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Bad IMEI Tmobile N3 on AT&T

If I buy a bad IMEI Note 3 from eBay, can I still use it on AT&T? Is there any issue with buying such phone (apart from being at risk of it being stolen) ?

ajamils said:
If I buy a bad IMEI Note 3 from eBay, can I still use it on AT&T? Is there any issue with buying such phone (apart from being at risk of it being stolen) ?
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Yeah, don't. It means it is blacklisted by the carrier and all carriers until it is cleared. I read to do that is a hassle. Also, the only way to use it outside of that is to unlock it from the carrier and use it on a different network, but I think that's only doable through a Verizon Note 3. In short, don't waste your time or money.

opasha said:
Yeah, don't. It means it is blacklisted by the carrier and all carriers until it is cleared. I read to do that is a hassle. Also, the only way to use it outside of that is to unlock it from the carrier and use it on a different network, but I think that's only doable through a Verizon Note 3. In short, don't waste your time or money.
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As far as I know Tmobile version can be unlocked as well and since I will be using it on AT&T, does it matter that it's blacklisted on Tmobile?

ajamils said:
As far as I know Tmobile version can be unlocked as well and since I will be using it on AT&T, does it matter that it's blacklisted on Tmobile?
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Yeah because T-Mobile and At&t are both gsm networks. Verizon is CDMA. The article I read in order to further assist you stated that it's easier to use a CDMA blacklisted phone on a gsm carrier. Not sure how, but yeah. Avoid it regardless. It's just stupid.

ya agree with opasha, avoid it. Tmobs and ATT share the same blacklist, and it's technically a felony to flash a new imei and an additional hassle. Only way to use it is on gsm networks, not on that blacklist (which also includes pre-pay and affiliates), which means out of the country for the most part.

ajamils said:
As far as I know Tmobile version can be unlocked as well and since I will be using it on AT&T, does it matter that it's blacklisted on Tmobile?
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Carriers share blacklisted IMEI's. They do it on CDMA networks as well. Your really off brand local carriers like MetroPCS may not block it though just because it's basically a mom and pop shop.

agent929 said:
Carriers share blacklisted IMEI's. They do it on CDMA networks as well. Your really off brand local carriers like MetroPCS may not block it though just because it's basically a mom and pop shop.
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Metro PCS is owned by T-mobile. Truthfully there aren't really any independent operators anymore.
As others have mentioned, IMEI blacklists are shared across US carriers now so you'd be better off avoiding the phone unless you plan on only using it internationally.

dawheat said:
Metro PCS is owned by T-mobile. Truthfully there aren't really any independent operators anymore.
As others have mentioned, IMEI blacklists are shared across US carriers now so you'd be better off avoiding the phone unless you plan on only using it internationally.
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Eh it was just an example. I don't know for sure what the little junk carriers are. It may be now to where it's shared with everybody. I know there's ESN checker websites out there and I'm sure these carriers have access to something even better than that.

agent929 said:
Eh it was just an example. I don't know for sure what the little junk carriers are. It may be now to where it's shared with everybody. I know there's ESN checker websites out there and I'm sure these carriers have access to something even better than that.
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Is there a reliable IMEI checker website? The IMEI number that a guy from CL gave me does not show up in Tmobile IMEI checker.

do you know anybody that has T-mobile because you could have them call the IMEI in to make sure

Att doesn't care if it's been black listed. I had a Friend on my account he stopped paying for the line I reported it stolen and he went the next day to get it activated. They even told him that it was reported stolen and still did it. I have heard that both t mobile and att do it all the time cuz they want the business.
infowars.com get the truth

ajamils said:
Is there a reliable IMEI checker website? The IMEI number that a guy from CL gave me does not show up in Tmobile IMEI checker.
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Even if you do check the IMEI and its good today doesn't mean it won't be blacklisted tomorrow.........

