Mobile Phones

[Highwayman]

Reading Chanchao's tale of having his mobile stolen made me think of how many people have had a mobile phone stolen here in Thailand, just about everyone l know in fact.

Mine (a humble Nokia 3310) survived for quite a while only to be stolen along with a camera and a very nice Sony television when our house was broken into as we slept.

[chanchao]

Thanks for that poll, and thanks for including my option.

Speaking of that tale, I don't think I posted it here:

So there I was in a mid-range restaurant in Chiang Mai that has a sports bar upstairs, happily having food and reading a newspaper. Then paid the bill and relocated upstairs for some drinks. 2 minutes later I realized I left my phone on the table downstrairs, and, you guessed it: gone. Along with the newspaper it likely was on. Asked around and other folks at the restaurant saw roughly what happened but didn't see an actual phone being stolen: One of a couple of 2 women of Western origin walked over to the table, grabbed the newspaper (with the phone on/in it, presumably) and walked out with everything. May they burn in ###### forever and be stripped of any outstanding karma-points they had in the bank, if any.

These people I would happily send to Bang Kwang prison for a year or so, then you all can go visit them and bring them milk & cookies. One of these days some backpacker will attempt something that is not likely to result in jail-time in over-stretched Western judicial systems, but WILL land them in a Thai jail for a lengthy term, I'd see to that. Thieves still go to jail in this country. In many ways I think this is worse when a tourist who is obvously wealthy enough to afford air tickets ans who knows what else still resorts to thievery. If it was a person completely without options I could at least comfort myself with the thought that he/she needs the money more than me..

Note that I've accidentally left stuff before, like a phone or a camera, and always the staff of whatever restaurant and bar I'm in either come rushing after me or kept it safe to return to me when I realized I left my phone/camera/whatever. It's rather ironic that in years and years of going to alledgedly dodgy Thai girlie-bars on Friday nights I never lost anything, but on ONE 'respectable' Friday night with the missus, some Farang ..person.. nicks my phone.

Anyway, called DTAC to block the sim, and my phone was already setup to throw a tantrum when a different SIM is inserted without also supplying the phone lock code.. So they can't use it unless they get the phone 'flashed' back to factory settings; doubt they get much for it when selling it either, still around 3000-4000 baht, likely. (Nokia 3650).

Next day got a new phone, and a replacement SIM from DTAC on the same number. Re-synced my contacts, calendar and notes back from my PC so I'm back in business. It looks cooler too. (This one: http://www.mobile-review.com/review/nokia-6260-en.shtml ) Currently goes for 15,500 baht at Jay-Mart, so perhaps a tad cheaper at MBK in Bangkok.

[Flummoxed]

Thailand is the only place in the world I ever lost a cellphone.

Checking out of a Pattaya hotel, I realised I left my phone on a chair in there. I went back but it was gone, obviously the chamber maid thought it was Christmas and took it... no one owned up to it though. Apparently it just dematerialised, must be the pollution.

[Insight]

Similar experience at a restaurant/bar 2 years back. Left my mobile on the table when leaving. Trouble was, it wasn't until after the taxi journey home I realised what had happened. By the time I got back it'd well gone. Even knew the waiter bastuard who stole it, but was powerless to the tone of "mai mee". Tit.

It was only a month old too.

[Head Snake]

2 times in Singapore have my phones been lost for a grand total of 5 minutes and then they were never seen again. Alien abductions.

I called my number many times immediately after discovering the loss and the phone rings but no one answers. I know the taxi number because I have the receipt. I call the lost and found and report it missing. Never fails, the taxi driver never finds it or can't hear the ringing over a late 70s Carpenters song playing on Singapore radio.

I have not had a phone or anything lifted while in Thailand. Surprising.

[Jimbo]

Back in Europe I was losing a phone at a rate of one a month.

