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New IMEI Rules

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regnatarajan
  1/15/2018 11:31 EST

Some of you may recall I decided to test whether I'd be cut off by my cellular provider if I just ignored all the IMEI warnings. Well, on Sunday they blocked the phone I was testing on. True to their word, the phone no longer works on ANY provider, Claro, Tigo or Movistar, and it doesn't even work if I put in a Canadian SIM in which is set to roam in Colombia. The SIM works fine if I put it in a correctly-registered phone, but the now-blocked phone is totally useless in Colombia at this point. It appears you can't safely ignore all this IMEI nonsense for long. I'm glad I tested on a cheap Chinese phone i don't care about.

bigjailerman
  1/15/2018 11:52 EST

I went through that as well but good job on an actual test.. I never was able to put a phone aside.

This may be one of the work around and you can choose the specific country. I will see if I can unblock a blocked one soon.

https://www.doctorsim.com/co-es/desbloquear-celular/

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bigjailerman
  1/15/2018 12:00 EST

Here is the lowdown if others missed it.

Register your phones!

https://thebogotapost.com/2016/08/10/register-mobile-phone/

Polvito1977
  1/15/2018 13:25 EST

What does this mean for the tourist who is only coming in country for a week ? What if my USA cellular phone service provider doesn't participate with the IMEI protocal....they don't know what it is !

regnatarajan
  1/15/2018 14:24 EST

Well, your US provider may not know what IMEI is but every cell phone in the world has an IMEI number regardless of whether they know about it or not.

If you come to Colombia with your US phone in roaming mode and do not purchase or use a local SIM, you should be fine as far as I can tell.

If you buy a local SIM when you're in Colombia, you MUST register your foreign phone's IMEI or they will brick your phone like they did to me. This should be easy if you've got a name-brand phone like Samsung, but registration may be impossible if you have a no-name brand phone. The Colombian government has mandated that, if the phone model isn't sold new in Colombia, it can't be registered.

In fact, since they now do this at the point of SIM purchase, you won't even be able to buy a SIM at a normal store unless your IMEI passes their checks. You might still be able to get one at a little tienda somewhere but then you'll just have to register the IMEI yourself or they'll brick your phone.

canpandave
  1/15/2018 15:36 EST

That has happened to me in the past, they do not 'brick' the phone, they block the imei.

Register the phone and they will unblock it. I had to go to the Movistar office to accomplish it....

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regnatarajan
  1/15/2018 15:52 EST

Technically true that the phone isn't bricked completely insofar as it can operate outside Colombia. It is, however, effectively bricked in Colombia. If you get yourself on the block list (as I did with this test phone), the phone is blacklisted for use in Colombia by all providers and it won't even work if roaming using a foreign SIM. Unblocking can only be achieved if your phone is on the approved list. If you have no-name-brand phone, it can't be unblocked no matter what you do.

canpandave
  1/15/2018 15:55 EST

Where did you get the information about the phone having to be on an approved list? The person at Movistar just said bring the phone, ID and proof of address and they will register any phone....

WhoaNellie
  1/15/2018 16:15 EST

You can check here using the drop-downs to see if your model phone has been homologado, approved for operation:

http://www.siust.gov.co/siic/publico/terminal-homologada

When you press Buscar you'll get a list if the device is permitted.

regnatarajan
  1/15/2018 16:35 EST

canpandave, I got that information about the limited types of equipment that can be registered direct from the Movistar and Claro stores which I have had to frequent quite regularly recently because of this IMEI stupidity. I also have my personal experience of being entirely unable to register my particular Blu phones (which are excellent Chinese Android 6 phones) here in Colombia because they're not on the list. I've tried with all the providers and the answer is the same: take the phones back to Canada, you can't use them here.

I also believe the information you were given about going to the Movistar store if you get blocked is wrong or at least not useful. I have done that many times now and the experience has always been the same: the polite rep tries to register it using the exact same system we have available to us online here, and if it fails he says "sorry, there is nothing I can do and there is no recourse or appeal". I'd rather stay home and do it myself on my own computer. The frustration level is a bit lower if I don't have to Uber it to the mall just to be told no.

I really wonder if Samsung and Apple greased a few palms to get this to happen. I can't see the possible advantage to Colombia in banning excellent-quality Chinese Android phones from the market which let people of limited means get into modern smart phones for $100 instead of $700.

WhoaNellie
  1/15/2018 16:52 EST

Reg, there are 264 BLÜ phones on the list registered as approved, I would hope that yours are on it!

