[hzguo]

My 9900 is my first ever Blackberry phone.

Since its first day, it has never been able to connect to BIS. I contacted my carrier, and all the way escalated to RIM technical support. After a lengthy debugging process which lasts about 2 weeks, RIM concludes that there is nothing wrong at RIM and the phone itself must be faulty. RIM recommends me to contact my point of sale and replace the phone.

I contacted the shop and told the story of this phone, including RIM's conclusion that it has hardware fault.

Mobile phones sold at the shop are covered by another warranty service company. The shop replied to me that I shall contact the warranty service company and if it cannot be repaired, the shop will offer a replacement. I argued that I am skeptical about the warranty service company, how can it repair a hardware fault? The shop insists me to contact the warranty service company.

The mobile phone shop where I got it from sells both refurbished 9900 and brand new 9900.
Maybe I am worrying too much, however I thought it may be useful for me to know how to tell the difference between a refurbished 9900 and brand new 9900? What do you recommend?

Thank you!

[skyrocket9]

Hi

It is very difficult to tell if a phone is refurbished; one of the biggest indicators is that the warranty sticker has been removed. This doesn't necessarily mean it's refurbished but it does mean that for whatever reason someone took the device apart.

You can check this easily, there is the plastic piece under your keyboard you can peel this off and look for two screws. One of the screws should have a white piece of tape on it, usually the left one. If the tape is missing that means someone has tampered with the device.

[Phill_UK]

Options > Device > Device and Status Information > (type) BUYR
Scroll down and check the data and voice usage figures.

[hzguo]

The voice usage seems to belong to myself (3 hours), however I can see that IT policy is enabled. I have never been able to connect the phone to BIS and certainly neither BES, where might the IT policy be coming from?

[Phill_UK]

Which OS version are you using? Some earlier 7.1 builds had an IT Policy baked into the OS.

[hzguo]

7.1.0.428, thank you

[Phill_UK]

.428 is one of those builds with a baked in IT Policy. Nothing you can do to get rid of it, and nobody really knew what it was there for. Update to .714 or .746 which are both policy-free.

[skyrocket9]

7.1.0.428, thank you

Back up the device and then download bbsak and wipe it. After that download 7.1.0.746, install and use the app loader to install it on your device.

[hzguo]

lessons learned, thanks everyone!

I hope that this phone will be replaced by the shop without much hassle. I have to pay for postage for this faulty phone.. haha bad luck.

RIM technical support is really really nice btw.

[FBA]

Options > Device > Device and Status Information > (type) BUYR
Scroll down and check the data and voice usage figures.

That info gets wiped during the refurb process, or at least it should.

[bmercer94]

My 9900 is my first ever Blackberry phone.

Since its first day, it has never been able to connect to BIS. I contacted my carrier, and all the way escalated to RIM technical support. After a lengthy debugging process which lasts about 2 weeks, RIM concludes that there is nothing wrong at RIM and the phone itself must be faulty. RIM recommends me to contact my point of sale and replace the phone.

I contacted the shop and told the story of this phone, including RIM's conclusion that it has hardware fault.

Mobile phones sold at the shop are covered by another warranty service company. The shop replied to me that I shall contact the warranty service company and if it cannot be repaired, the shop will offer a replacement. I argued that I am skeptical about the warranty service company, how can it repair a hardware fault? The shop insists me to contact the warranty service company.

The mobile phone shop where I got it from sells both refurbished 9900 and brand new 9900.
Maybe I am worrying too much, however I thought it may be useful for me to know how to tell the difference between a refurbished 9900 and brand new 9900? What do you recommend?

Thank you!

check options>device>device and status imformation, type BUYR and scroll to the bottom. if its more than you've used then its refurb

[Phill_UK]

That info gets wiped during the refurb process, or at least it should.

No it doesn't, or shouldn't.

[greggebhardt]

No it doesn't, or shouldn't.

I can not agree. If RIM refurbishes a phone, they reset these timers in my past experience. The phone is like new as far as data is concerned. RIM can and does do what ever they wish including using changing PIN if they so wish.

[Rootbrian]

I can not agree. If RIM refurbishes a phone, they reset these timers in my past experience. The phone is like new as far as data is concerned. RIM can and does do what ever they wish including using changing PIN if they so wish.

PINs are hardware, they can't be changed. But even if the OP wipes and reloads without a backup, it could have been marked as lost/stolen, therefore no data either way. ALWAYS verify with the carrier before you part with your cash.

[Phill_UK]

I can not agree. If RIM refurbishes a phone, they reset these timers in my past experience. The phone is like new as far as data is concerned. RIM can and does do what ever they wish including using changing PIN if they so wish.

Obviously RIM can reset the counters, but in refurbished devices I'm sure they don't, and I'm pretty sure there's a law against it anyway.
It doesn't matter how new it looks, or how many parts were replaced in a refurbished device, it has still been used and therefore cannot be passed off as anything else.

If you've had replacement devices with zeroed counters in the past, then they were probably new and not refurbished.

Every time I've seen this question asked in the past, the answer has always been found in the BUYR option screen.
I've not yet seen anyone with a known refurbished device where the counters have been reset... but then I've not seen a lot of things