Unlocking phone: Excrutiatingly painful

[michelsavage966]

Bought Galaxy A5 at Staples  in Frederiction, NB, last December. Unlocked, or so they said. Inserted PM card. Worked fine. Now moved to Thailand. Phone not working: need to have un lock code. Contacted PM twice, both times they said: it's Bell. Contacted Bell twice: both times, they said: don't know the IMEI. Who the hell is the carrier for Public Mobile? Is Staples cheating us by seller cheaper phones (locked phones are notoriously cheaper)? This is going crazy here, I don't even know who is the carrier.

[srlawren]

FYI, when my better half bought her S7 a couple of years ago at the Samsung store in Metrotown mall (Burnaby, BC), she bought it without a contract (without activation even) but the first thing the sales guy did was to boot it up and put in one of the SIM cards they keep in the store, to force the phone to lock to (whatever network it is that SIM was from), and the immediately he input the code to re-unlock it.  The phones do this by design so they can sell a single sku without needing factory-customized versions for each carrier. 

[Anonymous]

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@slash407 wrote:

thats interesting, is it mostly a apple/samsung thing? i have switched sims on lg, moto phones without this issue

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I haven't heard that Apple does that too. Do they? First SIM in locks to the carrier?

While it's a quirky nuisance that Samsung does it, I think it's very helpful of them to be able to go directly to them to unlock the phone.

Can other manufacturers do this? (not specifically asking slash407)

[dmbcanada]

Had the same issue with my "unlocked" Samsung Galaxy J3 I bought from Costco, as soon as insterted my PM sim it notified me it was locked to my previous carrier.    So it was a little bit of reading on this forum to get the correct solution.  So it does seem to be an issue with Samsung unlocked phones from various retail locations as my family has not had issues with their Motorola or LG phones when swiching providers.      

[computergeek541]

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@michelsavage966 wrote:

Contacted Samsung Canada. Chatted first time: unlock did not work. Chatted second time, new code worked. Why is it that Staples sold a phone qualified as "unlocked", and became locked as soon as I inserted PM card? Or what is already locked when i bought it? Something fishy here... But I now have a phone. And Samsung could not tell me who the carrier was..

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As to your questions, first off, since your phone works fine with Public Mobile, it wasn't locked to Bell.  It was locked to Telus.  Bell does not own Public Mobile.  The reason that Samsung could not tell you who the carrier was happens to be beause it was never sold as a carrier-locked phone to begin with.

As for all the "fishy" stuff, this is all on Samsung.  These Samsung phones sold at Staples will accept any sim card at first, but will automatically lock to the carrier of the first sim card inserted.  That is not Public Mobile's doing, but completely dependent on how Samsung has programmed the software on these devices.  I strongly suspect that the original reason for Samsung doing this was to be able to provide phones/devices from the same batch of inventory for any and all carriers. Their solution was to have the phones lock themselves and they were powered up with an inserted sim card.

[Anonymous]

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@michelsavage966 wrote:

Contacted Samsung Canada. Chatted first time: unlock did not work. Chatted second time, new code worked. Why is it that Staples sold a phone qualified as "unlocked", and became locked as soon as I inserted PM card? Or what is already locked when i bought it? Something fishy here... But I now have a phone. And Samsung could not tell me who the carrier was...

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Direct your consternation to Samsung. It's not Staples. It's how they do it for some reason.

Glad you got it going.

[michelsavage966]

Contacted Samsung Canada. Chatted first time: unlock did not work. Chatted second time, new code worked. Why is it that Staples sold a phone qualified as "unlocked", and became locked as soon as I inserted PM card? Or what is already locked when i bought it? Something fishy here... But I now have a phone. And Samsung could not tell me who the carrier was...

[ash_tinney]

If your phone is locked to a carrier such as Bell contact them through Facebook message they are more helpful on messenger and tend to provide more accurate information because you actually have their responses documented. Once you have a clear written response it’s easier to follow up and seek out solutions that way. 

[mimmo]

seen this happen often with costco phones.  solution has always been contact samsung directly.

[Anonymous]

As above...Samsung is notorious for locking to the carrier of the first SIM inserted. However, they offer an online chat that can get you the unlock code instead of going through carriers. Both are free. Public Mobile will take you a couple days. Take your pick.

[ShawnC13]

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@michelsavage966 wrote:

Bought Galaxy A5 at Staples  in Frederiction, NB, last December. Unlocked, or so they said. Inserted PM card. Worked fine. Now moved to Thailand. Phone not working: need to have un lock code. Contacted PM twice, both times they said: it's Bell. Contacted Bell twice: both times, they said: don't know the IMEI. Who the hell is the carrier for Public Mobile? Is Staples cheating us by seller cheaper phones (locked phones are notoriously cheaper)? This is going crazy here, I don't even know who is the carrier.

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Many Samsung phones are sold unlocked but will lock to the carrier of the FIrst sim that is placed in them.  Have you ever had this phone on the bell network?  If PM was the first sim you put in the phone and the only service you used with this phone them PM should be able to provide an unlock code.  Does the phone have the correct bands to work in Thailand?  Have you tried contacting Samsun online to see if they can do anything for you.

[popping]

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@michelsavage966 wrote:

Bought Galaxy A5 at Staples  in Frederiction, NB, last December. Unlocked, or so they said. Inserted PM card. Worked fine. Now moved to Thailand. Phone not working: need to have un lock code. Contacted PM twice, both times they said: it's Bell. Contacted Bell twice: both times, they said: don't know the IMEI. Who the hell is the carrier for Public Mobile? Is Staples cheating us by seller cheaper phones (locked phones are notoriously cheaper)? This is going crazy here, I don't even know who is the carrier.

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You may contact Samsung Canada to get it unlocked because you purchased your A5 from Staples.  Let's hope Staples Canada got your A5 from Samsung Canada.