Questions about imei and ATT - AT&T, Rogers HTC One X, Telstra One XL

I plan to buy a replacment HTC one x. but Im a little worried about buying a phone with a blocked imei number. I use Strait Talk which uses AT&T service. and since its prepaid and you likely cant run up a bill with them am I safe to activate it? or will it also be blocked? or should I just stay away from buying on ebay?

If the IMEI is blocked through ATT you can still use it with straight talk since they are essentially two different companies.

Related

Buying a Used Fuze, Have a Question

Hey guys, I'm new here and I had a couple of questions before I bought a used Fuze. Right now I have verizon and I am switching over to att because my contract is over.
1. I am scared to buy a used fuze because if I buy a used one from someone and it is stolen can it still be activated?
I know that if I buy a verizon phone that is stolen then it can't be activated.
not sure how you handle it in usa but in europe I never had to activate any phone
just pop in the sim and type in the sim code
heard about the aktivating in usa in relation to iphones
The thing is that I'm gonna sign a 2 year contract with att, I just wanted to know if I buy a used phone and it is stolen will I still be able to use it.
I am not going to take a chance on buying a stolen phone if I can't use it.
Get a phone you know for sure isn't stolen, make sure it comes with all the accessories and box and then you can feel safe.
Do not buy a phone if you know it is stolen, that is both illegal and wrong.
if you buy a stolen phone which have been reported stolen the police give
the IMEI number hardcoded in the phone to the operators to be added to their
block of service list in the country
and other countries the operators have a working relationship with
Ya ok, then the best thing to do is buy a new phone.
I was saying that if I buy a used phone and it is stolen then I wouldn't be able to activate it.
I didn't mean to say I WAS gonna buy a stolen phone, no no.
Thanks guys. Goin to get it in an hour!
if you're signing a 2 yr contract anyways, why not get a subsidized phone straight from ATT. up until a few days ago, wireless att com website had the refurbished Fuze for FREE w/ 2yr contract. just checked website now and it is out of stock. they go in-out of stock so call in and ask.
atlaswing said:
if you're signing a 2 yr contract anyways, why not get a subsidized phone straight from ATT. up until a few days ago, wireless att com website had the refurbished Fuze for FREE w/ 2yr contract. just checked website now and it is out of stock. they go in-out of stock so call in and ask.
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Thats a deal, I'll call them and ask about it. Thanks
Here in the USA we don't have the IMEI blocking service, even if the phone was stolen you can still use it. When my Blackberry was stolen I called AT&T to report it and all they could do was block my PIN from the device and not the device itself. It's not like Verizon or in any other country.
mbudden said:
Here in the USA we don't have the IMEI blocking service, even if the phone was stolen you can still use it. When my Blackberry was stolen I called AT&T to report it and all they could do was block my PIN from the device and not the device itself. It's not like Verizon or in any other country.
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verizon uses CDMA... if (for whatever reason) you need to change phones, you have to go through Verizon to activate the ESN(cdma version of IMEI) on the phone to tie to your Verizon account
for GSM, as long as the phone is unlocked, just slip the SIM card into in and the phone should work
one reason why i like GSM better: you don't have to do much to get a replacement phone

[Q] Prepaid Infuse carrier?

