lost my iPhone: any ideas re how I can retrieve it?

[malch]

Hi,
I realize this is a long shot, but I'll ask anyway (I also realize that I should post this here, and not in the Troubleshooting thread; you know, the way it's set up is a bit counterintuitive: I assumed that your choice of threads to post in are those that are listed below the "heading" post. But the "heading" is also postable. Live and learn.) Anyway...
I lost my iPhone while biking two days ago. The battery was near dead then, so for sure it's dead now. So if a good Samaritan had found it, there'd be no way to turn it on and find my phone number.
I cut off service yesterday morning (after taking one more look around, in the light of day) so I wouldn't get stuck with some huge phone bill (if, say, a bad Samaritan were to find it, charge it up, and start using it to call family members in Samarita).
So, given all that, is there any hope of finding my phone, other than putting up some "Lost phone" posters, and checking 'Lost & Found' lists?
Thought I'd ask in case I'm missing something obvious.
And by the way, I have MobielMe, but no, I never launched that 'Find My Phone' service, and given the fact that the battery was dead and I cut off service, I doubt that would have worked anyway.
Regards, malch

 

[stridemat]

Have you tried visiting the local police station near to where you lost it? Not much hope but you never know.

 

[JosephBergdoll]

Pretty sure your phone is lost... be more careful next time maybe?

 

[billyjoegibsonx]

Unfortunately I think you'd be best starting to save up for a new one. I'd be so upset if I lost my phone, but you did the right thing by cancelling your services to avoid crazy bills due to illegal calls placed on your handset.

 

[malch]

O.K., well thanks. I'll check with the local police stations.
As a follow-up question. What can a person do if they find a phone like this?
Can they take it into a service-provider and simply purchase a new card or whatever it's called... get a plan, and get it working? Or will the service provider somehow know that the phone was bought by someone else.
Probably very easy to get a found phone working again, but I'm just wondering if there are any stumbling blocks.
malch

 

[CocoaPuffs]

O.K., well thanks. I'll check with the local police stations.
As a follow-up question. What can a person do if they find a phone like this?
Can they take it into a service-provider and simply purchase a new card or whatever it's called... get a plan, and get it working? Or will the service provider somehow know that the phone was bought by someone else.
Probably very easy to get a found phone working again, but I'm just wondering if there are any stumbling blocks.
malch

There are about 123232 such threads exist in this forum and everywhere on the web. Rather than waiting for a response, why not just search for the damn thing?

 

[JosephBergdoll]

O.K., well thanks. I'll check with the local police stations.
As a follow-up question. What can a person do if they find a phone like this?
Can they take it into a service-provider and simply purchase a new card or whatever it's called... get a plan, and get it working? Or will the service provider somehow know that the phone was bought by someone else.
Probably very easy to get a found phone working again, but I'm just wondering if there are any stumbling blocks.
malch

They could eat it. They could sell it. They could paint it all sorts of colors and hang it on a wall. They could do anything with a phone like that.

 

[malch]

Rather than waiting for a response, why not just search for the damn thing?

Very helpful advice, Cocoa. Thank you.

And Joseph ("They could eat it. They could sell it."); thank you as well. I can see that you're as generous and understanding to people who post on this forum as your Arizonan governor is to anyone who's not a WASP.

Thing is, I have looked for my phone, haven't found it, and I'm simply wondering what someone who might find it can do with it. Will it never be more than a paper-weight? Or can they easily get it working again. It's a valid question. Not a valid place to post the question, apparently.

thanks to the rest of you, though. malch

 

[Geckotek]

Very helpful advice, Cocoa. Thank you.

And Joseph ("They could eat it. They could sell it."); thank you as well. I can see that you're as generous and understanding to people who post on this forum as your Arizonan governor is to anyone who's not a WASP.

