Database Users

How is AT&T Detecting my phone?

How is AT&T Detecting my phone?
In my online account management you can select your phone type. Currently I have "AT&T 8525" selected (which is my phone of course). When I go to select "My Device is not listed" or something else, it will remain selected for a while, then when I log in sometime later, "AT&T 8525" is selected again.
How is AT&T figuring my phone type out? What kind of information about my phone is being automatically sent out? Is there a way to block this, or even spoof it?
Is it possible that at&t is just guessing?
I'm using WM6 w/ HardSPL loaded.

I wouldn't sweat it dude, I've had mt 8525 since June and AT&T still has my phone listed as a V3 Razor but, they have my kids phones listed right. OH, I havn't had a razor for almost 2 years.

stesul411 said:
I wouldn't sweat it dude, I've had mt 8525 since June and AT&T still has my phone listed as a V3 Razor but, they have my kids phones listed right. OH, I havn't had a razor for almost 2 years.
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Same. I've had about 3-4 phones since the Razr, mine still says razr

Yeah, it took AT&T three or four months to update mine when I first got the 8525. Once it even had me listed as using one of those old Nokia bricks for like two weeks, then went back to the 8525! Wierd.
Anyway, I could be wrong, but I believe your IMEI is what tells AT&T what kind of phone your using. It just seems to take AT&T's system a while to play catch up when you switch phones.
...and changing/altering your IMEI is a dangerous topic on this board, as it is an illegal practice in most countries.
Anynody else know of how they detect your phone model?

dzelaya18 said:
Anynody else know of how they detect your phone model?
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they have spies......watching you, all the time.......
the IMEI is right. that's how they do it. and the spies help sometimes too

Yes at&t can tell what IMEI is what phone. For that matter most everyone can find it, if you have the IMEI, on the Net if you look hard enough. If you go into a store and register your V3 IMEI on the account the phone should change in the Online managment page. But with the implimentation of their newest system, D.E.R(Device Eligibility Restrictions), they can tell what IMEI is being used with what phone number, even though it may not reflect on the "Online Managment" Site. More importanly, D.E.R restricts certian packages to be allowed for what IMEI is registered on the account.
For example if you have a V3's IMEI registered on your account, then the Media Net package for 15$ unlimited usage will show up and the PDA Connect for 30$ will not. This works in the oposite manor as well. This makes it harder for us to use the lower priced packages. Eventually if D.E.R catches the fact that you are using a PDA phone with the 15$ package or any of the other "Non-PDA" Packages, It may take some time, but the package WILL fall off and credits will not be given out, or atleast that is what i have come to understand.
Hope that clears it all up. I do work for at&t Mobility, im at the bottom of the totem poll (Agent), but one of my larger business accounts has already run into issues with D.E.R and credits were not given out.

I knew it! ...and my suspicions about the spies have been comfirmed... ^.-

turn on gps on lost hero

hey guys,
I lost my Hero yesterday.
Is there any way to turn on the GPS from any computer, and see where it is?
lj

I think there are plenty of possibilities to track your phone over the internet, but you needed to install these apps on your phone before you lost it.
I'm not sure but I think you'll have to find your phone without GPS-features ...
Good luck!

iirc only apps that are installed in the /system partition can activate the gps. not sure if that is correct though... nevertheless podb's statement is correct, anything that hasn't been installed before losing your phone won't help now.

It's a little too late for this but... WaveSecure could have done the trick..

I'm loking for something where I can find it by IMEI number.

its imposible dude.

sensorama said:
its imposible dude.
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Well... the IMEI number is the phones ID on the network. The many cell towers stores this number whenever your phone boots up and stays connected. The different operators can easily check this information. But YOU won't ever get hold of it... unless you're the police doing a crime investigation.

I'm thinking about asking them to do something.
I'll see.

