I knew devices were getting blocked, but not to this extent. Or the fact that mexico’s own government/regulatory bodies condemned the blocking itself.
Here’s a written article (not English): https://pisapapeles.net/bloqueo-celulares-mexico/
Xioami is the only one (in the list) that sent a notification but didn’t block any function or the device itself: https://www.gearrice.com/update/xiaomi-affirms-that-it-is-not-blocking-mobile-phones-purchased-on-the-gray-market-in-mexico-even-though-it-continues-to-be-a-problem/
From what I can tell, Mexico copied the SAR requirements from the international standards that have been set up by that kind of thing. As for network configuration, carriers can push that stuff over text messages as soon as a phone registers with their network, I don’t think you can get a strict ban on phones for not having the right APNs. Maybe Mexico has some kind of radio band that phones will try to access for 5G licensed off for special purposes, but Mexico seems to use the standard 1900/1700/2100MHz bands for phones too.
I know bloated carrier phones are used to subsidise expensive phones and sell them for cheap, but Samsung still sells most devices (at least the ones verified to comply with the law) directly. They’re more expensive, but that’s because Samsung isn’t getting compensation from the carriers. If you want the non-bloated version, you’ve got to pay the difference.
The thing is you can’t really buy phones directly for the brands themselves, you can only buy them through the carriers. Apple is the exception, and I’ve recently seen a few brands having their own stores, but those are the exception.
Most if not all people have to buy theie phones from at&t or similar, which have their phones lockes to their networks, and having them unlocked is a PITA, without considering the bloatware you’re stuck with unless you get into ROMs
I got sick of this business model years ago, the las phone o bought just last month is a Pixel I got from Amazon marketplace, shipped from the US.
As for configuration yes, those are pushed through sms upon activation. I’ve no idea why they came up with locking these importe phones just now, but thats certainly a violation to our rights as consumers…
Samsung has physical stores similar to how Apple has their own stores. They also seem to have an online store for Mexico. There’s an American store as well. AFAIK, Google also sold phones independently, but I can’t access the American version of Google’s store.
I don’t know why so many Americans buy their phones through their carriers, but it’s certainly not the only option.