Hey,
I'm recently got an infuse off contract, rooted it, etc, but I haven't been able to make myself transfer my service too it from my other phone. I'm really torn, as it is a great phone but ehhh.
Anyway.
I'm just wondering if there is some way I can use this phone on a pre paid network or something. I looked it up and saw straight talk was perhaps an option, but it seems very confusing.
Thanks.
well you could use simple mobile. (they have ads on this site alot) you could the infuse unlocking guide to unlock your phone and use it on this service. they use t mobiles towers and have 4g (hspa+) in certain areas. their plans are 40 unlimited talk and text, 50 unlimited talk text and 2g data, and 60 unlimited talk text 3g/4g data. you should check them out.hope all goes well my friend.
thank you very much! are there any cheaper options? do you know anything about straight talk?
can i use it on att month to month?
Well simple mobile is one of the cheapest prepaid gsm carriers around. And I know of straight talk. But the only straight talk smart phone is the nokia e71 I believe and that's the only straight talk phone that uses a sim card. So you would have to buy a 200+ phone JUST to get the straight talk sim card out. And yes you can use simple mobile from month to month but after 30 days of no payment they will take your number and deactivate your sim. And another good cheap prepaid option is walmarts family plan. The only thing is to start to see savings you would have to have multiple lines that's why it's good for families. Finally you could check out h20 wireless solutions they have similar rates to simple mobile but they use att towers.... Whew....that was allot of typing....lol
Itaer said:
thank you very much! are there any cheaper options? do you know anything about straight talk?
can i use it on att month to month?
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Click to collapse
Based on conversations on IRC with a ST user:
If your SIM was taken from one of th $200 Nokias, you can use in the Infuse. ST is a Tracfone reseller, which uses AT&T's network.
SIMs from all other ST phones are specifically locked to the phone.
ALSO: If you use a SIM from one of the $200 Nokias, you MUST keep the Nokia. If that phone is ever activated with another service, ST will drop service on your SIM.
Edit: Note, I'm an AT&T contract user, all of the above are hearsay from IRC a month or two ago.
i believe you need a $200 nokia smartphone on strait talk but never sell the nokia! the sim is locked to the imei somehow and if the nokia is activated again the old sim is deactivated. also i think strait talk is a reseller of many carriers, they have cdma phones and a few of the nokia smart phones are on t-mobile sim cards from what i understand. you can try it but i think ifg the sim has a "t" on it then you cant use it, only problem is you have know way to know which sim will be in the phone you are buying.
many of those prepay services have one of a number of methods to lock the phone to their network. do as much research as posible before dropping cash on a device that might be useless
I though Att itself has a pay as you go with no contracty plain also tat works for this for for $5 data (10 mb ha) and $.010 a min talk.
Dani897 said:
i believe you need a $200 nokia smartphone on strait talk but never sell the nokia! the sim is locked to the imei somehow and if the nokia is activated again the old sim is deactivated. also i think strait talk is a reseller of many carriers, they have cdma phones and a few of the nokia smart phones are on t-mobile sim cards from what i understand. you can try it but i think ifg the sim has a "t" on it then you cant use it, only problem is you have know way to know which sim will be in the phone you are buying.
many of those prepay services have one of a number of methods to lock the phone to their network. do as much research as posible before dropping cash on a device that might be useless
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So theoretically, you could buy the 200 phone, and buy the cheap ass phone......in separate transactions, from Wal-mart and then use the expensive sim card, but put the cheap sim card in the expensive phone pkg and return the phone......only if you are evil!
I understand you could use the GoPhone plans, but you will need a new sim card, and also have to have a data plan to go with it, not sure how much the Simple Mobile plans are they talk about, but your looking at around 55-60$ for GoPhone plans with minimum data. 50$ unlimited talk and text and 5$for 10mb. Tops is 25$for 500mb, thats still not a lot of data though. I think 10mb for a phone is a joke, in my opinion. Maybe check out the Simple Mobile, you will have to unlock your phone for that though. Instructions for that are XDA.
emeralds5668 said:
So theoretically, you could buy the 200 phone, and buy the cheap ass phone......in separate transactions, from Wal-mart and then use the expensive sim card, but put the cheap sim card in the expensive phone pkg and return the phone......only if you are evil!
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Click to collapse
No. If the expensive phone is EVER activated with another SIM, the expensive SIM you're using will get deactivated according to everything I've heard.
Entropy512 said:
No. If the expensive phone is EVER activated with another SIM, the expensive SIM you're using will get deactivated according to everything I've heard.
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Yeah but if the phone is returned, after it has been opened, then its not returned to the shelf. I think it would be considered refurb. I dont know, but they would probably reassign the imei to another sim. Dont know. I think I will just keep my edge speed in the hope that when att buys t-mobile that I will finally gtr hspda.

[Q] Porting number twice in one day?

Without making this too complicated,
I wanted to port my number from one ATT account to another but the only way I can do this if I port to another carrier and then back to the other ATT account.
So I called Tmobile and asked if I could port my ATT number to a prepaid tmobile sim, and they said yes.
Prepaid sim is like 8 bucks so I figure that isnt too bad of a fee. So once I port my ATT number to tmobile prepaid sim, does anyone see any problems of then porting to my other att account?
I would hate to screw anything up here dont wanna lose my number.
Thanks

[Q] Q-Verizon M8 from a canceled account.....

