Note 8 Unlocked, but setting up as locked

[Android Central Question]

So I recently purchased a refurbished Note 8 on Amazon. When it came, I was upset because upon boot up, the dreaded AT&T logo appeared. I sent it back to the seller, and they concluded that it was definitely unlocked, proving that by setting it up on a Verizon sim. They sent it back, and now my issue is that, instead of having the at&t trash-fire apps cluttering up my phone, now I have the Verizon trash-fire apps taking up space on my phone. Severely disappointed, needless to say. All I want is for my phone to be free of all garbage bloatware, and not be tied to any carrier.

So herein lies my question: are Samsung phones just designed to install bloatware based on your carrier when you insert a sim? Is there any way I can get this supposedly 'unlocked' phone truly bloatware free?

Note: yes, I've already tried completely wiping the phone and setting it up without a sim card. It's still linked to Verizon...

Please help...

 

[tatootie67]

I know Verizon does somehow add bloat with their sim installed to any phones. But if it's truly unlocked you should be able to root it, and then install a custom rom. That's about all I can suggest