Verizon phone with unpaid bill?

[v]

My friends verizon phone quit working properly, and she wants a new phone. I know someone who has a verizon phone she can use instead, but their bill has been unpaid for around 4 months now. I was told the serial number can't be used on a new account until the bill is paid off, but I don't know how true this is. Does anyone else know?

 

[ddominic]

That is correct. Anytime someone gives their Verizon cell phone to another person, Verizon checks the ESN number of that cell phone. If that use cell phone was tied to the previous owner that had a account with Verizon and had a bad account which they didn't pay their balance, or owe a amount on that account, then that cell phone can never be activated ever again even if you gave it to someone else.

Each cell phone on Verizon is activated by a ESN number. ESN number is a fourteen digit found on the inside of each cell phone. So when you give your Verizon cell phone to another person, Verizon will check that ESN number on that cell phone and Verizon will check to see if there is a bad ESN (bad account of the previous owner) or if it is good for that cell phone to be activated again. If it is good for that cell phone to be activated again that means there was no problem with the account with the previous owner. So now the person can activate that cell phone with a new account.