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Will a carrier based Note 8 950F be able to flash a non carrier official firmware?

Long story short. I have purchased a brand new imported UK Galaxy Note 8 SM-N950F. Upon opening the brand new box, I got nothing out of the ordinary. Booted the phone and what do you know? It's locked on Vodafone UK... (it didn't accept my Vodafone RO sim for some reason). Talked with the guy, the guy freaked out because he sent me the wrong device and told me I'll get a phone unlock code within the next 3 days.
After I'll unlock the device, I wonder. Can I flash a normal, non bloated BTU firmware onto the phone over the UK VOD firmware that's currently on it? I adore the device but I ****ing hate being stuck with carrier **** especially knowing that Samsung is slow with updates and it being a carrier based firmware, it will be slower also. On my old S8+ I did the same.. worked like a charm, Knox not tripped, phone was running stock non bloated firmware and to this date is receiving updates normally and is working properly.
I heard that Samsung has decided to region lock the devices from S9 forward (or was it Note 8?) but I'm not worried as I like the UK firmware.
TL;DR: Got a Note 8 UK Vodafone locked phone. Can I flash over the UK VOD firmware, a normal BTU firmware?

I am asking strictly because I heard that the Note 8 might be region locked and that could maybe interfere with my plans.

its not region locked.

Yes, you can!
And I wouldn't worry about the region lock. Because UK and Romania are both EU countries and the region lock is enforced for the greater EU area.
This is what it shows on Eu Region Lock devices.
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Question Firmware & CSC quick question

Greetings,
I have an SM-G998B/DS, which was bought closed carrier unlocked, but with a firmware from Vodafone (Comes with 3 Vodafone apps which are easy to uninstall). Also the Active CSC code = ATL.
I am from Spain, so I wanted to flash the firmware with the one which says PHE, thi sone in particular
Download Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra SM-G998B PHE Spain G998BXXS3AUHD firmware
Fast download latest Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra firmware SM-G998B from Spain with G998BXXS3AUHD and Android version 11
www.sammobile.com
File downloaded:
G998BXXS3AUHD_G998BOXM3AUHB_PHE.zip
Thing is that I flashed without issues, but I still see that Vodafone apps gets installed and in the Phone Info APP still says ATL
My understanding is that by flashing with PHE, the firmware would not be tied to any carrier in particular? And it should show as PHE in the phone INFO app?
Also, I always have seen the CSC blank, even before flashing, except for the "Active CSC". Is that normal?
Thanks in advance!

Out of curiosity, Whats your software provider software version?
I.e. TGY/TGY,TGY/BRI

Greetings,
I am attaching a screenshot.
Thanks!
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AlmaMater said:
Greetings,
I have an SM-G998B/DS, which was bought closed carrier unlocked, but with a firmware from Vodafone (Comes with 3 Vodafone apps which are easy to uninstall). Also the Active CSC code = ATL.
I am from Spain, so I wanted to flash the firmware with the one which says PHE, thi sone in particular
Download Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra SM-G998B PHE Spain G998BXXS3AUHD firmware
Fast download latest Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra firmware SM-G998B from Spain with G998BXXS3AUHD and Android version 11
www.sammobile.com
File downloaded:
G998BXXS3AUHD_G998BOXM3AUHB_PHE.zip
Thing is that I flashed without issues, but I still see that Vodafone apps gets installed and in the Phone Info APP still says ATL
My understanding is that by flashing with PHE, the firmware would not be tied to any carrier in particular? And it should show as PHE in the phone INFO app?
Also, I always have seen the CSC blank, even before flashing, except for the "Active CSC". Is that normal?
Thanks in advance!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi
Changing the active CSC is not as easy as it use to be, before just flashing the correct firmware and booting the phone with the right SIM was enough
There are a couple of options using a dialer code , myself i used that method to change from GTO to PHE , I see you have the latest firmware I do not think they will work anymore , you can try if you want check here
If that does not work your only option without root is samkey ( pay)

Thanks for the reply!
I think I will just leave as it is. I can survive with 3 additional apps which I can uninstall.
Thanks again

Question S21 Ultra GCF/GCF/VZW OTA Updates Error

So I was recently in the US on holiday and got an S21 Ultra. The US Version SM-G998U. I however only ever turned on my phone when I returned to my home country in Africa. Sadly it seems I'm cutoff from any and all OTA updates. Contacted Samsung and they said they couldn't do anything. So I researched how to flash new updates myself. Is there a way to flash my phone where I'll be able to now get OTA updates? Or I'll have to be doing it for the rest my phone's life? And when I go to Sammobile to look for the firmware file, I can't seem to find any files with GCF indicated in the name. Which firmware update can work for me based on the GCF/GCF/VZW regional code?
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As you have a US Snapdragon S21U you are limited to firmware for G998U and G998U1 phones.
See following threat:
G998U and G998U1 Firmware Links and Flashing Discussion Here
For those who aren't already aware, G998U is the model number of all of the US carrier versions of the S21 Ultra. The G998U1 is the model number of the same device, but sold by Samsung SIM unlocked and with no carrier bloatware. Firmware is 100%...
forum.xda-developers.com

