Buying used (Verizon) iPhone...can I still use it?

[THEAnonymous]

My scenario:

I'm (thinking about) purchasing a used Verizon iPhone 4 from a former co-worker with a bad ESN (he didn't pay his last bill because of undisputed charges, yada yada)

Since he's offering at a very good price, I'm planning to use it as a glorified iPod Touch (no interest in flashing it and using it on another network)

But my concern is with actually plugging it into my computer. I used to own a iPhone 4 before (GSM version), and I had to purchase a dummy SIM card and put it into the phone before I could activate it on iTunes - I hadn't purchased cell phone service at the time.
But given that this phone was already activated & used on another computer, when I plug the iPhone (with no cell phone service/connection) into my computer , will I still be able to sync it with my Mac......or not?

Clarification would be appreciated.

 

[mulo]

youll have to jailbreak it to get it activated

 

[wordoflife]

I'm not really sure, I'd suggest you try it out and see.
And that sucks? Verizon can blacklist the ESN if you don't pay your bill? I think I'll stick with my GSM iPhone for now

 

[Consultant]

Maybe calling Verizon to ask? And report back

 

[THEAnonymous]

I'm not really sure, I'd suggest you try it out and see.
And that sucks? Verizon can blacklist the ESN if you don't pay your bill? I think I'll stick with my GSM iPhone for now

I just learned about this ESN thing a few days ago - but yup, if you leave your bill unpaid for X amount of time, apparently your phone can get blacklisted and you can't reactivate the phone until you pay the bill

youll have to jailbreak it to get it activated

Rats.

 

[eastercat]

JBing isn't hard. So why the reaction?

Rats.

 

[acfusion29]

youll have to jailbreak it to get it activated

no.

if the ESN is blocked from a CDMA network there is absolutely nothing that you can do with a jailbreak to activate it on that network (you would have to change the ESN, which is illegal. but that can't be done on the iPhone yet AFAIK)

 

[DDustiNN]

no.

if the ESN is blocked from a CDMA network there is absolutely nothing that you can do with a jailbreak to activate it on that network (you would have to change the ESN, which is illegal. but that can't be done on the iPhone yet AFAIK)

This is correct. A bad ESN means Verizon has blacklisted that particular phone, and it CAN NOT be activated on Verizon. Period. Jailbreaking will not help... there is simply nothing you can do. The only way to get it activated is to clear the account (i.e. pay the bill).

You can activate bad ESN phones other carriers, such as Cricket I believe, but you will have to flash a custom firmware to do that. I'm not sure if one has been done for iPhone 4 yet, so you'd have to look into that.

 

[DDustiNN]

How much is he selling it for?

You might want to see how much he owes on his bill, plus the cost of the phone you're buying from him... then just pay the bill, activate the phone... and maybe it would still end up being cheaper than buying a good phone?

Depends on how much he owes though, of course.

 

[bwrairen]

no.

if the ESN is blocked from a CDMA network there is absolutely nothing that you can do with a jailbreak to activate it on that network (you would have to change the ESN, which is illegal. but that can't be done on the iPhone yet AFAIK)

This is correct. A bad ESN means Verizon has blacklisted that particular phone, and it CAN NOT be activated on Verizon. Period. Jailbreaking will not help... there is simply nothing you can do. The only way to get it activated is to clear the account (i.e. pay the bill).

You can activate bad ESN phones other carriers, such as Cricket I believe, but you will have to flash a custom firmware to do that. I'm not sure if one has been done for iPhone 4 yet, so you'd have to look into that.

Re-read the original post. He isn't trying to get Verizon to activate it. He just wants to activate it through itunes to be able to use the phone as an ipod. Jailbreaking (hacktivating) will work fine for that.

 

[THEAnonymous]

JBing isn't hard. So why the reaction?

Yeah sorry....I've just never gone through the JB process, so another thing for me to learn I guess!

But yeah, I ONLY want to use this as an iPod Touch-type device...absolutely no plans to use this as a cell phone (since I live in Canada, for starters...so this phone would be useless as a "phone").

(And for the person who asked, apparently the bill on this cell phone is $850 (for disputed data charges), so I don't think I can afford to pay that )

 

[wordoflife]

Yeah sorry....I've just never gone through the JB process, so another thing for me to learn I guess!

But yeah, I ONLY want to use this as an iPod Touch-type device...absolutely no plans to use this as a cell phone (since I live in Canada, for starters...so this phone would be useless as a "phone").

(And for the person who asked, apparently the bill on this cell phone is $850 (for disputed data charges), so I don't think I can afford to pay that )

LOL
That CDMA iPhone won't be useful at all in Canada as a phone.
You should try to see if your friend can tell you if you'll need an active Verizon number to bypass iTunes or not. But JB isn't that hard and there are some fantastic guides (and MacRumors) which should make the process fairly easy.

I just learned about this ESN thing a few days ago - but yup, if you leave your bill unpaid for X amount of time, apparently your phone can get blacklisted and you can't reactivate the phone until you pay the bill

It sucks, but I see why Verizon is doing it. Just a bit annoying knowing the fact that Verizon can make your phone a paperweight right from their office. lol

 

[DDustiNN]

Yeah sorry....I've just never gone through the JB process, so another thing for me to learn I guess!

But yeah, I ONLY want to use this as an iPod Touch-type device...absolutely no plans to use this as a cell phone (since I live in Canada, for starters...so this phone would be useless as a "phone").

(And for the person who asked, apparently the bill on this cell phone is $850 (for disputed data charges), so I don't think I can afford to pay that )

Ah, somehow I completely missed that sentence from your original post. My mistake

I would say just have him let you try it. Plug it in and see what happens. Since it's already been activated, it should still be on... Just unable to make phone calls. So I'm thinking you can just plug it in and do a restore to new...? I guess I don't know if you'll have to link it to anything though, but since a phone number is already assigned to the phone, maybe it will bypass the account setup... Then just log in with your iTunes account.

That's my guess... really all you can do is try, I guess. Just tell him the sale depends on whether or not that works.

 

[aphexacid]

You can just jailbreak it to use it as an iPod touch.

There are ways to change esn and imei. But it's illegal...