Hi everyone,
I've recently purchased a phone online, and I don't have buyers protection as it was through Gumtree..
The phone has been IMEI Blocked by O2 (UK). Is there any way or unblocking or unlocking the phone using procedures found on thie site? IE. Rooting, custom roms etc?
Thanks V much!
T
Call them. If a phone is IMEI blocked, it's blocked at the carrier's end/network & unable to use their network, and in many countries, other carriers networks in that country (and also quite possibly networks in other countries). So as it's not something that's blocked phone-side, nothing anything here can do to solve this.
Can I request to have it unlocked/unblocked?
Experience on here has been (that I've seen anyway) varies widely from carrier to carrier (and country to country) & seems to depend on why it was blocked in the first place. The decision to block/unblock rests solely with the carrier concerned.
Call them, explain your situation, see what happens/hope for the best. I'm not familiar with any rights you may/may not have under UK law with regard to this, perhaps someone who lives there as you do might chime in & give you an idea of those.
Related
Background: I purchased a new Nexus 4 which UPS then delivered to the wrong house. I contacted Google, and agreed they could void the device and refund me the money.
2 weeks later the phone arrived. I contacted Google to see if they could unvoid the phone to save hassle. They said it was too late but that I could keep the phone for free e.g. for spares or whatever. I confirmed it was mine several times!!
So... in the interests of environmentalism, I want to use this phone.
The course of action I propose is:
1. Root the phone
2. Change IMEI number to that of an old Samsung Galaxy I own
3. Use the phone
This should be legal and sensible.
QUESTION: Is there a way I can perform the rooting and changing of the IMEI number without connecting to the network. If this happens, I presume it will contact Google then self destruct?!
All knowledge and suggestions related to this situation most gratefully received
Have you verified that the phone doesn't work with any networks? Technically, changing an imei is illegal in the u.s. (even to that of an old phone that you own)
P.s. just re-read the op. I don't think google can "disable" it like that.
RussianBear said:
Have you verified that the phone doesn't work with any networks? Technically, changing an imei is illegal in the u.s. (even to that of an old phone that you own)
P.s. just re-read the op. I don't think google can "disable" it like that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Google can Disable the IMEI by black listing it with the carriers.
But as stated changing the IMEI is illegal and not to be talked about here.
Hey guys!
first i would like to say thank you.
i'm following this forums for a long time. I may not have anything to contribute, but i do read and learn here a lot. keep it up, you rock!
Secondly, i would like to ask for a little help, i tried to look for an answer here but i get a little confused - can't understand which problem i have:
i'm from Israel, and 2 weeks ago, i was at the US. I bought a brand new S5 from Best-Buy, and i specifically asked for an unlocked one - for use OUTSIDE the US.
and it has a verizon sim card inside (new i guess), and verizon logo on the back and as a splash screen.
when i got back to Israel, i inserted a local sim card and unfortunately - it doesn't work.
* i do get signal of my local carrier, but no cellular data can be used (wifi works fine)
* i get an error at the notifications center - that the sim card is unsupported
* i do not get the "enter unlock code" message
* at the settings-> more networks-> mobile networks ->global data roaming access menu, i get something about roaming outside the US (which might give a hint about the unlock state of the phone i think)
would be very glad to have your help, guys!
thanks a lot!
Tomer.
**** edit: i got the cellular data working (updated APN), but still have the: "Phone Activation: The SIM card is from an unknown source" message...)
ToMeRhh said:
i'm following this forums for a long time. I may not have anything to contribute, but i do read and learn here a lot
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Welcome to the forum.
Samsung region locks phones to discourage buying a phone for use in a different part of the world. Your phone is also intended for use with the US carrier Verizon, hence the setup message about not having activated a Verizon account.
Less soluble is your apparent intent to use this phone in Israel. You've apparently bought a 900V model which is not well suited to the frequency bands there. Samsung sells the 900F model in Israel. You would have done well with something like a US 900T, if not a 900F but the 900V model that you bought is intended for Verizon's CDMA network, not the GSM system in the middle east.
As a result you probably will have no coverage whatsoever in the 4G or LTE bands. Also, the Verizon model is one of the few that has a locked bootloader which will prevent you from using custom kernels or a conventional custom recovery.
A simple search of the forum will tell you how to resolve the Verizon error message and your other questions. Or look in my post history as I have answered these questions at length in previous threads.
It's a good habit to search the forum for an answer before posting. There is a wealth of information in existing threads and you could have easily found immediate answers to all of your questions. And remove the need for us to answer the same questions over and over. These are questions that have been asked and answered dozens of times.
.
Hello,
I recently bought a S5 in the netherlands (i live and use the phone in belgium). Started it up, everything works fine. I make one phonecall as required for the regionlock, works fine.
Then something strange happens, after the one phonecall required, i cant accept or make phonecalls anymore.