Now I have been here in Thailand for close to a year and I never lost a phone (knock on wood)

Even last week I forgot my phone at a little noodle shop and when I got home I noticed I didnt have the phone. I went back there and the lady smiled at me and she gave me back my phone.

[billd766]

I have been in the business of putting in mobile phone systems all over the world for 17 years and I have never lost a mobile or had one stolen.

It is as though the mobile is attached and won't let me go.

Either I have been lucky so far or there is something lurking around the next dark corner waiting just for me.

[Phil Conners]

Never lost a mobile, not in Europe, not here. Perhaps I just take better care of my stuff

[britmaveric]

Let a Welsh lad I met in Pattaya borrow it to ring his wife. (on the piss with the lads) We were in a go go bar, so he stepped out. I didnt see the bastard after that. Once I got back to my gf she informed me how stupid I was.

Anyways to make a long story short the lad returned the mobile a few days later- stating he had passed out while ringing his wife. A taxi driver picked him up and answered his own ringing mobile. (used mine because he had no money on the mobile at the time) His wife told the Taxi driver to bring him home. Needless to say he wakes up and sees numerous text messages calling him unseemly names. He apologizes and drops the mobile back at a local pub we frequent.

[elsie]

I had my Nokia 7210 stolen over a year ago while out on a piss with my ex the Canuck. We were pissed and were making out while some girl in the bar nicked it from my handbag. Just 5 months old.

[2 satang]

I have been in the business of putting in mobile phone systems all over the world for 17 years and I have never lost a mobile or had one stolen.

It is as though the mobile is attached and won't let me go.

Either I have been lucky so far or there is something lurking around the next dark corner waiting just for me.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

17 years huh ????

Anyone else believes this ???

I had a mobile phone since the beginning in 1990, never lost one.

just my 2 satang

[billd766]

I have been in the business of putting in mobile phone systems all over the world for 17 years and I have never lost a mobile or had one stolen.

It is as though the mobile is attached and won't let me go.

Either I have been lucky so far or there is something lurking around the next dark corner waiting just for me.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

17 years huh ????

Anyone else believes this ???

I had a mobile phone since the beginning in 1990, never lost one.

just my 2 satang

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I believe it!!!!

I started with Vodafone in 1987 in the UK then went over to Motorola and Cellnet in the UK in 1988 and stayed with Motorola worldwide untill 1999 including 3 stints in Thailand which came to about 4 years or so here. 1999 I quit and went conracting and worked mainly in Europe until 2001 when I came back home to Thailand (married my Thai lady in 2000). Did another 18 months on the Hutch project and now I am semi retired living upcountry with my wife and son.

After working since I was 15 I think at 60 I am not bothered if I work or not but it isgood to keep my hand in and I can always use the money.

[pluto_manibo]

I had my phone stolen at a gym/sauna in Pattaya, 2nd road opposite"The Market". I used to go there 3 times a week to work out, for about a year and a half. I left my phone on my table with all my belongings, while working out as I always did..when I got back after a shower.... The phone is gone! I raise ######, ask the staff to call my number...It rings, picks up...then hangs up..the next 10 times...It is shut off!..Classic....Three weeks later in the same establishment, I wear the phone around my neck like a geek....As I retrieve my belongings from my locker, I open my wallet and notice a thousand baht missing...I ask them to get the manager, who tells me her staff doesn't steal...Although she hands me a white envelope with 1000 baht and begs me not to call the cops....

[Longsands]

Sitting in a restaurant before work, phone placed on the table - A bloke speaking the poshest Queen's English ever comes over with a newspaper and a map. Placed the newspaper on the table (and thus over the phone), asked me 3 or 4 questions about the area, I showed him on the map, he thanked me and departed picking up his newspaper. Wasn't until I got to work that I realised I'd been rolled. Cancelled the the phone straight away. It was locked anyway so the &lt;deleted&gt; got no free calls to momsie and dadsie asking for more money to be put on his credit card. Scum.

