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

[The_Mystik]

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

[The_Mystik]

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

[The_Mystik]

Just a brief update on this

I'm still in the very frustrating position of:

1. My GN8 not connecting to a non-EE network despite the EE unlock team telling me that the phone is unlocked
2. Samsung telling me that the phone is, as of yesterday (26.11), still locked to EE
3. 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:

1. Try a non-MVNO SIM in the GN8. I'm not hopeful that this will resolve the issue
2. Contact the EE customer relationship team and ask for the complaint to be escalated
3. 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

[XRaySpeX]

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

[The_Mystik]

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

[Leanne_T]

Hi @The_Mystik

Thanks for coming back to us.

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

Thanks 🙂

Leanne.

[The_Mystik]

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

[Leanne_T]

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.

[The_Mystik]

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:

1. No unlock code requested by the phone upon inserting the Vodafone SIM
2. 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
3. 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

[Leanne_T]

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.