GALAXY A6 bought in Korea not receiving calls using Australian SIM card.

[chug7]

I bought a smartphone in Korea (Galaxy A6 model: SM-A600N)  the provider was called SKT. I contacted them and asked if I needed to unlock the phone for use in Australia. They said that most recent phones are not locked and this particular phone is not locked too.

So in Australia, I put in a Vodaphone sim (Australian provider) and I can't receive any calls. There is no ring and goes straight to voicemail. I thought maybe vodaphone doesnt work with Korean smart phones so I tried a Telstra sim (another Australian provider) and the exact same thing happens. I called the number and no ring and goes immediately to voicemail.

Both sim cards (Voda and Telstra) were activated for calls/data prepaid.

I also can't make calls on this Korean phone for either with BOTH sims. If I call a number, there's no ringing sound, it's just silence and no call is made. I even tried calling 121 (to access voicemails) and nothing happens.

However, there's no issues with making/receiving text messages.

Does anyone know what is going on? Does the Galaxy A6 not work internationally?

[chug7]

I bought a smartphone in Korea (Galaxy A6 model: SM-A600N)  the provider was called SKT. I contacted them and asked if I needed to unlock the phone for use in Australia. They said that most recent phones are not locked and this particular phone is not locked too.

So in Australia, I put in a Vodaphone sim (Australian provider) and I can't receive any calls. There is no ring and goes straight to voicemail. I thought maybe vodaphone doesnt work with Korean smart phones so I tried a Telstra sim (another Australian provider) and the exact same thing happens. I called the number and no ring and goes immediately to voicemail.

Both sim cards (Voda and Telstra) were activated for calls/data prepaid.

I also can't make calls on this Korean phone for either with BOTH sims. If I call a number, there's no ringing sound, it's just silence and no call is made. I even tried calling 121 (to access voicemails) and nothing happens.

However, there's no issues with making/receiving text messages.

Does anyone know what is going on? Does the Galaxy A6 not work internationally?

[Troubadour]

Two different issues. First the phrase locking a phone usually means restricting it to one ISP. This does not appear relevant here. Second, country or region settings. Your settings are set to the region which includes Korea.Australia isn't in the same region. So you need to find a way to change regions. I bought a phone from overseas via Kogan. They, probably illegally, changed it to region relating to Austrralia, so I was o.k. Samsung Australia does not support what are called gray market phones but you can ask. Otherwise see what you can find on Google searching how to change mobile phone regions. SamsungLaura who monitors this forum may be able to give further advice.

[chug7]

When you say "region" are you talking about Google Playstore region? Cause that's the only result I find when I google "changing phone's region" .

If that's the case, you simply need to add a country's payment method in order to change the region. This is one of the first things I did. The problem still persisted.

[Dolgogi]

I don't think the issue is regional, since I take Australian Samsung phones to Korea and have no issues with calls,text or data using a Korean sim card in it (KT usually).

Also since @chug7 can send txt, it's connecting to the network.


Try going into Settings/General Management/Reset then select Reset Network.

Edit: also try the suggestion by @aaa222

[Troubadour]

Thinking more about your problem. One issue is feeling confident about changing your region settings. Samsung uses service centres which are agencies/franchisees and technically independent businesses. You could contact one of them and ask if they can change your region (by the way I think a phone can be set to international settings not just local region, this is importanf if you are travelling to, say, Europe, as your phone would stop working again). As non warranty you would have to pay them. Provided this doesn't breach their agreement with Samsung, problem solved. If they are too distant then consider couriering your phone to them which is what I did with a legitimate warranty claim during covid lockdown. My courier cost both ways totalled around $28 - I was in a hurry and didn't use the Samsung free postage to Samsung's own repair facilities (for acknowledged warranty) as the phone would take longer to fix. Mind you I had an incredibly good agent.

[chug7]

I went to the place I bought the phone before I flew out to Australia specifically to find out if there will be any issues using the phone. They never mentioned anything about region settings. They also said the phone can be used overseas .

[Troubadour]

Please give feedback on what worked. Thanks.

[chug7]

Nope. I already checked that. Calls are not forwarded to voicemail.

[chug7]

I went into settings and searched for region. And there is Samsung Account > Profile Info > Country or region

Now the country or region is set permanently to South Korea. I clicked on "Phone number" to change the number as it was still set to my old Korean number. I clicked on "Change" to change phone number ...now to enter phone number you must select a country.

There's only 3 country options. China, Korea and India.

[Dolgogi]

@chug7 Have you tried resetting network settings?

I feel that region info you found is purely for Samsung services.
For example, if I insert my KT sim, Samsung Members automatically changes from Australia to Sth Korea.

The store you bought from seems honest, because if it was locked, it will generally show a screen like this: