Cell booster ownership transfer

Just to be clear, you bought one of these right?

And NOT one of these:

The bottom two are "microcells" and were phased out in early 2023 and no longer function on AT&T's network. But they continue to be sold on fleabay at many a month, amazingly.

If you bought the top one, yes, it has to be de-activated and dropped from the sellers account before anyone else can activate it.

@ATTHelp  Scarlett, you totally  missed what the OP's post was about and 73blazer's response. Typical.

@73blazer i bought the top one. Had to return, purchased a new one from AT&T - it works. 

thanks! 

@LarryPA  If you have any issues with it, read my Cell Booster Guide, the first link in my sig line or post your question here.

Hi @LarryPA,

We're glad to hear that your issue has been fixed. Please feel free to reach out to us if you have any further questions/concerns.

Happy to help!

Thank you for contacting AT&T Community & Forums,

Susan, AT&T Community Specialist

@ATTHelp This is something almost anyone that buys a used Cell Booster is going to run into. Is there a long term solution in the works for this issue?

Or is it ATT's policy that these Cell Boosters go to the landfill after the first owner (which is effectively what this means)?

@AbraKadabra If the previous owner unregisters it, there is no problem. It's the same with any phone today, you can't just buy a used iphone off ebay or pick up a found one on the street unless you know the previous owner has removed it from their apple world, otherwise it's locked to them. 

The answer is simple, do not buy a used one unless it's clearly stated that it has been unregistered.  Beware of "open box" most of those are used.

@73blazer This is a pretty different situation.

With used iPhones as you mention the feature you're talking about is called "Activation Lock" and is something that the previous owner has to activate through the Find My iPhone feature set.

That is something the previous user has to knowingly and intentionally set for their device to lock out future activations (there are also many warnings when activating that feature that indicate this). This product on the other hand gets "Activation Locked" automatically upon setup, a fact that the previous owner probably didn't intend and is very unlikely to be aware of.

Your right in that AT&T's booster setup does not make that abundantly clear that if you wish to sell this it should be unregistered first. But any legitimate seller would unregister it after it was sold and the buyer complains they can't register it.

Any re-seller who's buying used versions of this enmasse from someplace to resell  is at their own risk of backlash from buyers when they can't register them, they should have verified them un-registered before buying them or at least before trying to sell them and they should take it back when you complain it's not able to be registered.  But it's more likely they don't care and will be long gone by the time you complain. That's why I say, it's up to you, as the buyer, to ensure it's able to be registered before buying one. Know what your buying and who your buying it from. As with most anything especially used, it's buyer beware.

 I would doubt your going to see any change in this policy from AT&T, it was the same way for a decade previous with the older "3g" boosters/microcells.