Thing is, I have looked for my phone, haven't found it, and I'm simply wondering what someone who might find it can do with it. Will it never be more than a paper-weight? Or can they easily get it working again. It's a valid question. Not a valid place to post the question, apparently.

thanks to the rest of you, though. malch

You're right, it's a valid question. And I'm sure you're the only one who's ever had that question on this forum.

 

[JosephBergdoll]

Very helpful advice, Cocoa. Thank you.

And Joseph ("They could eat it. They could sell it."); thank you as well. I can see that you're as generous and understanding to people who post on this forum as your Arizonan governor is to anyone who's not a WASP.

Thing is, I have looked for my phone, haven't found it, and I'm simply wondering what someone who might find it can do with it. Will it never be more than a paper-weight? Or can they easily get it working again. It's a valid question. Not a valid place to post the question, apparently.

thanks to the rest of you, though. malch

They can do anything to it that you could do when you find it. Charge it up, take out your sim card and put a new one in, use it as usual. Isn't this pretty damn obvious? Some people need to THINK these days...

 

[malch]

I'm not going to amuse people beyond this final (I hope) post.

Two things, though. One, I did do a search, and, by the way, here are the top thread titles that appear when you search for "lost iphone on this site:
- SJ and Ryan Tate do at it via email at 2AM!
- How can I recover lost files from iphone
- iPhone PUSH to MobileMe NOT WORKING
- Police Seize Gizmodo Editor's Computers..."
- Scratched my iPad, a warning to all!

... and the list goes on. Helpful? Not really.
Two, if the only subjects people on this site were allowed to post about were subjects that hadn't been touched on before, well... just how lively would these site's be? A few hits a day maybe?
That's not how it seems to me these things work. You do a search (I did that, though I admit I didn't go pages and pages deep), and if your question's not answered, you phrase it respectfully, and hopefully in a way that maybe some new light will be shed on the subject, even if it's a subject that's been covered before.

 

[CocoaPuffs]

Like I said, would you rather wait for a response or find the answer immediately? Perhaps you're the type that like to be spoon-fed, and I was merely suggesting an alternative approach.

 

[Vinnie Madrox]

here's a question......lets say he reported his phone stolen to his service provider {assuming it's AT&T} and the Police. when someone else puts their own SIM card in, will it send up a red flag and not let the phone work, or at least notify someone {at&t perhaps?}, or would it just work normally?

i remember when i was selling my old Verizon phones, people would call Verizon to check the ESN number to make sure it was "a clear ESN" and not a stolen phone......

OP, does that help?

 

[malch]

Vinnie, thank you. That's exactly the kind of thing I was wondering about.
(I had said that my last post would be it, but I can't help thanking someone who actually put some thought, rather than simple sarcasm, into a post).
I'll pursue this with my provider.
Cheers, malch

 

[CocoaPuffs]

I guess you like misinformed answers. Neither AT&T nor Apple will do anything about lost phones. Good luck waiting for the right answers.

 

[Geckotek]

I'm not going to amuse people beyond this final (I hope) post.

Two things, though. One, I did do a search, and, by the way, here are the top thread titles that appear when you search for "lost iphone on this site:
- SJ and Ryan Tate do at it via email at 2AM!
- How can I recover lost files from iphone
- iPhone PUSH to MobileMe NOT WORKING
- Police Seize Gizmodo Editor's Computers..."
- Scratched my iPad, a warning to all!

... and the list goes on. Helpful? Not really.
Two, if the only subjects people on this site were allowed to post about were subjects that hadn't been touched on before, well... just how lively would these site's be? A few hits a day maybe?
That's not how it seems to me these things work. You do a search (I did that, though I admit I didn't go pages and pages deep), and if your question's not answered, you phrase it respectfully, and hopefully in a way that maybe some new light will be shed on the subject, even if it's a subject that's been covered before.

Search 101
A) Try limiting your search to only the iPhone forum. Who cares about a scratched iPad
B) Try varying search terms. Another issue that's similar to a lost phone...a stolen phone.