What to do if you have lost your cell phone

Loosing your cellphone can be devastating, but not to worry. We are here to offer you a few tips to find your missing phone, and some necessary steps to take if your phone cannot be found.

Almost everyone, in some situation or another, has experienced loosing his or her cell phone. The feeling can be awful, and you may experience some sort of panic. If you have lost your phone here are a few basic (maybe obvious) tips to help you find your mobile device.

1. Call the phone- Make a quick call to your phone, from another phone. If your phone is not on silent, you may get lucky and here you phone ring or vibrate. If you don’t have a phone nearby, and have a laptop, you can get online and find a program that will make a call or text to your device.

2. Search around- Take a look around the most obvious places you may have left it. If you are at home check the couch, bathroom, under the bed or pillows, and in your car. Check to see if you have left it on charge somewhere without remembering.

3. Retrace your steps- Try first remembering the last time you had your device. If you had been texting a friend, ask them to look at the time your last text was sent. This will help give you a time frame of when you may have lost your phone.

4. Text the phone- If you have access to another phone, text your phone. Someone may have found the device and cant get past the lock screen. They may be able to read the text, so text them a number they could potentially reach you at.

5. Call around- If you have been out for coffee or at the gym recently, you may have left your cellphone there. Give the places you have recently been a call to see if someone has found, or turned in your cell phone.

If you own an iPhone you may have a feature called “find my phone” activated on your mobile device. To find out if you have this activated, log on to www.icloud.com and click on the “find my phone” tab.

If you are lucky and have this service turned on, you can activate “lost mode” on your device. This will prevent anyone from using your device while it is locked. You will also be able to see the GPS location that your phone is currently at (if the device is on).

If you own an android device, a very similar application is available to you. Visit http://www.google.com/android/devicemanger to use this service.

What to do if your device is definitely lost.

If you have spend some time looking (a few days or so) for your cell phone, your device may be lost for good. If this is the case, and you are ready to move on a buy a new phone, there a few things your should do first

1. Check your insurance plan- You may have an insurance plan that covers lost or stolen phones. Some banks offer this service that you may not even be aware of. If you happen to have this coverage look into filling a claim and getting a new cellphone.

2. Call your network provider- Call your network provider and report your device as lost or stolen. This will prevent anyone from using your SIM card that may have been left in the device. This will avoid someone from using your phone and raking up a large cellphone bill for you. Please note, once you have reported your phone lost or stolen no one will ever be able to use that device again, not even you. Make sure you only do this if you are absolutely sure your phone is gone for good.

3. Report it- Contact the police and get them to log your devices “imei” number (if you have it). You may be able to get this number from the box your phone came with or from your service provider. If the police come across your device, they may be able to contact you and you can get your device back.

If you live in Vancouver, leave your “imei” with Cell Clinic Vancouver. Our downtown Vancouver phone store offers buying and selling services for phones. It is completely possible that your phone may end up here. If you let Cell Clinic know your imei, we can run future bought phones imei’s against yours and help locate your lost or stolen device.

How to unlock your cell phone in Vancouver

Having an unlocked cell phone or iPhone can be very beneficial and can save you a great deal of money. An unlocked cell phone allows you to use any SIM card in your cell phone, even if you bought your phone through another network provider (Telus, Rogers, Bell, ect.)

The freedom of an unlocked cell phone can save you money when traveling to another country. With the unlocked cell phone, you can get a SIM card in any foreign country, and use your phone with a network provider in that country. By doing this you will save yourself, hundreds and sometimes thousands of dollars, when using your cell phone when traveling.

An unlocked cell phone is not just beneficial when traveling. An unlocked cell phone or iPhone allows you to get a monthly cell phone plan with any local network provider, right here in Canada.  This means you wont need to sign a lengthy contract, and you won’t be tied into an expensive cell phone plan. You will be able to shop around and find the best deal that is suited to your needs, and do it on a month-to-month basis. Currently, there are cell phone plans available for less than $50 a month for unlimited everything.

Unlocking your cell phone can be done either at our downtown Vancouver store, over the phone, or by email.  All we need to know is the type of cell phone you have, the network your cell phone is currently locked to, and your phones “IMEI number” (unique number to every phone, found in your settings).

Once we have those 3 pieces of information, we are able to unlock your device. Unlocking your cell phone usually takes 1-24 hours depending on the type of phone you have. On Average, Samsung cellphones are cheaper to unlock and Apple iPhones are more expensive. Remember, we don’t actually need to have your phone during any part of this process. For some cell phones, once the unlocking is processed, the phone requires a code to be entered to complete the unlock process. Again this can be done in our store, over the phone, or by email.

The price for this service varies depending on the type of phone and the network it is d idea to call and get a quote on the day you decide you want this service done. Saying this, the prices for unlocking a cell phone are typically low ($30-$60) except when it comes to iPhones, which vary from $40-$100. Our cell phone unlocking process is a “factory unlock” meaning your phone is guaranteed to be unlocked forever.