Put a "Home" entry in your phone book

Yesterday I was driving down a street near my house and I saw a cell
phone in front of me at an intersection I had just stopped at. I jumped
out and retrieved it.

Unfortunately the owner did not have any entry in the phone book for
"home," "wife," "ICE" (in case of emergency), etc.

I called someone in his phonebook and explained the situation and this
person was able to contact the owner. The owner called me, and arranged
to pick up the phone later that evening. Fortunately (or stupidly) I
gave the owner my address. Because it was a T-Mobile phone, and I have
no T-Mobile coverage inside my house (1 bar outside), he couldn't call
me once I returned home. I had told him to call me on his phone before
he came, but he just showed up because he couldn't call.

Anyway, I think it's a good idea to have an obvious entry in your phone
book that enables someone that finds your phone to contact you or
someone else that you trust. Make it the first entry when your phone
book is opened, by putting a 1 (or other character that makes it be
first) as the first character.

On Fri, 04 May 2007 11:08:58 -0700, SMS <scharf.steven@geemail.com>
wrote in <463b76bc$0$27190$742ec2ed@news.sonic.net>:

>Yesterday I was driving down a street near my house and I saw a cell
>phone in front of me at an intersection I had just stopped at. I jumped
>out and retrieved it.
>
>Unfortunately the owner did not have any entry in the phone book for
>"home," "wife," "ICE" (in case of emergency), etc.
>
>I called someone in his phonebook and explained the situation and this
>person was able to contact the owner. The owner called me, and arranged
>to pick up the phone later that evening. Fortunately (or stupidly) I
>gave the owner my address. Because it was a T-Mobile phone, and I have
>no T-Mobile coverage inside my house (1 bar outside), he couldn't call
>me once I returned home. I had told him to call me on his phone before
>he came, but he just showed up because he couldn't call.

A better approach is to call the carrier on the phone, who should be
able to easily contact the subscriber. A random someone in the
phonebook could turn out to be a problem (e.g., vindictive ex-spouse).

>Anyway, I think it's a good idea to have an obvious entry in your phone
>book that enables someone that finds your phone to contact you or
>someone else that you trust. Make it the first entry when your phone
>book is opened, by putting a 1 (or other character that makes it be
>first) as the first character.

ICE with a number prefix is the recommended entry to use:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_case_of_emergency>

--
Best regards, FAQ FOR CINGULAR WIRELESS:
John Navas <http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Cingular_Wireless_FAQ>

Good idea!

SMS wrote:
> Yesterday I was driving down a street near my house and I saw a cell
> phone in front of me at an intersection I had just stopped at. I
> jumped out and retrieved it.
>
> Unfortunately the owner did not have any entry in the phone book for
> "home," "wife," "ICE" (in case of emergency), etc.
>
> I called someone in his phonebook and explained the situation and this
> person was able to contact the owner. The owner called me, and
> arranged to pick up the phone later that evening. Fortunately (or
> stupidly) I gave the owner my address. Because it was a T-Mobile
> phone, and I have no T-Mobile coverage inside my house (1 bar
> outside), he couldn't call me once I returned home. I had told him to
> call me on his phone before he came, but he just showed up because he
> couldn't call.
> Anyway, I think it's a good idea to have an obvious entry in your
> phone book that enables someone that finds your phone to contact you
> or someone else that you trust. Make it the first entry when your
> phone book is opened, by putting a 1 (or other character that makes
> it be first) as the first character.

In article <463b76bc$0$27190$742ec2ed@news.sonic.net>,
SMS <scharf.steven@geemail.com> wrote:

> Yesterday I was driving down a street near my house and I saw a cell
> phone in front of me at an intersection I had just stopped at. I jumped
> out and retrieved it.
>
> Unfortunately the owner did not have any entry in the phone book for
> "home," "wife," "ICE" (in case of emergency), etc.
>
> I called someone in his phonebook and explained the situation and this
> person was able to contact the owner. The owner called me, and arranged
> to pick up the phone later that evening. Fortunately (or stupidly) I
> gave the owner my address. Because it was a T-Mobile phone, and I have
> no T-Mobile coverage inside my house (1 bar outside), he couldn't call
> me once I returned home. I had told him to call me on his phone before
> he came, but he just showed up because he couldn't call.
>
> Anyway, I think it's a good idea to have an obvious entry in your phone
> book that enables someone that finds your phone to contact you or
> someone else that you trust. Make it the first entry when your phone
> book is opened, by putting a 1 (or other character that makes it be
> first) as the first character.