Quickvic30 said:
Even if you do check the IMEI and its good today doesn't mean it won't be blacklisted tomorrow.........
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So what's the suggestion? Pay $700+ and buy brand new from Tmobile?
Sent from LG Optimus G Pro via Tapatalk.

ajamils said:
So what's the suggestion? Pay $700+ and buy brand new from Tmobile?
Sent from LG Optimus G Pro via Tapatalk.
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Yes or you can buy used but make sure you meet the person at the T-Mobile store to confirm the phone is paid off.
Been through this whole scam ordeal already so I went and bought a new phone straight from T-Mobile.

ajamils said:
Is there a reliable IMEI checker website? The IMEI number that a guy from CL gave me does not show up in Tmobile IMEI checker.
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You can call tmo yourself to verify the IMEI number and if it will activate.

T-Mobile and AT&T share blacklisted IMEI's? I'm not sure you guys are correct about this. You can buy blacklisted Nexus 4's all day long on Craigslist from deadbeat T-Mobile payment plans and put an AT&T sim card from AT&T or an AT&T based MVNO sim card in them and they work 100%. I have a T-Mobile no payment N4 I bought for $40 and use it with my Straight Talk AT&T sim regularly.
Unless something changed like this week, there is zero sharing among US carriers regarding their blacklist. The only people who MAY have incentive to share are T-Mobile and AT&T since they can have each others phone operate in some capacity on each other's networks. As for Sprint and Verizon, they don't share blacklists because their phones only work on their towers.
As for the comment of would I buy a phone for a considerable amount of money and hope they never in the future share black lists? Hell No. My upper limit on risking that is about $100. I'd say most of the phones on Craigslist anymore suffer from this problem of no payment on payment plans. Even when you get the phone and its working there's nothing to say that a carrier won't blacklist it in 2 weeks or a month. And trust me they won't do a darn thing, had this problem with a T989 S2 back in 2012.

aygriffith said:
T-Mobile and AT&T share blacklisted IMEI's? I'm not sure you guys are correct about this. You can buy blacklisted Nexus 4's all day long on Craigslist from deadbeat T-Mobile payment plans and put an AT&T sim card from AT&T or an AT&T based MVNO sim card in them and they work 100%. I have a T-Mobile no payment N4 I bought for $40 and use it with my Straight Talk AT&T sim regularly.
Unless something changed like this week, there is zero sharing among US carriers regarding their blacklist. The only people who MAY have incentive to share are T-Mobile and AT&T since they can have each others phone operate in some capacity on each other's networks. As for Sprint and Verizon, they don't share blacklists because their phones only work on their towers.
As for the comment of would I buy a phone for a considerable amount of money and hope they never in the future share black lists? Hell No. My upper limit on risking that is about $100. I'd say most of the phones on Craigslist anymore suffer from this problem of no payment on payment plans. Even when you get the phone and its working there's nothing to say that a carrier won't blacklist it in 2 weeks or a month. And trust me they won't do a darn thing, had this problem with a T989 S2 back in 2012.
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Ya they do, sprint and verizon included. As to how efficient they are in updating their networks to reject imei's when the other network post a new one on the list, I don't know. Plenty of sources confirm it, here's one for example: http://www.theverge.com/2012/11/1/3584466/att-t-mobile-stolen-cellphone-database

babyshanks said:
Ya they do, sprint and verizon included. As to how efficient they are in updating their networks to reject imei's when the other network post a new one on the list, I don't know. Plenty of sources confirm it, here's one for example: http://www.theverge.com/2012/11/1/3584466/att-t-mobile-stolen-cellphone-database
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http://www.ctia.org/media/press/body.cfm/prid/2220
Yeah this was announced in 2012. Now of course knowing US carriers - what they said they'd do and what they should do may be very different than what they actually do.