I get a message "your phone has been locked due to security reasons"
Now the weird thing is, if i use a simcard from another carrier, the phone just works fine, no locking whatsoever...
Called Samsung support, told the story, they tell me phone is region locked and i need to get a code, but the phone never asks me for a code nor can i put one in anywhere.
So i called my provider, they tell me the phone is blacklisted probably but they cant check that...
After some research i found out the phone is actualy from UK with an international firmware on it: G900FXXU1ANG2 (countrycode BTU)
Anyone have an idea how to get rid of this problem?
I dont want to root the phone just yet in case i have to exchange it for another one.
Would it help to get the countryspecific stock firmware installed for my country? (Belgium)
thanks a lot for the help
thale
You'd get better help if you gave us more details, notably verbatim error messages, rather than paraphrasing.
Your provider can certainly tell you if your phone is blacklisted since an IMEI blacklist is under their direct control. So ask them again to clarify that. Region locking is much more likely though. Samsung region locks phones to prevent grey market sales, which is exactly what you've tried to do. The region lock is released after you use the phone a short while with a provider in the original region, which sounds like the UK in your case. Region locking is also a type of blacklist, although that term is almost always used to refer to carrier IMEI blacklisting unless otherwise specified.
As you didn't make any preliminary calls in the UK, nor apparently did the previous owner (or vendor), the phone is now restricted. You could travel to the UK and use your phone there for a day to dissipate the region lock. Or a lot of people claim that a regular SIM unlock code, such as you can buy on Ebay or any number of other places will also remove the region lock (unconfirmed). Or you can root your phone and circumvent the region lock by editing the blocked regions in your customer.xml file.
There are lots of existing threads on this subject, as you would know if had you done a search. Refer to those for further elaboration or you can search my post history as I've posted in detail how to remove the region lock in previous posts.
.
Thanks for the reply, this forum was my last resort since i didnt understand the problem.
I dont get any error messages at all.
provider A in S5 --> while calling i get the message phone blocked for security reason
provider A in S4 mini --> works perfectly
Provider B in S5 --> works perfectly
so i thought problems lies with faulty simcard, exchanged it but problem stays
when i call samsung they tell me its a provider problem
when i call my provider they say its a phone problem
in europe shouldnt matter realy where you buy your phone since there's free traffic of goods and services. I wonder if the webshop knows they are selling UK phones, ill talk to them about it tomorrow.
thanks again for the reply ill try to get the problem sorted, if that doesnt work at all, i guess ill just root it and fix the problem
kind regards,
thale
Humh, sounds weird.
Use the code *#7465625# (*#SIMLOCK#) to check for the lock status. On some devices this code needs root to launch.
thalekick said:
Thanks for the reply, this forum was my last resort since i didnt understand the problem.
I dont get any error messages at all.
provider A in S5 --> while calling i get the message phone blocked for security reason
provider A in S4 mini --> works perfectly
Provider B in S5 --> works perfectly
so i thought problems lies with faulty simcard, exchanged it but problem stays
when i call samsung they tell me its a provider problem
when i call my provider they say its a phone problem
in europe shouldnt matter realy where you buy your phone since there's free traffic of goods and services. I wonder if the webshop knows they are selling UK phones, ill talk to them about it tomorrow.
thanks again for the reply ill try to get the problem sorted, if that doesnt work at all, i guess ill just root it and fix the problem
kind regards,
thale
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If I understood you correctly, your SIM card works properly in other phones. So your SIM card shouldn't be the issue. If your S5 is SIM unlocked (carrier unlocked), you could try someone else's SIM card in your S5 to rule out less common problems e.g. bent SIM socket.
And regardless, in your place, I'd open a support ticket with your provider. That should cover anything like a IMEI blacklist. All in all though it does sound like region locking. Which is Samsung blocking a phone from being used in a different region unless it has been first activated (i.e. used for a few calls) in the original region first. I wouldn't think that a region lock between two parts of Europe would be intentional, but it is still something to look into.
Without any explicit error messages, it is difficult to narrow down the cause. You might consider installing a logcat app to capture the system log which may have more information about the error.
Also try dialing *#06* and ensure that you have a valid IMEI (not all zeros)
And dial *#0011#. You should see a (IMEI) certificate "Pass"if at the end. If it says IMEI CERTI: FAIL or NA you may have a flash error or IMEI blacklist.
.
Hello,
phone is an unlocked one, i used 2 different simcards from 2 different providers.
imei certificate passes so thats good!
im gonna make some phonecalls today and keep you all posted
kind regards
thale
Try to use Provider A with another sim card?
Sent from my SM-N9005 using Tapatalk
Had another talk with the helpdesk from the provider, they told me the phone is blacklisted but couldnt give me a reason why.
Im only blacklisted with provider A, if u use the phone with another simcard from another provider it works like a charm.
Ive had to send them my proof of purchase, and they will unblock the phone...
