 |
 | Home | Contact Us | FAQ | Search & Site Map | Link to Us |
 | Sign In | Join | Other 45 Sites in Network |
| HomeDiscussion Groups General General TopicsGSMBluetoothProviders AlltelATT WirelessCingularFidoNextelSprint PCST-MobileVerizonManufacturers EricssonNokiaMotorolaCountry Specific Australian GroupUK GroupRelated Topics PocketPCPalmMore Topics ... |
Cellular Phone Forum / Providers / Sprint PCS / October 2004ESN Locked Forever?!?
I've just been through two weeks of Hell, so apologies in advance if this sounds a little frayed. I bought an i330 off of e-bay, and have been trying to to get my number from Cingular migrated over to it for the last two weeks. I've been talking to the Porting Authority on a daily basis for the last week. Each day I've been told "3 to 5 days", but (needless to say) that didn't work out. I was even supposed to get a call from the "Technical Team" within 24 hours. That was two days ago. That call, uh, didn't happen. Today, I get someone on the phone who tells me the service was canceled the day before (no such thing happened), but she feels she can help me, and connects me to someone in the billing department. Oddly enough, this is the most helpful person to date. She tells me that the phone I have had once belonged to a Sprint Third Party Partner/Dealer, and because those people get such deals, those ESN are LOCKED FOREVER, and the phones can't be sold. The phone got had no hope of working. What I want to know is, is this true? I've been told a remarkable number of conflicting things over the last two weeks, and so I'm looking at this with some skepticism before I go thought the additional trouble of getting a replacement phone. Any clues out there? Thanks in advance... PS: The phone connection to the "Porting Authority" seems terminally crappy (lots of echo/duplexing). If you're a phone company, wouldn't it be spart to have a nice clear connection to all your help desks? -- //// Jason M. SULLIVAN jsullivan@nc.rr.com |c-oo http://www.jason0x21.org \_- "That's not music, that's just sound!" - J. David Fries > I've just been through two weeks of Hell, so apologies in advance if this > sounds a little frayed. [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > out. I was even supposed to get a call from the "Technical Team" within 24 > hours. That was two days ago. That call, uh, didn't happen. I've never heard the phrase "Porting Authority" used with moving a phone number to SPCS. Not to say it isn't what they call it, but it's a new phrase for yours truly. Have you been calling the number listed on http://www1.sprintpcs.com/explore/wlnp/wlnpPortHome.jsp ? Have you just tried calling *2 from the phone? > Today, I get someone on the phone who tells me the service was canceled > the day before (no such thing happened), but she feels she can help me, and [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > are LOCKED FOREVER, and the phones can't be sold. The phone got had no > hope of working. Never heard of this particular situation. It shouldn't make any difference as long as it's a fairly modern SPCS phone with no encumbrances or that hit hasn't been blacklisted. Maybe Rob - O/Siris might be able to provide some additional advise. > What I want to know is, is this true? I've been told a remarkable number > of conflicting things over the last two weeks, and so I'm looking at this > with some skepticism before I go thought the additional trouble of getting > a replacement phone. > > Any clues out there? Thanks in advance... > I've never heard the phrase "Porting Authority" used with moving a phone > number to SPCS. Not to say it isn't what they call it, but it's a new phrase > for yours truly. Have you been calling the number listed on > http://www1.sprintpcs.com/explore/wlnp/wlnpPortHome.jsp ? Have you just > tried calling *2 from the phone? The *2 thing was the way these last two weeks were started. I didn't try the web site at first, but I wasn't told that there'd be any problem when I started the transfer process. The first time I head the phrase "Porting Authority", I thought it was a little funny, myself. I've also heard it called "Porting Department", or simply "Porting". My experience has always been that then I get tranferred to a call center in Bangalore (or somewhere similar) where a person named "Steve" or "Debbie" tells me in thickly accented English that my problems should be fixed in three to five days. Then nothing comes of it. I've no problem with far away call centers, as long as there's a good connection, and they're articulate, and they actually help me. >> She tells me that the phone I have had once belonged to a Sprint Third >> Party Partner/Dealer, and because those people get such deals, those ESN [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > as long as it's a fairly modern SPCS phone with no encumbrances or that hit > hasn't been blacklisted. I specifically asked the blacklist question of theonly other helpful person I've gotten a hold of in the past two weeks, and he said "no". -- //// Jason M. SULLIVAN jsullivan@nc.rr.com |c-oo http://www.jason0x21.org \_- "That's not music, that's just sound!" - J. David Fries > I've just been through two weeks of Hell, so apologies in advance if this > sounds a little frayed. [quoted text clipped - 31 lines] > |c-oo http://www.jason0x21.org > \_- "That's not music, that's just sound!" - J. David Fries Holy crap... Someone sold you (yet another) bill of goods. Dealer phones, unless they belong *to the store*, are not locked. Only three things lock an ESN in our system: 1) Reported Lost 2) Reported Stolen 3) Account never properly closed out (I.e. skipped out on a remaining balance). That's it. That idiocy about being a 3rd party dealer phone... well... don't buy it. Unless something radical changed after I left in July. It's too bad federal regulations forbid Cingular from discussing port status for a customer who is leaving them. I'd tell you to call them and find out if the number is still there. In fact, don't even mention porting. Maybe you should still call them and see if there's anything up with your number. If they are porting it out, the rep should tell you so, but will (if they know the regulations) refuse to discuss it any further than that. If Cingular still doesn't "know" about the port out (from their perspective, it's out), then *everything* is on our... dang, *still* doing that... I mean it's on Sprint's end. I have another recommendation: Go to a store with that phone. Tell them that someone is offering to sell it to you, and you want to know if it's free to be activated. If not, identify yourself at *that* point, and see if it's on your account. They might even be able to give you a rundown of what's happened. Unfortunately, I no longer have access to the system, or I'd look for myself. Just out of curiosity, are you able to use the phone *at all*? With a port-in in progress, you should be able to at least MAKE calls. And if you're making calls, then the phone is *not* the problem.  