Phone stolen

thelawnet

Any word on how this works? My wife's phone was stolen in a pub just now, Samsung Omnia 7. Rang initially but now they've obviously turned it off or taken out the sim card.

Just called up T-mobile, they said they blocked the phone. What does that actually do? Does it deter any thief? I'm assuming not?

buscape

It means the phone and sim card can't be used on any network.

thelawnet

But basically means she's got no chance at all of getting it back, right?

jenniewb

thelawnet wrote: »

But basically means she's got no chance at all of getting it back, right?

Blocking the phone wouldn't bring it back either way. If the phone was blocked and the scum who stole it realised and had no use for the phone (some sims can scramble the handets once turned on, so thieves tend to take the sim out I would have thought) even if they had no use for the handset, I doubt they would make the effort to find a police station (are there any left??) to hand it in, give their details which are requested and be on file.

It could be lucky, they could dump the handet, someone else could hand it in, if its not scrambled they could find the details on it and get it back to you but its unlikely IMO you will get it back. (I say this having had 2 handsets stolen from me.

If you have house insurance you could try to claim it from that? Otherwise call your mobile company, they could have refurbished handsets to sell to get you a handset to use.

Tony5101

Did you by any chance have the "find my phone" feature switched on.
This is a standard feature of the o/s, but obviously only if you've initialised it etc.
Read through this info....it might help.
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsphone/en-gb/howto/wp7/basics/find-a-lost-phone.aspx
Good luck!

Buzby

It will only be blocked within the EU, so it taken to Asia or the sub-continent, it will work fen - so it's all bit pointless - just a minor inconvenience to the thief.

The network should replace your SIM immediately, and I suggest you buy a s/h replacement as this will be the most cost effective route to get back to where you were before the theft.

thelawnet

Tony5101 wrote: »

Did you by any chance have the "find my phone" feature switched on.
This is a standard feature of the o/s, but obviously only if you've initialised it etc.
Read through this info....it might help.
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsphone/en-gb/howto/wp7/basics/find-a-lost-phone.aspx
Good luck!

Shows it as being found 8:56pm last night. She was still home then.

Not sure that feature will work now the phone is blocked. Should I ask them to unblock it?

Tony5101

The feature works as long as it is connected to any type of data source. So if it's been blocked by the network, then it won't catch any mobile data, but if whoever has it connects it to their wifi, it should still pick it up.
I'd be very tempted to use the lock feature. If the slime that has the phone then connects to wifi, the phone should then receive the command to lock...rendering it completely useless to whoever has it.
Small consolation I suppose...but at least someone else isn't getting the benefit of the phone.