Questions about SMARTNet

[cbpapi]

I'd like to start my question by clarifying my situation:

I have set up a phone system for my family over the years which uses Cisco endpoints (incl. 7970, 7965, 7975, 8841, 8851 etc.). All these phones were acquired via eBay, either brand new or used.

I see online that there are sellers of SMARTNet contracts for the devices that are not EoL. My questions would be:

A) Are these contracts international (I live in Europe, can I buy one from a US website?) or need to be purchased locally?

B) Can I buy a contract as an individual?

C) When should I buy such contract? Does it need to be bought at the time of purchase? How is the time of purchase defined and verified? Does it need to be renewed for the duration of the product's lifetime (i.e. if I buy a contract now and it expires, can I buy a new one for the same device well after the expiry)? Can I buy it for the first time only when something breaks?

D) One of my 7965s which I bought used, died. I see that there's currently an active SMARTNet contract for it which does not belong to me. Can I buy a new contract and assign the phone to it?

Thanks!

[tfitch · Accepted solution]

Any product bought on the grey market would need to be inspected before it can be added to a service contract. Products not previously on a contract would  also have to be inspected before being added.

We do not sell to individuals but sell through our partners and resellers. You can search on Cisco.com for a partner near you.

You cannot add a devices that is broken to a service contract.

If you look at our legal pages they will explain this to you. The page can be found https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/about/legal/service-descriptions.html.

Regards, Tim