SignatureRØß O/Siris -+- "A thing moderately good is not so good as it ought to be. Moderation in temper is always a virtue, but moderation in principle is always a vice." Thomas Paine, "The Rights of Man", 1792 > I've just been through two weeks of Hell, so apologies in advance if this > sounds a little frayed. [quoted text clipped - 17 lines] > are LOCKED FOREVER, and the phones can't be sold. The phone got had no > hope of working. I don't know if it's true in your case, but I do know that we have a long list of ESNs that had once belonged to a 3rd party dealer (who's name I can't remember for the life of me) and we've had a supervisor calling the help desk for days trying to get this resolved. We were just talking about it last night. She doesn't hold out much hope that they will ever be released, but she's still trying. Leisa > I don't know if it's true in your case, but I do know that we have a long > list of ESNs that had once belonged to a 3rd party dealer (who's name I > can't remember for the life of me) and we've had a supervisor calling the > help desk for days trying to get this resolved. We were just talking about > it last night. She doesn't hold out much hope that they will ever be > released, but she's still trying. Wow. Maybe the dealer skipped out on sprint somehow? That would explain the lock. And if a customer comes in with one of these, are they stuck? SignatureRØß O/Siris -+- **A thing moderately good is not so good as it ought to be. Moderation in temper is always a virtue, but moderation in principle is always a vice.** -Thomas Paine. The Rights of Man. 1792- In article <jrhed.172631$He1.169634@attbi_s01>, Leisalei@spring.com says... > I don't know if it's true in your case, but I do know that we have a long > list of ESNs that had once belonged to a 3rd party dealer (who's name I > can't remember for the life of me) and we've had a supervisor calling the > help desk for days trying to get this resolved. We were just talking about > it last night. She doesn't hold out much hope that they will ever be > released, but she's still trying. Wow. Maybe the dealer skipped out on sprint somehow? That would explain the lock. And if a customer comes in with one of these, are they stuck? That's what I think happened, too. I know there was a dealer that we shut down for non-payment in the last few months. But you would think we would be able to see that the ESN was attached to that account and know that it wasn't the end user who didn't pay us, it was the dealer. I guess that makes too much sense to be a viable solution (rolling eyes). Leisa SignatureR?? O/Siris -+- **A thing moderately good is not so good as it ought to be. Moderation in temper is always a virtue, but moderation in principle is always a vice.** -Thomas Paine. The Rights of Man. 1792- >> Wow. Maybe the dealer skipped out on sprint somehow? That >> would explain the lock. [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > That's what I think happened, too. I know there was a dealer that we shut > down for non-payment in the last few months. Probably Norvergence. They were reselling Sprint phones along with landline and long distance phone services to small businesses, along with getting them to sign bogus 5 year leases on vaporware. But as it turned out they were basically pocketing the revenue and skipping out on the bills. The scant remains of that fly-by-night operation are now in Chapter 7. > But you would think we would be > able to see that the ESN was attached to that account and know that it > wasn't the end user who didn't pay us, it was the dealer. I guess that makes > too much sense to be a viable solution (rolling eyes). Actually, if it *was* Norvergence, it would make sense. Seeing as what assets they owned are to be sold off by the court, and last I heard the case hasn't been resolved yet, it would make sense that those phones are locked; they shouldn't be in *anyone's* hands. SignatureE-mail fudged to thwart spammers. Transpose the c's and a's in my e-mail address to reply. >>> Wow. Maybe the dealer skipped out on sprint somehow? That >>> would explain the lock. [quoted text clipped - 11 lines] > bills. The scant remains of that fly-by-night operation are now in > Chapter 7. That's the one! Thanks! Leisa > > Probably Norvergence. They were reselling Sprint phones along with > > landline and long distance phone services to small businesses, along with [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > > Leisa Ah, yes, Norvergence. Y'know, the company I work for now was actually a Norvergence customer. Sprint actually did right by us. They allowed us to take the phones off of Norvergence's account and continue to use them under our own. And they even gave us 30 days to decide what to do from there. It's too bad we could never find someone who would tell us what we were using in terms of minutes (Norvergence's bill were always just flate-rate, no-detail bills). By the time we saw a bill, we were getting hit for outrageous amounts of overage, and Sprint wouldn't even meet us halfway. So now the company is on T-Mobile. So Sprint still found a way to turn a victory into a loss in the case of my current employer. I worked for Nextel and Sprint and have to tell you that the ESN numbers are locked in so you cannot re-program without a few extra tools and also a callous disregard of Federal FCC law. There are French websites where you can buy the re-programming equipment for about $100. Also be aware that you will be violating Federal law (U.S) and could be liable for about 25 years in jail. What my research has taught me. > I've just been through two weeks of Hell, so apologies in advance if this > sounds a little frayed. [quoted text clipped - 31 lines] > |c-oo http://www.jason0x21.org > \_- "That's not music, that's just sound!" - J. David Fries |
Reply to this Message |
 Sign In
 Join
 My Latest Posts My Monitored Threads My Blog My Photo Gallery My Profile My Homepage Start New Thread Enable EMail Alerts Rate this Thread
|
©2008 Advenet LLC Privacy Policy - Terms of Use
This website includes both content owned or controlled by Advenet as well as content owned or controlled by third parties.