Is an iPhone 4 with a bad ESN worth anything?

Peligro911

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So I bought an Iphone4 off craigslist and brought it home and of course it has as bad ESN this is my first Iphone and I dont know what to do. Of course I cant return it the dude doesnt even answer my calls emails or texts!!! UUUGGHH Im so frustrated. Sure wish I had a friend that worked for verizon!!!...Any Ideas as to what I can do now. :confused:

Resell it on eBay to get your money back and buy a good esn phone

That or have it flashed to cricket or metro or someone company

Or use it as a iPod


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vitalikd

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hey, how you doing? may you check why my iphone 4 has bad esn? i bought it from craigslist and its locked and person wont take back, im stuck((
 

Kimberly_Lynn12

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Why is the esn bad, if its on the lost stolen list your sol. Now if its just bad for non-payment after about 6 months the esn will be released when the acct is terminated for non-payment and the phone can be used...PM me and I should be able to find out why the esn is bad.
can you tell me why mine is too?
 

ammarkr

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Sorry to revive this old thread, but this is similar to a query I have right now.

I'm also planning on buying a bad ESN (Verizon) iPhone 5 from CL, but only for use abroad. My questions are:

1. If it comes activated and I then just take it abroad, it should work with any international GSM carrier right (because I've heard that all Verizon iPhone 5's come international unlocked by default; as for the CDMA/GSM issue, this article on CNET.com says that even a CDMA iPhone 5 can work on basic GSM networks abroad, which is all I need).

2. If it doesn't come unlocked, or if I upgrade the firmware in the future, will it then go through the activation process through iTunes? If so, I'm assuming that it will then lock me out. However, if a jailbreak is available for that firmware version, then it should allow me to bypass activation right (just like redsn0w allows for ios 6.1.1 at the present time)?

3. If for some reason, the phone is unusable when I buy it, I'm willing to pay a bit extra for an ESN cleaning service. After that, will I still have to pay for an unlocking service, or will the original factory unlock suffice?
 

ammarkr

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Thanks for your offer of help, but I don't actually need to find out why the ESN is bad. I just want to know if a bad ESN phone can be used abroad without any sort of activation process. Like I said, if not then I'm willing to pay for an ESN cleaning service, and there's a Verizon web page that gives you the status of a phone by entering its MEID number, so that you can check before using such services (because they don't clean ESN's which are still linked to an active account, only those that are linked to lost/stolen phones).
 

ammarkr

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Err, I'm sure there are more helpful answers than that. From what I've researched online, a bad ESN phone can actually be useful in quite a few cases, e.g. flashing it to a smaller carrier such as Metro and using it there, using it abroad, etc. If anyone has any actual experience or knowledge in this regard, it'd be great to hear from them, especially if they can answer my earlier questions.
 

Peligro911

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is a iphone 4 with bad esn worth anything

Sorry to revive this old thread, but this is similar to a query I have right now.

I'm also planning on buying a bad ESN (Verizon) iPhone 5 from CL, but only for use abroad. My questions are:

1. If it comes activated and I then just take it abroad, it should work with any international GSM carrier right (because I've heard that all Verizon iPhone 5's come international unlocked by default; as for the CDMA/GSM issue, this article on CNET.com says that even a CDMA iPhone 5 can work on basic GSM networks abroad, which is all I need).

2. If it doesn't come unlocked, or if I upgrade the firmware in the future, will it then go through the activation process through iTunes? If so, I'm assuming that it will then lock me out. However, if a jailbreak is available for that firmware version, then it should allow me to bypass activation right (just like redsn0w allows for ios 6.1.1 at the present time)?

3. If for some reason, the phone is unusable when I buy it, I'm willing to pay a bit extra for an ESN cleaning service. After that, will I still have to pay for an unlocking service, or will the original factory unlock suffice?

Yes it will work international because the gsm part is unlocked

If its Verizon it is unlocked

You can jb to get past activation screen but updating normally don't require activation only a restore

I'm not aware of a ESN cleaning for Verizon I have only seen offers for sprint

ESN is only going to effect the CDMA radio and activation on Verizon ..

