As This is my first post i would like to introduce myself, My name is Brian aka HoBo_Man. Ive been lurking around and gathering great information from XDA and decided this would be a great community to be involved with. So here i am with my first question as im not too fond of Sprint and there 90 day ESN clearing that I've read about. Well heres the deal a while back i bought this Evo 3D from a friend at work with a known bad ESN from past bills owed on the phone. Well just checking my self i checked the ESN on free esn checking site and sure enough it came back bad. Ok so decide to just let the phone collect some dust for about a month and a half, then decided to check it again since I've read about these rumors of sprint clearing the ESN's. Well the site said the ESN is good now? Is this a legitimate site to check ESN or should i investigate further? If i sell this phone i don't want to state that it's clean if it's not?
Also another quick question. Recently bought another Sprint Samsung Galaxy S II with a known (Bill owed). Well the guy sold me the phone thinking the ESN was going to be bad because of the bill. Well i just checked the ESN (On free ESN check site?) and it came back good? The phone i know has been disconnected for about 2-3 weeks now. My question is does it take sprint a while to black list the ESN after disconnection? Or do some phones get lucky and slip their mind?
Any help is really appreciated in advance. Thanks.
Total invested in these phones
Evo 3D - $30.00
Galaxy S II - $35.00
Also is their any evo 3d Tuts on flashing to straight talk or is it like the galaxy s ii flash? Or what are the dial passwords for the main settings of the evolution?
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Last week my wife broke her Evo. I decided to go on craigslist (I've bought a few phones this way w/ no issues) and get her a decent used phone to get by until we can upgrade. Found an Epic for a good price, got it home, called sprint to activate and they're telling me its active on another account with a high outstanding balance. There's nothing they can do. The d-bag I got it from won't answer my texts. What else can I do with this phone? Thanks
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JesseJames said:
Last week my wife broke her Evo. I decided to go on craigslist (I've bought a few phones this way w/ no issues) and get her a decent used phone to get by until we can upgrade. Found an Epic for a good price, got it home, called sprint to activate and they're telling me its active on another account with a high outstanding balance. There's nothing they can do. The d-bag I got it from won't answer my texts. What else can I do with this phone? Thanks
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA Premium App
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Maybe it's me but, I always ask for the ESN to check status before buying a used phone. I once took a used phone and called Verizon to check it while standing there with the person I was buying it off of (he was not looking happy after about 5 min on hold).
You've got a phone that has a "bad ESN" your pretty much done unless the user who had it clears it up. Unless you want to use it as a Wi-FI browsing device or something, there is not much you can do, sorry.
File a police report maybe ? They did sell you a device that that claimed working that was not (they wont do much but, it will be on file). Also, if you text him, try to call him from a different number than the one you texted him from (he might pick up thinking it was someone else).
Good luck, sorry about the news, Lesson learned, always check ESNs before buying a used phone.
DavidinCT said:
Maybe it's me but, I always ask for the ESN to check status before buying a used phone. I once took a used phone and called Verizon to check it while standing there with the person I was buying it off of (he was not looking happy after about 5 min on hold).
You've got a phone that has a "bad ESN" your pretty much done unless the user who had it clears it up. Unless you want to use it as a Wi-FI browsing device or something, there is not much you can do, sorry.
File a police report maybe ? They did sell you a device that that claimed working that was not (they wont do much but, it will be on file). Also, if you text him, try to call him from a different number than the one you texted him from (he might pick up thinking it was someone else).
Good luck, sorry about the news, Lesson learned, always check ESNs before buying a used phone.
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If I ever buy one again I'll definatly ask for the ESN up front I've learned my lesson. I was wondering if I were to unlock it could it be used on another carrier? Like boost mobile or something? Then maybe I could sell it straight up without screwing someone else. I even thought about listing it on ebay with a big bold disclaimer saying it cannot be used with sprint. I gave $200 for it and it's in perfect condition
You can definitely put it on Pageplus, Cricket or Metro. Not sure about VM or Boost since they are also on Sprint's network.
Hey guys, I sold my friend's epic 4g (sprint) last week when he upgraded to the galaxy s II. I was with him when he upgraded and knew for a fact that the phone was fine (he bought it new).
I had someone ask me about the ESN when selling and had checked it using a free site, and it came up clean. Now the buyer has contacted me and said that he cant activate it, and checking that same site I used before it, it is now saying bad esn.
What could have happened??? Is there something that the buyer did wrong? I have never messed with CDMA phones before, so the ESN thing is kind of a mystery to me.