Thiesen said:
Well... the IMEI number is the phones ID on the network. The many cell towers stores this number whenever your phone boots up and stays connected. The different operators can easily check this information. But YOU won't ever get hold of it... unless you're the police doing a crime investigation.
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the IMEI number is the phone's id, that is correct. the network doesn't care too much for the phone, it cares for the subscriber, which is identified by the IMSI. from what i know no operator will look for your phone based on IMEI and the fact that you lost it. if your country's operators use the EIR feature they can block the phone out of their networks, but that is about as far as it will go.

[Q] Lost HTC Wildfire - India

My friend lost his HTC-Wildfire ( India, Bangalore).
There was no tracker enabled, is it possible to request HTC to block the device based on IMEI number? I read somewhere, it is not yet possible in India ( the blog-post was about a year old).
Any other suggestions?

HTC will not do it. Your mobile operator will do it, but, it needs a FIR from your local police station, and, as expected, it is a process full of hassle, unless you have 'contacts'.

And I heard, mobile operator keep asking to go back to device manufacturer. ( we work at SIM level, and not device, unless it is locked).
Then perhaps I should let the 'finder' enjoy his luck for now.

As I said, its a hassle filled process. From what I read and heard, it is the mobile operator who should do it, because, all of them have access to a global database of stolen phones. All they need to do is simply add your IMEI to this global list, and it is locked for use with any sim - any network. Obviously, its a process filled with legal red tape, which is why they are uncooperative.

I think when we are using android market, Google will be having our imei/serial number. Don't know if that helps to track the phone ( maybe not ). But I think everyone with android phone must be using market.
And if the person who got the phone wants to use wildfire without a sim or any other internet networks, then u can do really really nothing. All we should do is to protect our phone from being lost.

You could also try Plan B,if it works in your country.It`s an app that installs itself when the device connects to the market and then sends you the location of the phone.
Hope it will work for you^^

Haska said:
You could also try Plan B,if it works in your country.It`s an app that installs itself when the device connects to the market and then sends you the location of the phone.
Hope it will work for you^^
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That was the first thing I did, but I think I was late by hours. By that time the device was offline.
ALso, there was a 'pattern' based unlock password. So, if the person goes about reflashing the ROM (himself, or whoever he sells to).. then that wont work.

Haska said:
You could also try Plan B,if it works in your country.It`s an app that installs itself when the device connects to the market and then sends you the location of the phone.
Hope it will work for you^^
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It's already lost unfortunately.
Besides, atleast as far as I know, mobile thieves are today much more intelligent. They will first flash and format your phone before even attempting to use it (They switch off your phone immediately after picking it - happened to me once). Also, another aspect is that it is hardly ever the thief who will use it. He will sell it at first opportunity.

^@3xeno
Exactly.
I had no hope from planB, but I still did it - just in case.
Even if it works, the accuracy of location would be very important.
I can be evil and go all-out to get IMEI blocked. But just thinking whether its worth the hassle ( its more of a revenge), as they say, it wont help to get the device back.
Or should I let the 'receiver' enjoy his luck.

As i can remember there is a app in the market called 'plan B' which helps to track your phone even after it is lost. Log in to the market with your pc and search for it.
Sent from my HTC Wildfire using XDA Premium App

shiranmotha said:
As i can remember there is a app in the market called 'plan B' which helps to track your phone even after it is lost. Log in to the market with your pc and search for it.
Sent from my HTC Wildfire using XDA Premium App
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Of course he can install "Plan B" remotely in his device from PC android market without any confirmational messages (but provided only if his gmail account is still associated with his phone. This happens only if his sim card was unchanged and i dont think that is the case).
It would be nice if google gives some more security to keep the gmail account attached to the phone.

bharatgaddameedi said:
It would be nice if google gives some more security to keep the gmail account attached to the phone.
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I had that feeling almost two months afther buying it: you can simply pull out the sim card of the device and start it up, resulting in having access to the persons mails and contacts. You can even send mails if you enable wifi.
Solution for that: the pattern unlock. Most of the time annoying, but thiefs will have to hard reset the phone to get past it, loosing all the contact with my mail and google contacts.
EDIT: or at least I hope so, never really tried to see if there was a way to get past the unlock code (accept when you get called, but I really hope that the thief is not someone who has my number )

