How to find that my IMEI number is valid

[Fozia]

My friend has some bunch of china phones. I want some help to find whether the IMEI number in the device is valid or not. I want to buy those phones. They are extremely cheaper. But I am doubtful about the imei number on it. I need to find how it is valid. And what if I do not found then proper. Can I still use the phone. I had recently found in news that it is not valid to use a mobile phone without proper imei number.

[Bhadran]

It is like a identification number. And if it is not proper then your phone is waste. Many government agency does not allow companies to sell phone which does not has a proper imei number on it. So better avoid the same.

[DaminiAMD]

Imei stands for International Mobile station Equipment Identity number. This is a unique identification for any device who work on cellular network. Without it you might not be able to use mobile internet also. IMEI numbers are widely used on phone which work on mobile network tower. Not even mobile phone any device that has a sim card inside it comes with it. If it is not available then many of your service will not work. There is few chances that your network provider might also do not give you access to its network. A imei number is allotted when you insert a sim in your phone. If you have dual or triple sim phone then there are two imei number on the same. The same number is also used to locate stolen device. You can also blacklist the device and whoever has this will not be able to use it anymore. This is not a complete solution but good enough to re-allocate your device when it is lost.

[HankH]

The number is used by gsm network to identify the device. No number means no identification. That is the reason many china phones are recently banned as they offer a anonymous access to the network. This can be used for wrong purpose.

[Antonio1]

To find your imei number you just have to type *#60# on your phone. You will get a 15digit number. There are various website on the web that help you to findout whether the imei you are using is a valid number or not. Site like imei.info is the best one to find out whether your number is proper or not. You can locate the imei number first on each and every device and the find out the phone which you purchase is proper or not. If it is a stolen phone then the imei would be blacklisted. I will recommend you note down all the numbers and check them for validity on imei.info. Almost all countries have strict laws about this thing. Mobile manufacturers have to sell phone with proper details. Mostly it is used to avoid theft of the device. But I will recommend you to check the authenticity first. The device which you are going to buy might be stolen and when you insert your sim card in that you can get caught.

[Ceesar]

Imei number are also used to track your phone. Many criminals are tracked through this. It is a important part of every device and the one which has a blacklisted number is risky to buy. It is always recommended to buy branded mobile phones.

[Florence_USA]

Devices which doe not have imei number are termed a illegal. Because they lack identification. In India this was a major threat some years ago when China phones are sold on huge quantity. There were certain activities which are carried out using this phone.The government completely banned china phones from usage. The devices which do not have imei are really hard to trace. Even you can use your imei number to tack the device. For that you have to contact the cellular provider. If the device is used by someone through the sim details you can locate it and get your device back. It is even more better than tracker app. Because once your phone settings are restored the tracker stop working. In that case imei remain constant forever.

[Odalis]

In my views never buy a phone that does has a imei phone. It is not fair. And if in your country devices like that are banned then you can face legal penalties in using those phone. Try to find first whether all of them have proper imei or not.