a phone from retail is asking for the IMEI, but what can I exactly do with it? Does it provide the phone's exact model? And what does region unlocking imply?
I'd be glad if anyone could help me with this situation, as it's quite a rare chance and I'd be extremely happy to buy it, but I firstly want to be sure I can use it.
Provided it's not CDMA, the GSM bands should be comaptible with my carrier (Orange), or so I think. Any information is much appreciated.
Thanks and have a great day!
Hi Everybody,
I am about to upgrade my Galaxy Watch to the latest model. I would like to take the opportunity to get the LTE version, so I can get rid of one of my phones. The problem is that in my country (Italy) LTE version is not for sale, and I doubt will ever be.
I have done my homeworks and I can get the watch i want from UK or eastern europe, and I can also buy an e-sim from TIM, a local carrier.
My simple question is: will it work ? I am afraid the carrier will not activate the line on a non-officially supported HW (although they support Galaxy watch). E-sim is still a mysterious world for TIM tech support, so I hope someone here can help...
thank you!
GG
Hi again, here is a simpler query:
- did anyone activate the Galaxy watch 3 Lte with a carrier in a country different from the country of purchase? E-sim is a new tricky matter where i have zero experience, and I am really afraid of wasting money on a cellular function that will never work... hope that someone will help!!
Thank you!
Hello,
I have LTE but it's in same country. I think country does not matter.
When you start the watch first time, it proposes you to connect to LTE thru e-sim with the same carrier as your smartphone.
All i had to do was to click on the subscribe button for an e-sim, directly... It was all proposed by the watch and smartphone itself for my carrier.
So i'd guess that there will be no issue... cannot confirm it 100% though
There is no need to buy an e-sim separately if you have it available at your phone carrier, for me it was just a monthly 5€ sub. in addition to my phone bill. The connexion was instantly available as soon as i clicked sub.
I'm in France... and i assume the watches are same as many europe countries (DE, Swiss, Italy, FR, etc) since they proposed these when i started the watch, but there was no UK proposed so might be different watch there...?
Thanks for the answer,!
In italy the lte version is exclusive to a carrier, that will not release it soon, so the only way to get right now is buying it abroad.
I often buy phones in other countries, and they always worked: bur with e sim this now is far from certain as the phones IMEI must be activated by the carrier ( see the ' sprint' thread here in this forum), like in the old pre-GSM times.
That is why I was hoping someone had a similar experience, thanks anyway!
I'm in UK, got it from Samsung so not network branded, and during activation it just asked if I wanted to enable it on the phone as I went through activation. Went to my carriers e-sim sign up (same page as the watch '1' used) and hey presto it all worked.
That was on EE BTW, but know that Vodafone works in UK too, think only three don't have an esim option here at the moment, as I'm sure a friend had his 1 on O2 (Telefonica)