ErwinP said:
I had that feeling almost two months afther buying it: you can simply pull out the sim card of the device and start it up, resulting in having access to the persons mails and contacts. You can even send mails if you enable wifi.
Solution for that: the pattern unlock. Most of the time annoying, but thiefs will have to hard reset the phone to get past it, loosing all the contact with my mail and google contacts.
EDIT: or at least I hope so, never really tried to see if there was a way to get past the unlock code (accept when you get called, but I really hope that the thief is not someone who has my number )
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A typical thief wont be able to get past 'pattern-unlock'. However, in hands of a hacker, with adb - everything is possible with sufficient time and motivation.
Typical thief would either sell it, or try to use it using different sim ( your best hope for any post-theft-tracking possibility).
Irony is that, pattern lock saves you from un-educated 'thief' misusing your data. But, on the other hand it motivates them to reflash the ROM, thus eliminating any chance of u tracking it.
In hands of even bigger experts, even IMEI-lock wont stay for long. I am sure there are people who know how to spoof IMEI. But I would imagine that is very small community.

Yes it all depends on the person that finds/steals the phone but better to try and fail than not try at all.And yes the Plan B requirement is that the person that has your phone uses your gmail account login on the market.With pattern lock the one that finds it would have to flash it as akshayxyz said so it all depends on the settings/luck or whatever ,but still there is no harm in trying.
After all what are the chances that someone with knowledge about these things finds your lost phone,and if that was the case then your friend has really bad luck.
I lost my phone and i used it just in case,I even kept the same password in the hope that one would log in with it.It didn`t help me since as i found out later my lcd cracked when it fell out of my pocket ,but after i got it back(the person that found it came into the store i work at and asked how much would the replacement cost) and loged in the market the app installed itself,so try it.
No harm done and its just a few clicks on the net^^.

GS2 'Find my mobile'

does anyone know how this feature works, can be found in the settings under Location and Security. Called 'Find My Mobile'
Particularly insterested in how 'Remote Functions' works as it allows the phone to be locked, tracked and data to be wiped remotely.

www.samsungdive.com

I'm in the US.. I tried it, and but after 30 minutes of attempting to find my phone, and I canceled and gave up.

ronj1986 said:
I'm in the US.. I tried it, and but after 30 minutes of attempting to find my phone, and I canceled and gave up.
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I had similar experience here in Canada. Has anyone actually got this to work?

np231 said:
I had similar experience here in Canada. Has anyone actually got this to work?
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I have tried it and it worked nice for me...I kept my Net connection on (background Data on too in Accounts and Sync) ..it won't work if your net is off on mobile

I'm in the U.S. and it works fine. I actually used "ring my phone" yesterday because I lost it in the house. I think I registered here first...
http://www.samsungapps.com/mobile/main.as?LANG_CODE=ENG&COUNTRY_CODE=GBR
Once you've registered, your user ID is good across all the different Samsung feature sites. Except for Social Hub which doesn't recognize the IMEI of the phone.

np231 said:
I had similar experience here in Canada. Has anyone actually got this to work?
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Works great here, takes around 15-20 seconds to get a location and a little less to lock/ring phone.

np231 said:
I had similar experience here in Canada. Has anyone actually got this to work?
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Certainly you'll need to have GPS signal where you are (in your room, office, etc.) or at least allow it use wireless networks to determine its position.
If even doing this you can't find it, then it definitely doesn't work...

np231 said:
I had similar experience here in Canada. Has anyone actually got this to work?
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I tried it here in Denmark. Worked flawlessly. Found my phone almost immediately.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA Premium App

Works for me in Canada, using KG3, and a different SIM card than the one I was using when I setup my Samsung account. Even told me the SIM had changed.

I've got it to work also. Could have been an error with the firmware I was using before...I can't remember which version it was. I'm on KG3 now though

Works good here in the USA for me too. Had to login directly into Samsung DIVE though. Was able to lock my phone and make it ring. Very cool.

