Some things you should know about MOTOBLUR and T-Mobile Cellphone service provider.
As you may recall, I recently had my Motorolla Cliq stolen from me while my back was turned. At first, I was rest assured due to the Motoblur system. Within 30 minutes of losing my phone I made an attempt to track my phone using the MOTOBLUR system. I walked over to the public library and instantly asked my friends where I was on Google Latitude. As I used Google latitude to have a few close personal friends keep tabs on me. Somewhat odd I am sure, but as a recovering addict, always helps to be kept in check. I will save that theory for my next blog, as the idea itself is awesome as long as you can trust the people you are sharing the information with.
Instantly, the phone was tracked to the east side of Clark Park. So I did what I could and got there to see nobody. The last time it had been tracked was two hours before. The system does not work once the battery is dead. Sure enough, my battery was dead, and the thief did not have my charger.
T-Mobile and Motoblur are not a theft recovery or detouring factor!
I repeatedly checked the status of the telephone. Where it was and how often it was on and operational. MOTOBLUR was able to give me the serial number of the phone; which proved to be very useful as I scanned craigslist and “pre-viewed “several, for sale by owner MOTOROLLA CLIQ phones. Unfortunately, for the next day or two it was not tracked. Then suddenly at 9:13 pm, it ended up being tracked, one time, on the other end of town. Now a person cannot be completely irrational about accusing everyone on the planet, even if the phone was tracked to an address. The GPS tracking is accurate within 30 feet. An unknown level of accuracy might be very usefull in a suburb; Unfortunatly, an unknown level is not so useful in the inner city. I went right to the address that the phone was tracked to and started asking around. Nobody would admit to it being there, nor would they deny it. For that matter; I could not just call out anyone for the simple fact that I was not completely sure which method was used to track the phone.
The MOTOBLUR uses any one of three methods to track the phone. The best one of coarse is WIFI. I say that because the WIFI router that the phone attached itself to have an actual fixed location that never changes. The next of which is the GPS. Have you ever had your TOM TOM accidently claim you are on a frontage road, instead of a freeway. Lastly would be the cell phone tower triangulation. Using a mathematic equation and the signal strengths of the three nearest towers, the system can decide where the phone is, roughly every three minutes as the system “pings” for the best tower.
That was the last time that I have seen hide or hair of my cell phone, And I have given up on actively tracking it. Before I came to that conclusion I called T-Mobile to ask them about the availability of the cell phone. I came right out and explained the situation to the T-Mobile representative so that I could move on to asking the harder questions. I was instantly offered the cancellation of my sim card. This is the removable billing card that T-mobile uses to program the phone to use their service. I asked the associate if I would be able to MOTOBLUR track the phone if she dis continued the sim card, and she had to transfer me to technical assistance. The tech was as helpful as he could be; but lets face it; MOTOBLUR has absolutely no abilities once the card is removed. I felt my best plan of attack was to leave the card intact, and limit the usage so the thief would not be pushed into changing the card.
So I got down to the nitty gritty of it and MOTOBLUR could not do anything if the card was removed. I called the T-mobile representative and asked them if they would be willing to put my phone serial number on a block list as HOT; thinking if my sim card were bad, someone would have to activate another card. The call handling representative said that there was no such procedure to prevent stolen phones from being re-used as found and usable.
So what I really got; when I was sold on the recovery of my phone idea; was a glimmer of hope that if I lost my phone in my car; It would tell me everywhere I went. I really wished they had filled me in on all of its limitations from the very beginning. Straight forward, to the point would highly appreciated at this point.
My wish for liability- Class action lawsuit. (lol)
Why is it that my personal feeling of the handling of stolen phones by T-Mobile looks like aiding and abetting? I also feel, alternatively, just the fact that T-Mobile activates the stolen property; could be considered receiving stolen property, or fencing of stolen goods. All T-Mobile has to gain is another client AKA The thieves!
Richard and Mayumi Heene, met with Larimer County investigators Saturday afternoon amid lingering questions about whether he perpetrated a publicity stunt involving the desperate search and rescue fiasco aimed at saving their six year old Falcon Heene.
(That was not even on board the balloon.)
