Change unlocked international Note 8 to US?

[Pipper99]

I have a new, unlocked, Galaxy Note 8 that is an international variant. United Arab Emirates is listed as the country under About this Phone. Is there a way to change the country to the US at the device level, or does it matter? From what I've read, changing the device level country looks like a difficult task, if it can be done at all. I've been using the phone on a US sim for a week, and everything that I've tried is working well. I'm wondering if I'll have problems with a using Samsung Pay (I haven't set it up yet) or other functions.

Thank you for any help.

 

[mi7chy]

Things like that are usually discussed on the XDA forums. Research if your specific model is supported before proceeding. For example...

https://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-note-8/how-to/guide-sm-n950u-u1-t3685884

 

[hallux]

Compare the specs at Samsung Galaxy Note8 - Full phone specifications and see if the model number you have (N950FD?) includes all the same radio bands that the US model (N950U) has listed. If it does, it should work, but if the radios are not listed it won't work well.

 

[SteveJUAE]

I normally have UAE unlocked phones and whilst I can't say for the note but on the S8 or S9 when you pop a different sim in or on a full restart a message pops up to say to switch to that country code and the system re-boots

This swaps all the Samsung pay settings etc and the UAE deals and offers are no longer there ( normally the free entertainer 2 for 1 meals etc) to the new country sim deals similarly all the banks for Samsung pay auto switch from UAE banks to new country banks

I had no problem between UAE and Thailand or Malaysia do not see why US should be any different

Try a shutdown and restart and look for the pop up message if it's a dual sim make sure new sim is in tray 1 and the process is easily reversed

 

[Pipper99]

Compare the specs at Samsung Galaxy Note8 - Full phone specifications and see if the model number you have (N950FD?) includes all the same radio bands that the US model (N950U) has listed. If it does, it should work, but if the radios are not listed it won't work well.

Thank you for the info! I have the N950F. It has most of the same bands as the US, but not all.

N950F has LTE band 1(2100), 2(1900), 3(1800), 4(1700/2100), 5(850), 7(2600), 8(900), 12(700), 13(700), 17(700), 18(800), 19(800), 20(800), 25(1900), 26(850), 28(700), 32(1500), 38(2600), 39(1900), 40(2300), 41(2500), 66(1700/2100)

N950U has LTE band 1(2100), 2(1900), 3(1800), 4(1700/2100), 5(850), 7(2600), 8(900), 12(700), 13(700), 17(700), 18(800), 19(800), 20(800), 25(1900), 26(850), 28(700), 29(700), 30(2300), 38(2600), 39(1900), 40(2300), 41(2500), 66(1700/2100)

 

[Breaking Good]

I’m not certain, but I think the U.S. version of the Note 8 uses the Snapdragon 835 whereas the International version uses the Samsung Exynos processor. I think this might cause you problems switching firmware.

In another thread you mentioned that you were using AT&T. We’re you able to get all your services working like Visual Voicemail, VoLTE and WiFi calling? Did you have to call Tech Support or did all the services automatically work.

 

[Pipper99]

I'm using AT&T on my iPhone, but I decided to try a TMobile prepaid plan in the Note 8. I've been using it for two days, and I'll likely switch to AT&T next month: in my work area, Tmo is almost unusably slow; however, in my home area (about 5 miles away), it's much faster than AT&T has ever been for me. AT&T has given me much more reliable, usable speed.

Visual Voicemail is not working yet (I haven't had a chance to mess with it). When I do a compatibility check on Tmo's website, I get a message saying "uh oh, you may not be able to use some of our advanced features", so I'm guessing that visual voicemail, VoLTE, and Wifi Calling may not work. I'll look into it and let you know what I find out.