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Writing this partially to vent, partially because writing it may help me think through this, and because I'm looking for ideas.
So I lost my cellphone today. It's a carrier-unlocked Google Galaxy Nexus ($350) with a Straight Talk AT&T MVNO Sim card in it, prepaid for 6 months ($250). If I knew it was lost for good, no big deal, I can move on. What's killing me though is the limbo of not being able to piece together a decent story, or enough information, that I could consider high-odds on what the hell happened. So I'm in missing-cell-phone purgatory at the moment.
Here's what happened. It's not exciting at all...
5:00 went to Nathan's soccer practice
5:30ish Playing with phone, checking email, etc while sitting in a fold up chair at soccer. Occasionally put it in the chair cupholder when watching.
5:45ish Rachel (my 5yo daughter) sits on my lap for the last 15 min of practice. Not sure exactly where I put the phone, it was either in the cupholder or on the chair between my legs.
6:00 Practice over. Get up to leave, fold up chairs, pack backpack, walk straight to car (100yds) through grass, some mulch, some pinestraw
6:05 Put chairs and backpack in front trunk on the porsche, walk to driver's door, open and get in. Nothing in my hands but a key. Kids let themselves in the car.
6:10 Stop by pumpkin patch on the way home to buy a pumpkin, get out, and "Where's my phone? It should be in my pocket". It's not.
6:15 Assume I must have put it in the backpack while packing. Would check but I need to pee, so we jump in the car and go home
6:20 Pee
6:25 Check backpack, car, everything. Start calling it and listening for the ring. Nada
6:30-10:30 Drive back to the soccer par 3x, retracing my steps, shining bright flashlight, constantly calling my number from another phone, no luck.
So here's what I have done:
- Tried about 4 different "after the fact" phone locators via Play store including Plan B. All report installed correctly, but none give any indication that they work. I get some indication that none of these apps actually work on jellybean.
- Called about a million times. Seems to ring normally for a long time before going to voicemail. Not sure if this is an indication that the phone is actually on or not (or if the sim is still in it), but I assume it does mean it's ringing audibly.
- Sent several texts trying to activate the locators, they seem to go through with no error, but have no idea if that's an indication the phone is on and connected.
- Called Straight talk. They are useless. No location service, no way to ping the phone to see if it's active on the network
- Also called AT&T. They have no access to an MVNO phone/account
- Checked as many data trails as I can think of for access. No gmail usage, no play store access, no new charges on my credit cards, etc. I can't find any malicious usage.
- FYI phone had 100% charge when I left, and had great service at the park, both phone and data.
Here are the scenarios I'm working on in my mind. Problem is, I can't bring myself to believe any of them:
A. How I lost it
1. I left the phone in the chair cupholder, folded the chair, and while walking / swinging the chair, it fell out. I tested this scenario with another phone, and it's ain't gonna happen. The phone's in the way when folding the chair.
2. I left the phone sitting on the seat when folding the chair up, then it fell out while walking. Same problem ... first, it's obvious, and second, I tried it at home, the phone sits in the folded chair nice and secure.
3. I set the phone on the roof of the car when getting in. Nuh-uh. I don't put things on the car. Would have gone in my pocket first.
B. Where it ended up
1. Some 9 year old soccer kid in Cary found or stole my phone and pocketed it. Seems likely, but, seriously, what's the first thing a bad kid would do with a toy? Look for games. Most kids old enough to be devious would be smart enough to go to Play store and d/l some new stuff, but there is no new access. This would explain why it rings and rings, a kid would have turned the volume off so mom and dad don't hear it, but maybe not smart enough to realize how to yank the sim.
2. An adult found it, then went into the school and dropped it off with a janitor or staff and it's sitting on someone's desk. I really hope this is the case. But I find it hard to imagine that when passing through the hands of TWO adults, that no one would have hit the power button and seen the lockscreen message that says "EMERGENCY CONTACT 919-244-5076" (my wife's phone). Hard to believe.
3. I did put it on the roof and went screaming around some corners on the way to the pumpkin patch. Nope, I don't put stuff on the car, and during the 4 hours I spent looking for it, I also went ditch digging around the 2 corners and walked the entire way with a flashlight looking
4. An adult found it and pocketed it. If so, an adult would have been smart enough to yank the sim and wipe the phone. But google's still in contact with the phone, and it appears to ring. So it obviously is just sitting somewhere.
So, I don't really believe any of the scenarios. I hope at least for closure that I get to find out what the hell happened. Not ever knowing will absolutely be torture for me... Whew. I doubt anyone is still reading this. I think I feel better, or I will after another beer.
Any ideas? How to hack into my own phone and figure out it's location? If all is well I hope to have another 12-24 hrs of battery life, and I'm closely monitoring accounts to detect malicious use, but I don't want to nuke my accounts while there is still the slim chance of detection using access.
_________________ Mike Whitney whit32@gmail.com, 919-454-5445 V10, V8, V8t, I6, I6, V6, F4t, I4, I4, I4, I4, I2, 1, 1
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