Left my 3G in a cab in Korea. Can it be found?

[blinkgti]

Ok so thats the long and the short of it. Left it in Korea. have a mobileme account, but didnt have the locate my iphone thing set up because, well, i didnt know about it until I googled 'lost my iphone'

So anyway the wifi is on and theres a lot of random free wifi spots all over out here. Is there a way I can find it if it happenes to pick up on one? And calling the cab company is not an option because 1. language barrier and 2. I dont know the company of cab i got in. I can only vaguely remember what it looked like but theres sooo many out here. Anyway help is appreciated.

 

[ARF900]

Well without the locate my phone theres not much you can do. Does it have a passcode on it? What I would recommend is that you get on google translate and find out how to say "Mail me to (your address)" Then borrow a phone from a friend and text yourself. I dont think the iphone will join wifi networks without your permission anyway... even if it did you wouldnt be able to find it.

Sorry bud unless someone decides to go out of their way to return it to you your SOLs

 

[LIVEFRMNYC]

Your best bet(even though it's still a very slim chance) is to leave a couple of text messages. Hopefully the sim card is still inside.

 

[pcs are junk]

u can text them offering a reward.

 

[blinkgti]

The prob. is that its not a Korean Iphone. its from the states, so it has no signal to receive texts or anything like that. its basically an iTouch at this point. I used it to make skype calls and whatnot, as well as my daily phone in the states. Had I known about the locate svc in mobileme this prob. wouldnt be an issue...or as big of one anyway.

 

[LIVEFRMNYC]

The prob. is that its not a Korean Iphone. its from the states, so it has no signal to receive texts or anything like that. its basically an iTouch at this point. I used it to make skype calls and whatnot, as well as my daily phone in the states. Had I known about the locate svc in mobileme this prob. wouldnt be an issue...or as big of one anyway.

Mobile ME would be useless anyways without signal. And even if it could just use the GPS without signal, chances are the iPhone is indoors by now making the GPS unusable.

 

[chimerical]

The prob. is that its not a Korean Iphone. its from the states, so it has no signal to receive texts or anything like that. its basically an iTouch at this point. I used it to make skype calls and whatnot, as well as my daily phone in the states. Had I known about the locate svc in mobileme this prob. wouldnt be an issue...or as big of one anyway.

There's still roaming, but since this was Korea, which was effectively CDMA-only last time I checked, that may not be much use for your GSM iPhone. The most you can do is email yourself, write on your own Facebook wall, and just about anything that might get noticed by a good samaritan. Otherwise, report it stolen with as much information as you can (serial, IMEI, etc.), and change your appropriate passwords.

Edit: On second thought, I just remembered the iPhone is being offered in Korea, and there is no CDMA iPhone, so... maybe KT Corp is a GSM carrier? Try texting yourself. It's worth a shot.

 

[Applejuiced]

Left your iphone in a cab in Korea?
You can forget about it, you're not getting it back.

 

[IgnatiusTheKing]

The best thing you can do is go buy another iPhone.

Sorry.

 

[renewed]

Left your iphone in a cab in Korea?
You can forget about it, you're not getting it back.

This. It's gone.

 

[vega07]

Sorry about that. I left my wallet in a Korean cab while studying abroad. Was hoping the cab driver would be nice an return it but it never showed up.

But another MR user here did the same thing as you and the cab driver went down his contact list and called his Korean friend. Hopefully you have some Korean numbers in your contact list. But even if you do there is a slim chance you'll get it back.

But you should expect not to get it back. BUT I hope you get it back, though.

Good luck.

 

[ucfgrad93]

Left your iphone in a cab in Korea?
You can forget about it, you're not getting it back.

Unfortunately, this is most likely the case. Sorry for your loss OP.

 

[tritonj]

where you leave it is irelevent, if it is in a public place kiss it good bye, to mention that it happened in korea as part of the reason for it being gone is a bit offensive.

 

[ethical]

where you leave it is irelevent, if it is in a public place kiss it good bye

not completely true. not everyone out there is so dishonest. Very recently my friend lost his iPhone, he reported it to the police, 4 days later he got a call saying someone had handed it in.

My advice OP is this: Find out how to report it to the police. Send yourself some texts offering a reward (on the off chance it will receive texts). If you're really desperate, try and find out the cab company and contact them... it shouldn't be too hard to find the right translation.

best of luck!

 

[IgnatiusTheKing]

to mention that it happened in korea as part of the reason for it being gone is a bit offensive.

How is that any more offensive than saying, "I left my phone in a cab in (New York or New Orleans or London or Paris or Sydney or New Delhi)"?

