From: "liz" 
Newsgroups: misc.consumers.house
Subject: Cell Phone Question
Date: 9 Jul 2006 12:29:24 -0700
   posting-account=aRKJyw0AAADuXsehcyjjXDFaA3COkUdd

My Cellphone/PDA is about to give up the ghost.  Keeps losing its
memory...Alzheimers settling in, like with me, I suspect.  My Sprint
plan requires one arm, one leg, and a lifetime contract to get a new
phone.  I found a perfect replacement on eBay, except that it has a
"bad ESN"  I don't know what that means.  The seller says it's ESN is
unclear, probably because the former owner didn't pay his bill.  In
order to make the cell phone work, I'd have to know somebody who knows
how to "clear the ESN" or get somebody at Sprint to clear it for me.
No guarantees that I could do that, naturally.  I am guessing that the
ESN might be the phone's internal identity or serial number?  If
somebody buys a used phone, does that mean they have to know the
seller's pedigree, including their mother's maiden name, their credit
rating, and what their father does for a living? 
Thanks so much! 
Liz