Okay my aunt just bought a used blackberry curve from ebay, and took it into US Cellular, where they are telling her they can't activate it, that the phone is not able to be programed?? But they can't tell her why? I even got on the phone with them and they can't tell me why? Does anyone have any suggestions?? Thank you so much.
Always research the ESN for any device you find on Ebay before you purchase it. I suggest filing a paypal dispute and get your money back or make arrangements for a refund with the shipper.
ESNs are entered into a carrier's database when the phone is received from the manufacturer. It's what ties a phone to that carrier. Once it is entered into one carrier's database, it cannot be entered into another carrier's.
Well, I guess they could, but it would require the original CDMA carrier to delete the ESN from their database, have the new carrier confirm that it was deleted, verify that the ESN was valid and free, then enter it into their database. I doubt that carriers would play nice with eachother enough to get this to work well.
This is more than likely why they cannot get the phone to be activated on USCC. The phone probably came from another carrier (like Verizon).
The best suggestion with purchasing phones on eBay for CDMA carriers is to get the ESN/MEID before bidding so you can call the carrier and see if the ESN is free (not activated on another line) and available on their service.
