Purchased "sim free" phone as gift but its locked to Europe only, help.

asim18 · 1 Aug 2018 at 21:14

Hi there I purchased a couple SIM free Samsung A5s as a gift to take abroad but upon recieving the package it says some crap basically they've lied and it's not really SIM free its actually locked and only unlocks with a European SIM card. Lol what is the world coming to.

My question is will I be able to put my SIM card in over there and unlock it while roaming on a foreign network? I don't want to break the seal otherwise I would have just gotten some dodgy unlocked ones off eBay lol. Can't believe this crap you pay to have a legit sealed product and they're just fuelling dodgy unlocking businesses.

Thanks for any help.

mrk · 2 Aug 2018 at 10:56

It is sim free, it's sim free for all EU sims. Nobody lied. You just have to put a EU sim in it first time round. Just liek any UK bought sim free phone, you have to first put a EU sim in there. I used my S7 edge back i the day in Canada with local sim over there and the box stated EU sims only.

The world isn't coming to anything, calm the chuff down!

glenimp617 · 2 Aug 2018 at 11:25

mrk said:
It is sim free, it's sim free for all EU sims. Nobody lied. You just have to put a EU sim in it first time round. Just liek any UK bought sim free phone, you have to first put a EU sim in there. I used my S7 edge back i the day in Canada with local sim over there and the box stated EU sims only.

The world isn't coming to anything, calm the chuff down!

I think it was a tongue in cheek comment, rather than a proper full on rant

Kanpai · 2 Aug 2018 at 13:44

OP is proper vexed innit bruv, can't be having man dem lie to you innit.

Sp00n · 2 Aug 2018 at 15:29

asim18 said:
Hi there I purchased a couple SIM free Samsung A5s as a gift to take abroad but upon recieving the package it says some crap basically they've lied and it's not really SIM free its actually locked and only unlocks with a European SIM card. Lol what is the world coming to.

My question is will I be able to put my SIM card in over there and unlock it while roaming on a foreign network? I don't want to break the seal otherwise I would have just gotten some dodgy unlocked ones off eBay lol. Can't believe this crap you pay to have a legit sealed product and they're just fuelling dodgy unlocking businesses.

Thanks for any help.

Sim free (unlocked) != region free

All current Samsung phones come with an active regional lock when first bought. Assuming it's not also locked to a specific network, using a SIM from the same regional origin as the phone for at least 5 minutes of total talktime will disable the regional lock and allow you to use a SIM from any other region from then on.

https://eu.community.samsung.com/t5...arables/Galaxy-S8-Sim-region-lock/td-p/298262

SpartaK said:
OP is proper vexed innit bruv, can't be having man dem lie to you innit.

What?

asim18 · 2 Aug 2018 at 19:46

mrk said:
It is sim free, it's sim free for all EU sims. Nobody lied. You just have to put a EU sim in it first time round. Just liek any UK bought sim free phone, you have to first put a EU sim in there. I used my S7 edge back i the day in Canada with local sim over there and the box stated EU sims only.

The world isn't coming to anything, calm the chuff down!

"It is sim free, it's sim free for all EU sims."

I'm sorry but personally those two statements have different meanings to me. Surely it can only be one or the other. Especially if they were trying to be honest, ie. they plaster SIM free over everything but I've never seen region locked anywhere.

"SIM free" means one thing. "SIM free once unlocked by doing some palaver" just means another in my head.

I mean what on earth does breaking the seal and calling someone for 5 minutes even accomplish? Absolutely nothing. :confused:

I am totally calm by the way because it's easy to return and I can just grab some stuff from duty free or something :cool:

. It's a mild waste of time at most.

It would be interesting to discuss the point of all this. I just don't understand what it achieves.

mrk · 2 Aug 2018 at 20:02

Calm down!!

Sp00n · 2 Aug 2018 at 20:10

Samsung implemented it to stop grey imports, or at least reduce them, it's not a conspiracy, they have done this since 2013.

/edit infact there should be a sticker on the box.

asim18 · 2 Aug 2018 at 21:40

Sp00n said:
Samsung implemented it to stop grey imports, or at least reduce them, it's not a conspiracy, they have done this since 2013.

/edit infact there should be a sticker on the box.

What does stopping grey imports achieve and why is grey imports a problem?

Also how does it making someone put in a UK simcard into a phone physically stop someone from posting a phone overseas? The two are unconnected and don't affect one another. It just means they have to break the seal or do a dodgy unlock, doesn't stop anything.

And yes that is the label I can see it now that I have received the box, it would have saved time if they could have copied and pasted the info from the sticker into the website though.

stoofa · 3 Aug 2018 at 08:48

asim18 said:
What does stopping grey imports achieve and why is grey imports a problem?

Also how does it making someone put in a UK simcard into a phone physically stop someone from posting a phone overseas? The two are unconnected and don't affect one another. It just means they have to break the seal or do a dodgy unlock, doesn't stop anything.

And yes that is the label I can see it now that I have received the box, it would have saved time if they could have copied and pasted the info from the sticker into the website though.

The grey import mainly hurts the companies bottom line. Devices will be sold into different regions at varying prices, so in less economically well-off areas, the phones are sold in cheaper and then sold out to customers at a lower price. Obviously the manufacturer doesn't want any given market flooded with cheaper, grey imports from other regions.
There are also talk of specifications being reduced, so to make the phone cheaper for other regions, the specification or build may not be so good. Again the manufacturer doesn't want people in the UK for example buying phones that were designed for use in a different country - because people have decided to import them.
There is then the warranty. Samsung will give you a 2 year warranty on the phone you purchase for your region, however purchasing one from another region they won't give you any warranty - instead you're stuck with dealing with your vendor.

Personally I'd never accept a phone with a seal broken and I'm pretty sure the vast majority of people wouldn't. So this does stop the grey importing - unless you're looking for the cheapest possible way to buy a particular phone and then you probably don't care about the warranty etc.