Bad Verizon ESN Number

An ESN is the Electronic Serial Number assigned to your iPhone and is used with CDMA phones. The ESN has been tied directly to the phones with CDMA carriers such as Verizon Wireless and Sprint. With the introduction of 4G service, a sim card has now been introduced, however, there remains an ESN tied directly to the phone itself in addition to a number on the sim card.

• ESN is an Electronic Serial Number that is unique to each CDMA phone.
• The ESN number cannot be legally, nor easily changed.
• A phone's ESN is like a fingerprint.

Verizon phones are identified by the ESN number when connecting to the service network. The ESN is matched to a massive inclusive database. If the ESN number does not exist in the database, or is marked as bad, the mobile phone will not be allowed to activate with any account, without regards to the status of the account.

• An ESN is either CLEAR or BAD
• Only a clear ESN can be activated on Verizon.

Bad ESN Number

A phone ESN number is purposely flagged as bad in the ESN database maintained by Verizon when there is a problem or issue reported with the phone. This can be due to the fact that the original owner was dissatisfied with their current carrier and switched carriers, or had a billing dispute with their carrier and canceled service without paying the early termination fee, or they got behind on their bill. The ESN can also be bad due to the cell phone being reported lost or stolen.

An ESN commonly flagged Bad may be due to:

• The phone was stolen
• The account holder owes Verizon money
• The phone was involved in conducting criminal activity

If you are a Verizon customer, and your Verizon phone is stolen, the moment you report the theft to Verizon the phone will be flagged so that the ESN becomes bad. The thief will not be able to use your phone on the Verizon network nor cause regular charges against your account once the phone is reported stolen. If the thief sells the phone, any potential buyer will not be able to activate the phone on the Verizon network.

When considering the purchase of a used Verizon phone, ask the seller if the phone has a "clean ESN." When a seller advertises a phone as having a clean ESN, and it is bad, the seller is committing an unlawful act of fraud.

Checking an ESN number

Call the provider directly and ask. The company should be able to tell if a certain phone’s ESN has gone bad, and even why it was blacklisted. Once a phone is verified to have a bad ESN, there is usually no way to get it activated on the same network unless the carrier removes it from the blacklist.

If you purchased a Verizon phone you can find out of the ESN is clear by trying to activate it via the Verizon Wireless web site. If you are already a Verizon subscriber, simply use the tool that allows you to move your phone number from one phone to another. This is free for you to do and you can do it yourself on the web site. If the process returns an error after entering the ESN number, assuming that you entered the number correctly, it is likely a bad ESN. However it is worth noting that as of the time of this being written, the error message does not state that the reason for the error is due to the ESN being bad. The error is a general Java error. Hopefully Verizon will make the error reporting on ESN activation more informative in the future.

Uses for Phones with a Bad ESN

Since an unlocked phone with a bad ESN cannot be used on the Verizon network, the general public believe these phones are of no value. However, many people sell these phones at a large discount with full disclosure of the bad ESN. These phones are not completely useless and some innovative buyers can recycle them for other uses, test software or applications, and reuse working components as spare parts.

Smartphones such as Androids {see) have other capabilities aside from making calls and sending messages. Even without the phone capabilities, these phones can be repurposed for other uses. Some phones can have large date storage capacity or be expanded with a miniSD or microSD card. These phones can be reused as a dedicated music player or movie player. A good Android phone with a bad ESN still makes for a very cost effective MP3 player that can do more than the over hyped iPod.

Some Android phones and smart phones have extraordinary cameras and make excellent video recorders. hones with good lenses and high megapixel counts can be used solely as portable cameras. Most phones today have Wi-Fi capability and can be used for a variety of things. There are free online services that allow people to send text messages and make calls over the Internet.

Using services such as Skype and Google Voice can make the phone still capable of placing and receiving phone calls via a WiFi connection. Summary of selected examples:

• Portable WiFi Skype phone
• Photo and Video Camera
• Solid state portable storage
• web browser, games, and apps

Saving a Bad ESN

According to Verizon, an ESN can only be cleared by the original owner of the phone. The original owner would have to contact Verizon and settle any outstanding balances. In the case of a stolen phone, Verizon may not reactivate a phone even when the original owner contacts them and states that it has been recovered from a theft. This has insurance related implications.

There have been reports of buyers contacting Verizon and pleading with them to have the phone cleared. "I bought this phone used and the seller told me it was clean but it isn't and now I can't get a refund because the seller skipped town." Conclusion, this is unlikely to work, but worth a few minutes of your time if you are on the receiving end of this bad deal.

Flashing

Some people purchase phones knowing the ESN is bad because they intend on making a modification to the phone so that it can be used with one of the cut rate providers or prepaid providers such as Cricket. A buyer can "flash" the phone and have it activated on the Cricket wireless network or on Straight Talk.

• Flashing a Verizon phone with a bad ESN will NOT make it usable on the Verizon Wireless Network
• A flashed phone with bad ESN can be used on Cricket or similar cut rate services.

Logic Board

It’s also possible to obtain a new ESN by changing the logic board, but more often than not, a new logic board can cost as much as a brand new phone.

One example where changing the logic board can be economical is the case where your phone with a good ESN has a damaged screen and is no longer useful. You purchase an identical model that is not damaged, but had a bad ESN. You can use the logic board from your phone with the broken display in the phone with a good display. Since phones with a bad ESN sell used significantly cheaper, it might be a good way to get your favorite phone back with less expense.

 

 

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