Ebay phone

Does anybody have any tips on buying a bell mobility phone off ebay or somewhere else other than a mobility store?
I was thinking of replacing my phone with a palm phone, I currently have a contract with Bell, what kind of charge would it be to activate a phone?
Will they give me a hard time because I didn't buy it from them?

Thanks in advance

I just bought a Bell Mobility Blackberry 8703e on ebay myself, (haven't received it yet) and want to activate it on my existing Bell account. I've heard that you can just take the phone into a Bell world store and they will do it for $35, but I'd rather not pay that, and besides, I'd also like to be able to my old, small phone sometimes. I've heard that you can do it on your own, but have no idea how. Anybody know?

Are you signed up for MyBell on the Bell site, I think there was an option to switch your handset on there. Bell will charge $35 just to switch phones, wow

I am signed up on the bell site, and there is an option to do the switch on there. There wasn't any information on how much it would cost though, and since I haven't received my new phone yet, I can't try it out to see if they tell you at the end how much it costs. I'm also wondering about data - with my current phone (treo 650) i can browse internet on a pay-per-use basis (i have no monthly data plan), which is nice to have available, and i want to make sure this is still available on the new blackberry.

has anybody switched their phones on bell mobility online?

too bad the BellM stores don't offer some more competitive pricing on their phones for current accounts.

I thought I remember once losing my phone and having to activate my old phone for a couple weeks and they charged me like $25.

You can buy a phone from ebay for use on Bell Mobility however it MUST be a CDMA Bell phone. GSM does not work on the Bell network.

You can take it to a store to have your number programmed into it - they charge $15 for this service. Then call Client Care and have them change the ESN on your account. This is free and takes effect within a few hours or sooner.

Depending on who you get when you call into Client Care at Bell they may (and they can) instruct you how to program it over the phone and that doesn't cost you anything.

I would HIGHLY recommend that you obtain the ESN from the seller prior to purchasing a phone from ebay. If the phone was reported lost or stolen then you cannot use it on the Bell network.

Search google for ebay + bell mobility and you will see a page about buying Bell phones. Can't post a link sorry I'm not allowed yet. Haven't made enough posts.

Good luck.

The other thing to make sure you get is a letter from the original owner stating that they wish to transfer ownership to you. We recently sold a used phone to someone else in town here and MTS refused to do the activation on it for the new owner unless they had a letter from us proving that it wasn't stolen.