Samsung Galaxy S3 network issue.

[tet]

Howdy folks,

Just got a Samsung Galaxy S3 from Amazon; unlocked & new. Ordered a mini SIM for it to replace the full size SIM I had originally from 48. Couldn't register the new SIM so sent a message to the help agents, got a reply saying the SIM had been fully registered (at 6:15 yesterday). Still nothing, and the SIM in my old Galaxy S has now gone offline too. I officially have no phone. 😞

When I try to manually select a network, I get the message "Unable to connect. Try later." I also occasionally get "your SIM card does not allow a connection to this network."

Can anyone think of any reasons or answers to cover this? Have I bought a dud??

[dalyer]

When you manually scan and connect do you see 48 or O2?

Can't understand/explain why things are not working myself.

All I can suggest is getting onto 48 support again for assistance. 

[tet]

Hi Dalyer,

Yeah, the manual scan brings up 48, Three, Meteor & Vodafone. Can't connect to 48 when selecting. I've a request pending with the help guys at the moment, was just hoping maybe someone on the community might have an answer. Sad face.

[dalyer]

One possible explanation for that message ("your SIM card does not allow a connection to this network") is that the phone's IMEI is blacklisted usually because it was stolen. But you say that it's new and presumably legitimate so presumably and hopefully that's not the case here!

[tet]

I'd hope Amazon weren't selling stolen phones! It was in the original packaging, had Amazon labels etc.

Is there any way of checking the IMEI at all, like where do I find it and is there any way of checking if it is Blacklisted?

[dalyer]

Was it Amazon themselves or an Amazon Marketplace reseller?

You could try the IMEI here but I don't know how authoritative it is:

http://www.imei.info/news/2013-02/52290-black-list-checker/

And maybe there is some other explanation for your problems so I don't mean to be scaremongering that it may be stolen! 

[tet]

Will get on to Amazon about it.

Hey, matter of interest... If I check the label underneath the battery, it shows an IMEI number (with two forward slashes), but that number doesn't match the IMEI numer on the phone details section (which has no slashes).

Also, in the same phone details section, it shows the phone as connecting to o2 for the mobile network (I know 48 is carried by o2), but I still can't send messages, make calls, etc.

This doesn't sound promising... Thanks for the help though.

[dalyer]

IMEI should be 15 digits (strictly 14 digit IMEI + 1 digit checksum).

Sometimes it may be written with dashes between components - e.g. see here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Mobile_Station_Equipment_Identity#Structure_of_the_IMEI_a...

However the IMEI under the battery and the IMEI displayed on the phone (*#06#) should match otherwise (i.e. if any non numeric delimiters such as dashes/slashes/etc. are removed). If not then it sounds a bit odd...

With regard to the network issue some handsets don't display 48 as a discrete network for some reason in which case you need to connect to O2. Remember that you also need data roaming enabled in order to connect to an MVNO (e.g. 48 operating on the O2 network):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MVNO 

Hope this helps.