[Samsung Galaxy S Relay 4G] SpaceSpeed:
Advice on Bad IMEIs or ESNs

Hey Jax (and ninguno2), just thought I'd throw my two cents worth in here...

Ninguno PM'd me earlier, but I thought my explanation might help others, particularly those outside the US when considering whether or not to buy a phone marked as having a "bad IMEI".

A phone with a "bad" International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) or Electronic Serial Number (ESN) is not necessarily a stolen phone. Unfortunately I happened to buy a phone with a bad IMEI about two weeks ago - the first time I've had that situation when buying a phone in over 15 years, so here are a few thoughts:

What is a 'bad IMEI"? When someone talks about a "bad" IMEI or ESN, they are usually referring to the fact that it is blocked by the local provider's network. In the US, providers such as AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, T-Mobile, and others will often use a shared database to add phones that they want to block, based on that phone's IMEI or ESN.

Why would the providers block a specific phone? For a variety of reasons; the phone was stolen, the phone was delivered to a location but was marked as "not received", the user has an outstanding bill / never paid for the phone in full / reneged on their contract, or the user breached the provider's TOS requirements using that handset.

In my case, the phone I purchased from a local seller (Craigslist), was a new, sealed Relay 4G. I asked him about the IMEI out of curiosity and he said it was fine, but I should have asked for the IMEI before parting with the cash, and called T-Mobile to check on the status of that number. In fact, when I received the phone, it didn't immediately logon to the network, so I called T-Mobile and told them I wanted to activate a new phone, gave them the IMEI number, and they said fine. It was only later when I called back because of continued network connectivity troubles that they finally looked it up. It turned out that the guy stopped paying on his contract, and the phone was not yet "paid in full". I asked T-Mobile if there was any way I could get the phone "unblocked", even by paying a fee - they said it was impossible.

If I buy a phone with a blocked IMEI, will it work in my country? The most likely answer is yes, there is no such thing as a global banned phone list. It is very likely that a blocked T-Mobile US phone will work on the T-Mobile UK network, or Orange, O2, or Vodafone, or whatever. I would imagine that there is a decent amount of sharing of blocked IMEIs between EU providers, but I don't know the details for sure. In my case, I sold my phone to XDA user Vike the Hube (good guy btw), and before he paid he contacted his provider and checked out the IMEI - no problems in Australia.

What if I travel to the country where it was originally blocked? This is a potential issue, if the phone is blocked in the US, and its sold to someone in Germany, that Deutsch Mann will likely have problems when he goes on holiday to Florida, where he gets a horrible sunburn and complains about watered-down American beer. If that's an issue for you, then you probably want to avoid such a phone, if not, then no problem. The other question is, how long will that blocked IMEI stay in the database? Forever? A year? Two years? Typically users wouldn't have access to such information, but I would be surprised if the database contains every blocked IMEI in perpetuity, but you never know.

Are there issues with getting a "bad IMEI" phone unlocked? There can be issues, often times providers will push the unlock code to the handset over the network. If you can't get on the network, and the provider sees the handset as "bad", they will probably not offer to do an unlock, even in store. There are services on the Internet that will provide unlocking, and a lot of local unlocking services in many countries. Another possibility is that the phone has an unlock code that can be manually entered into the phone, usually using the dialer. You may need a SIM card that was not from the provider, to prompt the unlock. For the Relay 4G, there is a very simple method of unlocking that can be done by the user - thanks to Authorita (who btw may have been banned for his post? :confused:).

Can you change an IMEI to one that isn't blocked? First of all, this is considered very bad form to ask about on XDA. More than that, it is illegal in many countries to change or modify an IMEI. There are methods to repair the IMEI, which is a legit issue when some people have flashed their phones with a new ROM and they lose the phone's electronic record of that number. That problem happened with some phones and ROM builds more than others, but it doesn't seem to be a big issue with the Relay 4G. Of course the process of repairing and modifying an IMEI are not all that dissimilar, but it won't work on all devices. In the end, its probably not worth the trouble to go down that route.

The best advice when buying a phone is:

Buy from someone who is reputable

Buy using a service that provides guarantees or protections (e.g. eBay or PayPal) in the event that you find problems with the phone

Before you hand over your money, ask for the IMEI and check it out with your provider

Photos of the phone, the physical IMEI on the inside of the handset, or a shot of the electronic version shown in Android are useful (*#06# from the dialer)

Use common sense

If you have issues, you might be able to sort them out by asking the XDA community :)

SpaceSpeed