I have a question, but I need to give some info on my situation first. I used to have a HTC One M8 from T-Mobile, and because my Wife lives in sonoita Az, the only decent carrier that works out there is Verizon. So I switched from T-Mobile to Verizon. My experience with Verizon in the short amount of time that I've had with them, is not very good to say the least. So let's say I switched back to T-Mobile, but didn't return my Verizon M8 or my Note 3, could I still use it on T-Mobile since its unlocked, or would they flag my IMEI number like they do with ESN numbers and so that I cannot use the phone anywhere, or what ? Please let me know what you think....
Last I heard even if they blacklist your imei on Verizon it'll still work if it's a 4g phone. That being said Verizon blacklisting your phone from them should have no affect on whether it works on T-Mobile.
Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Tapatalk
As long as it's not blacklisted for lost or stolen it will work on tmobile
No, it's not blacklisted as lost or stolen. I just don't want Verizon service anymore. They do not have unlimited data for LTE for sale anymore that's why I'm going back to T-Mobile. T-Mobile may not have the best coverage, but I like their plans and their customer service a whole lot better thanks Verizon's.
Bl00dRunzC0ld said:
As long as it's not blacklisted for lost or stolen it will work on tmobile
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Click to collapse
You can Google tmobile imei check and run the imei and it will tell you if it can be used on their network.
cjegan2008 said:
No, it's not blacklisted as lost or stolen. I just don't want Verizon service anymore. They do not have unlimited data for LTE for sale anymore that's why I'm going back to T-Mobile. T-Mobile may not have the best coverage, but I like their plans and their customer service a whole lot better thanks Verizon's.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If it comes back blacklisted, you can still get the imei repaired which is legal because your bringing it back to the original carrier, but they just past legislation making carrier unlocking your phone perfectly legal. Many larger phone repair places can do imei repair, there are some on ebay that do it also, some can even do it remotely for you over the net through the teamviewer software.

[b] new m8! can i bolt to t-mobile wo being blacklisted??[/b]

