Moving- Need to unblock my phone

[Margret]

Good afternoon.

I will be out of the country and would like to unblock my phone in order to be able to use it elsewhere.

I have been a public mobile customer for years

My phone is a Samsung Galaxy J1 (SM-J120W)

Do you need an IMEI number to proceed?

Thank you in advance for your time and help!

Margret

[Anonymous]

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@computergeek541 wrote:

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@smartin wrote:

Samsung won't unlock, the customer needs to call the service provider the phone got locked to and explain the situation, and the customer service agent will do it fast and free of charge.

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Samsung will provide the unlock code for phone sold at retail stores (not wireless carrier stores).  These phones lock to the carrier of the first sim card inserted.  Samsung will unlock these phones, without the need for the customer to contact the carrier.

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But a possible technicality might be that the Costco kiosk is actually a contracted space to a "wireless carrier store". Kinda like the Lennox kiosk or the ATV or the Ford etc kiosks.

But I don't know. I should think the OP should verify whether the phone is locked either way by way of testing another SIM or finding the indication in the phone to know for sure.

Edit: Was at a Costco today. The kiosk is a contracted space. What I didn't know was that one can buy a phone from Costco but not from the kiosk. Those seem to be the problem ones.

[mimmo]

@computergeek541 thanks for confirming my earlier post.

[computergeek541]

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@smartin wrote:

Samsung won't unlock, the customer needs to call the service provider the phone got locked to and explain the situation, and the customer service agent will do it fast and free of charge.

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Samsung will provide the unlock code for phone sold at retail stores (not wireless carrier stores).  These phones lock to the carrier of the first sim card inserted.  Samsung will unlock these phones, without the need for the customer to contact the carrier.

[computergeek541]

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@vogelhut wrote:

Lots of confusing and conflicting information here! If you bought your phone from Costco and immediately used it on Public Mobile, there's a very good possibility it's already unlocked. A phone will only be locked to a specific mobile carrier if you buy it from them, to try and prevent you from switching to one of their competitors. You can test if your phone is locked or not by switching your SIM card out for a friend or family member's who is NOT on the Telus network (Telus, Koodo, or Public). If your phone can connect to another network, it's not locked. 

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Some phones, particulalrly Samsung phones sold at Costco will immediately lock to Telus/Koodo/Public Mobile after inserting a Public Mobile sim card into it.

[Anonymous]

@mimmodid find an interesting thread.

So regardless...the chronology seems to be - a PM customer, got a phone from Costco, presumably inserted SIM and perhaps (perhaps) got locked to PM. Maybe she got the phone then got PM.

Either way...there should be a way in the phone to see if it's locked. Or indeed insert another SIM from elsewhere and see if it says it's locked. If that other SIM works then it's not locked.

If locked then contact PM mods for unlock code.

[smartin]

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@Margret wrote:

Good afternoon.

I will be out of the country and would like to unblock my phone in order to be able to use it elsewhere.

I have been a public mobile customer for years

My phone is a Samsung Galaxy J1 (SM-J120W)

Do you need an IMEI number to proceed?

Thank you in advance for your time and help!

Margret

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If all of us could read the 1st post properly..... the customer is not sure if their phone is locked to public mobile and the customer wants to have it unlocked to travel with that phone or use it on any other carrier except Telus network...

so in this case the best way is to use a sim that is not Telus/ Koodo/or Public mobile to check if the phone is locked to Telus network. And if it is, contact Public mobile customer service to have the phone unlocked.

[mimmo]

@vogelhut @Some interesting info here:

https://productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca/t5/Discussions/Beware-of-Costco-quot-unlocked-quot-phone...

[vogelhut]

Lots of confusing and conflicting information here! If you bought your phone from Costco and immediately used it on Public Mobile, there's a very good possibility it's already unlocked. A phone will only be locked to a specific mobile carrier if you buy it from them, to try and prevent you from switching to one of their competitors. You can test if your phone is locked or not by switching your SIM card out for a friend or family member's who is NOT on the Telus network (Telus, Koodo, or Public). If your phone can connect to another network, it's not locked. 

[mimmo]

@smartin. I was just going by what I remembered reading the other day in one of the posts.  But can't find the thread now 😞

[smartin]

Samsung won't unlock, the customer needs to call the service provider the phone got locked to and explain the situation, and the customer service agent will do it fast and free of charge.

[Anonymous]

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@mimmo wrote:

You probably will need to contact Samsung to unlock it.  Some phones like Samsung's will be sold unlocked but then lock to the first sim that is inserted.

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But that would be locked to the carrier...not the manufacturer...I think.

[smartin]

How long ago did you buy your phone?

[mimmo]

You probably will need to contact Samsung to unlock it.  Some phones like Samsung's will be sold unlocked but then lock to the first sim that is inserted.

[smartin]

It might be an unlocked phone. How do you know that it is a locked phone? The new stock of the phones is supposed to come unlocked.

[Anonymous]

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@Margret wrote:

Thank you for your quick response,

The phone was purchased at COSCO.

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But what carrier?

[Margret]

Thank you for your quick response,

The phone was purchased at COSCO.

[Anonymous]

Dang! Beat again.

What he said.

[will13am]

@Margret, what carrier was this phone sourced from?  If it was from Telus, Koodo, please contact the moderator team to obtain an unlock code.  You will need to supply them with IMEI information.  The moderator team can be reached via private message using this link.  Refer to the following knowledge base link for information on contacting the moderator team.  If the phone is sourced from a competing carrier brand, you will need to reach out to them for the unlock code.