Sorry to use such a click-baity title, but thanks for dropping by.
I've moved my personal line to Tello and will move a Moto E to Tello on a $6 plan to use as a slow speed hotspot. (To check emails from tablets and other low data use activities.)
I'm going to redistribute my collection of phones from various networks to my family members and will put everyone's Sprint phones in a drawer, for future use.
How much risk do you think there is that two Tribute HD, one Moto E and one ZTE Speed will get reclaimed by FED while they're drawer surfing?
Alternatively, I could put them on PAYG at Tello, for $5 every (3? 6?) months, but I just found out that Tello requires a separate account for each device. I already have a bazillion FP accounts to keep up with-- I'm too tired to do the same with Tello.
I'd put them in a drawer, but FYI: PAYG balances at Tello never expire, as long as the device is used every 6 months. I put $5 on a line plus a calendar reminder to use it every 5 months.
I would say very unlikely. I had a phone that never met the FED criteria and deactivated in December which I recently reactivated. I canceled 2 Tribute HD lines, a Tribute 2, and a Moto E Friday night (none which meet FED rules) and re-activated on Tello almost immediately. I've still only seen one instance of a phone deactivated from R+ that then failed FED, and it never sat around in a drawer. While the odds would seem higher of an issue if the phones sat around inactive, I haven't seen anyone report a FED issue with a phone that sat for months inactive, yet I have seen some reports of such inactive phones still passing FED.
Paygo minimum is $5 plus tax, but you don't have to pay it every 6 months as long as there is some activity on the line.
I had created multiple Tello accounts for different lines, but I used an email extension with some of them (e.g. "-tello1", "-tello2" so that I didn't need multiple email accounts as well. I used the extension while registering, but the emails go to the same email account. You can use the same name, address, credit card on all accounts. I used the same password on all accounts as well, although my browser saves that anyway. It's not a perfect solution, but it helps.
The VM Tribute HD can also be activated on GSM. We didn't do anything to it, simply deactivated it from RP+. We moved one to Red Pocket and thought we had to wait on a CDMAS sim. Gave them the MEID and the phone was able to be activated on their network with GSMA (AT&T) sim. This was one that slipped thru the FED loophole. Purchased from Target.