[tuky]

My wife and I visited Australia 2 or so years ago, Our first night in the resort hotel and my mate came to visit. We all had a few beers etc and my mate left, we went to sleep. Wake up in the morning the flyscreen is missing from the window and both our phones were gone, my wife's bag and purse and my wallet. Great welcome to Aust. for dear missus We stayed in that resort for the next month, as a "sorry about that" the management upgraded our room.

It was a first time for both of us, btw neither of us have bothered buying another mobile phone, I guess we will get around to it sooner or later, but to be honest it has been 2 years since we had mobiles and neither of us miss them ( I have a work mobile, but it does not work in Thailand).

[Thaigrr]

No, I hasn't.

[kreon]

I had my Nokia 7210 stolen over a year ago while out on a piss with my ex the Canuck. We were pissed and were making out while some girl in the bar nicked it from my handbag. Just 5 months old.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

how are you my dear

when i'm sober i use 7610, when i am going to get plastered i use 3320

never lost a mobile since

[kreon]

btw...you wanna get plastered tonight............

[Thaigrr]

What mobile?

Us English teachers don't make enuf to own a mobile.

[kreon]

What mobile?

Us English teachers don't make enuf to own a mobile.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

then what are you doing here? find another job

[cdnvic]

What mobile?

Us English teachers don't make enuf to own a mobile.

I think I might see the problem. You can't spell good 'enuf'.

Aside from the fact most english "teachers" can't understand what their students are saying.

cv

<edited for spelling ironicly>

Edited December 16, 2004 by cdnvic

[Jeff1]

I have been in the business of putting in mobile phone systems all over the world for 17 years and I have never lost a mobile or had one stolen.

It is as though the mobile is attached and won't let me go.

Either I have been lucky so far or there is something lurking around the next dark corner waiting just for me.

17 years huh ????

Anyone else believes this ???

I had a mobile phone since the beginning in 1990, never lost one.

just my 2 satang

Yes , I belive it .

I have never lost or had one stolen . I still have the first phone I ever bought . Anyone remember the very large grey " field " phone with fixed antenna ?

However my wife did leave my phone on the seat of a taxi in Bangkok , never to be seen again . I thought she put it in her kapow

[taxidriver]

I haven't, but my wife has lost a few. We were in a taxi one night and as soon as we got out she said,'I left my phone in the taxi', he must have known because I waved him down only meters away, but he just looked in the rear view mirror and put his foot down. Oh, and her purse was stolen the other night because she has a bad habbit of leaving it the trolley whilst she shops, sitting duck. Iv'e told her a hundred times, but that's not enough. The crew at amphur office know her pretty well now as she always goes there to get new ID cards, other than that she's a great wife.

[kreon]

I haven't, but my wife has lost a few. We were in a taxi one night and as soon as we got out she said,'I left my phone in the taxi', he must have known because I waved him down only meters away, but he just looked in the rear view mirror and put his foot down. Oh, and her purse was stolen the other night because she has a bad habbit of leaving it the trolley whilst she shops, sitting duck. Iv'e told her a hundred times, but that's not enough. The crew at amphur office know her pretty well now as she always goes there to get new ID cards, other than that she's a great wife.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

and an expensive one!

[elsie]

btw...you wanna get plastered tonight............

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

[billd766]

Yes , I belive it .

I have never lost or had one stolen . I still have the first phone I ever bought . Anyone remember the very large grey " field " phone with fixed antenna ?

However my wife did leave my phone on the seat of a taxi in Bangkok , never to be seen again . I thought she put it in her kapow

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

That was the old Motorola analogue one and I had one of them in BKK in the middle 90's.

My first one in UK was a Nokia that weighed about 3 kg most of which was battery and cost a lot of money then. Nobody ever stole them as there were not many mobiles around plus they were so big and clumsy it wasn't the sort of thing you could slip in your pocket unless you had a poachers jacket.

If you can find one it would be a museum piece.