You'd think there's an obvious answer here - simply go to the telco's website and request an unlock..
I have 2 handsets for my kids that were bought in Officeworks - Samsung A23 and a Moto E5 - both are locked to Vodafone Aus, so of course i went to the Vodafone unlocker tool https://unlock.vodafone.com.au/voila/handsetunlock/self-serv…?
only to have the site respond "The handset serial number you entered was not found on the system. Please check that you have entered the number correctly."
No problem, off to https://mobileunlocks.com i begrudgingly go and pay the fee to do it their way..
5 mins later i get an email from them saying
"Your Galaxy A23 (IMEI ***), is not locked to and is instead Region Locked to Australia.
It is not possible to unlock your device with a code as there is no carrier to request it from and Samsung unfortunately do not issue region unlocking codes outside of Europe.
To unlock your phone for all networks, you will need our remote USB unlocking service. Using this service, your phone will be unlocked in just 20 minutes over the internet by our Technician. This service requires you to have access to a Windows PC."
where they are now asking for a Further $154 USD fee to supposedly have a technician remote in and fix it.. and of course theres no way on earth im either spending that money or letting some anonymous "technician" inside my firewall.
Oh, and last week I did try one of those shopping mall "phone doctor" kiosks who said they couldn't do it either, but would i like a nice new $50 case for the handset?
Anyway, as it stands i've left a request for vodafone to contact me for the 2nd weekend in a row. They haven't in the last week, so hopes are fading.
Three MUST be an option that's easier, and actually works, right? Short of just buying an unnecessary new unlocked handset , of course…
Did you call Vodafone