Besides this has created dozens if not hundreds of jobs for the inefficient Colombian bureaucracy as each model of many thousands must go thru a lengthy approval and certification process, generating endless paperwork as well as providing many opportunities for bribes and kickbacks along the way.

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bigjailerman
  1/15/2018 16:53 EST

Since Chinese phones like Xiaomi ate on the list and sold here , Just fyi

regnatarajan
  1/15/2018 17:07 EST

Well, sadly my Blu phones are either not on the list or their IMEIs are not recognized by the Colombian government as they have been arbitrarily rejected by all three major carriers here. I've also been told clearly that I have no recourse whatsoever. It is possible that if I made enough noise, I could get some bureaucrat to make an exception for me but this isn't a hill I'm going to die on. I'll just use my Samsung and Google Nexus phones and not worry about it.

While I'll miss the Blu phones, the ones I'll really miss are these tiny AIEK X8 phones pictured below. These are the size of a credit card and can literally be put in a wallet with your other credit cards for emergency use (although I wouldn't recommend sitting on them). In the past, I'd load them up with a Movistar SIM with a few thousand pesos in credit knowing that if I or my wife ever got in trouble and our normal phones were low on battery or otherwise dead, we could always call each other in a pinch. That's gone now. It's really hard for me to see how this is better.

View post on imgur.com

WhoaNellie
  1/15/2018 17:31 EST

You may want to look at the Plum B106, a dual-SIM GSM unlocked phone - it's on the list and only a bit more expensive at $19 USD, also a bit bigger:

https://smile.amazon.com/Plum-Unlocked-Worldwide-Bluetooth-Feature/dp/B074H81LYB/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1516055174&sr=8-3&keywords=cheap+cell+phone

pocopelo
  1/15/2018 17:40 EST

That's odd. My fiancee has had no problem with the BLU phone that I brought down from Canada almost two years ago.

regnatarajan
  1/15/2018 17:42 EST

I appreciate the recommendation but I tend not to argue with city hall. I hate these new IMEI rules but I'm going to just comply and buy in Colombia from conventional stores from this point forward. Keep in mind, as you pointed out my Blu phones are on the list but they are still being rejected by the idiotic system the government has implemented so I'm not going to gamble further on foreign-bought phones.

PS: I really like that you link to Amazon via their Smile service. I wish everyone would do that.

elmacho
  1/15/2018 20:25 EST

My own experience with the cell phone registration process is as follow:

Upon my arrival in Medellín I bough a CLARO SIM Card at a small shop in the UNICENTRO mall. They did not told me that I had to register my iPhone 6 Plus but I was aware about that because I had about it here or elsewhere.

About a week or two after having purchased my SIM Card I receive a Texto informing me that I needed to register my phone before a given date and that if I didn't my phone would be blocked. The same day I went back to the small UNICETRO shop. They told me that they could not register my iPhone 6 Plus but that the CLARO shop in the Los Molinos Mall could do it. Off I went. My phone was registered by a beautiful woman. However I received another Texto about a week or two later informing me that if my phone was not registered it would be blocked. I returned to the Los Molinos Mall to check out what was going on. I was told that everything was OK. However on the said date (December 8th if I remember correctly) my phone was blocked as promised!

I went back to Los Molinos a third time, this time I was asked to fill a form and they took a photocopy of my Original Passport (not a photocopy of a photocopy that I always carry with me). I was told that it would take an hour for my line to be unblocked. My line was unblocked about 8 hours after I went to the ClARO Office and only after I shut down my phone and re-opned it which, of course, they had not told me that I need to do.

About 2 weeks lated, guess what? I received a Texto again promising me that my phone would be blocked by January 8th this time it I did not registered it. I went back to the CLARO Office in Los Molinos and was told again that everything was fine. I received a second Texto about this January 8th deadline. I decided to do nothing and wait until the said date to see what would happen. On January 8th my phone was blocked for a second time.

Again I went back to the CLRO Office to get my phone unblocked. The woman that attended me did not seem to understand what was going on. She talked to her supervisor. In the end, after about 20 - 25 minutes I was handed my phone back unblocked (without the need to shut it down and re-open it this time). The woman told me that her supervisor unblocked my phone. A couple of minutes later as I was walking out of the store I received a Texto saying the my IMEI had been successfully registered.

This was about 10 days ago and I have not received other Textos and everything is working fine.

