Second Hand Phones & SIMS

Hi guys,

Firstly, I'm fairly new to this so please excuse me if this query is
answered in the / a FAQ.

I've been trying to get a cheap (i.e. old) phone for my mum and dad, and
bought a couple of e-bay. However after some searching I've uncovered lots
of horror stories related to stolen phones. Being quite a law-abiding
fellow, I'd obviously like to check them out before passing them to my mum
and dad, and thought of putting my SIM in them to test them. However, I
obviously don't want my SIM card to be blocked for trying to use a
blacklisted phone.

So questions are : Will my SIM get blocked if I use it with a stolen phone,
if they are blacklisted, what's the best way to get 'em back to their
rightful owners (via police? network?). Am I better just to hang off until
Monday and phone the network the phone is on?

Cheers.

L Reid wrote:
> Hi guys,
>
> Firstly, I'm fairly new to this so please excuse me if this query is
> answered in the / a FAQ.
>
> I've been trying to get a cheap (i.e. old) phone for my mum and dad,
> and bought a couple of e-bay. However after some searching I've
> uncovered lots of horror stories related to stolen phones. Being
> quite a law-abiding fellow, I'd obviously like to check them out
> before passing them to my mum and dad, and thought of putting my SIM
> in them to test them. However, I obviously don't want my SIM card to
> be blocked for trying to use a blacklisted phone.
>
> So questions are : Will my SIM get blocked if I use it with a stolen
> phone, if they are blacklisted, what's the best way to get 'em back
> to their rightful owners (via police? network?). Am I better just to
> hang off until Monday and phone the network the phone is on?
>
> Cheers.

Why wait till Monday ? The networks have customer services divisions open
24/7. Make a note of the IMEI number of the handsets, call Customer
services of the network the phones were originally on and ask them if the
phones are blocked, explaining that you have been offered them for sale. You
should get a satisfactory answer, also verify that since you have notified
them of the numbers and currently they arent blocked , they wont get
blacklisted in the future. There must be such a mechanism, my purchase of
second user phones from Ebay has been aproblematic so cant comment on what
will happen.

S. Althaf

> > I've been trying to get a cheap (i.e. old) phone for my mum and dad,
> > and bought a couple of e-bay. However after some searching I've
> > uncovered lots of horror stories related to stolen phones. Being
> > quite a law-abiding fellow, I'd obviously like to check them out
> > before passing them to my mum and dad, and thought of putting my SIM
> > in them to test them. However, I obviously don't want my SIM card to
> > be blocked for trying to use a blacklisted phone.
> >

>my purchase of
> second user phones from Ebay has been aproblematic so cant comment on what
> will happen.
>
> S. Althaf
>

That's good to know (if I'm reading it right - that your experience with
phones from EBay as been without problems), I'd be interested to hear other
experiences of buying phones from e-bay. I was considering maybe buying some
damaged phones and having a go at fixing them, more from a hobby / interest
point of view as I used to have an interest in electronics when I was
younger (when I were a lad etc...). Would be also interested to know if
anyone's found the repair manuals advertised on E-Bay of use.

Thanks for any feedback!