This phone was brought here from Hong Kong. My brother bought a new phone when I visited him last month. It was fully functional before the phone had a factory reset and then I took it home now.
After I arrived Sydney,
I inserted an Amaysim sim card or AldiMobile sim card
The connection status displays "Expired and no Service on the next line", or later "No service, and showing my phone numbers on the next line".
I put in a data sim card (Belong data sim) it shows "Expired, emergency call only on the next line" for a short period of time and then "Expired, Belong, and its phone numbers on the third line".
I check the "About phone" page of the mobile to check the model name. My problem phone shows it is a SM-A515F/DSN and running Android 13.
My friend owns an A51 also. He is using his phone very well today. His phone shows the model being SM-A515F/N and runs Android 13 also. He bought his from a local store in Australia.
After scratching my head for a few days I explored www and come across an old link in this community here (but I can’t work out the exact link again) . It reads: “Samsung ensures that their devices are only used on the market they're intended for. For example, smartphones that you buy in Asia can't be used in Europe and vice versa.".
The link has written a solution to remove the "Region Lock", it LOOKS (though it wrote in the wrong way, I think) what I meant was:
"if you want to buy a phone in Region X but use it in Region Y later. Remember to use the phone (by making calls) with a sim card in Region X for at least 10 minutes or so. Then the lock is lifted."
Even if "Region Lock" did cause me the problem, and if the solution is as simple it had not fully explained the problem I now have. Why I say that ? This is a very old phone of my brother. He has used it for hundreds of minutes.
You may say, the action of Factory resetting resets the "usage minutes register". If so what a ridiculous design? I cannot recall if I used the phone in Hong Kong for more than 10 minutes, AFTER it was factory reset.
Tbh this sounds more like due to the recent 3g closure.
Overseas model may not have the correct bands, which means they may rely on 3g connection for emergency services. And since 3g has been shut down, the telcos are under law to bar the phone from connecting (for safety reasons).
I've had to throw out a few phones due to this change myself.
Telstra has its tools for users to check if their phone will be affected by 3G shutdown. I entered the IMEI accordingly, Telstra confirms there is no voLTE issue with this model. I have other phones that fail the verification, prompting me to bring my brother's phone here.
Honestly the whole 3g thing is a bit of a debacle. I'm not sure if your phone is capable of volte, they won't bar it still due to the phone still using 3g for emergency calls.
I'd assume it's the network bands being incompatible with the Australian network.
@mbckl wrote: Honestly the whole 3g thing is a bit of a debacle. I'm not sure if your phone is capable of volte, they won't bar it still due to the phone still using 3g for emergency calls.
I'd assume it's the network bands being incompatible with the Australian network.
Good luck
@mbckl wrote: Honestly the whole 3g thing is a bit of a debacle. I'm not sure if your phone is capable of volte, they won't bar it still due to the phone still using 3g for emergency calls.
I'd assume it's the network bands being incompatible with the Australian network.
Good luck
tbh, are you aware of the following two great webpages I already mentioned that are so helpful to identify rejected phone models due to 3G closure? If I am aware of them I do not run so late to upgrade.
Both webpages had identified my phone model correctly as SM-A515F/DSN and it confirms this model is NOT affected by the 3G closure. On the other hand if I entered the IMEI for my other two "bad" phones they help to isolate them. Both SM-A515F/DSN and SM-A515F/N (my friend's phone) are both "all good".
I already searched and had found out the differences between the two (the one with /N vs /DSN). Aside from being a "Dual SIM", hence its name with "DS" both were supposed being for international sale. The "/DSN" has less 4G frequency spectrum if compared with the /N but it still covers Telstra's major frequency 700 Mhz or Band 28. Therefore I am flustrated.
Telstra site wrote I should contact the manufacturer!
The LTE standards (coverage bands) support for the /DSN version are: FDD LTE: 1900, 1700, 850, 700 TDD LTE: 2500
The LTE standards (coverage bands) support for the /N version are: FDD LTE: 2600, 2100, 1900, 1800, 1700, 900, 850, 800, 700 TDD LTE: 2600, 2500, 2300
Have a read of that. There's a link in there as well that you can further look into.
I understand what you're saying. What I'm trying to tell you, is the teleco are equally as confused as you are. Essentially, they've blocked most phones that are bought/brought in from outside as they can't be sure they can be used for emergency calls. I know those websites says otherwise, but it's happening to a lot of people. This is due to the telcos blocking them.
Sorry I don't have anything else to tell you. All the best.
Thanks mbckl, though there isn't any solution yet.
I was about to ask a friend to help taking the problem phone back overseas in order to remove the suspected cause of error due to "region lock". Now I think I should give up this idea. A few key points I can pick up after reading the abc.net page you suggested: crazy AU telcos; too wide a net being cast to include useful phones; creating unnecessary E-waste.
On the other hand writing something to Aldimobile to see what they say maybe a better idea.
Yesterday I connected up with the mobile service provider they agreed to escalate the issue for me. Hopefully they will fix the connection issue. Now I found the phone can at least got connected for a short while from time to time.
