> Well, thats reality.
> Sometimes the mobile telco hotlines are so overloaded, you cannot even tell
> them that your phone was stolen. (Talk about service-but you get what you
> pay for)
> In germany, there is some list, where every cell phone can be entered with
> its IMEI-number (thats like the MAC on an ethernet card). So theoretically
> you simply enter them and make them useless for the thief.
>
> But its too much work for the telcos, so they tell you they cannot, their
> computer systems are down, or the list is overcrowded and no more entries
> can be made (there was a discussion on .de usenet some year ago, IIRC, and
> they stated that the list indeed was very big and no-one really cared for
> that), etc etc.
>
> It is simply some work, that they don't get paid for, have some personnel
> that is not trained for other tasks then saying: Ok, I'll send you some
> prospects...
> So there are some insurance companies offering policies, but we all know
> the attitude of insurance...
>
> Bottom line: The telco does not want it, because it is work, and they don't
> make money with it.
> It would be technically able to enter the _individual number_ of a cell
> phone into a database (which already exists), rendering stolen cell phones
> useless immediately. They will be simply denied upon log-in to the tower.
>
Rumor has it, that the telco's don't WANT to blacklist stolen phones,
because many phones end up in countries where a large percentage of the
phones are stolen, and are "recycled" to new customers who are paying for
the calls. It they suddenly stopped working, the telco's (or their
affiliates) would loose much income.
Also, it should be possible to put in a new (or blank) IMEI number in the
phone, making the blacklist useless.
Leif
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