International Sim Required

[BloodyGlitch]

Recently bought the Samsung Galaxy J8 off of eBay. Their is a stick on the top (see picture). 

 

Does it mean I have to make a call with a Southeast Asian Sim card first over 5 minutes, just so I can use my T-Mobile one? If so, that's seems absurd, what's the reasoning behind it?

[eira]

You need to make a call for over 5 minutes in Southeast Asia on a Southeast Asian operator. 

I'd just return it unless you plan to go to Southeast Asia anytime soon.

[eira]

I also forgot to mention using a Southeast Asian sim card to activate it won't work if you are in the US since it will roam onto a US network rather than using a Southeast Asian network.

[BloodyGlitch]

55 minutes ago, 1kv said:

You need to make a call for over 5 minutes in Southeast Asia on a Southeast Asian operator. 

I'd just return it unless you plan to go to Southeast Asia anytime soon.

So their is no way to make it work in the US?

[eira]

16 minutes ago, BloodyGlitch said:

So their is no way to make it work in the US?

The only way for it to work in the US is if you activate it in Southeast Asia using a Southeast Asian SIM card. 

In all honesty I'd just return it and get a phone that can be activated in the US.

[BloodyGlitch]

On 1/18/2019 at 5:11 PM, 1kv said:

The only way for it to work in the US is if you activate it in Southeast Asia using a Southeast Asian SIM card. 

In all honesty I'd just return it and get a phone that can be activated in the US.

Update: I was planning on returning the Sim so I sent an email to the seller and he replied with this:

 

"Dear customer,
Do not worry, the phone is compatible.
You can go ahead and insert the T-Mobile SIM card, and it will work.
Thank you for your understanding"

 

I went to the T-Mobile store and popped in the new sim, and it worked. I don't know what the seller did to remove the region lock, maybe the made a 5 minute call themselves, but hey, I'm not complaining. I did more research into this stuff. I am definitely not a fun of the region locks, they seem to cause a big hassle for honest customers, but I understand why they did it. Even so, I hope they remove it from future phones.

[eira]

1 hour ago, BloodyGlitch said:

Update: I was planning on returning the Sim so I sent an email to the seller and he replied with this:

 

"Dear customer,
Do not worry, the phone is compatible.
You can go ahead and insert the T-Mobile SIM card, and it will work.
Thank you for your understanding"

 

I went to the T-Mobile store and popped in the new sim, and it worked. I don't know what the seller did to remove the region lock, maybe the made a 5 minute call themselves, but hey, I'm not complaining. I did more research into this stuff. I am definitely not a fun of the region locks, they seem to cause a big hassle for honest customers, but I understand why they did it. Even so, I hope they remove it from future phones.

That's great to hear. I'm glad you got your phone working.

I don't think Samsung will stop the region locks (at least for now), although who knows, maybe in the future they will.