Actually, as i see it this app is just for fun. If your phone is stolen, it's unlikely you can do anything in SamsungDive, since it requires an active data connection and even so, it doesn't seem to work if you don't accept google to collect data when prompted. What person would accept that when having a stolen phone ? Btw, does your SamsungDive account show your number ? Mine doesn't, but all features can be used.

Sp1tfire said:
Actually, as i see it this app is just for fun. If your phone is stolen, it's unlikely you can do anything in SamsungDive, since it requires an active data connection and even so, it doesn't seem to work if you don't accept google to collect data when prompted. What person would accept that when having a stolen phone ? Btw, does your SamsungDive account show your number ? Mine doesn't, but all features can be used.
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I agree with that. Samsungdive is pretty limited. You're better off with an app that uses sms messages to the phone to lock, locate, wipe, etc. At least it's more likely that a stolen phone will be on and connected to a cell network than have data on.

sunseaker said:
I agree with that. Samsungdive is pretty limited. You're better off with an app that uses sms messages to the phone to lock, locate, wipe, etc. At least it's more likely that a stolen phone will be on and connected to a cell network than have data on.
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its working as described in the UK.
even what u say is not enough, because in both instances ur relying on the SIM card and/or ur login details, which i expect to change immediately by a phone thieve
however the best tracking service would be by tracking the hardware ID or IMEI of the device, but unfortunately this is restricted to network providers only

Sp1tfire said:
Actually, as i see it this app is just for fun. If your phone is stolen, it's unlikely you can do anything in SamsungDive, since it requires an active data connection and even so, it doesn't seem to work if you don't accept google to collect data when prompted. What person would accept that when having a stolen phone ? Btw, does your SamsungDive account show your number ? Mine doesn't, but all features can be used.
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Yes it shows my number but not in the spot I was expecting it. It was near the bottom of the page. I had to click on it to get any of the functions.
Sent from my GT-I9100

drreality said:
its working as described in the UK.
even what u say is not enough, because in both instances ur relying on the SIM card and/or ur login details, which i expect to change immediately by a phone thieve
however the best tracking service would be by tracking the hardware ID or IMEI of the device, but unfortunately this is restricted to network providers only
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ultimately no system is 100%. I just think the system that uses sms is more reliable, even if the sim card is changed it will send the number of the new sim card to a mobile number you have configured in the app so you can still send commands (turn on background gps tracking and data , remote lock, remote wipe, etc) to the new number. No radio data or sync services are required to be on initially.
All this assumes of course that the thief hasn't found the app and tried to un-install it (although it shouldn't allow un-installing without a password) or just factory reset the phone.
Best thing is not to loose your phone

iam here in austria.
on the first day, where i get my sgs2, i tried samsungdive. it doesnt worked.
but on the next day i tried again, and it worked perfectly.
tracking, writing message, call protocol and ringing worked finde. the last one (erase data) i dont tried out
cheers

Need help... note was stolen.

hey guys, a buddy of mine just had his note stolen. it is a wifi only device and i need to know if there is a way to locate it... i dont have any information of the device available other than a text+ phone number that the device is using. please shoot me a PM if you have any ideas, i have a few people working on it right now but need all and any ideas or input. please send PMs
thanks in advance

All notes have antitheft application built in it, atleast mine has, you need to register the same if you do you can track the phone from Samsung tracker website, it should be able to give you its location and also should be able to lock it, dont know whether it will happen with a wifi version as there is no imei number you can check

samir_a said:
All notes have antitheft application built in it, atleast mine has, you need to register the same if you do you can track the phone from Samsung tracker website, it should be able to give you its location and also should be able to lock it, dont know whether it will happen with a wifi version as there is no imei number you can check
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thank you... very useful... contacting somebody i know at google right now as well.

But... if you did not activate the utrack function (and if you did, you should know), then it will not work.

Found it.. Thanks for the input guys

Before saying it doesnt work (if you will) mind this:
1. It has to be switched on obviously
2. You need to have a working internet connection, meaning if he removes/switches simcard (you may recieve a notification about simcard change) and turn off WiFi, you're toast
3. Its possible he made a factory reset.. If so you're also toast
Personally Im using rooted N8000 and Avast Anti-theft.