I hope that I am out of the woods, future will tell!!!

regnatarajan
  1/16/2018 16:59 EST

I've been hearing a lot of stories like yours in the Colombia FB groups. People register and get locked out anyway, sometimes multiple times. Hopefully they'll work out the many glitches in this idiotic system soon.

On the other hand, I've been checking out prices in the Claro store today. They aren't as awful as I expected, although the selection is limited. Still, it's quite possible to get a decent Android phone for $200-$300 USD. I will likely do that soon.

bigjailerman
  1/16/2018 17:05 EST

You can usually get prices at an Exito much cheaper than carriers. They run sales all Rhett time as well. They will also register your device..

regnatarajan
  1/16/2018 17:10 EST

Never occurred to me to shop for phones at a department store. lol. I'll try it!

regnatarajan
  1/16/2018 17:16 EST

Wow, BJM, good call! First phone I looked at was a Moto C, a low-end Android 7 phone perfect for a backup. $330k pesos on sale at Claro. $209k pesos regular price at Exito. Appreciate the tip!

bigjailerman
  1/17/2018 09:52 EST

:)

bigjailerman
  1/17/2018 09:54 EST

:)
No problem

fogcitynative
  3/19/2018 07:23 EST

If you have T-Mobile One Plus International service your phone works in 121 countries worldwide with free unlimited 4G data and unlimited texts. Cellular calls are like $0.20 a minute.

I just came back from three weeks in Europe and can attest that the phone works in Sweden, Denmark, Norway, the UK, and Spain.

You even get a welcome text in English the first time you are connected to the cellular network in each country. No need to mess with roaming.

I used to be an AT&T customer until 2016, when I was in Colombia and had to buy a very restrictive and expensive AT&T international package with very low data limits. It was like an extra $150 for ten days in Colombia. And I never made a phone call. Was just using maps, Uber and e-mail.


With T-Mobile, calls back to the US are free.

So basically you don't need a Colombian SIM. Or any other country's SIM. Your T-Mobile SIM stays safely in your phone.

Also, if your phone has wi-fi calling, you aren't even on the cellular network. Not sure if the IMEI plays any part of data connections. over wi-fi.

T-Mobile is an amazing provider. I would never use any other company. I was turned on to them by a travel blogger.

peterv123
  3/19/2018 08:58 EST

what is the monthly cost of that T-Mobile pan?

pocopelo
  3/19/2018 12:09 EST

This sounds like a quantum leap in international cell phone service. Hopefully it is a sign of even greater coverage and less hassle in the future for travellers.

SunsetSteve
  3/25/2018 12:49 EST

When I visited Colombia in February I hoped to avoid the SIM issue by subscribing to my telcos $50 roam plan for the month. Guaranteed to provide me with roaming phone and data on my Samsung S7 in Colombia specifically.

It would not work! I brought the phone into Clara, they could not help. I handed it over to a friend’s IT friend who tried for three days to deal with it. The news came back: they could register my phone on the local system for $80 usd, it my data would be wiped clean.

So for $22 I bought a local smart phone loaded with two weeks cell and data. Worked fine.

regnatarajan
  3/25/2018 13:23 EST

Who's your telco in Canada, Steve? So I can avoid them. My Rogers S7 Edge works fine in Colombia.

bigjailerman
  3/25/2018 13:48 EST

Phones that we use in Colombia are fine (registered after 2 months or so) but don't show up on lists are international a follows

Xiaomi Mi3
Samsung 7 Edge
Motorola xt 907
Motorola xt1225 and 1250
One plus 5

All purchases in the USA. Running in Colombia on Comcel and Claro

bigjailerman
  3/25/2018 13:49 EST

Sorry Claro and Tigo

regnatarajan
  3/25/2018 14:08 EST

I'm pretty sure the problem is with the Canadian provider not roaming correctly in Steve's case, BJM. There's no issue with the Samsung S7 unless it's not unlocked and I'd be surprised if Steve didn't do that.

spahkee
  4/6/2018 12:52 EST

Dumb question: so once I get a working SIM, how long do I have until the my phone gets "bricked" by the carrier (and all other carriers)? Thanks.

elmacho
  4/6/2018 13:51 EST

My experience was as follows with Claro:
After a couple of weeks here I received a Texto informing me that I had about 3 weeks to register and that I would be disconnected if I did not register. I was effectively blocked even if I had registered. In total I was blocked 3 times but now it is fixed. In toal I had to go to a Claro Store (not an agent) about 6 times (but at least they have good looking female reprentatives). Good Luck!

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