How to Find Your Misplaced Cell Phone

Losing your cell phone gets easier and easier to do as the phones get sleeker, more slippery and TINY!! There are the obvious solutions- have a friend or neighbor or family member call your phone. Or call from your home phone. But what if you don't have a land-line?? What if you don't have any friends (just kidding) or if no one is available or in the area to help you with looking for your phone. There are a few FREE services and ways for you to find your cell phone, that take very little time and you just may find that your phone was between the couch seat cushions, or in another room.

If you lose your phone a lot, consider getting insurance for replacement of the phone with address/phonebook recovery. This will totally pay off for you if you are constantly misplacing your phone.

IMPORTANT: do this as soon as you realize it is missing so that the battery doesn't run dead and shut off the phone. Also turn down anything loud, like the kids (only kidding) TV, stereo, and so on.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Computer Access
• Your phone number

1. 

   There's a number of options you have for if you have lost your phone. The first option would be to call the customer service center in your area, or with your carrier.

2. Call Some of the main carriers and see if they will be able to help. Some even have GPS, but the phone might need to be on. The customer service or technical representative can assist you with this.
   
   AT&T: [phone]
   
   Verizon Wireless: [phone]
   
   Sprint Nextel [phone]
   
   T-Mobile: [phone]

3. 
   Find your cell before buying a new one!!

   Where's my Cell??
   Visit Where's My Cell, and you can locate your phone- VERY useful if you:
   a) live alone
   b) don't have a land-line
   c) are looking for a free service
   d) are looking for privacy
   
   
   http://www.wheresmycellphone.com/

4. 
   Find your lost stuff, and you won't have to look for a new one or sign a new contract!

   Get Rewarding Return
   Step 1-
   Protect your valuables with Rewarding Return Labels
   
   Purchase a label pack and put them on all of your valuables (Phone, MP3 player, Digital Camera, etc.)
   
   Step 2-
   When someone finds an item you lost, they get a reward for reporting it on our website or through our toll-free number.
   
   We notify you that your lost item was found, and arrange for the finder to ship the item to us.
   WE PAY FOR ALL SHIPPING COSTS, and even assist in making a convenient UPS pickup.
   
   Step 3-We ship your lost item back to you for FREE and reward the finder. Everyone wins!
   
   Once we receive the item, we ship it back to you and reward the finder the amount you chose when activating your label. If you elected not to offer a $ reward, then we'll reward the finder with a free pack of Rewarding Return labels.
   
   All of this is included in your label purchase. We have no hidden fees! No activation fees, no recovery fees, no paying for shipping when you lose something.

5. Text your phone from your email- its free, easy and immediate!

6. If you really can't find your phone, try going to Freecycle.com and see if you can get one that is the same carrier, have it ported and start trying to get all your numbers!!

Tips & Warnings

• Go LOW-TECH: write down all your #'s from your phone book to an address book. Yes this is a very tedious task, but (speaking from experience here) even if you recover 90% of your old #'s, you won't get them all!!
• Also, download your photos each weekend so that you don't lose those sweet pics of you and your fiancé when you were first goin' out. Or the cute little pictures of your kitten, who has now grown.
• So, back up your images and phone book and see if your phone company can provide this service for you. Also look to see if another REPUTABLE company can do this for you as well.
• Get insurance for your phone.

Resources

• Where's My Cell Phone
• Rewarding Return