Havent had any feedback yet from the shop i bought it from, so maybe they can shine a new light on the whole deal!
Try
How about contacting the retailer? I think you'd better not root the phone or fix it by yourself.
So the matter goes like this -
I bought a GS 7 Edge (SM-G935F single SIM International unlocked variant) from Ebay India recently. Everything is OK with the phone except that it is unable to search and connect to any Indian mobile network. It shows "NO SERVICE" even when a SIM is inserted and do not search for networks anyhow. After some search I came to know that it is Middle East specific variant so no Indian SIM card is working in it. So I guess it is suffering from that infamous "Region Lock" issue. I know the "5-minute call in region/home network" solution but unfortunately it is impossible to me to go to middle east just for this.
Is there anyone out there who had/has this issue and got it solved anyhow (other than 5-minute call method).
Please anyone including our great forum modders and devs, I request you to help me out from this awkward situation.
I think you can just get a sim card (turkish for example) from ebay? that will cost you like 10$
Apologies if im wrong
When you insert an indian sim does it ask for a SIM unlock code?
If it doesnt then its not a region lock problem. Your phone has a defect and youshould either return it or get it checked at a service centre.
If it does, then just contact the samsung middle east through e-mail, they'll help you out with the PIN
No it does not ask for any code.
Some more questions, please can some one answer?
1. Can I flash the phone with an Asia Pacific (which is my region) stock ROM?
2. If the answer is yes and everything is successful then will it remove the region lock?
3. Does anyone know whether the region lock is a hardware or firmware based restriction?
Any help is highly appreciated.
Unfortunately nothing worked for me. I successfully flashed the phone with Indian Stock ROM but the problem persisted. As a last resort I rooted the phone and used the "Region Lock Away" app. But unfortunately it did not work either giving "Unexpected error occurred" message. Now I think I can't do anything about this other than shelling out money at a Samsung service center.
@samsung - I must say Samsung, you are not doing it right at all by region locking the devices. It is the most stupid and bad-for-business move from your part. I mean come on! A user buys your phone spending a lot then he/she must be free to use it anywhere and anyhow without any restrictions. Why on earth I spend more money buying a SIM card, you are selling phones or promoting regional network operators along with it. Disappointed as I am, I will no longer buy a Samsung phone in the future and will make sure no other in my family and circle buys one. Besides being a blogger and social media influencer I will do as much as I can to make people aware about this restrictive and monopolistic attitude of yours. You will have to pay for this.
I'm with u
i bought it from India, and back to Singapore...
cant use it alerady a week. and Singapore samsung saying they cant help. contact indian operator / samsung service centre.
Hi guys. At the beginning, I will add that my S7edge is not stolen, as already explained himself. let's move on.
HITRORY:
During the summer I bought bought after work casual galaxy S7. The first owner took him for a subscription with your service provider, and as it turned out no longer pay for it. Although the operator in my country has no right to block the use of the mobile network IMEI without a warrant police (reporting the theft), he began to do and unfortunately my S7e operates in forced tablet mode without modem 3G / 4G + ... Operator and the police do not want me do to help, do not want to return the phone and accept the application because it is not simply stolen. It's a total well because this phone for my country is very expensive (Poorland, hehe ..). The phone is locked to the IMEI, the guarantee even though it is of little value, simply wants to find a way to even come a little acted, then I collect on any other phone and this will serve me as a small tablet, oh well.
Question:
It is possible to hide any IMEI front of the transmitter operator my address IMEI and show him different? Yes, I am desperate as anything.
Sorry for my bad english, I used translate. The level of my English is not a good (poor country, poor teaching in schools) as I mentioned...
re: IMEI
ml13 said:
Hi guys. At the beginning, I will add that my S7edge is not stolen, as already explained himself. let's move on.
HITRORY:
During the summer I bought bought after work casual galaxy S7. The first owner took him for a subscription with your service provider, and as it turned out no longer pay for it. Although the operator in my country has no right to block the use of the mobile network IMEI without a warrant police (reporting the theft), he began to do and unfortunately my S7e operates in forced tablet mode without modem 3G / 4G + ... Operator and the police do not want me do to help, do not want to return the phone and accept the application because it is not simply stolen. It's a total well because this phone for my country is very expensive (Poorland, hehe ..). The phone is locked to the IMEI, the guarantee even though it is of little value, simply wants to find a way to even come a little acted, then I collect on any other phone and this will serve me as a small tablet, oh well.
Question:
It is possible to hide any IMEI front of the transmitter operator my address IMEI and show him different? Yes, I am desperate as anything.
Sorry for my bad english, I used translate. The level of my English is not a good (poor country, poor teaching in schools) as I mentioned...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The IMEI numbers in cell phones are hard coded, locked
to the specific phone and cannot be hidden or changed.
Good luck, have a great day!
Please no IMEI change talk.
Thread closed.