I just used my upgrade to get a vzw m8 with the intention of selling it, then bolting to tmobile. I plan to be on the hook for my etf for 350, which I expect tmobile to eventually pay in 8 to 12 weeks.... Will my m8 get BLACKLISTED if I try this? I would assume not. My thinking is that's what the ETF is covering... Am I correct? I don't wanna sell a phone that has been blacklisted. Thanks
ebuechler3 said:
I just used my upgrade to get a vzw m8 with the intention of selling it, then bolting to tmobile. I plan to be on the hook for my etf for 350, which I expect tmobile to eventually pay in 8 to 12 weeks.... Will my m8 get BLACKLISTED if I try this? I would assume not. My thinking is that's what the ETF is covering... Am I correct? I don't wanna sell a phone that has been blacklisted. Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You should be good. I have sold phones purchased at on contract prices prior to my contract being up and had no issues.
I have 2 lines of service that I'm terminating and was gonna pay $100 a month until etf is paid by tmobile... Hopefully that will keep my phone's from being blacklisted!!
I thought when tmobile or even sprint now for that matter, dont they make you turn in your phone from your old carrier ? I assumed that was the case, so they can sell off your old phone to pay towards your old carriers etf they are paying off ? Am I wrong here because it makes sense that you would have to turn your phone in to them in the deal ?
The ESN will only be blacklisted if it is reported to be stolen or lost.
Some companies will not accept other companies' ESN (like Sprint and Verizon,) but with advance of LTE sim cards, this might be a moot point.
In any case, there's no reason why someone else cannot use your phone, unless you report it lost/stolen.
You have to trade in the m8 to T-Mobile in order for them to pay the etf. Since its brand new, I'd just return it to Verizon and cancel your contract outright. It will save you time and money in the long run.
Sent from my HTC6525LVW using XDA Free mobile app
justin94 said:
You have to trade in the m8 to T-Mobile in order for them to pay the etf. Since its brand new, I'd just return it to Verizon and cancel your contract outright. It will save you time and money in the long run.
Sent from my HTC6525LVW using XDA Free mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What he said. You can't sell the phone because T-Mobile gets the phone, and you also have to buy one of theirs. Better idea - just stick with Verizon. Everyone's prices are going down these days, Verizon should be next. But even if you just stopped paying Verizon (without covering the ETF), then yes, your phone would get blacklisted. It is not just lost or stolen phones, it's unpaid bills that get your blacklisted too. Source: I deal with this stuff every day.
brandogg said:
What he said. You can't sell the phone because T-Mobile gets the phone, and you also have to buy one of theirs. Better idea - just stick with Verizon. Everyone's prices are going down these days, Verizon should be next. But even if you just stopped paying Verizon (without covering the ETF), then yes, your phone would get blacklisted. It is not just lost or stolen phones, it's unpaid bills that get your blacklisted too. Source: I deal with this stuff every day.
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Are you saying that Verizon will "blacklist" a Verizon ESN phone for not paying Verizon bills?
This is ridiculous.
How do they "blacklist" your sim slot?
nabbed said:
Are you saying that Verizon will "blacklist" a Verizon ESN phone for not paying Verizon bills?
This is ridiculous.
How do they "blacklist" your sim slot?
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Numbers
nabbed said:
Are you saying that Verizon will "blacklist" a Verizon ESN phone for not paying Verizon bills?
This is ridiculous.
How do they "blacklist" your sim slot?
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Click to collapse
Are you serious? I don't even know what you're trying to ask about "blacklisting a SIM slot", they blacklist the IMEI of the phone (it doesn't matter if you use your Verizon HTC One M8 on AT&T or T-Mobile - regardless of what SIM is in your SIM slot, your IMEI is the same), which typically all of the major carriers share now. You go to make a call and it says "this phone has been blocked from network usage."
brandogg said:
Are you serious? I don't even know what you're trying to ask about "blacklisting a SIM slot", they blacklist the IMEI of the phone (it doesn't matter if you use your Verizon HTC One M8 on AT&T or T-Mobile - regardless of what SIM is in your SIM slot, your IMEI is the same), which typically all of the major carriers share now. You go to make a call and it says "this phone has been blocked from network usage."
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Are you saying that there's a global database of "blacklisted" phones? Which every carrier now uses? Even gsm carriers, which don't even use ESN?
nabbed said:
Are you saying that there's a global database of "blacklisted" phones? Which every carrier now uses? Even gsm carriers, which don't even use ESN?
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Click to collapse
LTE is an evolution of GSM (more or less). LTE phones have an IMEI. Take out your M8 and go to Settings > About > Phone Identity and look at the third line, which is your IMEI (not your ESN), or look at the box and notice that you don't see an ESN (o an MEID), but you do see an IMEI. Then look at the 6th line, which is your ICC ID, AKA your SIM card number. The IMEI does not change (without flashing), no matter which SIM card you put in the phone, and it it what is used to identify your phone.
And yes, there is a global IMEI blacklist, it's even mentioned on the GSMA's website (and Verizon Wireless is a member of GSMA).
http://www.gsma.com/technicalprojects/fraud-security/imei-database
brandogg said:
LTE is an evolution of GSM (more or less). LTE phones have an IMEI. Take out your M8 and go to Settings > About > Phone Identity and look at the third line, which is your IMEI (not your ESN), or look at the box and notice that you don't see an ESN (o an MEID), but you do see an IMEI. Then look at the 6th line, which is your ICC ID, AKA your SIM card number. The IMEI does not change (without flashing), no matter which SIM card you put in the phone, and it it what is used to identify your phone.
And yes, there is a global IMEI blacklist, it's even mentioned on the GSMA's website (and Verizon Wireless is a member of GSMA).
http://www.gsma.com/technicalprojects/fraud-security/imei-database
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Take an lte sim and pop it into a phone that supports it.
Are you saying that sometimes it won't work because a carrier has blacklisted your phone?
I'm saying that in order for T-Mobile to pay your Verizon etf, you need to turn in the eligible device (m8). Without it, they will jot pay the etf. Verizon will also block the phone from being used on any major carrier.
Don't try to cheat this system. It will come back on you.
Sent from my HTC6525LVW using XDA Free mobile app
If verizon blacklists your imei number it wont work for basically any carrier in the USA unless the imei is repaired, but the phone blacklisted in the USA can still be used in other countries as no other countries care about an imei that is blacklisted in the USA.

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