Phone Locator?

[eurojazzer]

Ok, so I "lost" my Q the other day. I was extremely busy and was using the phone as a flashlight for a map in the car at night. I left it in my friend's car, and it's just not there. I'm about 99% sure I left it there, because it dissapeared within those 5 mins, and I used it in the car, and then went inside the house.

I called the phone for 3 days, and it ran. I checked, and the last call made was the one I made. Eventually, it ran out of battery and died. It has been about 5 days.

Getting to the point. Supposedly the phone can be tracked by GPS if the option is enabled (which I did enable it). Is there anyway to trace the phone? What's important to me are the numbers in the phone. I'm a musician, and that's my network for gigs, so the phone is a necessity. Plus, the phone and storage card weren't cheap, so I hope that I'm able to recover my investment.

Is there any possible way to trace my phone? Thanks.

[jmorisey]

Originally Posted by eurojazzer

Ok, so I "lost" my Q the other day. I was extremely busy and was using the phone as a flashlight for a map in the car at night. I left it in my friend's car, and it's just not there. I'm about 99% sure I left it there, because it dissapeared within those 5 mins, and I used it in the car, and then went inside the house.

I called the phone for 3 days, and it ran. I checked, and the last call made was the one I made. Eventually, it ran out of battery and died. It has been about 5 days.

Getting to the point. Supposedly the phone can be tracked by GPS if the option is enabled (which I did enable it). Is there anyway to trace the phone? What's important to me are the numbers in the phone. I'm a musician, and that's my network for gigs, so the phone is a necessity. Plus, the phone and storage card weren't cheap, so I hope that I'm able to recover my investment.

Is there any possible way to trace my phone? Thanks.

FIRST - I would like to send my condolence and say sorry for your lost.

SECOND - Make sure you have called your carrier and report your phone lost/stolen. You ARE responsible for any calls and activity on the phone up to the minute that you call.

THIRD - You never backed up your phone with Outlook or Wireless sync?


As far as using the phone's GPS, its not going to happen.

1.) The phone has to be on for the GPS to work, and by now the battery is doead and the phone is off.

2.) In order to use the Phone's GPS for tracking and locating, I am pretty sure that it is law now that there must be an active local/state/federal subpoena/warrant to get this information. (I could be wrong)

3.) People loss cell phones or have them stolen everyday. It would be to costly for the carrier to always be tracking the cell phones, plus, the make money off of it, because now you are going to get a new phone.

I know this is not what you wanted to hear, and for your sake, maybe I am wrong, but don't hold your breathe.

[Pony99CA]

Originally Posted by jmorisey

In order to use the Phone's GPS for tracking and locating, I am pretty sure that it is law now that there must be an active local/state/federal subpoena/warrant to get this information. (I could be wrong)

You're definitely wrong. Requiring a warrant would pretty much make e911 useless.

Also, Helio offers its Buddy Beacon service, which allows your friends to see where you are. So using GPS for locating is not illegal if you allow it.

Other than those exceptions, I hope that you're right about requiring a warrant/subpoena.

Anyway, it certainly can't hurt to contact the carrier, give them your name and phone number and ask if they can locate the phone. However, as you said, if the battery is dead, that probably won't work even if the carrier is willing to do it.

Steve

[redtop91]

Actually you are wrong. E911 is for emergencies only which I highly doubt (although you may disagree) losing your phone is considered. The only way a phone can be traced is by calling our corporate offices with a warrant. Otherwise SFL will be your best hope and pray that the thief is dumb enough to allow the phone to be traced (since SFL sends a request message to the phone =/ )

[Pony99CA]

Originally Posted by redtop91

Actually you are wrong. E911 is for emergencies only which I highly doubt (although you may disagree) losing your phone is considered.

How am I wrong? I said that requiring a warrant would make e911 useless. I never said that losing a phone was an emergency.

Originally Posted by redtop91

The only way a phone can be traced is by calling our corporate offices with a warrant.

Who said the OP was on Sprint? Some companies allow phones to be located by friends.

Originally Posted by redtop91

Otherwise SFL will be your best hope and pray that the thief is dumb enough to allow the phone to be traced (since SFL sends a request message to the phone =/ )

What is SFL? Even Wikipedia didn't find that one.

UPDATE: I had to Google it -- I assume that's Sprint Family Locator (but that doesn't seem to be supported on the Q). Please don't use carrier-specific abbreviations and assume that everybody knows what they mean.

Steve

[redtop91]

Well since the OP isn't posting in the Q9m forum or GSM Q forums it is safe to assume that it is Verizon Wireless or Sprint. Being that I work for Sprint I chose to speak information that I know is correct. If the OP has Sprint, I will maintain that you are incorrect.

[Pony99CA]

Originally Posted by redtop91

Well since the OP isn't posting in the Q9m forum or GSM Q forums it is safe to assume that it is Verizon Wireless or Sprint.

You made a bad assumption. What about Alltel or Telus or Bell Canada or any of the other CDMA carriers with the original Q? The OP didn't specify his location or carrier, so your assumption was unjustified.

Furthermore, I guess you've never seen people post in the wrong forums. This could be viewed as the general Q forum, so I wouldn't even rule out the possibility of the OP having a Q9h. (Personally, I think posting in one of the carrier forums would have been better.)

Originally Posted by redtop91

Being that I work for Sprint I chose to speak information that I know is correct.

Understood, but you didn't qualify it by saying "If you're on Sprint" or anything. You just said, "The only way a phone can be traced is by calling our corporate offices with a warrant", which could be completely incorrect for any other carrier.

And it's not like carrier reps are never wrong, either.

Originally Posted by redtop91

If the OP has Sprint, I will maintain that you are incorrect.

You still haven't said what I was incorrect about. One poster said that he thought the only way to get position information was with a warrant or subpoena. I said that would make e911 impossible. I also pointed out that other carriers allowed position sharing. How was that wrong?

Granted, those items weren't necessarily applicable to this situation, but I was addressing the general comment about warrants/subpoenas, not this specific case.

Anyway, I still think the OP should try contacting his carrier. All he can lose is some time at this point.

Steve

[eurojazzer]

Very well. Thanks for the help. The very first thing I did with the phone was cancel it, so I had that done. My biggest issue is that I was told (at a verizon kisok) that the person who has the phone can just do a system reset, then take it to a verizon store and have it programmed as their "new" phone. I haven't heard of this before, but it does worry me. I'm pretty much at the point of scanning the local pawn shops, and calling verizon to verify if there is any procedure that may lead to reclaiming the phone. Again, thanks for the help, I really appreciate it.

-Carlos

[MattB]

They wont be able to register it as a new phone, as there is now way to change the ESN. It would still come up as a lost or stolen phone.

[venumx]

If the phone was stolen by a verizon employee...there IS a way to change the ESN within their system, but it takes a while and a certain amount of clearance to do. Same goes with Sprint as I have worked for both carriers.