ajamils said:
If I buy a bad IMEI Note 3 from eBay, can I still use it on AT&T? Is there any issue with buying such phone (apart from being at risk of it being stolen) ?
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it wont work within the US, so if your going to try using it, it wont work.
---------- Post added at 09:56 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:55 PM ----------
aygriffith said:
T-Mobile and AT&T share blacklisted IMEI's? I'm not sure you guys are correct about this. You can buy blacklisted Nexus 4's all day long on Craigslist from deadbeat T-Mobile payment plans and put an AT&T sim card from AT&T or an AT&T based MVNO sim card in them and they work 100%. I have a T-Mobile no payment N4 I bought for $40 and use it with my Straight Talk AT&T sim regularly.
Unless something changed like this week, there is zero sharing among US carriers regarding their blacklist. The only people who MAY have incentive to share are T-Mobile and AT&T since they can have each others phone operate in some capacity on each other's networks. As for Sprint and Verizon, they don't share blacklists because their phones only work on their towers.
As for the comment of would I buy a phone for a considerable amount of money and hope they never in the future share black lists? Hell No. My upper limit on risking that is about $100. I'd say most of the phones on Craigslist anymore suffer from this problem of no payment on payment plans. Even when you get the phone and its working there's nothing to say that a carrier won't blacklist it in 2 weeks or a month. And trust me they won't do a darn thing, had this problem with a T989 S2 back in 2012.
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I tried it, before it used to be cool, now it doesn't work

T Mobile Note 3 on ATT
I traded a guy an S4 plus some cash for a new T-Mobile note 3...I rooted and used region lock away to Sim unlock it...The phone has worked perfectly on ATT and it is blacklisted on T-Mobile for Non pay...I'm sure its was bought on the no contract deal and then as soon as they dumped it they just didn't pay...Its not stolen as I have checked...So it is possible to use them on ATT if the phone is unlocked...Not sure if eventually it won't work on ATT but for now it does..I guess if it stops working I will sell it or see if I can settle with T-mobile ...Just be very careful when buying them brand new in box..Note 3 and IPhone 5s are the 2 big ones that are being purchased on these pay 25-30 a month then don't pay..then Bam they are blacklisted for non pay on that network..Pretty sad but that is what's going down on CL right now...

Moto X SPrint simlock, is it unlockable?

Hi, i can buy moto x but seller told me that it has sprint simlock and it has ESN block (i dont know what it is at all). Im from poland and what i wanna know is it can be unlocked to work in gsm in poland? Any way to do this? Flashing custom rom or something like that

The Sprint X is sim locked by default.
Everything I've seen so far about unlocking the Sprint X says you must be a current sprint customer, have the X active on your line, and meet certain conditions (like bills paid, xx months into contract, etc), then Sprint will give you the SIM unlock code.
I've seen many posts of non-Sprint customers buying used Sprint X and being unable to SIM unlock them.
See some of the discussion here -> http://forum.xda-developers.com/moto-x/moto-x-qa/request-to-make-sim-unlock-files-ota-t2639665

I've been bummed on this one as well. No luck here either. I actually met a sprint customer who had it unlocked through sprint but it still didn't pick up anything on AT&T. They are selling for super cheap but there is no point since I have yet to see one unlocked and running on gsm. At least in US.

noobsquared said:
I've been bummed on this one as well. No luck here either. I actually met a sprint customer who had it unlocked through sprint but it still didn't pick up anything on AT&T. They are selling for super cheap but there is no point since I have yet to see one unlocked and running on gsm. At least in US.
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Sprint will only unlock for international GSM use. You will never be able to use it on domestic carriers unless some exploit is used that is beyond the scope of the official Sprint "OTA" unlock (which as @KidJoe has advised is only available to actual sprint customers who meet certain criteria).

Man, all these US carrier restrictions on sim locking, bootloaders locked etc....makes me kinda appreciate the Canadian carriers. I've yet to have any issues caused by carriers restricting things on my devices.

KJ said:
Man, all these US carrier restrictions on sim locking, bootloaders locked etc....makes me kinda appreciate the Canadian carriers. I've yet to have any issues caused by carriers restricting things on my devices.
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From what I've seen. Canadian carriers may give you the unlock code and all and apologize on top as well. Much nice eh?

Well, I had to pay a site to sim unlock....I was not a rogers customer....but at least I could. Unlike sprint. I've never had trouble unlocking bootloaders either.