If i refund him and get the phone back, is there a way to get the bad esn reversed?
Probably not. However, I am weary of this free-site you used to check the ESN? Basically you should never divulge the ESN to anyone even potential buyers. At least a couple years back, ESNs could be cloned to other handsets thus causing problems. I am not sure if thats still the case in today's world but for that reason I never give out the ESN (I call sprint directly to check for me if anything).
I am not saying that is what happened in your instance. But more of a warning for not divulging ESNs easily. You can however probably sell the phone as BAD ESN and someone willing to hack it to run on cricket, metroPCS, etc. can give it a go.
Sorry if that's not the news you wanted to hear but that's my take on it and maybe someone else has other information to help you out.
The site I used I had found in an article posted on ebay. It seems like a lesson learned on this one. I figured that I was pretty much screwed, but wanted to check into it more.
I assume the value is about half of what I sold it for with a bad esn now?
jay-red said:
The site I used I had found in an article posted on ebay. It seems like a lesson learned on this one. I figured that I was pretty much screwed, but wanted to check into it more.
I assume the value is about half of what I sold it for with a bad esn now?
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How Mich you sold it for?
from my shooter rocking myns ROM
sure
The phone is my favorite. Thank you!
He probably tried to wipe and/or clone the phone which went bad for him and now he's blagging you trying to be refunded.
Be cautious in these kind of situations.
yeah **** that guy you sold it to. he is sheisty.
by the way, why on earth wouldn't you just call sprint? it takes like two seconds to verify an ESN with them...
Ok, so I got an email from the buyer saying he called sprint again and seemed to get it working. The reason I didnt call sprint was that this happened at like 10 pm last night, and was looking for some quick advise. But all is well as he seems happy (judging by his replies he isnt the sharpest tool in the shed) Thanks for the replies guys.
I'm on sprint and have been for a year now with my HTC EVO 4G. Since I'm on a family plan I don't have a yearly upgrade (although they did away with that...). The EVO is just kinda slow hardware wise, so I'm looking for a new phone from now till I can upgrade to an LTE phone in yet another year.
Thing is, I want a Galaxy s2 epic 4g touch. So I need it off contract, and with my $200 budget it would have to be used. Where should I look to get it? Ebay has it priced at $300, a but too pricey. Where do you guys go for off contract used phones?
Try Craigslist. If you buy a phone off someone from craigslist, I suggest you meet the person at a Sprint store to do the phone transfer. This makes sure you get a phone with a clean ESN (in other words to not get scammed).
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adelmundo said:
Try Craigslist. If you buy a phone off someone from craigslist, I suggest you meet the person at a Sprint store to do the phone transfer. This makes sure you get a phone with a clean ESN (in other words to not get scammed).
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That's a really good idea. Would they not activate it if it had a bad ESN?
rocket999 said:
That's a really good idea. Would they not activate it if it had a bad ESN?
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If it has a bad ESN, it will not get activated. So it's a good idea to do it at the Sprint store so the store can check if the phone does have a good ESN before you shell out the cash to the seller. Plus doing it at the Sprint store is also a public place as well, providing safety, especially if you're carrying $200 cash. People have been mugged from fake Craigslist ads as well, since the thieves know you're carrying large amounts of cash.
I would have rather asked you to buy the phone from flipkart . I find it much better than ebay ( but it is just my review )
I don't think you'll find a E4GT for less than $300.
-Sent from my Droid 2-
adelmundo said:
If it has a bad ESN, it will not get activated. So it's a good idea to do it at the Sprint store so the store can check if the phone does have a good ESN before you shell out the cash to the seller. Plus doing it at the Sprint store is also a public place as well, providing safety, especially if you're carrying $200 cash. People have been mugged from fake Craigslist ads as well, since the thieves know you're carrying large amounts of cash.
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So one more question. If I were to get a GS2 with a bad ESN AND find a bricked GS2, then use CDMA workshop or a similar program and switch the two ESNs would they activate it over the phone? To them the GS2 with a bad ESN would look like the bricked one that would have a clean one.
I have seen people that do this to flash phones to other cariers. They get an old donor phone and use the esn from that for the new phone. Then they just have the carrier activate it. The process would be the same, except without switching carriors. Thoughts?
I think you should look at XDA Market Place.
