An ESN is an Electronic Serial Number which is used to identify a specific CDMA cell phone. Without going into too much detail, a CDMA cell phone generally does not use a SIM card toidentify and authenticate subscribers to the network (like a GSM carrier does)
Q: What does "bad ESN" mean?
A: A cellular phone which has a "bad ESN" is a phone which cannot be activated within the carrier it turned out manufactured for caused by various reasons. This can be mainly because the original owner was dissatisfied using their current carrier and switched carriers, or a billing dispute with their carrier and canceled service without paying their early termination fee, or they got behind on bill. The ESN can also be bad due to the cell phone being reported lost or stolen.
Q: If I buy a cellular phone which has a bad ESN, can't I just now use it with another carrier?
A: Most major CDMA carriers will not activate a mobile phone from another carrier. There are numerous smaller carriers that could, but the cellular telephone in most cases need to have new software installed ("flashed"), and this is often dirty free of charge.
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