Since its unlocked you could get a straight talk sim for in the US


Sent from my iPhone 5 from a galaxy far far away (in the USA ) using Tapatalk !
 

ammarkr

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Wow, thank you Peligro911 for the very detailed and helpful answer.

I'm probably gonna go ahead and buy the phone off CL, but I'll first check if it's unlocked for international use by inserting a non-US SIM (or by using an online service that checks the phone's status using the IMEI/MEID number; know of any reliable ones?). That should do the trick. If what I've read online about Verizon now selling all iPhone 5's factory unlocked for international use is true, then I should be good to go to use the phone abroad without worrying about any of the ESN cleaning / phone unlocking hassle.

You can jb to get past activation screen but updating normally don't require activation only a restore

Do you mean to say that if I update the firmware, either through iTunes or OTA on the phone itself, then it won't require activation? But if I carry out the restore option through iTunes, then it will require activation?

ESN is only going to effect the CDMA radio and activation on Verizon ..

So does that mean that even if I have to go through the activation process, as long as I have a Verizon SIM (and I'm on an international carrier), the activation should complete ok?

Do you have any idea if Apple also stores information on blacklisted phones in its database? If so, then it might lock me out during the activation process.
 

Peligro911

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is a iphone 4 with bad esn worth anything

Wow, thank you Peligro911 for the very detailed and helpful answer.

I'm probably gonna go ahead and buy the phone off CL, but I'll first check if it's unlocked for international use by inserting a non-US SIM (or by using an online service that checks the phone's status using the IMEI/MEID number; know of any reliable ones?). That should do the trick. If what I've read online about Verizon now selling all iPhone 5's factory unlocked for international use is true, then I should be good to go to use the phone abroad without worrying about any of the ESN cleaning / phone unlocking hassle.



Do you mean to say that if I update the firmware, either through iTunes or OTA on the phone itself, then it won't require activation? But if I carry out the restore option through iTunes, then it will require activation?



So does that mean that even if I have to go through the activation process, as long as I have a Verizon SIM (and I'm on an international carrier), the activation should complete ok?

Do you have any idea if Apple also stores information on blacklisted phones in its database? If so, then it might lock me out during the activation process.

I think if Verizon black lists it then it won't activate even with a diff sim but I'm not sure

I know for a fact Verizon 5 is unlocked I have seen it

Not sure about apple but I don't think so

Also if its a att or sprint model I would check for unlock status but Verizon model your good to go


Sent from my iPhone 5 from a galaxy far far away (in the USA ) using Tapatalk !
 

Vyceroy

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I am going to add to this pool of questions .. Found an Iphone 4s in wal-Mart parking lot .. esn is no good reported as stolen .. Verizon confirmed this for me .. been using it as an Ipod .. is there any hope for using this as a phone??
 

kch50428

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... is there any hope for using this as a phone??

No.

If the original owner replaced their phone via insurance, the recovered device is technically property of the insurance company... if the SIM is unlocked, it could be used overseas on GSM networks.... or, here in the US on a GSM network with a foreign provider's SIM in it and roaming on one of the US GSM provider's networks. Once a phone is on Verizon's ESN/MEID deny list - it is not likely they'll remove it.
 

Vyceroy

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Thanks for the help .. i have been using it as an Ipod since mine fell through a hole in my motorcycle saddle bag .. better camera and 8 gig more than what i used to have .. win win
 

kataran

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Thanks for the help .. i have been using it as an Ipod since mine fell through a hole in my motorcycle saddle bag .. better camera and 8 gig more than what i used to have .. win win

don't know why people put there cellphones in there saddle bags spend money for a good hip case that way it won't get lost or stolen
 

Jason InEffect

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You should contact Apple and it can be returned to it's rightful owner that reported it stolen. If you hit a brick wall (doubtful) then it's valuable if you unlock it so that it can be used on another carrier. I don't know all the details but I know people do it all the time and they sell for hundreds on eBay because it can be done. You need to do the right thing first though, it's not wise to keep a stolen iphone. Iphone's have a "find my iphone" feature so if you're using it the original owner can potentially track it down.
 

Sherry Ballard

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Do you know if after 6 months, Sprint will activate a phone that has a bad ESN? The phone isn't stolen, the guy just owes on it & it's still activated on his suspended account.