Stolen/blocked handsets, this seems to be happening more and more on auction sites, it is the seller who in most cases are to blame, they have reported there handset lost/stolen so they can take advantage of there insurance and get the lastest handset free, then they sell the old one on a action site, little do they know that all the service providers now share this information and usually within a week the handset is blocked, thus leaving you with a usless handset. I buy great quantities of phones and have now got in the habit of as soon as a handset arrives i put a relevant sim in it and try to either make a call or recieve one, if the handset fails this simple task and all you hear is bleebing then the lovely new handset you bought has been blocked. Regardless of what the seller has said in there listing (ie, no returns) report it to them that you believe the handset is blocked and demand a refund, it is after all a crime to sell stolen handsets and it comes with a heavy fine.

"blocked, what does it mean?" a blocked handset is the IMEI number has been reported lost/stolen, The IMEI number is the individual number of your phone and every time that phone trys to make or recieve a call that number is sent out by your handset to allow the call to continue, so regardless of how many different sims you put in it it will make no difference.

"what is the difference between sim lock and handset lock?" sim lock means the phone will only take the sim the phone is registered with, but in many cases this can now be unlocked, handset lock is the same as the handset block and should be avoided.

So when your buying look out for key words like "cant make call" "sim card fail" "register sim" as these all point to the handset being locked.

I hope you find this helpful and if so take the time to say so as the more people who read this the less blocked phone will be sold, try reading some of my other guides as anything i find i put there.

martinnewell1973