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Repair information, troubleshooting tips, and guides for the sixth iteration of Apple iPhone, announced on September 12, 2012. Model: A1428, A1429

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What is the difference between unlocked and clean/clear ESN?

What is the difference between an unlocked device and a device with a clean/clear ESN?

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Please add some more context so that we can better assist you. Where are you seeing this message? What were you trying to do when this showed up?

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@Adam Hintz , it is not a error message. I'm generally asking regarding about the difference of UNLOCKED phones from CLEAN / CLEAR ESNs?

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So if for the imei activation status it says assumed clear is that good or bad?

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When I bought my iPhone from the owner I called at@t to see if it was clean. They said yes. We cleared her icloud. I added mine. Later that day, she called and asked for more money. I told her no. So the phone is not icloud locked. But now it's blacklisted. What can I do.

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ALICE EDMONDS: Just FYI: you can buy any phone that has been lost/stolen and activate it with no problems at any NEIGHBORHOOD RINKY DINKY CORNER CELL PHONE STORE for a small fee. I purchase very expensive NEW PHONES real cheap (RSP Price $800/Paid $100) from guys down the street IDK if they are stolen or not but I ALWAYS TAKE TO NEIGHBORHOOD RINKY DINKY CORNER STORE AND ACTIVATE WITH NO QUESTIONS ASKED.

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Aus,

A clean/clear ESN means that that the device can be activated with the proper provider. A device with a bad ESN phone cannot since it has been flagged as stolen, payment due, lost, or for a variety of other reasons. Those phones may be good to get for parts since they are usually cheaper. There are some sites online, like this one, that let your check the ESN.

If your cell phone is unlocked it can be used with more than one wireless carrier like T Mobile and Cingular. The carrier locking is called by several names including "Sub Lock" or "SPC Lock" or "Sim Lock". This is/was done so that the free phone you received from your carrier with a i.e. 2year commitment could not be used on another carriers service.

Hope this helps, good luck.

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Very informative answer. Thanks.

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so if my 2 yr commitment is up is my phone locked?

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You have to ask your carrier to unlock even your 2 year commitment is up. They do not unlock until request received from customer.

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Not true i think like s5 and up for example is unlocked after contract up automatically.

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And paid off.

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Unlocked means you can use it on any carrier. Clear ESN means it was not reported stolen. A phone can be both of them.

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Short and sweet. Thanks

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Clear/clean ESN :

A clear/clean ESN indicates that it is activated properly by the service provider. An unclear ESN refers to a phone that is either still activated, or lost/stolen. Providers will not activate a phone with a bad or unclear ESN. Stay away from those.

Unlocked phone :

If the phone gets free from SIM lock is known as unlocked phone . SIM lock is also called as subsidy lock/NP lock/Country lock/Network lock.

Sim lock

It indicates that the current Network provider restricts our phone to use with other countries. For example: Consider you have an iPhone 4 which is locked to o2 UK . Unexpectedly, you want to switch over from UK to Australia . At that situation, your phone gets locked to particular network (o2). During that time, you need to unlock it to use your iPhone with Australia or other countries. You can get unlocking service from your Network provider/use factory unlocking method/get Remote unlocking method from any of the third-party service providers like Theunlockspot.com to unlock your iPhone 4.

Once, you gets unlocked from your carrier, you can easily switch over from your network to other GSM networks.

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If you want to unlock the phone and you still paying your monthly is that means is clean I can unlock it or no

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Network Locked means you can't move it to another network.

Why? For example: if an AT&T is under an installment plan that someone stopped paying on, it would be network locked (to AT&T) but might otherwise be activate-able with what looks like a clean imei. For AT&T phones you can check locked status online from their website with their Unlock Device Portal as long as you have the imei of the phone. It will tell you the reason why it can't be unlocked if it can't.

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Yeah especially AT&T will not unlock the ESN to be used on another network if it's on a two year contract or a payment plan under their payment plans for upgrading, they used to offer reduced and free phones but anymore no free upgrades, HOWEVER if you want to change to a new carrier, some carriers will pay off your payment plan and let you keep your phone and they'll sell you a new one on a plan,

IE: we had three lines on att and were paying over $200.00 a month, actually it's closer to $230.00+ with taxes and fees and surcharges and all that BS, anyways all of our lines were off contract and we wanted to switch carriers so I requested all three esn unlocks so we could move, well two went through and the third won't unlock because it's on the payment plan for another $500.00 or so remaining, T-Mobile said they would move us and pay off the last $500.00 to $600.00 on my payment plan and I keep the phone which att will unlock for me after they pay it off and I get to keep it, then they switch all three lines to their network and I can keep my phone numbers if we want to, I already have a near new iPhone 6S Plus I've only had a few months and it will be free and clear and unlocked from att when it's paid for by T-Mobile, plus I get another new iPhone 6S Plus on the same type payment plan I already had with att, and all three lines are now with T-Mobile, the good part is after everything is said and done and billed monthly were only paying $166.00 at the most, but we get a $10.00 credit per line if we stay under 2 GB of data from our unlimited everything plan (which we never go over 1 that data usage) so that takes the bill to $136.00 and we get another $15.00 discount if we do the automatic bill payment so now our bill is only $121.00 monthly instead of over $200.00, with att were paying a lot on top of our package price with taxes and other fees, with T-Mobile the price of the plan is the exact price that we pay, all fees and taxes are included in their plan pricing, so $40.00 a line means $40.00 a line total so we're not ending up paying $40.00x3+ taxes and fees and surcharges and all that stuff which is what made our bill $230.00+ but now we're done with att and we don't have any contracts, I have three free and clear newer iPhones and one on a payment plan so I have a spare as a backup phone of one gets broke and we're paying less then half what we were with att so it's a win win WIN and I'm not paying off two phones and I'm not locked to any network so if I want to change again I can anytime, I also have a couple other newer cell phones from past att free upgrades when they still offered free or reduced price upgrades, so we're set real good, I think we have three spare unlocked cell phones now, two iPhones and a Samsung galaxy S5 that's waterproof to 3' feet underwater so it's good to change from att, you should try it too, soon!!!!

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Unlocked sim imie got open my icloud.com

Please for waching..

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Activate my iphone now.

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Aus will be eternally grateful.
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