Reactivation block forever???

[Ex_Pat_Cat]

Hello everyone! I bought a SIMless note 8 in Thailand and put in a lical SIM. I then went to the Philippines and bought a local SIM there. That worked for 1 day and then stopped. I chalked it up to crappy Filipino SIM. I did try to fix it, but had no success. The Note would see a SIM in the slot but I could not use it for calls or Internet or anything. At one point there was a message that I needed to factory reset to use the SIM, but I figured I would just wait until I got back to Thailand. Upon returning to Thailand and putting the original SIM back in, I still cannot use the phone. It reads a SIM in slot 1 and 2, but i cannot use the SIM for anything. I spoke to the company with the SIM, and my account is active and good to go. I have heard of a reactivation lock and I think this may be my problem. I have spoken to Samsung here in Thailand, but they won't escalate the ticket to someone who knows how to fix this, or even check to see if its locked. The shop where I bought it were just as clueless. I have gone into my Samsung account and cannot find anyplace to see if it is locked or not. Samsung USA will not help at all. Does anybody have some suggestions? I have gone through all the "turn if off and then back on," and tried to reset the network. And I sorrowfully did the factory reset. This still hasn't helped. I am really not pleased to pay a good deal of money for a brick. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!

 

[webworkings]

Unfortunately, only the carrier/service provider you got the phone through can unlock it. So say you were here in the US and got it through AT&T, even if you paid for it in full, they would be the ones who could unlock it (if it was locked). So what company was it from originally? Or did you purchase it not through a carrier/service provider?

 

[Ex_Pat_Cat]

Web workings. .. I purchased the Note in Thailand. With no phone carrier. I figured that the phone is unlocked since it wasn't purchased from a phone carrier. I purchased it straight from Samsung. I spoke with my phone carrier and there is no lock on the SIM itself. As a matter of fact I am using the SIM in my old Note 4 right now to respond. The SIM is not the problem. It's definitely something wrong with the Note 8 itself.

 

[webworkings]

That is unusual. A phone that is not purchased through a carrier/service provider should come unlocked. The SIM is separate, so not related to the issue. I have bought phones from a carrier's/service provider's store before (paid in full) and then had to have it unlocked due to it coming locked from them. Seems many have it locked from the start. However if this was from somewhere that wasn't through one of those, it should never have been locked. Very odd.

You might want to try Samsung again and see if a different tech can be more helpful.