ESN and phone number recognition issues

[enygyzer]

I have a Nokia 3588i given to me form someone who lives in another state. The number is 409-455-xxxx. The phone is a PCS voice phone. The Sprint rep claims the ESN is not being recognized in their system. I live in Georiga and have jumped through hoops this past month trying to get this thing activated preferably without paying the $125 activation fee. I do not need another phone, just a prepaid plan or plan that does not require you to buy another phone. Can anyone help?

[Raptor22]

Yeah, I have heard of some issues of nokia phones being shipped w/o being recognized(via ESN#)that the phone is statused as unused or inactive instead its read as used and/or under progress of being used. Went to a sprint store yesterday and few folks as well as the sprint reps were talking about the many nokias that were purchased and trying to be activated come back saying that the phone is already in use with another pcs number. dont know in detail how this works but know its something similar to what I said( I think).

[MisterFuhrman]

Well, the $125 is not an activation fee. It's a deposit based on your credit class. There's no way around this.

If your friend had an unpaid balance on an account that phone was associated with, the phone will not be able to be activated again. Similarly, if the phone was reported lost or stolen, it will not be able to be activated again. However, I know some Nokias have been known to have an unregistered ESN after they come back from a third party refurbisher, such as RadioShack. If that is the case, there are ways to get the ESN into Sprint's database. They're just not easy.