topic Re: Samsung Note 8 Unlock from EE hasn't worked - what do I do now? in Archived Posts

Samsung Note 8 Unlock from EE hasn't worked - what do I do now?

The_Mystik — Thu, 23 Sep 2021 20:46:48 GMT

Hello All

Hope everyone is safe & well. My first post on the Community and I'm hoping there are some deeply technical wizards and gurus who might be able to help me. Apologies for the length of the post - its a complicated situation !

I have a Samsung Galaxy Note 8 (GN8) which was purchased from EE 4 years ago. I decided recently to look at other network options and requested the unlock code from EE. EE very quickly (to their credit) provided the unlock code and the process to be followed to unlock my phone.

I followed the process but my initial attempt at unlocking was unsuccessful. My second attempt appeared successful as the phone gave me a message "Unlock Successful"

This is when my trouble started, I inserted the non-EE (Virgn) SIM into the GN8 but the phone will not connect to the Virgin network.

OK - first thoughts were that may be the SIM was faulty - but no, when I tried the SIM in another phone it worked fine. I contacted Virgin and they told me that the phone was probably still locked to EE and I should wait a couple of days.

I waited a couple of days but still no ability to connect to the Virgin network - the phone appeared to be still locked. I also tried a Tesco SIM and same result - no connection to the Tesco network.

So I raised a complaint on my EE account to get the unlocking issue resolved. The Unlock team have contacted me and told me the phone is unlocked. So, I decided to contact Samsung who told me today that the phone was still showing as locked to EE

I am now caught in a very frustrating situation which appears as a vicious circle:

- EE are telling me that the phone is unlocked and there is nothing more they can do

- Samsung are telling me that the phone is still showing as locked to EE

Who should I believe - EE or Samsung? My instinct tells me that Samsung are giving me the correct information and that the unlocking process has failed somewhere - even though the phone gave me a message saying that the Unlock was successful.

Can anyone give me some hints / pointers as to what the issue might be and how I might get my GN8 phone fully unlocked, please? Pretty please.....??? 🙂

Many thanks - TM

Re: Samsung Note 8 Unlock from EE hasn't worked - what do I do now?

Chris_B — Thu, 23 Sep 2021 21:10:48 GMT

@The_Mystik Can you try a O2/Vodaphone sim ? Samsung phone unlocks are device based so not sure how Samsung would know if the device is lock or not, only iPhones are server based network locks as Apple control the network lock on iPhones (they don’t use unlock codes)

Re: Samsung Note 8 Unlock from EE hasn't worked - what do I do now?

The_Mystik — Fri, 24 Sep 2021 06:29:52 GMT

Thank for the reply @Chris_B.

The Tesco SIM I tried is an O2 SIM (effectively).

In terms of your comment about how Samsung would know if my GN8 is still locked to EE, then as I understood it from webchats with both Samsung and EE, the unlock status appears to be shared between EE and Samsung periodically (daily, possibly). That would imply that EE do have some kind of "back-end" system status in terms of unlock.

The escalation manager from EE did say that if I can get email confirmation from Samsung that my GN8 is still locked to EE, then EE would investigate further. That would be my next step.

It really is a very bizarre situation. I've even tried a factory reset of the phone after speaking to EE Unlock team but this has been to no avail.

It just seems like my initial unsuccessful attempt at the unlock has somehow prevented the unlock process from fully working.

Surely I can't be the first person to have experienced this..?

Thanks & stay safe

Re: Samsung Note 8 Unlock from EE hasn't worked - what do I do now?

Chris_B — Fri, 24 Sep 2021 07:07:21 GMT

@The_Mystik The sim you tried is from a MVNO network it wound best to use a network sim from a provider that actually has a network and that’s o2 or Vodaphone. 3 have a network but I wouldn’t recommend using a 3 sim as they have their own issues when it comes to stuff like this.

Re: Samsung Note 8 Unlock from EE hasn't worked - what do I do now?

Northerner — Fri, 24 Sep 2021 08:33:32 GMT

Hi @The_Mystik

Have you tried factory resetting after you have unlocked?

Thanks

Re: Samsung Note 8 Unlock from EE hasn't worked - what do I do now?

The_Mystik — Fri, 24 Sep 2021 11:42:30 GMT

Hello @Northerner

Many thanks for your reply

Yes, I have performed a factory reset - didn't make a difference

Thx & Rgds

Re: Samsung Note 8 Unlock from EE hasn't worked - what do I do now?

Christopher_G — Fri, 24 Sep 2021 12:33:59 GMT

Have you been able to try a different network's SIM card (apart from the Tesco one)?

Chris

Re: Samsung Note 8 Unlock from EE hasn't worked - what do I do now?

The_Mystik — Fri, 24 Sep 2021 12:53:07 GMT

Hello @Christopher_G Many thanks for your reply

I have tried the following two SIMs in my GN8 : Tesco and Virgin. Neither SIM will connect to the respective network when I insert them into the GN8.

Both of these SIMs work absolutely fine in another device. So I am absolutely sure there is nothing wrong with the two non-EE SIMs. My GN8 is definitely not unlocked fully from EE - despite what the Unlock team are saying.

I'd be very grateful if you could suggest some next steps for me please?

Many thanks again - TM

Re: Samsung Note 8 Unlock from EE hasn't worked - what do I do now?

Christopher_G — Fri, 24 Sep 2021 12:58:40 GMT

OK thanks for confirming that, @The_Mystik.

I've sent you a private message to get some information from you.

Please have a look and get back to me.

Thanks

Chris

Re: Samsung Note 8 Unlock from EE hasn't worked - what do I do now?