Cheers cobraboy for letting us know, most people just leave threads open ended. How did you find it? Be interesting for others to know....

His saving grace was that it was connected to my buddy's WiFi...there were 4 people at the house when it turned up missing...
I got on his main computer at his house, pulled up a list of all the mac IDs connected to their WiFi, identified all 10 devices in the house individually, phones, computers, etc...
His tab should have come up on that list if it was there - it did not. So I confronted the person who I was pretty sure was the only one that would have taken it and told him I knew he had taken it - he came with our other friend..
Showed them all that it was physically missing and not in range of the home network... Even tho it was previously connected... Then told him I was going to call the cops over there if somebody didn't fess up so this was his chance to come clean (as my friends and I don't ****ing steal from each other... Durr) and he admitted to putting it outside while we were all upstairs, then texting another friend of his to come by the house and snagging it.
Got it back. And somebody might have had a bloody nose when all was said and done. Low lifes.

glad you got a result!
i would have emptied there pockets and took anything of value while i was at the nose breaking ceremony

alls well the ends well good you got the note back now activate the tracker

I have had great experience with the Cerberus anti theft app :good:

cobraboy85 said:
His saving grace was that it was connected to my buddy's WiFi...there were 4 people at the house when it turned up missing...
I got on his main computer at his house, pulled up a list of all the mac IDs connected to their WiFi, identified all 10 devices in the house individually, phones, computers, etc...
His tab should have come up on that list if it was there - it did not. So I confronted the person who I was pretty sure was the only one that would have taken it and told him I knew he had taken it - he came with our other friend..
Showed them all that it was physically missing and not in range of the home network... Even tho it was previously connected... Then told him I was going to call the cops over there if somebody didn't fess up so this was his chance to come clean (as my friends and I don't ****ing steal from each other... Durr) and he admitted to putting it outside while we were all upstairs, then texting another friend of his to come by the house and snagging it.
Got it back. And somebody might have had a bloody nose when all was said and done. Low lifes.
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u should had called the police

Glad you got it back. Pretty smart idea!
Sent from my GT-N8010 using XDA Premium HD app

You can also write a Tasker code for this kind of stuff. My TF101 used to take a snapshot of the front and back cameras, turn on WIFI, located by GPS and WIFI, then sync the photos and location data to a dropbox. I didn't do more coding because it was inconvenient and I ended up with shots of me taking a ****.. but, you know, if someone wanted to, he could easily turn that into a profile based on location (ie. maybe it won't take snapshots if you're on a recognized wifi or something).

How do you turn on the anti theft......would be interesting to hear from users of N8000, N8010, and N8013 to see IF the process is different for each.
Also, it would be nice to read of users preferred app......

Riki1kenobi said:
How do you turn on the anti theft......would be interesting to hear from users of N8000, N8010, and N8013 to see IF the process is different for each.
Also, it would be nice to read of users preferred app......
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Click to collapse
Same here...what is this app thats supposedly built into our note? I have 8013 wifi version. How do we activate this tracker app?

I have the geek squad app from best buy, it will track lock wipe . make noise and take pic
demandarin said:
Same here...what is this app thats supposedly built into our note? I have 8013 wifi version. How do we activate this tracker app?
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Click to collapse

It's called Samsung Dive and it's pretty cool beyond just lost device tracking. You (N8000) owners can use it to forward calls and MMS to another device, ring the device (like if you lost it in the house), and, if it's stolen or lost, remote wipe and lock it so it can't be used.
You sign in to the Dive website with your Samsung account. My account's in the UK so I don't how it works in the U.S. I didn't do anything to get my device(s) to appear in Dive other than use my Samsung account when I first set them up.
http://www.samsungdive.com/DiveMain.do
To get Dive to work you have to enable it on your device. It's under Settings>Security>Remote controls if it's available on your particular Note. This is from my N2 but the 10.1's the same.

Just registered with Samsung Dive. N8013, signed in and it automatically recognized the Note. Pretty slick