Re: Unlock cell phone ESN - was lost/stolen

CoveyIsle wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I want to purchase a used Chocloate by Verizon.
>
> Verizon told me the DNS is locked because it was once reported lost.
> And therefore it cannot be activated.
>
> Is this phone really unusable, forever? I can get it for onlry $25.oo.

it's ESN - electronic serial number -
and when they are reported as lost or stolen - can't tell the difference -
they are added to a strike out database... that phone is dead to the
network/s -

Once, I found a phone on a walking path, and it worked ok... sold it on
eBay,
then it was locked out as - lost/stolen - I refunded the buyer, and
learned.....

I wonder if the strike out database shows a difference between lost or
stolen ?
lost = accidental and could be re-activated when found
stolen = theft for profit & resale

P.Schuman wrote:
> CoveyIsle wrote:
>
>>Hi,
>>
>>I want to purchase a used Chocloate by Verizon.
>>
>>Verizon told me the DNS is locked because it was once reported lost.
>>And therefore it cannot be activated.
>>
>>Is this phone really unusable, forever? I can get it for onlry $25.oo.
>
>
> it's ESN - electronic serial number -
> and when they are reported as lost or stolen - can't tell the difference -
> they are added to a strike out database... that phone is dead to the
> network/s -


For calls, yes, but this does not appear to bar SMS gateway transactions.

> Once, I found a phone on a walking path, and it worked ok... sold it on
> eBay, then it was locked out as - lost/stolen - I refunded the buyer, and
> learned.....

Gee, you'll take the time to setup an ebay auction, but not to just drop it
off to a local phone store? How civic minded of you... not.

I've dropped off several phones I've found over the years. One wasn't from
that provider, but they looked whose it was, so I walked over to that store
instead. No reward, no thanks, just a clear conscience.

Bill Kearney wrote:
>> Once, I found a phone on a walking path, and it worked ok... sold it on
>> eBay, then it was locked out as - lost/stolen - I refunded the buyer, and
>> learned.....
>
> Gee, you'll take the time to setup an ebay auction, but not to just drop it
> off to a local phone store? How civic minded of you... not.
>
> I've dropped off several phones I've found over the years. One wasn't from
> that provider, but they looked whose it was, so I walked over to that store
> instead. No reward, no thanks, just a clear conscience.

I found a cell phone in the street once, and it was a real pain to get
it back to the owner. First, he had nothing identifying who owned it,
i.e. no "Home" entry in the phone book. Second, it was a T-Mobile phone,
so when I took it home I couldn't make any calls, and had to go to a
place with T-Mobile coverage. I called a random entry in the contact
list and explained what had happened, and the person contacted the
owner. I forgot to tell them to have the owner call me on my own phone,
not the found phone, so I couldn't receive a call from the owner at
home, but luckily he called me while I was out somewhere else.

It would have never occurred to me to try to sell it on eBay. If I
couldn't find the owner then I would have returned it to one of the
carrier's stores so they could contact the owner some other way.

"SMS" <scharf.steven@geemail.com> wrote in message
news:47bde8d0$0$36383$742ec2ed@news.sonic.net...
> Bill Kearney wrote:
>>> Once, I found a phone on a walking path, and it worked ok... sold it on
>>> eBay, then it was locked out as - lost/stolen - I refunded the buyer,
>>> and learned.....
>>
>> Gee, you'll take the time to setup an ebay auction, but not to just drop
>> it off to a local phone store? How civic minded of you... not.
>>
>> I've dropped off several phones I've found over the years. One wasn't
>> from that provider, but they looked whose it was, so I walked over to
>> that store instead. No reward, no thanks, just a clear conscience.
>
> I found a cell phone in the street once, and it was a real pain to get it
> back to the owner. First, he had nothing identifying who owned it, i.e. no
> "Home" entry in the phone book. Second, it was a T-Mobile phone, so when I
> took it home I couldn't make any calls, and had to go to a place with
> T-Mobile coverage. I called a random entry in the contact list and
> explained what had happened, and the person contacted the owner. I forgot
> to tell them to have the owner call me on my own phone, not the found
> phone, so I couldn't receive a call from the owner at home, but luckily he
> called me while I was out somewhere else.
>
> It would have never occurred to me to try to sell it on eBay. If I
> couldn't find the owner then I would have returned it to one of the
> carrier's stores so they could contact the owner some other way.

