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TSX

macrumors 68030
Original poster
Oct 1, 2008
2,632
80
Texas
....But you have to buy their insurance. If you have their insurance and you lose or your iPhone or gets stolen they will blacklist your imei # and recover your iPhone of they try to activate it. Insurance cost 10.00 a month with a 200.00 deductible, but it covers lost and stolen phones too. This imei blacklisting is new to att, even though everyother carrier does it.
 

Hook'Em2006

macrumors 6502
Sep 9, 2009
423
17
Plano, TX
that stupid. They should blacklist if you lose it anyway. I never understood this rule. I know that some people would try to screw over a buyer by claiming it was "stolen" when they sell, but I mean really? this is stupid.:confused:
 

ap3604

macrumors 68000
Jan 11, 2011
1,929
0
Makes perfect sense to me :p

Att either:
- Gets paid extra through insurance by the iPhone user

or:
- Gets another paying customer on their network who stole the phone

Just got to follow the money trail...





BTW source?
 

0970373

Suspended
Mar 15, 2008
2,727
1,412
....But you have to buy their insurance. If you have their insurance and you lose or your iPhone or gets stolen they will blacklist your imei # and recover your iPhone of they try to activate it. Insurance cost 10.00 a month with a 200.00 deductible, but it covers lost and stolen phones too. This imei blacklisting is new to att, even though everyother carrier does it.

To be fair, AT&T does blacklist this for non-iPhones that have been stolen. At least they did when I used to work there (long before iPhone were around. lol).
 

ZBoater

macrumors G3
Jul 2, 2007
8,497
1,322
Sunny Florida
When phones were dumb and cost $50 I could understand the carriers reluctance to blacklist imeis. But with an iPhone costing as much as $850, I think they have an obligation to discourage theft.

This, of course, is just my opinion.
 

ap3604

macrumors 68000
Jan 11, 2011
1,929
0
When phones were dumb and cost $50 I could understand the carriers reluctance to blacklist imeis. But with an iPhone costing as much as $850, I think they have an obligation to discourage theft.

That would cost them money though if they blacklist a potential future customer using that stolen iPhone on their network ;)
 

kappaknight

macrumors 68000
Mar 5, 2009
1,595
91
Atlanta, GA
What's the point? Is the thief going to be like "Oh, okay fine. I'll return it to the guy I stole it from since I can't activate it."

Chances are, they'll just sell it on CL.
 

Daveoc64

macrumors 601
Jan 16, 2008
4,074
92
Bristol, UK
That would cost them money though if they blacklist a potential future customer using that stolen iPhone on their network ;)

I don't really think that's a valid argument.

Over here, the carriers block IMEIs for all lost/stolen phones and they share the data between each other.

That means that if your phone is stolen, its IMEI will be blocked on all carriers in your country as well as many carriers in other EU countries.

I don't really see anyone being in the situation that they have to choose between:

a) A stolen cell phone

OR

b) No cell phone

The carriers aren't going to lose customers from this.
 

0970373

Suspended
Mar 15, 2008
2,727
1,412
What's the point? Is the thief going to be like "Oh, okay fine. I'll return it to the guy I stole it from since I can't activate it."

Chances are, they'll just sell it on CL.

Well, if everyone knows this is regular practice to block IMEI's, then it could actually help reduce theft. Why steal something you know will be useless. And if other people know this can be blocked, people would (hopefully) ask for more proof of legitimacy when purchasing off of eBay or CL.
 

krs7272

macrumors regular
Sep 27, 2010
162
0
Detroit
Well, if everyone knows this is regular practice to block IMEI's, then it could actually help reduce theft. Why steal something you know will be useless. And if other people know this can be blocked, people would (hopefully) ask for more proof of legitimacy when purchasing off of eBay or CL.

If this held true people would have stopped stealing car stereos as many now are useless without the correct PCM. But they'll always steal them and someone will always buy them.
 

Rodimus Prime

macrumors G4
Oct 9, 2006
10,136
4
How can ATT blacklist IMEI when last I knew they don't have/ use them. Isn't that a CDMA thing?

Your phone still transimite the IMEI number to AT&T that is how they know if what phone you are using.
AT&T should of been blacklisting stolen phones for a while and sure as hell should not be charging for this service.
 

0970373

Suspended
Mar 15, 2008
2,727
1,412
If this held true people would have stopped stealing car stereos as many now are useless without the correct PCM. But they'll always steal them and someone will always buy them.

I don't know what PCMs for car stereos (I'm a New Yorker, we take the subway) are but if it a digital signature that can be tracked and stopped at a central source, then it should.

Can PCMs be tracked this way? Or are they more like DRM when it just makes use more difficult but not impossible?
 

krs7272

macrumors regular
Sep 27, 2010
162
0
Detroit
I don't know what PCMs for car stereos (I'm a New Yorker, we take the subway) are but if it a digital signature that can be tracked and stopped at a central source, then it should.

Can PCMs be tracked this way? Or are they more like DRM when it just makes use more difficult but not impossible?

One of the cars computers
 
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