Replacement cell phone

July 3, 2005 2:23 PM

I don't understand buying an ebay replacement for a busted cell phone.

My son dropped his nice loss-leader cell in salt water. Pfffft. I can't afford to replace it right now with anything but a used cheapie. My tenuous grasp of the subject is that the phone was tied to its network (Nextel), its account/plan/phone number, and its local calling area. I can certainly locate a used Nextel-network phone, but what do I do about the other aspects? Depend on Nextel customer service? (groan.) If so, what are the magic words of art that I should say to them, assuming I ever get through to a human?

posted by jfuller to shopping (7 comments total)

"hi, i broke my cellphone and would like to activate my old used one I have, So i need to do an ESN swap please"
posted by crewshell at 2:28 PM on July 3, 2005

You could also take it into a nextel store and ask if they could do an ESN swap on the spot for you.
posted by SpecialK at 5:37 PM on July 3, 2005

Not an expert, however with lack of comments, I'll try (please correct me if I'm wrong):

I'm not totally familiar with Nextel, however with other GSM phones you can simply pop out the SIM card (a small plastic chip behind the battery) and put it in whatever phone you want that accepts a SIM and is unlocked (or at least locked to) your current provider. You could also trying purchasing a old phone via eBay then calling up Nextel and tell them you have a new one, they'll want to the Isomething serial number off the back so they can activate your phone.

If you don't want to go to the effort of purchasing a phone that won't work, try calling in, explaining your situation, and say that you'd like to buy a used on on eBay, ask them what their criterion is. And, as always, with phone service if you dont' find a phone bank employee that can answer your question hang up and try, try, again!

Best of luck! Again, I apologize for the half-knowledge on this one, suppose the holiday weekend is at work.
posted by sled at 6:26 PM on July 3, 2005

I just did this with my sister a few days ago. Her cellphone is a Sanyo SCP4500. It had a busted battery latch and some other problems, so we went on e-bay and found a seller (bettercell) that had the exact same phone, only new (slightly used).

On the auction page, the seller listed the ESN of the phone being sold. Before we purchased it, we called my sister's provider (Sprint PCS) and asked them if they would be able to activate a phone with the ESN given above. They checked it and found it to be "free and clear." This is the magic phrase, it seems. So, we bought the phone, and took it down to the store, and 10 minutes later it was activated and using her phone number. The store didn't charge us anything (not that they should have, really, it was very simple).
posted by odinsdream at 7:33 PM on July 3, 2005

BTW, Voicestream does this for me free about once a year or so. In fact, last time they upgraded me to a rather nifty Bluetooth camera phone. I'd been all put out about losing my phone down the cushion in a cab, too, but that got fixed up right quick.
posted by ikkyu2 at 1:01 AM on July 4, 2005

Thanks very much, all of you! This sounds like enough to go on, I'll give it a shot.
posted by jfuller at 4:05 AM on July 4, 2005

When I thought I lost my phone Nextel said they would replace it free or for $35 depending on the replacement model. It is worth calling customer service and asking.
posted by MLIS at 6:31 AM on July 4, 2005