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.

iPhone power button or lock button not working

Cell Clinic Vancouver offers a variety of iPhone repair services, but one you may not know of is a power button repair for the iPhone.

The power button is crucial to the functionally of the Apple iPhone. As iPhones get used, the power button begins to lose its “clickablity” and eventually stops working completely. If you are having issues with the power button problem, not to worry. Cell Clinic is able to replace this power button with our same day iPhone repair in Vancouver.

The price for the repair varies on the model of iPhone you have. In almost all cases, our customers have found the repair is defiantly worth the cost. No one likes dealing with a half working phone, or having to use iPhones “assistive touch”. To find out the cost of replacing your iPhone power button visit the iPhone repair prices page.

If you have another cell phone, other than an iPhone, that is experiencing this same issue, we can also repair this. Repair time and price varies on the type of cell phone you have. Some older cellphones may not we worth repairing, but newer smartphones like the Samsung Galaxy and the Samsung Note are worth fixing.

Please contact Cell Clinic Vancouver if you have any questions on power button issues or cell phone repair in general.

Study warns of using rice to dry out a water damaged cell phone

A Study released by Tek Dry provides information that may put to rest the old myth that placing a wet cell phone in rice can revive the cell phone.

 The study was performed by DTJ, and aimed to uncover if the common belief that putting a wet cell phone in a sealed container of rice could actually remove the water from the device.

 The results of this experiment found that “although rice can effectively remove some moister from a water damaged cell phone, it will not remove the water entirely from the device”

 The study also found the only way to deal with a water damaged cell phone properly, is to have its components cleaned professionally. This should prevent any problems in the future and provide the greatest change of saving your water damaged cell phone. The optimal time to seek professional phone repair assistance is within 2 days of submerging your cellphone in water. This can prevent the water from corroding the cell phones circuits, causing the phone to malfunction.

Below are some tips if to help you deal with a water damaged cell phone.

• If exposed to water, do NOT turn on or charge your cell phone (this can short out the electronic components of your device)

• Remove the cell phone’s battery if possible.  This can help separate the electricity and prevent your cell phone from short-circuiting.

• If dropped in the ocean, rise entirely with clean water. If salt water is left to dry it will corrode and completely damage your cell phone.

• If possible, contact a cell phone repair store within 2 days of exposing it to water. There, professionals will be able to properly clean the device and prevent water from damaging the cell phone’s components

Is Wind Mobile Worth The Cell Phone Plan Savings?

If you have recently been in the market for a new cell phone plan, chances are you have come across the plans offered by Wind Mobile. Currently, there are plans offered by Wind Mobile that start at around $30 a month for virtually everything you need in a cell phone plan. It often seems too good to be true, so we decided try out their services and find out for ourselves.

After a month of using Wind Mobile, we have discovered some true benefits of their cell phone plan and also some potential setbacks.

First off, Wind Mobile offers “unlimited” data for some of their plans. When talking with Rogers and Bell I was assured that after reaching 10GB a month the Wind Mobile service would slow down. This was also confirmed by Wind Mobile themself, but our thoughts were even 10GB of data for under $50 is an extremely great deal.

To test this, we attempted to reach the 10GB threshold during the month of using the Wind Mobile service.  Reaching 10GB of data use in a month was not the easiest thing to do, but we managed to reach it. What we found is that when we approached the 10GB threshold the data service DID NOT noticeably slow down.  Keep in mind we are using this Wind Moible in downtown Vancouver.

As far as the other services such as talk and text are concerned, we did not find any difference in coverage compared to providers such as Bell and Rogers.

Everything was looking great for the Wind Mobile case, until we left Vancouver. When leaving Vancouver, the story was completely different. The service was off and on, and when getting out of the Wind Mobile hot spots, we even found ourselves roaming at some points.

Our final conclusion of the Wind Mobile service is as follows:

If you are using Wind Mobile in Vancouver (especially the downtown core) the service is 5 stars in terms of value. If you are a frequent traveler or live outside of the Vancouver area, we would not recommend you go with Wind Mobile. The service may end up costing you more, due to roaming charges, and the frustration of not getting service in some places is not worth it. Maybe in the future Wind Mobile will expand their coverage reach, but currently the service is only worthwhile in the city of Vancouver, as far as British Columbia is concerned.

Trade-in Old Cell Phones & Tablets for Cash, Gifts or Charity this Christmas

To help families this Christmas, Cell Clinic Vancouver is accepting trade-ins on broken/used mobile devices for cash at nearly twice the value offered by major cell phone providers, and an additional 20 per cent to trade for in-store credit.

Gifts or cash will help families purchase presents this Christmas. We are also encouraging people to use this offer to purchase gifts and donate directly to a charity of their choice such as YWCA, Greater Vancouver Food Bank, Salvation Army, Covenant House, Senior Services Society, BC SPCA, Vancouver Humane Society, Downtown Eastside Women’s Centre and Kocihta (helping Indigenous youth reach their career potential).

“We want to help charities and families that are in need,” said Alex Dechant, owner of Cell Clinic Ltd. “Many people don’t realize that old cell phones and tablets can be turned into cash or repaired Vs. purchasing a new one. Repairing a new mobile device can save consumers hundreds of dollars, reduce technology’s carbon footprint, and eliminate the need to purchase a phone prior to the end of a cellular contract, or enter into a long-term contract with a mobile provider”, said Dechant.

Cell Clinic provides individuals and corporations with a quick, affordable, and quality phone repair in downtown Vancouver (935 Seymour) that will improve the functionality and life of their current cell phone and tablet. The store also offers gift certificates, refurbished mobile devices, and a variety of mobile accessories such as protection options, cases, Bluetooth speakers, headphones, chargers, etc.

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.