How do bad esn's work?

[Psj77]

If I was to buy a phone off of ebay with a bad esn, would it always have a bad esn or would that eventually go away?

 

[guidot]

No it is always bad.

Unless you get someone in Verizon willing and able to take it off the list, it is a phone that is considered lost/stolen/broken.

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[Backnblack]

Bad ESN's are never (99.999%) able to be activated.

 

[dark juggalo]

spare parts

 

[garrett]

spare parts

this is all there good for... as a phone with a bad ESN can never be activated.

 

[kodiak799]

Wait for it...

 

[Trenton]

So I bought a droid x on Craigslist back in November... I decided to activate it before I gave the guy my money....1st call to Verizon, they said "sorry this phone is activated on another line bla bla bla" I was pretty sure it was stolen or something after that...2nd call " where'd you get this phone from?" Me: " I bought it from a friend" she hung up on me and the phone was activated with my number.....

Just thought i would share... i don't know for a fact it had a bad esn but....seems like the Verizon rep did me a a solid since she thought I bought the phone from someone..

 

[Vulcan1600]

So I bought a droid x on Craigslist back in November... I decided to activate it before I gave the guy my money....1st call to Verizon, they said "sorry this phone is activated on another line bla bla bla" I was pretty sure it was stolen or something after that...2nd call " where'd you get this phone from?" Me: " I bought it from a friend" she hung up on me and the phone was activated with my number.....

Just thought i would share... i don't know for a fact it had a bad esn but....seems like the Verizon rep did me a a solid since she thought I bought the phone from someone..

I don't quite understand your last paragraph at all. From sitting in the call center a few years ago for VZW I can tell you if the ESN is bad, it cannot be activated. So, apparently the second call you made the person made good on a payment is my guess sometime between the first and second calls.

If an ESN is bad, and suddenly it is able to activate again, the circumstance I can think of most is the person didn't pay the bill and their phone was put on the bad ESN list. If, suddenly a phone is able to be activated again, that person was sent to a collections agency and they paid the bill.

 

[CD95YJ]

A phone can have a bad esn because of an unpaid outstanding ballance on the original account as well. If your willing to pay off someone else's bill for a phone that's always an option too.

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