Does 2degrees lock stolen phones or not?

Forums › 2degrees (including Slingshot, Orcon, Flip, Stuff Fibre, MyRepublic, 2talk and Vocus) › Does 2degrees lock stolen phones or not?

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#787339 26-Mar-2013 16:57

styxgeist: What actual process is followed for blocking IMEI's and also what verification if any that the person that is calling to block said IMEI is the actual owner of it. IE what is to stop me from calling up all the networks with my evil ex girlfriends IMEI and getting her phone blocked in spite?

The caller must be a 2degrees customer and must have account authority. We will not block devices if reported as a lost/stolen by a non-2degrees customer. They will be security ID'd either by providing their account PIN or answering appropriate security questions.

Care will need the following info -
2degrees number/IMEI
Date the device lost/stolen
Contact number
Any other notes that the customer wants to provide (e.g. police ref)

Please note that the handset must be reported stolen to 2degrees within 30 days.

freitasm

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#787341 26-Mar-2013 17:02

Ok, so we are back to the first stop then...

If someone steals a Vodafone or Telecom handset then the thief (or recipient) can then still use it on 2degrees...

wibble

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#787343 26-Mar-2013 17:04

freitasm: Ok, so we are back to the first stop then...

If someone steals a Vodafone or Telecom handset then the thief (or recipient) can then still use it on 2degrees...

But isn't that the same for VF & TC? Isn't it their standard procedure that they can only block handsets from their network?

freitasm

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#787348 26-Mar-2013 17:06

Up until recently there were "synchronising" their lists and blocking handsets from one another - that's why handsets on Trade Me with "works only on 2degrees" were most likely stolen goods.

They have started recently work to make it an automated process (as JohnR said previously). IIRC they used to email each other with an Excel spreadsheet with the IMEIs to block.

wibble

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#787351 26-Mar-2013 17:13

freitasm: Up until recently there were "synchronising" their lists and blocking handsets from one another - that's why handsets on Trade Me with "works only on 2degrees" were most likely stolen goods.

They have started recently work to make it an automated process (as JohnR said previously). IIRC they used to email each other with an Excel spreadsheet with the IMEIs to block.

I don't think that it is true that they were synchronising until recently. As JohnR said in this thread:
"Edit: It happened for a short time then stopped, I need to back track on this comment sorry".

My understanding is that VF and TC haven't swapped lists in at least a year - any phone reported to either VF or TC in that time will only be blocked on their network and not the other one.

The TCF are working with the 3 operators to move towards a shared blacklist:
http://www.tcf.org.nz/content/859a70b5-13cf-47ce-ae40-1c8c032bae39.html

freitasm

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#787352 26-Mar-2013 17:16

wibble: My understanding is that VF and TC haven't swapped lists in at least a year - any phone reported to either VF or TC in that time will only be blocked on their network and not the other one.

My understand is that they have swapped lists until recently.

wibble

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#787355 26-Mar-2013 17:22

freitasm:
wibble: My understanding is that VF and TC haven't swapped lists in at least a year - any phone reported to either VF or TC in that time will only be blocked on their network and not the other one.

My understand is that they have swapped lists until recently.

Maybe @johnr can chip in - have VF & TC swapped lists in the last year (other than the occasional one off from fraud cases)?

Sharesies kids

Free kids accounts - trade shares and funds (NZ, US) with Sharesies (affiliate link).

freitasm

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#787356 26-Mar-2013 17:24

It doesn't matter much now, does it? They are not doing the list swapping right now, which means buying a second hand mobile phone on Trade Me is asking for trouble anyway.

newbellies

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#787359 26-Mar-2013 17:25

So are we back to shame on you?

1) Vodafone was more than happy to block my phone that has a telecom sim in it.

2) Telecom was also obviously happy to block my phone (with telecom sim in it).

3) 2D was not. But to be fair, I have not tried again since it was reported that 2D customer care was misinformed.

n4

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#787360 26-Mar-2013 17:26

freitasm: Up until recently there were "synchronising" their lists and blocking handsets from one another - that's why handsets on Trade Me with "works only on 2degrees" were most likely stolen goods.

