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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159 posts

Master Geek

#786693 25-Mar-2013 14:51

sbiddle: 2degrees blocking devices is only a recent thing, they previously had no ability to do this. One of the reasons I wrote my blog post a year ago was to highlight the issue.

"2degrees blocking devices is only a recent thing"

About that, I called 2 degrees today (again), and they again reiterated that they do NOT have the capacity to do so.

I'm not sure who's correct, but at least their customer support is telling people they can't block them.

Klipspringer

2385 posts

Uber Geek
Inactive user

#786698 25-Mar-2013 15:04

newbellies:
As to "just file a report", i'm not sure if you've been through this lately, but it's surprisingly hard work to keep things like this up on the priority list for the police. I'll give them the benefit of the doubt that they are too busy with much more serious crimes.

Slightly off topic but this reminds me about something

I recon that if the police actually followed up on these mostly "minor" cellphone theft crimes we would have a much better safer NZ.

Have a read on wikipedia about Rudy Giuliani's broken Windows crime strategy. Giuliani served as mayor of New York City from 1994 through 2001

In Giuliani's first term as mayor, the New York City Police Department at the instigation of Commissioner Bill Bratton adopted an aggressive enforcement/deterrent strategy based on James Q. Wilson's "Broken Windows" approach. This involved crackdowns on relatively minor offenses such as graffiti, turnstile jumping, cannabis possession, and aggressive panhandling by "squeegee men", on the theory that this would send a message that order would be maintained.

I think if the NZ police were chasing after these cell phones they would actually be catching the hardened criminals at the same time.

2degreesCare

1537 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

2degrees

#786700 25-Mar-2013 15:04

newbellies:
sbiddle: 2degrees blocking devices is only a recent thing, they previously had no ability to do this. One of the reasons I wrote my blog post a year ago was to highlight the issue.

"2degrees blocking devices is only a recent thing"

About that, I called 2 degrees today (again), and they again reiterated that they do NOT have the capacity to do so.

I'm not sure who's correct, but at least their customer support is telling people they can't block them.

We DO have IMEI blocking service available on our network and apologies if our Care agents were not aware of this when you called. They will be briefed within the next 24 hours.

Cheers
^POB

newbellies

159 posts

Master Geek

#786734 25-Mar-2013 16:05

Cheers for your prompt follow-up. I will report back tomorrow if I'm still unable to convince customer service to block it.

Hoping this results in fewer stolen phones in NZ!

Thanks again

Klipspringer

2385 posts

Uber Geek
Inactive user

#786834 25-Mar-2013 18:30

Can we test if this is working? I have a couple of old mobile phones lying around. Surely as the owner of the phones I can request that the imei's be blocked before I bin them.... just a thought.

newbellies

159 posts

Master Geek

#786836 25-Mar-2013 18:33

I'll report back tomorrow if it works. As of yesterday and today, they will not block it if you call 2D with the request.

Dratsab

3946 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#786873 25-Mar-2013 19:55

johnr: A project is already in place and getting worked on between Vodafone / Telecom / 2Degrees to get EIR sharing so it's all automated instead of the old manual process John

Awesome!

Just extending out from a few questions that have been asked about police in this thread - perhaps police could be given general access to the IMEI blacklist (IMEI numbers numbers only so no privacy concerns) for doing checks against during the course of executing search warrants etc? Positive hits could be followed up with a warrant requesting further info from the telco...

Sharesies

Trade NZ and US shares and funds with Sharesies (affiliate link).

Dratsab

3946 posts

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Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#786883 25-Mar-2013 20:13

Klipspringer:
newbellies:
As to "just file a report", i'm not sure if you've been through this lately, but it's surprisingly hard work to keep things like this up on the priority list for the police. I'll give them the benefit of the doubt that they are too busy with much more serious crimes.

Slightly off topic but this reminds me about something

I recon that if the police actually followed up on these mostly "minor" cellphone theft crimes we would have a much better safer NZ.

Have a read on wikipedia about Rudy Giuliani's broken Windows crime strategy. Giuliani served as mayor of New York City from 1994 through 2001

In Giuliani's first term as mayor, the New York City Police Department at the instigation of Commissioner Bill Bratton adopted an aggressive enforcement/deterrent strategy based on James Q. Wilson's "Broken Windows" approach. This involved crackdowns on relatively minor offenses such as graffiti, turnstile jumping, cannabis possession, and aggressive panhandling by "squeegee men", on the theory that this would send a message that order would be maintained.

I think if the NZ police were chasing after these cell phones they would actually be catching the hardened criminals at the same time.

This is getting somewhat off topic but, just like the media tend to be, I think you're being a little expedient with what you're quoting here. Having looked closely at the broken windows philosophy in a role I used to undertake I know Giuliani's tenure also included hiring a massive amount of extra police staff as part of his approach and the reasons behind the success of broken windows are still being debated. On Wikipedia, the paragraph which follows the one you've quoted reads:

During Giuliani's administration, crime rates continued to drop in New York City, which Giuliani's presidential campaign website credited to his leadership. The extent to which his policies deserve the credit is disputed. A small nationwide drop in crime preceded Giuliani's election, and critics say that he may have been the beneficiary of a trend already in progress. Additional contributing factors to the overall decline in crime during the 1990s were federal funding of an additional 7,000 police officers and an overall improvement in the national economy. Changing demographics were a key factor contributing to crime rate reductions, which were similar across the country during this time. Because the crime index is based on that of the FBI, which is self-reported by police departments, some have alleged that crimes were shifted into categories that the FBI doesn't collect.

