I want to understand "unlocked", using USA SIM card on European bought Galaxy S7 edge

[Carol Britton]

I bought a Samsung Galaxy S7 edge in Europe (SM-G935F), which says my phone is global. I have talked on it for more than 5 minutes using a SIM card here in Belgium. So I think that means my phone is now unlocked.

So, when I go to the USA next year, can I put an ATT or Verizon SIM card in it?

I'm just not sure I understand the unlocked or locked terms, or even why on the box of my phone it said it was only for use in Europe.

 

[SpookDroid]

Unlocked phones mean that it's not restricted to using with any carrier's SIM. BUT Samsung does 'lock' their unlocked phones to a certain region (but this is a temporary lock to deter gray imports). That additional lock just requires the phone to use any SIM card from the region it was intended to be used/sold in for the first call; once this is done, the phone is now fully unlocked. If you've already used it in Beligium, it probably is already unlocked.

Now to the 'good' stuff: You still need to check network compatibility. Unfortunately, even though a phone might be 'global', Europe's networks and US ones aren't compatible. So depending on how many frequencies/bands the phone supports, you might not be able to use 4G in the US (or not even 3G in some cases). But for calls, it should work for the most part.

If the phone doesn't support any band/frequency in the US, then no matter that it's unlocked, it simply won't be able to 'talk' with the networks here.

 

[Law2138]

Unlocked phones mean that it's not restricted to using with any carrier's SIM. BUT Samsung does 'lock' their unlocked phones to a certain region (but this is a temporary lock to deter gray imports). That additional lock just requires the phone to use any SIM card from the region it was intended to be used/sold in for the first call; once this is done, the phone is now fully unlocked. If you've already used it in Beligium, it probably is already unlocked.

Now to the 'good' stuff: You still need to check network compatibility. Unfortunately, even though a phone might be 'global', Europe's networks and US ones aren't compatible. So depending on how many frequencies/bands the phone supports, you might not be able to use 4G in the US (or not even 3G in some cases). But for calls, it should work for the most part.

If the phone doesn't support any band/frequency in the US, then no matter that it's unlocked, it simply won't be able to 'talk' with the networks here.

Thanks for the explanation. Here's that list you mentioned.

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1225381-REG/samsung_sm_g935_32gb_slv_galaxy_s7_edge_g935.html

Click on North American Carriers

 

[Carol Britton]

Thank you both for your replies. I thought I'd have to buy a new phone to use while in the USA for a couple of months next year. This sounds like a good solution.