All the New Zealand phone companies decided to blacklist the Samsung's Galaxy Note 7 in straight two weeks. This is due to the incidents happened in different countries on the burning battery of the said smartphones.
The group of New Zealand telecommunications industry has announced a complete "blacklisting" of the Samsung Galaxy Note 7, with the smartphone to be blocked across all mobile networks as of November 18. This blacklisting propaganda is being put in place in coordination with Samsung as a safety measure after the Galaxy Note 7 began catching fire on its battery several months ago, according to New Zealand Telecommunications Forum (TCF) CEO Geoff Thorn.
"Numerous attempts by all providers have been made to contact owners and ask them to bring the phones in for replacement or refund. This action should further aid the return of the remaining handsets," Thorn said. "Anyone who is still in possession of a Samsung Note 7, please return it to your service provider as soon as possible."
According to ZDNet, users of the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 can check their handset's unique IMEI number on the TCF website to see whether their phone has been blocked. Samsung and the United States Consumer Product Safety Commission announced a global recall of the smartphone in September, following 92 initial reported incidents in the United States where the batteries overheated and caught fire.
APAC airlines Air New Zealand, Qantas, Virgin Australia, Jetstar, Tigerair, Singapore Airlines, Cathay Pacific, Dragonair, Hong Kong Airlines, HK Express, AirAsia, Etihad Airways, and Emirates were among those that last month began enforcing a total ban of the smartphone on all flights, citing potential fire risk. Aside from those airlines, the US Department of Transportation also banned the Note 7 on US flights just a few weeks ago.
While Samsung is currently undergoing a worldwide recall of 2.5 million handsets, some mail services are refusing to carry Note 7 returns. Remember that Samsung also halted the production and sales of the said smartphone.
Cellular companies can block Samsung Galaxy Note 7 smartphones from connecting to their networks because each device has a unique 15-digit code, called an IMEI, that is checked automatically each time a device attempts to make a connection. They are using it to keep track on each and every smartphone they have in their record.