My brother lost his phone and befroe he even realize it our siser called him
and said some called him from his personal cell and he was able to call the
person and the meet the next day and he got it back....

On Thu, 21 Feb 2008 23:25:07 GMT, "Phillip Devoll" <lame@lame.org> wrote:
:
: "SMS" <scharf.steven@geemail.com> wrote in message
: news:47bde8d0$0$36383$742ec2ed@news.sonic.net...
: > Bill Kearney wrote:
: >>> Once, I found a phone on a walking path, and it worked ok... sold it on
: >>> eBay, then it was locked out as - lost/stolen - I refunded the buyer,
: >>> and learned.....
: >>
: >> Gee, you'll take the time to setup an ebay auction, but not to just drop
: >> it off to a local phone store? How civic minded of you... not.
: >>
: >> I've dropped off several phones I've found over the years. One wasn't
: >> from that provider, but they looked whose it was, so I walked over to
: >> that store instead. No reward, no thanks, just a clear conscience.
: >
: > I found a cell phone in the street once, and it was a real pain to get it
: > back to the owner. First, he had nothing identifying who owned it, i.e. no
: > "Home" entry in the phone book. Second, it was a T-Mobile phone, so when I
: > took it home I couldn't make any calls, and had to go to a place with
: > T-Mobile coverage. I called a random entry in the contact list and
: > explained what had happened, and the person contacted the owner. I forgot
: > to tell them to have the owner call me on my own phone, not the found
: > phone, so I couldn't receive a call from the owner at home, but luckily he
: > called me while I was out somewhere else.
: >
: > It would have never occurred to me to try to sell it on eBay. If I
: > couldn't find the owner then I would have returned it to one of the
: > carrier's stores so they could contact the owner some other way.
:
: My brother lost his phone and before he even realize it our sister called him
: and said some called him from his personal cell and he was able to call the
: person and the meet the next day and he got it back....

A couple of years ago I was at my daughter's house in Philadelphia, when a
call came in from her cell phone to mine. "Why is she calling me from
downstairs?" thought I. But the caller was a stranger, who had found my
daughter's handbag in a park across the street from an ice cream stand where
we had taken her kids the night before. (It had fallen off of her son's
stroller in the dark, and she hadn't noticed that it was missing.) The finder
turned out to be an employee of the ice cream stand, whose owner was a friend
of my daughter and her husband. The finder didn't know my daughter or about
the connection to his employer. But altogether unwittingly, he had given his
employer an unsolicited demonstration of his honesty.

Additional odd factoid: I had taken some flash pictures of my daughter's kids
in the park. When I was editing them a couple of days later, I discovered that
one of them showed the handbag lying on the ground.

Bob

Most stores can find the "owner" by the esn.

If lost/stolen "blacklisted" the owner who reported it can have it
taken off that list.

Please, please, please be careful if someone contacts you that they
have your phone. people have stolen phones, contacted the owners and
mugged them when they showed up to claim them.


On Fri, 22 Feb 2008 18:21:49 -0500, Robert Coe <bob@1776.COM> wrote:

