topic Re: Traveling with a US-purchased phone in Galaxy S23

Traveling with a US-purchased phone

userGPvFu4n2Gt — Tue, 28 Nov 2023 05:29:42 GMT

I've ordered an unlocked S23 ultra but am being warned on various Google fora that it's "tuned" to US bands and won't work with a foreign sim in a foreign country when I travel (which I do regularly for work). The connection is much better with a local sim. I checked with Samsung tech support and they told me not to worry, but some people are adamant that my new phone won't work abroad. Does anyone have relevant experience or knowledge? Thanks

Re: Traveling with a US-purchased phone

ChibiSushiRoll — Tue, 28 Nov 2023 06:30:20 GMT

If it's unlocked then it will work with a sim from abroad

Re: Re: Traveling with a US-purchased phone

KiwiBird97 — Tue, 28 Nov 2023 08:16:53 GMT

Even though the S23 is a world phone like all other models, the SIM card support has changed in terms of regional compatibility. Up until the launch of the Galaxy S23, foreign SIMs could work with limited support after five-minute voice calls with SIMs from the US and Puerto Rico. Now, it seems like Samsung is cracking down on foreign SIM usage on newer Galaxy devices sold in the US and Puerto Rico despite having the bands to work on foreign networks. Only SIM cards from carriers in the US, Puerto Rico, and parts of Europe will work on newer devices sold in the US and Puerto Rico. Except for a few European countries, other foreign SIMs are no longer compatible, not even those from Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Korea, or China (despite having those display languages available).

There was no official announcement on those regional restrictions, but this was quietly implemented to deter bad actors from circumventing the region locking system. To clarify this, the region locking mechanism only applies to the SIM cards and eSIMs being used, NOT roaming.

What do those bad actors do when they import those devices? They use tools like Samkey to remove the region locking. It isn't fair that those people have access to those tools and many others like us do not.
(Those SIM restrictions only apply to US variants. International variants will still be able to use foreign SIM cards as usual, including those from Canada and Mexico, except 5G support may be limited in unsupported countries.)

Here's what's changed for One UI 6 for US Galaxy S23 and newer devices.
1. A new carrier called Open is added. We don't know what this means. We thought it may refer to Open Mobile in Puerto Rico, but this carrier was defunct a long time ago. Others may think Open is a subset for all other US carriers and MVNOs not on this list (excluding those outside the US and Puerto Rico).
2. Cross-platform eSIM transfers, as well as the legacy eSIM transfer feature (US, Germany, and Sweden) are no longer supported on US variants. Only wireless eSIM transfers are supported.
3. The ability to manually enter an eSIM activation code is no longer available on US variants. In the past, when a QR code was scanned, the phone might have asked you to enter the activation code manually (depending on the carrier). Going forward, eSIM QR codes that ask for an activation code will result in an error.
Those restrictions apply to both physical SIM cards and eSIMs. Roaming is unaffected and will continue to work as usual with no regional restrictions. Hope this helps.

Re: Traveling with a US-purchased phone

024bunny — Tue, 28 Nov 2023 10:55:51 GMT

Sorry wrong comment diff thread ....clearly it's nap time

Re: Re: Traveling with a US-purchased phone

024bunny — Tue, 28 Nov 2023 10:56:52 GMT

I quit haha

Re: Traveling with a US-purchased phone

LongHiker — Tue, 28 Nov 2023 16:59:16 GMT

@userGPvFu4n2Gt It should work but the different bands may mean that coverage is limited in some areas.

Before you purchase a foreign SIM, have you checked with your US carrier? Many offer service in other countries for a reasonable rate. When I traveled to South Korea earlier this year, I just enabled international on my AT&T service. It is a flat $10/day for all the calls and SMS that you use. I used my unlocked Fold 4 anywhere that I needed it.

Re: Traveling with a US-purchased phone

MarkChang — Fri, 29 Mar 2024 21:34:33 GMT

No issues in the UK, the EU, and Aus. India seems to be the most hit and miss but that's due to regional carriers and no national provider. I have never had any issues in Canada either with my US purchased s23 Ultra.

Re: Re: Traveling with a US-purchased phone

Anonymous — Wed, 29 Nov 2023 15:16:57 GMT

Absolutely correct Verizon and T-Mobile both have plans like that. But the best global provider is Google Fi they just don't like it when you stay abroad too long

Re: Re: Re: Traveling with a US-purchased phone

angelchained — Sun, 04 Feb 2024 08:55:30 GMT

Thank you, I truly appreciate your input.

Re: Re: Re: Traveling with a US-purchased phone

angelchained — Sun, 04 Feb 2024 15:36:12 GMT

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Re: Re: Re: Traveling with a US-purchased phone

angelchained — Sun, 04 Feb 2024 15:40:37 GMT

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Re: Traveling with a US-purchased phone

userGPvFu4n2Gt — Mon, 01 Apr 2024 08:31:09 GMT

Thanks to all. I'm the person who originally asked the question. I've had my new S23 Ultra for 3 months and been to about 6 countries since then. The phone worked perfectly in each, with the exception of Japan where I'm pretty sure it was a local service provider issue with my T-mobile roaming service - just could not get internet. I conclude that, notwithstanding the long post from KiwiBird above (note, I'm using a phone purchased from Samsung in the USA, and a T-Mobile sim), this issue with incompatibility was just fake news.

Thanks again.

Re: Traveling with a US-purchased phone

Members_OvkeADn — Fri, 05 Jul 2024 12:45:42 GMT

How easy is it to swap out the SIM card? Not the physical part, but the setup once I change it. have an S22 so on a T-Mobile network in the US.
Also can you still us your local number or do you need to swap the sim back and forth. I am traveling to Hungary and Romania and the esims are inconsistent in their reviews.
Thank you.

Re: Traveling with a US-purchased phone

LongHiker — Fri, 05 Jul 2024 13:29:03 GMT

@Members_OvkeADn Have you looked into T-Mobile's international plans? They seem to be very reasonable and would allow you to use your normal phone number.

If you swap out your SIM for a foreign SIM, you won't have access to your US number until the US SIM is reinstalled. All of your contacts will need to call/message you by using your overseas number. When you call/message someone, they will see that it comes from that overseas number.

Re: Traveling with a US-purchased phone

ssolisg — Wed, 10 Jul 2024 16:51:52 GMT

May be a bit late to answer but this was one of my concerns.
I just got a sealed S24 U from USA and inserted a Costa Rica SIM card, it works just fine on 4G, no 5G here yet.
So it is not region locked to USA.
No 5 min call on USA SIM before unlocking or any of that.

Re: Traveling with a US-purchased phone

userGPvFu4n2Gt — Thu, 11 Jul 2024 04:55:35 GMT

I use a local Sim here in Singapore and a T-mobile e-Sim - both are active and I have the global access thing with T-mobile. I use my US number for most contacts. It works fine as you suggest.

Re: Traveling with a US-purchased phone

userGPvFu4n2Gt — Thu, 11 Jul 2024 04:57:23 GMT

Yes, it works fine for me too. I'm using a Tmobile e-sim. Works in most countries.

Re: Traveling with a US-purchased phone

Sarah_123 — Fri, 17 Jan 2025 13:53:49 GMT

Hi i am currently interested to buy a us version of samsung s9 fe plus but im in the eu. So there is no wifi, software and charging issues right? I'm very skeptical about this. I don't know what to do.