OnnoJ said:
As you have a US Snapdragon S21U you are limited to firmware for G998U and G998U1 phones.
See following threat:
G998U and G998U1 Firmware Links and Flashing Discussion Here
For those who aren't already aware, G998U is the model number of all of the US carrier versions of the S21 Ultra. The G998U1 is the model number of the same device, but sold by Samsung SIM unlocked and with no carrier bloatware. Firmware is 100%...
forum.xda-developers.com
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the help. I'll look into that

Did you fix the problem. I have same problem my s21ultra is G998U model which i buy in US. I live in Europe. I cant update it now over OTA. But i have one more problem my S21u doesnt connect to pc so i cant flash a firmware.(i order new sim card reader-charging port hope this fix my problem, is on the way from china) Did you find any solution?
Thanks

Macekmaks said:
Did you fix the problem. I have same problem my s21ultra is G998U model which i buy in US. I live in Europe. I cant update it now over OTA. But i have one more problem my S21u doesnt connect to pc so i cant flash a firmware.(i order new sim card reader-charging port hope this fix my problem, is on the way from china) Did you find any solution?
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
maybe your USB cable is the issue if it won't connect. Are you using a high quality (can fast charge) USB-A to C cable?
Verizon locks down their phones - super annoying.

Any luck with your phone? I also have GCF/GCF CSC code and no updates. In addition all files that I have tried flashing with Odin have failed

galaxy s10 csc

hello everyone
i bought galaxy s10 from usa and i live in Egypt
model g973u snapdragon version
sprint brand and gsm unlocked
android 12
i want to activate native call recording function
i read some articles on the internet that changing csc from usa to supported country for call recording will work but this method for g973f exynos version
is there any way to do it
even if i flash the device with g973u1 firmware will change the csc
thanks in advance
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Typically, in the US, the U1 version will change CSC when you install a working SIM from a different carrier. Of course, this won't work for you since you won't have a US carrier SIM. There may be ways to force-change the CSC on Snapdragon, but I haven't found them to work.
What's weird is that your phone already appears to be a multi-CSC ROM (you can see this in the "XAA" for the CSCs there). So you don't need a new ROM, but you still need to find a way to actually force the switch. I'm not sure if that's possible.
Note that per your CSC, this was originally a VZW (Verizon) phone, and is only "currently" an SPR phone... because it doesn't see a matching CSC to work with.
Anyway, all that said, I don't believe USA phones can have native call recording either. USA laws are crazy in this regard, so I don't know if any ROM will allow that here. That being said, I have been using BoldBeast recorder on my Android 11 phone and it works great. I do believe it won't work on A12, which is part of the reason I have not upgraded my phone to A12. You may want to give that a try, anyway, to see if it can work?

schwinn8 said:
What's weird is that your phone already appears to be a multi-CSC ROM (you can see this in the "XAA" for the CSCs there).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i think because the company unlocked the phone for the user after he paid the full price
before that the device was locked to their career

S20 FE 5G still on android 11. Can I update without rooting the phone?

I've bought this phone second hand online a year ago and I thought since it's not declared as stolen on IMEI it would be fine.
From what a guy told me it's from france so it's probably connected to a carrier from there, but I haven't figured out how to check myself.
I'd like to know if there any way to get the update without breaking functionality of the phone, like google pay, bluetooth or other issues i've usually had with rooted phones in the past.
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It's worth mentioning I tried updating using smart switch and it didn't work.

you can download firmware suitable for your location and flash it with Odin all without triggering Knox, you can even keep your apps but with such a big jump your cache will need wiping afterward from recovery.
if you look in settings / about phone / software info / service provider software version. you should see 3 letters being listed there 3 times. that your (current) CSC code, googling that will tell which network or country the phone is from. you also need to find out the CSC version you want to download for your country. don't pick a CSC for your network, pick for your country.

Looks like your carrier tag is SFR, so if you search for firmware with model: SM-G781B and country: SFR, you will find firmware for it with Android version 13.
You can use:
sammobile (slow),
[TOOL] SamFirm - Samsung firmware downloader & checker
Note: This tool is deprecated. Please use fw.updato.com See also here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-s7/how-to/updato-largest-online-firmware-archive-t3413785 Hello guys I have created a little tool to download and check latest Samsung...
forum.xda-developers.com
I usually use: https://github.com/ivanmeler/SamFirm_Reborn/releases/tag/0.3.6.3
After you get firmware downloaded use Odin to install it. You can use this Medium article.
It is very simple to use tool. (In CSC field use HOME_CSC file to keep your data)