[Q] Sim unlock / Region unlock - Galaxy S 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

Hi - I bought a G900F off ebay which is apparently sim locked to the EE network. My sim card is Tesco Mobile (great deal).
From what I have read, rooting/flashing custom Rom will not unlock the network sim lock.
Is my only option to have EE unlock the phone? Any recomendations for websites which are trustworthy and include the EE network?
Does it matter if the person I bought the phone off did not use the phone before? Would this mean it has a region lock?
This is all very boring, my GS3 was so easy to get working.
Thanks,
RG

It doesn't matter what the status of your phone is or what network it is servicing. You will just need to input the unlock code numbers on the keypad. You have to pay a fee of course.

Related

How do I know if my HTC is locked (simlocked) or not without another Sim?

Hi,
I've bought a HTC Magic from Rogers. From the internet, it seems that some ppl were saying Rogers did not lock any smartphone, but most said it does.
I've tested with my wife's Fido Pay-As-You-Go SIM card, it seems to work. So either my phone is unlocked or Rogers and that Fido prepaid card are sharing the same lock-code.
Anyhow, without any other tools, how can I tell/test if my phone is simlocked or not?
Thanks,
Gary
The Rogers phones are locked. Fido, PetroCan Mobility and Speak Out are all virtual network operators that run on the Rogers network so their SIM's will work in a locked Rogers phone.
You need a non-Rogers SIM (like from a new Bell or Telus phone) or a US or European SIM. As soon as you pop it in it will tell you your locked and will ask you for the unlock code.
Phone won't run home screen but instead will ask for "unlock code".
And unless you give it you can't use the phone for anything (you can't even check any menu, settings or anything).

Locked used phones and activation

Hi,
I'm about to buy a locked and used Note 3 and I'm planning to unlock it with a Sim unlock code from a website. The thing is, I don't know which models can be unlock through this method. Is there any limitation? For example, can I unlock a Sprint device to use on GSM carriers? Or T-Mobile/AT&T only?
Also, for carrier locked phones, do I need to activate it beforehand with the specific carrier Sim card? For example, do I need a T-Mobile Sim card, activate the T-mobile phone and then, use my unlock Sim code with my own Sim card? Or can I just skip the activation process and ?
Thank you so much for your time!

[Q] samsung galaxy S5 .please help!

guys i got a galaxy s5 from UK and my phoneshows signal bars even without a sim inside the phone (pic attached ) and whenever i put a sim it says 'sim network unlock pin' does this means its carrier locked or region locked? does those signal bars means that its ready use in country and phone just carrier blocked or what .. thanks fellas this is a SM g900f UK version with fully paid and bought from samsung store ( not contract phone with any carrier) and have used with with a vodaphone sim for like 4 minutes.. (received a call but non taken from it )
http://share.pho.to/7QgV3
Androidbatta said:
guys i got a galaxy s5 from UK and my phoneshows signal bars even without a sim inside the phone (pic attached ) and whenever i put a sim it says 'sim network unlock pin' does this means its carrier locked or region locked? does those signal bars means that its ready use in country and phone just carrier blocked or what .. thanks fellas this is a SM g900f UK version with fully paid and bought from samsung store ( not contract phone with any carrier) and have used with with a vodaphone sim for like 4 minutes.. (received a call but non taken from it )
http://share.pho.to/7QgV3
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The 3 bars are the signal strength as you can still make emergency calls, your message sim network unlock pin means the phone is sim / network locked you need a pin code to unlock it, take it back to the store you got is from if it is supposed to be unlocked to any network and get them to sort it, this should be free if you bought it as an unlocked phone.
Edit added 20:23
Just seen you other post here that you put up 2 hours before this one, why start another thread asking the same thing. In this one you say your brother bought it in the UK and sent it to Asia for you, it is Vodafone UK network locked, if it was bought sim free it would not be network locked.
Was it really bought in the UK or obtained in an alternative way other than being bought.
..
fffft said:
Most likely it's a network lock. But you haven't provided enough information to be certain. You say that you got the phone in the UK but neglected to tell us what region you are using it in? Where your Vodaphone carrier is based or the context of the calls you have made. i.e used for 4 minutes where?.. and the meaning of "non taken from it" is uncertain.
If the phone is rooted, you can check whether it's region locked by looking at the customer.xml blacklist file. Or alternately pay for a network unlock and that will typically clear both network and region locks.
.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Im currently in Sri lanka (South Asia) and the phone is with me , but the phone was bought in UK , where my brother lives.. he said he wasn't aware of this region lock and he wasn't aware of the 5 mins call.. but just to check the phones functionality he has poped his UK vodaphone sim in to the phone and he has received a call to it for like 1- 2 mins . but he has not taken any calls to a UK number with it . what im currently getting is 'Sim Netowrk Unlock Pin' i think my phone is sim locked not reigion .. (or is it ?) . thank you very much for replying earlier
and also i followed your tutorial and checked the file (using es manager .. no rooting) and the result i got is attached as a pic below
http://share.pho.to/7R3ku
one more thing . all my country carriers are under one MCC code (413 ) . so editing that line in to a different number will solve the problem? ex- changing 413 to something like 222 or 567 ?? thank you!
after comparing codes in customer.xml and online found list .. it can be seen that all EU countries are not on the list (means this is region locked i asssume). will changing my country code to one of the EU codes will solve the issue? will my phone face any issues if i edit it without rooting (i have the ability to edit it without rooting using es file manager) thank you!

Is a SIM unlock code a 1-stop unlock fix?

Hi there,
Sorry to say that I'm sure this has been asked before, but I couldn't find the right search query to find a decent answer.
I'm curious what the value of a sim unlock from one of the many websites out there is? I don't mean the price, but will that code alone make my phone usable in a different region (assuming that the network type is supported?)
I've read a lot of information about region locks on phones, as well as SIM locks. I guess to simplify my question: Do I need to do both of these things, or is the SIM unlock sufficient?
Also, is there a site that sells these codes which XDA supports?
Thanks so much to anyone who can help or direct me to a decent answer.
Well, that depends on how your cell phone is locked. Some phones are locked to a region, let's say if it's region locked in europe it will work with any SIM card in europe, but some are SIM locked to a specific carrier and they will work only with SIM cards from that network and that country. The most unlocking websites on the market sell SIM unlock codes, because if one has an locked phone and whant to use another sim card, it's probably SIM locked. There are many reliable unlocking online services out there, like www.unlockradar.com or www.unlockbase.com

Note 4 unlocking

Hi all I have a note 4 n910f which is locked to Vodafone but I am wanting it to be unlocked so I can use my giffgaff sim in it. Is there any software what I can use to unlock it or is there another way people can help me with
Just call your cell provider and they will give you the network unlock code for your device. They will also walk you thought on how to unlock it too.
Vodafone UK are saying I have to wait 30 days

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