Questions about buying a used Verizon iphone4

Audi09 said:

1- What do I need to watch out for? He says the "ESN" is clean. Is there a way I can check if that is true?
2- Its jailbroken, What are the pros/cons of that? And will that give me any problems activating it at Verizon?

So say everything about the phone is fine and working, do I just take it to a Verizon store, chose a plan and have them activate it?

Click to expand...

Verizon can tell you if the ESN is clean. Have the seller give you the MEID number and you can call Verizon and verify this. What I would do though is just have the person meet you at the Verizon store and have the phone activated while they stand there. If they don't show up, you know there's some funny stuff going on.

The phone being jailbroken doesn't affect you. Before Verizon activates it, they will restore it to it factory state. You will start with a non-jailbroken phone.

I'm also looking to buy a used Verizon iPhone.

Where exactly is the MEID on the iPhone? I know on most Verizon phones, it is located under the battery, but you can't take the battery out of the iPhone.

If it's anything like the GSM iPhones the MEID should also be visible in Settings>General>About.

I wouldn't ask him for the imei number, I would actually call verizon with the phone in your hand. I've had bad experiences with this. The ESN an be clean at the time of the sale but if the guy doesn't pay his bill then the phone will get blacklisted. The account has to be inactive and in good standing. Hope this helps.

If you don't want to meet at a Verizon store, make sure you can activate on your line while you're meeting the person.

Dial *228, press 3 and then you will be prompted to enter your phone number and the last 4 of your SSN. If the ESN is clean, the iPhone will then be switched over onto your number immediately.

iRepairSolution said:

The ESN an be clean at the time of the sale but if the guy doesn't pay his bill then the phone will get blacklisted. The account has to be inactive and in good standing. Hope this helps.

Click to expand...

I don't believe this is true. An ESN can be clean if his bill is current. A Verizon rep can then transfer the phone into the buyers name. If the seller then decides to not pay his bill, I don't believe Verizon can go back and blacklist the phone which has already been transferred into someone else's name.

jenzjen said:

If you don't want to meet at a Verizon store, make sure you can activate on your line while you're meeting the person.

Dial *228, press 3 and then you will be prompted to enter your phone number and the last 4 of your SSN. If the ESN is clean, the iPhone will then be switched over onto your number immediately.

Click to expand...

you dial *228, press 1 to activate and then you enter your billing passcode (i don't know what happens if you haven't set one up).

alternatively, you can enter the esn, meid or imei number at this page. if the esn is clear, it should tell you that the device is ready to be activated or something like that.

still, if i were buying a verizon phone, i'd have the seller meet at a verizon store. an unwillingness to do this is shady.

^ what he said. Verizon stores are everywhere.