Last year, I found one while hiking some backroads in Japan.
Not being a japanese speaker (or reader) this was tough! No english
anywhere.
Ended up having a local person take care of it.

--
To reply by email, remove the word "space"

SMS wrote:

> Anyway, I think it's a good idea to have an obvious entry in your phone
> book that enables someone that finds your phone to contact you or
> someone else that you trust. Make it the first entry when your phone
> book is opened, by putting a 1 (or other character that makes it be
> first) as the first character.

That sounded like a good idea, but I must have forgotten how to make a
number come up. All I could get were letters. It's a Motorola phone.

I guess I'll have to hunt for the manual.
--
Janet Wilder
Bad spelling. Bad punctuation
Good Friends. Good Life

SMS wrote:

> Anyway, I think it's a good idea to have an obvious entry in your phone
> book that enables someone that finds your phone to contact you or
> someone else that you trust. Make it the first entry when your phone
> book is opened, by putting a 1 (or other character that makes it be
> first) as the first character.

I use ICE (in case of Emergency) on my phone and thought that would
be good enough now I am not so sure!

Lee (in Florida)

Janet Wilder wrote:

> That sounded like a good idea, but I must have forgotten how to make a
> number come up. All I could get were letters. It's a Motorola phone.
>
> I guess I'll have to hunt for the manual.

Hi Janet

On my E815 all I have to do is hit the bottom right key (#)
and it changes the type of symbols and numbers etc

Lee (in Florida)

Lee wrote:

> I use ICE (in case of Emergency) on my phone and thought that would
> be good enough now I am not so sure!
>
> Lee (in Florida)

I have an ICE entry, but most people have no idea what it means! I
almost got in trouble when my wife saw my phone and saw "ICE Wife".

Maybe an "If Found Call" entry would be the most obvious.

Good thing the phone was on. Or not locked.

"SMS" <scharf.steven@geemail.com> wrote in message
news:463b76bc$0$27190$742ec2ed@news.sonic.net...
> Yesterday I was driving down a street near my house and I saw a cell phone
> in front of me at an intersection I had just stopped at. I jumped out and
> retrieved it.
>
> Unfortunately the owner did not have any entry in the phone book for
> "home," "wife," "ICE" (in case of emergency), etc.
>
> I called someone in his phonebook and explained the situation and this
> person was able to contact the owner. The owner called me, and arranged to
> pick up the phone later that evening. Fortunately (or stupidly) I gave the
> owner my address. Because it was a T-Mobile phone, and I have no T-Mobile
> coverage inside my house (1 bar outside), he couldn't call me once I
> returned home. I had told him to call me on his phone before he came, but
> he just showed up because he couldn't call.
>
> Anyway, I think it's a good idea to have an obvious entry in your phone
> book that enables someone that finds your phone to contact you or someone
> else that you trust. Make it the first entry when your phone book is
> opened, by putting a 1 (or other character that makes it be first) as the
> first character.

Kevin Weaver wrote:
> Good thing the phone was on. Or not locked.

Well it was off, but I managed to push the button to turn it on. If it
had had a discharged battery I'd have been out of luck as it was a
Samsung phone for which I have no charger.

I would have just dropped it off at the T-Mobile store if I hadn't been
able to make a call.

Maybe putting a label on the outside of the phone with a phone number to
call if found would also be a good idea, in addition to an "if found"
entry in your phone book. Given that most people have no idea what "ICE"
means, I don't think that "ICE" is a good entry for this purpose.