Carrier Unlocked vs Carrier Phone

I'm going to take advantage of the Note 7 promotion. I'm currently on Sprint. From what I understand, there are no hardware differences between the carrier unlocked version and the Sprint version (per Samsung chat). The only major differences are in carrier software, I think? Also, it looks like software updates may be extremely slow? I would have expected the opposite since it's coming straight from Samsung.
From what I can tell, I can always flash the carrier ROM on the unlocked version, but I think this would trip Knox and I would lose Samsung Pay, right? Conversely, if I go with the carrier version, I can unlock it because I'll own it outright, correct?
I'm really stuck on which one to preorder. I always figured carrier unlocked was better, but perhaps not? Any guiding thoughts for me?

Wonder about this too.
Is the cellular bands listed on this site accurate?
https://www.techwalls.com/samsung-galaxy-note-8-sm-n950-model-number-differences/
If it is, the unlocked may not have all the bands for, for example, T-mobile. So if sticking with one carrier and not planning to change, will getting the carrier one, though with more bloatware, be better for coverage?

Here is a screen capture for the Carrier Unlocked Note 8 from Best Buys Website.

just take this with a pinch of salt but carrier lock is way better than the other.

Tmobile Note 8 work on Sprint?

Someone Local to me is selling a note 8. It's supposed to be unlocked. Will it work on Sprint or no?

powerstroke said:
Someone Local to me is selling a note 8. It's supposed to be unlocked. Will it work on Sprint or no?
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Before I'd buy,I'd visit T-Mobile with the seller & phone in-hand,to ensure the phone is free & clear of any financial obligations.
Otherwise,you risk the possibility of it being blacklisted if any remaining balances are unpaid.
Not sure about compatibility,but,if the T-Mobile S8+ is any indication,it's only compatible with LTE,probably won't get voice/calls:
https://willmyphonework.net/
Regardless,with it being a new phone,you're in uncharted territory,no one can know for sure at this point,less a visit to Sprint & the mentioned visit to T-Mobile.

powerstroke said:
Someone Local to me is selling a note 8. It's supposed to be unlocked. Will it work on Sprint or no?
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Unfortunately, probably not. Sprint is very strict with the phones it allows under it's BYOD program, it'll only allow activation of Sprint and Unlocked models. It knows when phones are carrier versions as Samsung provides Sprint with the IMEIs of the Sprint and Unlocked models.
Sprint is the only major carrier that still uses a database whitelist for phones that can be activated on their network. Bit of a **** policy, but there's not much you can do about it.
Source: Just tried the same thing with my T-Mobile S8+. Even when I flashed the unlocked firmware on it(something you'd need to do anyway to enable the CDMA radio on the Note8, T-Mobile firmware has it disabled), still wouldn't work. Found out it was because of Sprint's stupid policy.

Just wanted to chime in on this in the hopes that no one wastes their time and money trying to activate AT&T/T-Mobile branded Note 8's with Sprint.
Flashed my AT&T device with unlocked firmware to enable CDMA features (MEID HEX/DEC)
Bought a Sprint BYOD SIM
Gave Sprint technicians device information in an attempt to add it to their inventory (HEC/DEX)
They kept getting random incompatibility errors, kind of silly given all US Note 8's have identical hardware.
Case closed, looking for a Sprint or Samsung official unlocked device now..

Pixel 5 sold by 'Visible'

I've just submitted an order to buy Pixel 5 from 'Visible' (a US carrier, Verizon based MVNO), and now i am kinda thinking... i should have asked about it here first. Visible's rep has promised (on chat) their phones are unlocked, so this shouldn't be an issue, but are they carrier-customized in any way or form? Anyone here got any experience? I am sure there is still some time window i can cancel this.
The reason i went on it is because of their "buy it, and get a free wireless charger at activation and a $200 gift card after 2 month of service" (Google it for more details), with a rather attractive plan (in US terms).

It's hard to know for sure. Some of the MVNO's have customized firmware on their phones and some don't. From what I've seen their phones are supposed to be unlocked. The only negative I've seen on them is than any streaming you do is only 480P.

