Samsung issued the final recall for the Galaxy Note 7 a couple of weeks ago after it confirmed that the handset had been discontinued. It has time and again called on owners to return their units but as we all know quite a few of them are still holding on to their Galaxy Note 7s even though it's just not worth it anymore. Samsung hasn't placed any major restrictions on the Galaxy Note 7 in order to compel owners to turn them in, it's just releasing an update in some markets that limits the battery charge to 60 percent in order to lower the possibility of the handset catching fire. Carriers in New Zealand are taking things up a notch by actually blacklisting the ill-fated flagship on their networks.
New Zealand Telecommunications Forum (TCF) CEO Geoff Thorn confirmed today that all carriers in New Zealand will blacklist the Galaxy Note 7 on their networks starting November 18. Once that happens, the Galaxy Note 7 will simply be an expensive paperweight because it will no longer be able to make or receive calls or send text messages. New Zealand's Telecommunications Forum represents all of the carriers in the country, it says that this decision has been made due to safety concerns and that it has been made with Samsung's agreement.
The Forum said in a statement that “Numerous attempts by all providers have been made to contact owners and ask them to bring the phones in for replacement or refund,” but since there are still a few of them out there this measure should push them to turn in their units. Just to be clear, only the cellular connectivity on these devices will be disabled, they will be able to connect to the internet over Wi-Fi and will also work offline.
Some might say that this is a drastic measure and that customers should be allowed to decide whether or not they want to continue using a device that has a tendency to catch fire and even when Samsung doesn't know the reason why it does that. Could a similar move be made in other markets? That possibility can't be ruled out, and for all we know Samsung might make a last-ditch attempt to get all Galaxy Note 7 units off the street by remotely disabling them, it's not confirmed yet but it could happen.