You can get a Nexus S off of CL for cheap. Around $150-$200 or straight trade. You have to look around but you can always find a deal. This is coming from a person who deals on CL regularly.
rocket999 said:
So one more question. If I were to get a GS2 with a bad ESN AND find a bricked GS2, then use CDMA workshop or a similar program and switch the two ESNs would they activate it over the phone? To them the GS2 with a bad ESN would look like the bricked one that would have a clean one.
I have seen people that do this to flash phones to other cariers. They get an old donor phone and use the esn from that for the new phone. Then they just have the carrier activate it. The process would be the same, except without switching carriors. Thoughts?
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Swapping ESN's is very illegal. I would suggest not going down that road.
I saw a listing on Ebay for Sidekick 4G t839. The seller had all of the same specs and everything listed as every other t839, but in his description text he claimed that they would not work in the US, but only international. Also mentioned you'd need to unlock and that they would not work on T-Mobile. Is there any such thing? IS there any reason to think I could not buy such a phone, unlock it, root it, flash it with a different ROM and run it on ATT like I have done with other T839 Sidekick 4Gs?
SgtMac02 said:
I saw a listing on Ebay for Sidekick 4G t839. The seller had all of the same specs and everything listed as every other t839, but in his description text he claimed that they would not work in the US, but only international. Also mentioned you'd need to unlock and that they would not work on T-Mobile. Is there any such thing? IS there any reason to think I could not buy such a phone, unlock it, root it, flash it with a different ROM and run it on ATT like I have done with other T839 Sidekick 4Gs?
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Sounds like it might be a bad ESN. Trust me there are a lot of reasons not to buy a phone with a bad ESN. In XDA terms, bad ESN = another way to say "Do not buy." A bad ESN simply means the phone is locked or for some other reason you CAN NOT get it activated. Ask the seller for the ESN number, call the carrier of the phone (Probably T-Mobile) and ask them if they can run a check on the esn of that phone, if the seller won't give you the esn, well thats just another way of saying "Do not buy." Don't make a bad decision, if it seems to good to be true. It is.
The auction in question was this one. It ends a little after noon EST today.
Yup, it's a stolen phone.
Tanks for the feedback. I opted out of the bidding on this one...I'll keep waiting to catch another outstanding deal like the one I found for the one I'm currently using. (Trying to find one for my wife now)
I seend the phone for about 250+ nothing higher than 300 its a rage though
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I actually picked mine up in good condition off Craigslist for $70. I'm trying to find another deal for about $100 (now that I realize how much they're actually worth and what a good deal I got). I've seen quite a few that I could snag for near that, but my timing keeps missing out.
Hello all,
So I snagged a thunderbolt from a guy locally who only wanted 20.00 bucks for the phone cause he upgraded to a new phone. I don't think this guy know how much this phone still sells for used, thought it was to good to be true but jumped on the offer anyway and bought it for the heck of it even though I already have a droid X2 running off of page plus. The phone is almost in new condition,called Verizon to verify it was clean for activation and it is
So my question ive heard that http://www.beigephone.com/ will flash the phone to work on page plus, has anyone used this and is it a good company to go though? Also would I have to pick up another 4G LTE sim card since he left is old one in the phone?
I would do it myself, I have been rooting and flashing phones for a few years now but not sure if I wanna pony up the 100.00 bucks for CDMA Workshop since this company only charges 49.99 for flashing.
Sorry for any misspells bad day at work and was kind of drunk when I wrote this
Thanks,
Daniel San
dlahmeyer said:
Hello all,
So I snagged a thunderbolt from a guy locally who only wanted 20.00 bucks for the phone cause he upgraded to a new phone. I don't think this guy know how much this phone still sells for used, thought it was to good to be true but jumped on the offer anyway and bought it for the heck of it even though I already have a droid X2 running off of page plus. The phone is almost in new condition,called Verizon to verify it was clean for activation and it is
So my question ive heard that http://www.beigephone.com/ will flash the phone to work on page plus, has anyone used this and is it a good company to go though? Also would I have to pick up another 4G LTE sim card since he left is old one in the phone?
I would do it myself, I have been rooting and flashing phones for a few years now but not sure if I wanna pony up the 100.00 bucks for CDMA Workshop since this company only charges 49.99 for flashing.
Sorry for any misspells bad day at work and was kind of drunk when I wrote this
Thanks,
Daniel San
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I've known of a few people using it on Page Plus. Apparently is the best to go with if you're moving the Tbolt outside of Verizon.
Yes, you'll need to get a SIM and toss his.
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If you find at least one person who wants to flash their phone to PP... Might be worth buying CDMA workshop.
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