4 ms·
Carriers can check a registry of stolen phone IMEIs and block them from their networks.
by Zigurd 9mo ago
Carriers can check a registry of stolen phone IMEIs and block them from their networks.
- reaperducer 9mo agoThere is a surprising number of carriers in the world that don't care if you're using a stolen phone. Not surprisingly, stolen phones tend to end up in those locations.
- gsich 9mo agoI have never seen this happen. I have however experienced that a ISP will write to you because you have a faulty modem (some Huawei device) and asks you to not use it anymore.
- TehCorwiz 9mo agoVisit eBay and search for "blocked IMEI" or variants. There are plenty of used phones which are IMEI locked due to either: reported lost, reported stolen, failed to make payments, etc.
- gsich 9mo agoAll offers seem to be from the US.
- ddtaylor 9mo agoI the lines between IMEI banning or blacklisting and the modern unlocking techniques they use have been blurred a little bit and so some carriers and some manufacturers don't really want to do or spend time doing the IMEI stuff and would prefer to just handle it all via their own unlocking and locking mechanisms.
- segmondy 9mo agoright, but the stolen phones get sold in other countries where the carriers don't care if the phone was stolen but care that someone is spending money on their service.
- rvba 9mo agoAnd we cant own our phones due to that?
- okanat 9mo agoWith vulnerable FW, you can change IMEIs. Hence this kind of rollback prevention updates.