XRaySpeX — Fri, 24 Sep 2021 17:57:29 GMT

You were advised to try non-MVNO SIMs. Have you yet?

Re: Samsung Note 8 Unlock from EE hasn't worked - what do I do now?

The_Mystik — Sat, 25 Sep 2021 13:44:35 GMT

Hello @Christopher_G

Many thanks for putting me in touch with your colleague. I was contacted today.

The other update (which I have sent to your colleague via email) is that I have again been in touch with Samsung today and they have confirmed that my GN8 is still showing as locked to EE - despite the EE Unlock team saying it is unlocked. This would explain the behaviour of the GN8. I will follow up on next steps via email / private message with your colleague.

Nevertheless - many, many thanks again for your help & assistance on this.

@XRaySpeX Thank you for your follow-up. I have a Vodafone SIM ordered and will try it with the GN8 when it arrives. However, based on what Samsung have said, I am now highly confident that it is not the MVNO SIMs that are the issue.

Thank you all. Stay safe

Rgds - TM

Re: Samsung Note 8 Unlock from EE hasn't worked - what do I do now?

The_Mystik — Mon, 27 Sep 2021 11:33:07 GMT

Just a brief update on this

I'm still in the very frustrating position of:

My GN8 not connecting to a non-EE network despite the EE unlock team telling me that the phone is unlocked
Samsung telling me that the phone is, as of yesterday (26.11), still locked to EE
Both EE and Samsung telling me that there is nothing further they can do and I am stuck as a "piggy in the middle" with a phone that continues to behave as if it is still locked to EE

In terms of next steps, I will:

Try a non-MVNO SIM in the GN8. I'm not hopeful that this will resolve the issue
Contact the EE customer relationship team and ask for the complaint to be escalated
If I get no satisfactory resolution by the end this week, I will refer the complaint to the Ombudsman

I have one question which I am hoping one of the online deep experts can help with:

When I speak to Samsung about this issue, Samsung tell me the that my GN8 is still showing as locked to EE. Question: How would Samsung be able to determine the unlock status of my GN8? Does my phone "transmit" its unlock status to Samsung on a daily / hourly basis?

Many Thanks - TM

Re: Samsung Note 8 Unlock from EE hasn't worked - what do I do now?

XRaySpeX — Mon, 27 Sep 2021 11:37:32 GMT

It's Samsung who keeps records of the lock status of their devices & to whom EE applies for the unlock code.

Re: Samsung Note 8 Unlock from EE hasn't worked - what do I do now?

The_Mystik — Mon, 27 Sep 2021 11:59:01 GMT

Many thanks @XRaySpeX for your reply

Your answer would imply that Samsung are the "source" as to the unlock status of the phone and hence, even though the EE Unlock team are saying that the phone is unlocked, it is, in fact, still locked (and that is also borne out by the phone's behaviour?

Whenever I speak with the Samsung Service consultants, each time they have told me that the current status of my GN8 is still locked to EE

Thanks - TM

Re: Samsung Note 8 Unlock from EE hasn't worked - what do I do now?

Leanne_T — Mon, 27 Sep 2021 12:02:31 GMT

Hi @The_Mystik

Thanks for coming back to us.

Could you try another SIM card and let us know what happens?

Thanks 🙂

Leanne.

Re: Samsung Note 8 Unlock from EE hasn't worked - what do I do now?

The_Mystik — Mon, 27 Sep 2021 12:33:39 GMT

Hello @Leanne_T - many thanks for replying to me.

I have already tried the following SIMs in the phone:

Virgin
Tesco

For both the Virgin and Tesco SIMs, the GN8 will not connect to the respective networks. I know that both Virgin & Tesco SIMs work perfectly in another device - so the issue is not with the SIMs

I have ordered a Vodafone SIM and will try this when I receive it - hopefully tomorrow

Rgds - TM

Re: Samsung Note 8 Unlock from EE hasn't worked - what do I do now?

Leanne_T — Mon, 27 Sep 2021 12:35:15 GMT

Thanks for coming back to me @The_Mystik

It will be good to know if this one works.

Hope to hear back from you soon 🙂

Leanne.

Re: Samsung Note 8 Unlock from EE hasn't worked - what do I do now?

The_Mystik — Wed, 29 Sep 2021 14:15:45 GMT

Further update on this:

@Leanne_T :

I received the Vodafone SIM today and tried it in my GN8. The phone behaved exactly as it did with the Virgin & Tesco SIMs:

No unlock code requested by the phone upon inserting the Vodafone SIM
Phone will not connect to the Vodafone network. The phone displays a "No-Signal" icon where the signal strength indicator is top right of screen. After a couple of minutes this changes to a full-strength signal as the phone picks up the EE signal (from my EE Signal Box) and then displays that I can only make emergency calls
The Vodafone SIM works perfectly when I insert it into another device

I have been in touch with EE Customer Complaints team and have advised that I wish to refer this to the Ombudsman unless there is are further steps that EE can take to get the phone properly unlocked. It is absolutely clear to me that the phone is still locked to the EE network - this is corroborated by the behaviour of the phone with non-EE SIMs as well as the information I have received after speaking to Samsung on Monday this week (i.e that they, Samsung, are seeing the phone as still locked to EE).

Thank you for your help & assistance

Rgds - TM

Re: Samsung Note 8 Unlock from EE hasn't worked - what do I do now?

Leanne_T — Wed, 29 Sep 2021 14:20:18 GMT

Thanks for trying this @The_Mystik

If you are speaking to our complaints team they will be doing everything they can to help get this sorted for you.

Let me know how it goes.

Leanne.