Xbox Live subscription issue (please help)

Hi.. A friend of mine who lives in the US recently sent me the code for an Xbox Live 12-month Gold subscription..

I live in Australia but I still assumed it would work.

I connected to Xbox live, Input the code and it recognised it as being correct and came up with the screen saying what the code was for and had a button saying "Redeem Code" I clicked redeem and this error came up:

"Cannot retrieve information from Xbox LIVE. Please try again later"

"Error code:8016a04b"

I waited and tried again 30 minutes later and still nothing....

I know im connected to Xbox Live as i can chat to friends etc and my Xbox Connectivity test says everything is fine...

I will try again later tonight but want I would like to know is:

If a code is bought in the US, Is it able to be redeemed on an account in Australia? Xbox Live recognises the code as a 12+1 month membership code.. But wont redeem it....

Thanks

Up to what i know, it should still work in other areas. Haven't heard/read anything about codes being area restricted.ForsakenWicked

Yeh neither have I...

Im hopeing that it's just that there is alot of traffic on Xbox Live atm..

If anyone knows of any restrictions id like to know thanks.

Any Xbox live experts who can tell me for certain whether the card from the US can work in Australi?tezz69