I've highlighted the key portion. NZ police has a bugdet freeze in place and is in the process of saving costs wherever they can as well as shedding staff (mainly via natural attrition) in order to keep core services running. Broken windows is a policy they simply can't implement, they are instead working on a different strategy called prevention first. The PDF attached to the link is pretty brief - have a read then have a think about where a stolen handset may fit into the list of priorities.

BlueShift

1692 posts

Uber Geek

#787033 26-Mar-2013 09:24

Dratsab:
Klipspringer:
newbellies:
As to "just file a report", i'm not sure if you've been through this lately, but it's surprisingly hard work to keep things like this up on the priority list for the police. I'll give them the benefit of the doubt that they are too busy with much more serious crimes.

Slightly off topic but this reminds me about something

I recon that if the police actually followed up on these mostly "minor" cellphone theft crimes we would have a much better safer NZ.

Have a read on wikipedia about Rudy Giuliani's broken Windows crime strategy. Giuliani served as mayor of New York City from 1994 through 2001

In Giuliani's first term as mayor, the New York City Police Department at the instigation of Commissioner Bill Bratton adopted an aggressive enforcement/deterrent strategy based on James Q. Wilson's "Broken Windows" approach. This involved crackdowns on relatively minor offenses such as graffiti, turnstile jumping, cannabis possession, and aggressive panhandling by "squeegee men", on the theory that this would send a message that order would be maintained.

I think if the NZ police were chasing after these cell phones they would actually be catching the hardened criminals at the same time.

This is getting somewhat off topic but, just like the media tend to be, I think you're being a little expedient with what you're quoting here. Having looked closely at the broken windows philosophy in a role I used to undertake I know Giuliani's tenure also included hiring a massive amount of extra police staff as part of his approach and the reasons behind the success of broken windows are still being debated. On Wikipedia, the paragraph which follows the one you've quoted reads:

During Giuliani's administration, crime rates continued to drop in New York City, which Giuliani's presidential campaign website credited to his leadership. The extent to which his policies deserve the credit is disputed. A small nationwide drop in crime preceded Giuliani's election, and critics say that he may have been the beneficiary of a trend already in progress. Additional contributing factors to the overall decline in crime during the 1990s were federal funding of an additional 7,000 police officers and an overall improvement in the national economy. Changing demographics were a key factor contributing to crime rate reductions, which were similar across the country during this time. Because the crime index is based on that of the FBI, which is self-reported by police departments, some have alleged that crimes were shifted into categories that the FBI doesn't collect.

I've highlighted the key portion. NZ police has a bugdet freeze in place and is in the process of saving costs wherever they can as well as shedding staff (mainly via natural attrition) in order to keep core services running. Broken windows is a policy they simply can't implement, they are instead working on a different strategy called prevention first. The PDF attached to the link is pretty brief - have a read then have a think about where a stolen handset may fit into the list of priorities.

And if you've read Freakonomics, the introduction of easy access to abortions in the mid 70s led to a decrease in children in a demographic ('unwanted' children) that is more likely to exhibit criminal tendancies. By their maths, Giuliani got lucky with his timing, as about 14-18 years before his policies, a whole lot of potential criminals didn't get born.

newbellies

159 posts

Master Geek

#787221 26-Mar-2013 13:46

Btw - i think it would be great if each mobile carrier representative here on GZ forums could write a succinct post in their respective boards, on what to do if your phone is stolen (which for the moment, means calling every single carrier, asking them to please blacklist) and then get it sticked.

Customer care isn't always up to date with latest protocols/information (not just 2D, telecom as well) and from experience, victims' brains are a bit frazzled in the moment, so making it simpler to find would be very helpful.

Police have made some headway, so I likely won't try to call again today to see if 2D will blacklist my phone (haven't been successful last two attempts), but sounds like that procedure should soon be in order.

wibble

85 posts

Master Geek

#787224 26-Mar-2013 13:52

newbellies: Btw - i think it would be great if each mobile carrier representative here on GZ forums could write a succinct post in their respective boards, on what to do if your phone is stolen (which for the moment, means calling every single carrier, asking them to please blacklist) and then get it sticked.

Customer care isn't always up to date with latest protocols/information (not just 2D, telecom as well) and from experience, victims' brains are a bit frazzled in the moment, so making it simpler to find would be very helpful.

Police have made some headway, so I likely won't try to call again today to see if 2D will blacklist my phone (haven't been successful last two attempts), but sounds like that procedure should soon be in order.

@newbellies - did you call VF & TC and block you phone on their networks?

styxgeist

32 posts

Geek

#787319 26-Mar-2013 16:17

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?

bagheera

539 posts

Ultimate Geek

#787322 26-Mar-2013 16:22

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?

when we had a phone stolen, we had to have a police report before the telco would action any imei blocking, and that is legal doc that you can be taken to court over if has false info in it.

wibble

85 posts

Master Geek

#787323 26-Mar-2013 16:24

bagheera:
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?

when we had a phone stolen, we had to have a police report before the telco would action any imei blocking, and that is legal doc that you can be taken to court over if has false info in it.

Was that just your telco or could you use that document to get it blocked on other telcos?

bagheera

539 posts

Ultimate Geek

#787325 26-Mar-2013 16:26

wibble:
bagheera:
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?

when we had a phone stolen, we had to have a police report before the telco would action any imei blocking, and that is legal doc that you can be taken to court over if has false info in it.

Was that just your telco or could you use that document to get it blocked on other telcos?

we could to our telco (VF), with lots of jumping up and down at a TC store we got it on TC and well 2d did not have the option at the time.

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