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Even tho this could be a good idea, I think it will be a bad idea.

Right now carriers flag many devices with bad ESN's is they are reported stolen or lost, which is fine.

But then they abuse it by flagging phones where a customer simply left their service for another carrier and didn't pay the bill and now the carrier doesn't want you to use the phone they sold to you. They want to try to force you to buy a new device.

First off carriers, if they sell the device it si their right as they paid for it. if they didnt live out the contract, if they sell me the device you will still get your free money because I still have to get a data plan. I just dont have to have a contract.

The FCC would need to make sure of the rules. Don't flag a phone as bad if it wasn't reported lost or stolen. They shoudl be glad a 3rd party wants to purchase and old phone and use it on your network.

This would be a good idea in that less phones will get snatched if the seller knows no one will buy it because they wont be able to activate it. It would only be good for spare parts.

But the policy has to be written corretcly and it should require customer feedback.

QUADICON, on 10 April 2012 - 07:52 AM, said:

Those are very good points. I hope that these possible issues can be worked out.

Unless the app stores also lock the phones out, they'll only be re-activated in another country.

All the way back in 2003, people were braining each other with bricks in the UK over 'regular' phones. All we need now is people shooting each other in the US over 'smart' phones. The problem was that even if they were disabled in the UK, organized crime was actually shipping them out to nations in Africa, the Middle East, Asia and South America, where they could be activated on a compatible network, no problem at all.

In other words, a goldmine for organized crime. They'll find a way to de-brick the phones, readily enough.

Unless there's a global lock-out of stolen phones, the 'U.S. and some other places' lock-out will only stop the small time thieves from enjoying their ill-gotten gains. Once they learn they can trade a phone for some drugs, or just enough cash to buy drugs, the stolen wares will be flowing into other countries in no time. You think people in China wouldn't want a 'slightly used' iPhone 4s? Some girl offered her virginity for one. Some months back some kid traded a kidney for one.

Batteries and parts are also a market. Cracked glass and batteries are a bottomless requirement. So stolen phones still have some value, even domestically. Bag it, slap a sticker on it, and you're ready to go. Anyone who's techy enough to 'fix' a cracked display with stolen parts could also see decent profits, versus the cost of having it fixed 'legitimately'. So parts and batteries should have serial numbers laser etched, accordingly.

BTW, if you buy a $500 phone and cancel after a month, the phone will still be worth more money than the 'penalty', given typical wireless contracts. If they subsidized most of the cost of that phone, so that you can pay a small pittance to get hooked into their contract, YOU didn't quite buy it, THEY mostly did. At least from their perspective. The contract should probably demand you surrender the phone at a list of stores or mail it back to them, so they can rebox it and sell it onwards, and knock some money off your cancellation fees. But if you don't return it, yes, indeed you 'stole' it by the terms of the contract, and they SHOULD brick it. Though there's no skin off their back if someone else buys the same phone and activates it. They get their paycheck, either way. They just get paid MORE if they can resell the phone themselves.

Given that most users give up their privacy utterly to own a 'smart' phone (GPS tracking, Google wants to 'listen to your environment' for targeted ads, all the other ways they monitor what you do), they will sign the contract, even if it says they must return the phone if they cancel before the contract is finished.

So of course all the carriers are behind it, and Apple, Google, RIM, Microsoft, etc. are all silent, because they would still get paid, WHOEVER possesses the phone, tablet, etc.

This post has been edited by Evildave: 10 April 2012 - 07:06 PM