Right when we had almost pushed Samsung's regional lock policy – which debuted on the Galaxy Note 3 – out of our minds, we're getting a nice little refresher that will keep it haunting us for some time to come. Yes, Samsung isn't backing down and throwing the whole practice of regional locking down the drain. But as a result of all the confusion it has created ever since it was discovered, Samsung has released an official document explaining how the region lock policy works, as an answer to the negative feedback the Note 3 received on Amazon.
The explanation is the same as before – the region lock basically means that if you buy a device from a country in the European region, the first SIM that is used on the device must be from a carrier/operator in one of the countries from the same region. Once the device is powered on with such a SIM, it will work any SIM card anywhere in the world. Also, since this is something that wasn't working properly for some users, Samsung says that they've improved the whole process so that it works better in the near future.
Every Samsung device that comes with or gets an update to Android 4.3 will have the region lock in place, which means older devices like the Galaxy S3, S4, and S4 mini will have this “protection” after they're updated to Android 4.3. Yes, the evil that has plagued customers since the launch of the Galaxy Note 3 will continue to exist, but it's great that Samsung is taking the time to at least make things clearer and be transparent with consumers. Something is better than nothing, right?
Here's the translated statement, with the original text (in German) available at the source link.
Statement to simplify the “Regional Lock” at current Samsung products
Samsung has implemented regional SIM lock feature in current device to your respective region to provide customers the best possible mobile experience and customer service to the different needs in different regions to adapt.Samsung the feedback of its customers has taken to heart and improves the activation of regional SIM lock and simplified. The first activation of a device with regional SIM lock feature should be used with a SIM card from a provider from the European region. A device from the Europe region * is immediately ready when dialing the SIM card from the Europe region in a network within the European region and is used to make phone calls as normal. In practice this means that customers in Germany have the phone with a SIM card of a provider from the European region after the first use of your device only five minutes in the German mobile network to deactivate the regional SIM lock feature. It does not matter if the usage time of five minutes is achieved actively or passively as a caller callee. Then, the regional SIM Lock is permanently disabled. The new solution is part of Android 4.3 Jelly Bean update that note 3 is already available for the Samsung GALAXY. More updates for the Samsung Galaxy S4, S4 mini, S III and Mark II will be available in the coming weeks via FOTA system update (Firmware Over The Air). If a user device to be from the Europe region with a SIM card from a provider who is not from the Europe, in operation and the device does not accept a SIM card, he can unlock his device from Samsung Customer Service.
If customer questions regarding the “regional lock” function of their product, they can contact customer service.
Samsung Customer Service can be reached by phone: 0180 667 267 864 (* 0,20 € / call from a landline and a maximum of 0,60 € / call from a mobile phone, from the International delivery service hours: Monday to Friday: 08:00. -20:00 clock, Saturday: 09:00-17:00 clock) or at: * To http://www.samsung.com/de/info/contactus.html Region Europe include
countries of the European Economic Area (EEA) :Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania , Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, UK, Switzerland, Croatia
non-EU/EEA:
Albania, Andorra, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia, Moldova, Monaco, Montenegro, San Marino, Serbia, Vatican City