They have started recently work to make it an automated process (as JohnR said previously). IIRC they used to email each other with an Excel spreadsheet with the IMEIs to block.

Most likely this was because handsets were generally not (fully band) portable between VF and TC until recent high end handsets, so the issue was only really visible between VF and 2degrees. I don't think it had a lot to do with any synchronising that may once have taken place.

Samsung Note20 Ultra, on 2degrees

freitasm

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#787361 26-Mar-2013 17:27

newbellies: So are we back to shame on you?

1) Vodafone was more than happy to block my phone that has a telecom sim in it.

2) Telecom was also obviously happy to block my phone (with telecom sim in it).

3) 2D was not. But to be fair, I have not tried again since it was reported that 2D customer care was misinformed.

Perhaps the 2Degress customer was correct. They probably were talking about not locking IMEI that aren't connected to a 2Degrees phone. Perhaps they didn't explain it right.

n4

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#787362 26-Mar-2013 17:28

newbellies:

1) Vodafone was more than happy to block my phone that has a telecom sim in it.

Really? Did they?

Samsung Note20 Ultra, on 2degrees

freitasm

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#787363 26-Mar-2013 17:30

n4:
freitasm: Up until recently there were "synchronising" their lists and blocking handsets from one another - that's why handsets on Trade Me with "works only on 2degrees" were most likely stolen goods.

They have started recently work to make it an automated process (as JohnR said previously). IIRC they used to email each other with an Excel spreadsheet with the IMEIs to block.

Most likely this was because handsets were generally not (fully band) portable between VF and TC until recent high end handsets, so the issue was only really visible between VF and 2degrees. I don't think it had a lot to do with any synchronising that may once have taken place.

Even with low end handsets, most Telecom mobile phones would work on Vodafone and 2Degrees because they support both 2G and 3G (this on 2100 MHz).

If a Vodafone or 2Degrees customer buys a Telecom handset they still get 2G service and they get 3G service (although now with more 900 MHz WCDMA they may see less and less coverage).

People with low end Vodafone or 2Degrees handsets on the other hand would get almost no coverage at all if using a Telecom SIM.

The "portability" between all three really affected high end handsets - and those are the ones that attract a lot of attention (iPhone, Samsung Galaxy, Nokia Lumia and so on), so blocking still would make sense.

n4

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#787366 26-Mar-2013 17:37

freitasm:
n4:
freitasm: Up until recently there were "synchronising" their lists and blocking handsets from one another - that's why handsets on Trade Me with "works only on 2degrees" were most likely stolen goods.

They have started recently work to make it an automated process (as JohnR said previously). IIRC they used to email each other with an Excel spreadsheet with the IMEIs to block.

Most likely this was because handsets were generally not (fully band) portable between VF and TC until recent high end handsets, so the issue was only really visible between VF and 2degrees. I don't think it had a lot to do with any synchronising that may once have taken place.

Even with low end handsets, most Telecom mobile phones would work on Vodafone and 2Degrees because they support both 2G and 3G (this on 2100 MHz).

If a Vodafone or 2Degrees customer buys a Telecom handset they still get 2G service and they get 3G service (although now with more 900 MHz WCDMA they may see less and less coverage).

People with low end Vodafone or 2Degrees handsets on the other hand would get almost no coverage at all if using a Telecom SIM.

The "portability" between all three really affected high end handsets - and those are the ones that attract a lot of attention (iPhone, Samsung Galaxy, Nokia Lumia and so on), so blocking still would make sense.

Yes I understand the technicalities, my point was that the market has been trained that handsets from TC don't work on VF and vice versa, and that this was not really that much better until tri-band UMTS phones became available (who wants a 3G handset that only works on 2G reliably?).

Samsung Note20 Ultra, on 2degrees

richms

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#787441 26-Mar-2013 19:59

If we had sim locking, then blacklisting on other carriers wouldn't be needed ;)

Richard rich.ms

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