>On Thu, 21 Feb 2008 23:25:07 GMT, "Phillip Devoll" <lame@lame.org> wrote:
>:
>: "SMS" <scharf.steven@geemail.com> wrote in message
>: news:47bde8d0$0$36383$742ec2ed@news.sonic.net...
>: > Bill Kearney wrote:
>: >>> Once, I found a phone on a walking path, and it worked ok... sold it on
>: >>> eBay, then it was locked out as - lost/stolen - I refunded the buyer,
>: >>> and learned.....
>: >>
>: >> Gee, you'll take the time to setup an ebay auction, but not to just drop
>: >> it off to a local phone store? How civic minded of you... not.
>: >>
>: >> I've dropped off several phones I've found over the years. One wasn't
>: >> from that provider, but they looked whose it was, so I walked over to
>: >> that store instead. No reward, no thanks, just a clear conscience.
>: >
>: > I found a cell phone in the street once, and it was a real pain to get it
>: > back to the owner. First, he had nothing identifying who owned it, i.e. no
>: > "Home" entry in the phone book. Second, it was a T-Mobile phone, so when I
>: > took it home I couldn't make any calls, and had to go to a place with
>: > T-Mobile coverage. I called a random entry in the contact list and
>: > explained what had happened, and the person contacted the owner. I forgot
>: > to tell them to have the owner call me on my own phone, not the found
>: > phone, so I couldn't receive a call from the owner at home, but luckily he
>: > called me while I was out somewhere else.
>: >
>: > It would have never occurred to me to try to sell it on eBay. If I
>: > couldn't find the owner then I would have returned it to one of the
>: > carrier's stores so they could contact the owner some other way.
>:
>: My brother lost his phone and before he even realize it our sister called him
>: and said some called him from his personal cell and he was able to call the
>: person and the meet the next day and he got it back....
>
>A couple of years ago I was at my daughter's house in Philadelphia, when a
>call came in from her cell phone to mine. "Why is she calling me from
>downstairs?" thought I. But the caller was a stranger, who had found my
>daughter's handbag in a park across the street from an ice cream stand where
>we had taken her kids the night before. (It had fallen off of her son's
>stroller in the dark, and she hadn't noticed that it was missing.) The finder
>turned out to be an employee of the ice cream stand, whose owner was a friend
>of my daughter and her husband. The finder didn't know my daughter or about
>the connection to his employer. But altogether unwittingly, he had given his
>employer an unsolicited demonstration of his honesty.
>
>Additional odd factoid: I had taken some flash pictures of my daughter's kids
>in the park. When I was editing them a couple of days later, I discovered that
>one of them showed the handbag lying on the ground.
>
>Bob

On Tue, 01 Apr 2008 21:33:57 -0400, -= Hawk =-
<Hawk@thispartisbogus.cfl.rr.com> wrote:

>On Wed, 02 Apr 2008 01:14:58 GMT, D <noemail@respondhere.com> scribbled:
>
>>Most stores can find the "owner" by the esn.
>>
>>If lost/stolen "blacklisted" the owner who reported it can have it
>>taken off that list.
>>
>>Please, please, please be careful if someone contacts you that they
>>have your phone. people have stolen phones, contacted the owners and
>>mugged them when they showed up to claim them.
>
>And the cashier at the grocery store could follow you home and cook you
>up for dinner. Your neighbor could go bug**** and stick a claw hammer in
>your forehead. An engine could fall off a jumbo jet, crash through your
>roof and....
>
>Check into the asylum if you're THAT paranoid.

Yes, any of that COULD happen. Notice I didn't say anything WILL
happen, only that in today's world, it is worth it not to walk alone
down dark alleys if you can avoid it.

-= Hawk =- wrote:
> On Wed, 02 Apr 2008 01:14:58 GMT, D <noemail@respondhere.com> scribbled:
>
>
>>Most stores can find the "owner" by the esn.
>>
>>If lost/stolen "blacklisted" the owner who reported it can have it
>>taken off that list.
>>
>>Please, please, please be careful if someone contacts you that they
>>have your phone. people have stolen phones, contacted the owners and
>>mugged them when they showed up to claim them.
>
>
> And the cashier at the grocery store could follow you home and cook you
> up for dinner. Your neighbor could go bug**** and stick a claw hammer in
> your forehead. An engine could fall off a jumbo jet, crash through your
> roof and....
>
> Check into the asylum if you're THAT paranoid.
>

Even paranoids have enemies!