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Help Bad ESN

B

boatwake

Newbie
Hi,

I have a potential trade where the guy has a Galaxy Nexus he wants to trade. He said it was dropped once but says the phone works properly.
The only thing is he said it has a bad ESN. I don't know that could be from the drop. Would rooting the phone fix the ESN issue?

thanks for any help. I'm trading a pellet gun that I'm not that attached to so
I'm willing to take somewhat of a risk.

Tom
 
bad ESN means it's stolen or he hasn't paid the bill, and if you wanted to activate it on that network you'd have to pay the remaining balance.
Ask him for the ESN. Look it up.
 
Yeah, I didn't think it would be from dropping it. Sounded fishy. If it turns out to be an unpaid bill will rooting it work say for a no contract activation.
 
I agree. It's one thing to have a bad ESN for a device you plan to use just for wifi, but not for a phone.

One of these applies:
it's stolen or
lost or
was reported lost, replaced by insurance and now found by the original owner or
like others have said... billing or other issue.

Walk away from it... it's trouble.
 
Thanks for the information. It is a hassle but I can't afford to buy a new one. If it is in fact stolen I don't want any part of it. If it was an unpaid bill and there was a work around I would be happy with that even if just the wifi worked. Thinking more on it though I think if it was an unpaid bill he would just admit that. I think I will ask for the ESN and look it up just out of curiosity. He probably won't give it to me then I will know it is stolen. I hate thieves. Thanks again. I'm glad I asked here. My knowledge of phones is limited so I didn't even think about it being stolen.
 
And that's a good question. Just for my own curiosity, where do you guys check the esn at? Never looked into that myself...
 
If the ESN is bad are you able to put another SIM card in it? I understand that 4G phones activate through the SIM card, correct? I'm just asking because my Droid Bionic was stolen last week, and I'm looking to replace it.
 
Update: I believe it was a legit phone. It was a father negotiating for his son who changed his mind and now wants a surfboard. Anyhow, thanks so much for all the info. Hope it helps others...it sure helped me.

Tom
 
ItnStln511 said:
If the ESN is bad are you able to put another SIM card in it? I understand that 4G phones activate through the SIM card, correct? I'm just asking because my Droid Bionic was stolen last week, and I'm looking to replace it.
Click to expand...

No the ESN is tied directly to the phone. (for this exact purpose)
 
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