Tel864 said:
It's hard to know for sure. Some of the MVNO's have customized firmware on their phones and some don't. From what I've seen their phones are supposed to be unlocked. The only negative I've seen on them is than any streaming you do is only 480P.
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I don't care all that much about streaming, also, if i really, REALLY want to stream something in high res, i can probably VPN from the phone into my home network (or into a commercial VPN server). Anyway, my current check list when the phone arrives is currently - check for SIM lock on both physical SIM and eSIM, check if OEM unlock available and not grayed out (unrelated to SIM locking, but there are some rare reports on this), check if the "gap" isn't too bad, test the proximity sensor, check if there is any carrier bloatware on it. Did i miss any important points/popular issues?

Sounds like a good deal.

Visible is NOT technically an MVNO. It is completely owned and operated by Verizon. I've heard good things from people that use it.
I would guess the phone you receive would be the Verizon variant, but that's completely a guess.

jsbeagle said:
Visible is NOT technically an MVNO. It is completely owned and operated by Verizon. I've heard good things from people that use it.
I would guess the phone you receive would be the Verizon variant, but that's completely a guess.
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I hope not, and the order confirmation does explicitly mentions "GA01316-US", which is an unlocked, non-Verizon model.
Is Visible an MVNO? I suppose, despite being owned by Verizon, its still a separate company, which doesn't operate its own mobile towers, so i guess it technically is an MVNO after all.
Anyway, will post here after i receive the device. Would be kinda disappointing if its a Verizon model (i may want to root at some point, not exactly a nice thing to have a bootloader you can't unlock). Would be a showstopper if its SIM-locked or even just eSIM locked, i am going to verify that by putting my old Cricket SIM in before activating theirs, and also loading a Ubigi profile onto an eSIM, and if its locked, and they can't unlock it for me, the device is going back. I've EXPLICITLY asked a rep about this after all.
BTW, judging by a Google search that produces mostly Reddit results, Visible sells mostly unlocked devices (seemingly all of them except Visible-exclusives).

It should not be a Verizon varient, it should be unlocked.

Tel864 said:
It should not be a Verizon varient, it should be unlocked.
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I've already got it, see above. Its not a Verizon variant indeed, and it is unlocked.^H^H^H^H....
I was sure i've posted it here, i've got a device, its a unlocked variant, not Verizon, its fully unlocked (tested on physical SIM and eSIM), and got no carrier bloatware on it.

InfX said:
I've already got it, see above. Its not a Verizon variant indeed, and it is unlocked.^H^H^H^H....
I was sure i've posted it here, i've got a device, its a unlocked variant, not Verizon, its fully unlocked (tested on physical SIM and eSIM), and got no carrier bloatware on it.
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I'm shortly switching to Verizon and I'm taking a look at Visible and Verizon prepaid after seeing your post and talking to my son who's a Verizon engineer, I haven't decided on which though.

InfX said:
I've just submitted an order to buy Pixel 5 from 'Visible' (a US carrier, Verizon based MVNO), and now i am kinda thinking... i should have asked about it here first. Visible's rep has promised (on chat) their phones are unlocked, so this shouldn't be an issue, but are they carrier-customized in any way or form? Anyone here got any experience? I am sure there is still some time window i can cancel this.
The reason i went on it is because of their "buy it, and get a free wireless charger at activation and a $200 gift card after 2 month of service" (Google it for more details), with a rather attractive plan (in US terms).
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Actually just registered an account to answer your question. Got a pixel 5 from the "Visible" deal by porting a number in. The model number is identical to the the unlocked one sold from Google store. It bootloader unlockable, so already unlocked and put in magisk and stuff. (It is carrier unlocked as well) Enjoy the deal!

Mint says they only stream 480p too but I can simply select 720p on up on my Pixel 2 and I get a bump, no VPN required.

Visible has good offers but the service is no good. At least in my area. I cannot wait to go back to AT&T. Verizon has fast coverage but AT&T is more consistent. I tried it for the $100 promotional credit but I will be going back to my original provider.