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Hello people, today im going to talk to you about Beta phones. think of a beta phone as a test phone, used by companies such as motorola, for testing purposes, and expire when the phone is offically released. phones have an IMEI and Serial number, think of it as the phone's name, each phone has a different IMEI, no matter on the network, each is different, and is used to get service. many people have been scammed on ebay, people selling "beta" phones, and when the customers use them they don't work. what are they worth? NOTHING. i actually bought one of these phones a while back when the nextel i860 Was first released, And it would not catch service at all. best way to prevent yourselves from these scams, is to contact the seller and ask for the IMEI number. if its a 1010101010101010 Number or anything of that kind, 123456789, etc. , its a beta phone, and they usually have an expiration date. I higly advise you to watch out when buying phones. also the phone could be stolen, if you ask the buyer for the IMEI number, call up it's service provider(I.E Sprint, etc)and ask if it's stolen or not. I hope this guide was helpul to you, as it was to me.
Guide created: 07/07/06 (updated 08/18/09)
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