 

[eplchamps0305]

How do you expect to get it back anyway. How would they know how to contact you etc. Maybe it was given to the police. Have you called the police?

 

[tritonj]

How is that any more offensive than saying, "I left my phone in a cab in (New York or New Orleans or London or Paris or Sydney or New Delhi)"?

for one thing none of those are countries they are all cities

and secondly

Left your iphone in a cab in Korea?
You can forget about it, you're not getting it back.

in that question/statement the implication is clear. he isn't getting it back not because he left it in a cab but because it was a cab in korea

 

[eplchamps0305]

for one thing none of those are countries they are all cities

and secondly

Left your iphone in a cab in Korea?
You can forget about it, you're not getting it back.

in that question/statement the implication is clear. he isn't getting it back not because he left it in a cab but because it was a cab in korea

I would be suprised if anyone left a phone in a cab in another country they would get it back. How would the finder reach the owner? In this case the phone has no service. I have found phones here in the US, I was able to locate the owner from contacts in the phone. If the phone had been locked I would not have been able to do that, despite all my honest intentions. How do we even know that the cab driver has not turned it in. The owner is even yet to contact the cab company. You cant contact the cab company you have no chance of getting your phone.

 

[johnsmclean]

If it was South Korea maybe, North Korea no

 

[outphase]

in that question/statement the implication is clear. he isn't getting it back not because he left it in a cab but because it was a cab in korea

I think you're looking for controversy where one doesn't exist. The reason Korea was mentioned was that he is not Korean, so he cannot simply walk out and track down the phone by asking around.

Does "I left my iPhone in a cab in France" still sound offensive? Note that it is not a city but a country I mentioned.

 

[IgnatiusTheKing]

for one thing none of those are countries they are all cities

and secondly

Left your iphone in a cab in Korea?
You can forget about it, you're not getting it back.

in that question/statement the implication is clear. he isn't getting it back not because he left it in a cab but because it was a cab in korea

"Korea" isn't a country, either, but would you be more or less offended if he had said he left his cell phone in a cab in America (or the UK, France, Australia, India, Nigeria, Brazil)? I think you'll find that most everyone who commented on this thread thinks the phone is lost forever more because it was left in A CAB than where, geographically, that cab was located.

I just don't understand people that look to get offended at the littlest things.

 

[Applejuiced]

"Korea" isn't a country, either, but would you be more or less offended if he had said he left his cell phone in a cab in America (or the UK, France, Australia, India, Nigeria, Brazil)? I think you'll find that most everyone who commented on this thread thinks the phone is lost forever more because it was left in A CAB than where, geographically, that cab was located.

I just don't understand people that look to get offended at the littlest things.

Exactly, people like him try to get offended over nothing.
What I meant is he's in a foreign country where he don't speak the language and he don't even know what taxi companys car he left it. Trying to trace it down in a city with hundreds of cabs and someone finding it that speaks English and calling a us number with country code to return it is far far fetched. No matter what country it's lost in people will keep it.
The reality is he is not getting it back, that's where I was getting.

 

[ARF900]

for one thing none of those are countries they are all cities

and secondly

Left your iphone in a cab in Korea?
You can forget about it, you're not getting it back.

in that question/statement the implication is clear. he isn't getting it back not because he left it in a cab but because it was a cab in korea

hes not getting it back because he left it in Korea BECAUSE it will not get a signal on Korea making it virtually unaccessible. OP does it have a passcode on it?

 

[mackmgg]

for one thing none of those are countries they are all cities

and secondly

Left your iphone in a cab in Korea?
You can forget about it, you're not getting it back.

in that question/statement the implication is clear. he isn't getting it back not because he left it in a cab but because it was a cab in korea

He's not saying its because of Korea, but rather because its not the US, and speaks english, and it doesn't get service there

 

[blinkgti]

OK so...I had no racial undertones in my post. The reason, as was stated earlier that i mention the location, was that Im not in the states (so ATT couldnt help/phone has no signal) and I dont speak Korean.

<HOWEVER>

I AM GETTING THE PHONE BACK THIS AFTERNOON!
the person that found it managed to get to my contact info and emaild me saying that they have my phone and will gladly return it to me!

So yes, I suppose I met that 1:10000000 person that will return something like this even if it means going through the trouble of translating and navigating a foreign language. As a side note, an Iphone here in South Korea sells for 700+ WON which is around 680USD. Sure Its not useable here as is, but they DO have 3G and with RedSn0w could probably unlock it and make it work.

Moral of the story: Be more careful when exiting cabs and do the right thing if you find something thats not yours. God/Karma/Buddah is watching...