Dear LPG,

I read one of your posts recently about losing things, something I am getting better at doing these days (►►►).

I noted that TM found some information about the most popular things that are lost and I don’t know how old that information is but I bet that people of all ages, in both the UK and the USA, are also losing a lot more mobile phones these days.

I had just about learnt to use a simple old-fashioned phone which did no more than allow me to make a call before lockdown, but all that time at home and the need to be able to talk to people near and far was the inspiration I needed to buy and learn how to use a much more sophisticated phone than I ever dreamed I would be able to do anything with at my time of life.

When I first got it my children told me about the importance of knowing where to find the phone’s IMEI number, and keeping a copy of it somewhere safe, just in case, and ‘just in case’ came all too soon.

I lost it within weeks of being able to leave the house again and, in my case it’s true what they say.  All that time at home with nothing much to do but learn about all the things you can do with a smartphone resulted in my learning to do a lot more with it, so when I lost it, I lost much more than just the phone.  

You don’t realise that you lose all your telephone numbers, I lost so many photos that were sent to me by my friends while we were all forced to be house-bound, all those little recordings that get left on WhatsApp, not to mention all the information about how many steps I have taken and how much sleep I have been getting.  My Fitbit step-counter smartwatch had nothing to record it on.

I was lucky.  My phone was handed in and I did get it back but, knowing that IMEI number really helps.  If your phone was to get stolen, the sim card (which holds your actual mobile phone number) and all the other details that make it unique to you, can be removed and substituted with another, but the IMEI number is unique to the actual device that you hold in your hand.  It is not only on your phone but can be transmitted so that the phone companies can find the phone even if the number it uses is changed.

The telephone manufacturers have come up with some high tech alternatives and, having looked some of them up, I think I would need to get someone who knows a lot more about computers and stuff to set them up for me now that I know about them.  The most up to date phones now have something called ‘find my phone’ which you can activate when you first get the phone.   But if the worst comes to the worst, armed with that IMEI number, you can call your mobile phone provider and they will be able to help you locate your phone electronically; as long as they have that number. 

So just in case you mislay your mobile phone and you don’t keep the box that it came in (which often has this number written on it somewhere), it is really worth keeping a note of its IMEI (International Mobile Equipment Identity) number somewhere safe.  It is worth knowing that tablets have them too.

KS, Crofton Park

KS has found us quite a bit of information, but LPG warns that you might need to get your more IT savvy friends to help you make sense of some of it…

How to find that number…

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Other options…

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