Info about tracking stolen phones

Call T-Mobile and ask them if they blacklist stolen IMEIs. If they do, get the phone's IMEI from the seller and have T-Mobile check it -- give them the phone make and model, too. Of course the seller can give you the wrong IMEI, but then once your phone arrives you'll know right away there was a switch and will probably be able to reverse the charges through Paypal.

 

yeah........prolli be bext to ask to see the phone and right down the IMEI yourself........and i would assume that T-Mobile blacklists IMEIs but they have no way of enforcing it because someone can just put their SIM into the blacklisted phone..............unless T-Mobile would lock up the SIM or refuse the phone access to the network........and someone could have the phone unlocked by a third party and then T-Mobile would have to share the blacklist with all of the other GSM companies in the U.S. ..........it would just be unmanageable..........once it would get outside of T-Mobile it would be completely pointless to try and track it..........so for all know know the person may have gotten it from someone who used another network and used a simple coin to debrand the phone by scraping the label off.........unless the label is still there of course

 

I hear Europe has a nice centralized blacklist database that all providers check against but I don't think there's anything like that in the US.

 

which is a real shame because these phones get stolen all the time.......a friend of mine was at a party and her purse got stolen........she lost her black RAZR which is a lot to pay for a replacement RAZR when your in a contract and can't get a new one for discount price.......if the had a decentralized blacklist like the one they have in Europe.........she would have gotten her phone back by now.....i realize that not all phones have GPS but someone will have to put a SIM in the phone sometime to get it to work......if all the carriers had the blacklisted IMEI number then if someone with Cingular gets their phone stolen........when the thief unlocks it and takes it to T-Mobile T-Mobile can simply say something like "I'm sorry there seems to be a problem. To activate it you'l have to take it to a store." Then when the thief gets to the store T-Mobile can reclaim the phone and use the list to contact the owner to return the phone

the only problem with this is that a whole separate effort would need to be put together........there would need to be a database with the blacklisted IMEIs and who they belong to so that when they eventually do turn up there is a way to contact the perosn and to let them know that their phone has turned up........then there would be the legal problem........if the thief did come to the store........how would you simply take the phone from the person???.........it could get potentially dangerous

 

T-Mobile does not blacklist IMEIs as far as I know.

 

which like i pointed out is a disappointment for all of those people who have had problems with phones because of theft......they dont realize that the thief can still use the internet and all of their minutes and rack up overages........but by the time their bill is screwed over the charges are irreversible.......kinda sux for those people........they should make a system........like AMBER but for phones......haha

 

One way to avoid it is to always have Fixed dialing enabled. It's a PITA on Nokias if you want to use data because you have to turn it off for that, but at least you're somehwat protected against charges in case of theft.

 

ive seen that feature on my old T-Mobile Moto V188 but outline the whole feature for me so i understand it correctly......i didnt have the SIM PIN2 code so i was locked out of it

 

T-Mobile default PIN2 is 5678, but you can always get PIN2/PUK2 from customer care. The way it works on the Nokia phones is that you can set up a list of numbers that will be allowed to dial (Fixed number list), any other number will never be allowed unless the feature was turned off. Turning on and off requires PIN2. Unfortunately, at least on Nokia, GPRS is "bundled" with the Fixed dialing, it would've been great if it were separate setting.

 

so how would this help to keep a thief from using your phone........simply type in the PIN2 every time you need to make a call and when the thief has the phone he cant make calls?

 

Right, and I know it's a PITA. One can also put a list of numbers in the "allowed" list, then those numbers won't require entering the PIN2.

 

yeah it is a PITA and i still think that it would be simpler to have a lost phone system......although the phone companies wont go with it cuz they make money off of people buying replacement phones for when ones get stolen.......it really sux for the consumer......unless they have insurance