In Fort Collins Colorado, The Sheriff Deputies searched the home of the Heene family Saturday night after the heartless "Balloon Boy saga" came to an end. The Sheriff declared he would be pursuing criminal charges against someone , but declined to put forth a name.
It certainly is my belief that this was a sham!
With no regard for the community, the Heene family led the local search and rescue volunteers to believe that the six year old Falcon Heene, was in Grave danger, if not already severely injured or even dead. Then carried on this escapade for 5-6 hours while young Falcon Heene hid in the garage attic, inside a cardboard box. Then later, during an interview with CNN , when asked why Falcon did not come out of the box when he heard his name being called, Falcon turned to his father and said"You said we did this for a show!"
The home made helium balloon traveled over two and a half hours across the Colorado desert at altitudes of up to 7000 feet. A search and Rescue team was dispatched based on a statement put forth by Falcon Heene's older brother. In this statement the young Heene child had told his mother that Falcon had gone with the balloon, he had seen young Falcon climb into the balloon.
People all across America tuned in and watched, what they believed to be a boy, inside a bright , shiny helium balloon. Fearing for the boy , full of uncertainty, and able to relate to the feelings brought on by such a loss, I barely held back the tears. The tears of sadness, because I did not think the child would survive within a sealed balloon full of helium. I thought for sure he would be dead when they found the balloon.
Then , for a slight moment as the rescue vehicles traveled through a farmer's freshly plowed field, closing in on the homemade craft, came an ounce of hope, for everybody watching from home and rescuers on the ground. I fought back the tears of joy as the craft started to come within reach of rescuers.
I thought to myself as the craft made the most graceful landing;
"How long can a person breath helium and live?"I even wondered if two hours of breathing would replace the air with toxic air.
Watching the search and rescue team secure the balloon, It became evident that the child was no longer with the balloon. It took them several minutes to get the balloon where it would stay grounded, and as they did the urgency to remove the child from the balloon did not seem to be there. The cardboard door was ajar as the craft landed, and the police on the scene did not have young Falcon Heene there.
Again, I had to hold back the tears of sorrow. News casters jumping to the conclusion that the boy had to of fallen out of the balloon. Up until that point, the fact that there was a basket below the balloon was not made clear to all of the people looking. There was an eyewitness claiming that they had seen a dark object falling from the balloon, near its point of lift off. Again, the American public had to hold back the tears. Originally the credibility of the eyewitness was under fire, until it was verified that the eye witness was, an actual Sheriff's Deputy.
I am still trying to understand why it was that Richard Heene did not make the design of the balloon perfectly clear, to the search and Rescue team, at the time of the reported accidental lift off. This in itself caused great turmoil among the minds of the search and rescue teams, the news casters and John Q Public.
I have come to the point where I feel Richard and his wife had cried WOLF. The Heene family, under the direction of Richard Heene, preyed on the compassion of the American public. They concocted this extravagant plan. Planning with the full intention of using news cameras , radio talk shows, and internet traffic to gain notoriety , popularity, fortune and fame to themselves. Not only did they continue to do so at the taxpayers expense, but also at the emotional expense of the American public.
All of this they brought forth under the false pretense of eminent danger to their own flesh and blood , an innocent six year old child, that is only guilty of following the orders handed down to him by his Father.
Deputies searched the home of the Heene family on Saturday night, after the sheriff said he was pursuing criminal charges in a case that at first sparked fear for the child, then relief he was okay, then suspicions of a hoax. (I thought it was a hoax before I knew for sure he was okay, but we aren't tasteless enough to say things like that until the boy was proven safe at home.)
The Sheriff did however vent some frustration that, even with the search and rescue, and the military involved, what we basically have is a class 3 misdemeanor. Although they are looking to the federal government to see if there are any federal charges that can be drawn. Officials did remove several cardboard boxes of undisclosed items and a computer from the Heene family home, upon serving a search warrant Saturday evening.
Myself and millions of taxpayers got to watch their tax dollars being spent on fuel for helicopters, SUV's, and planes to save a child from the exploits of his father.
Alderden didn't call Thursday's hours-long drama a hoax, but I sure as hell believe there is something FISHY going on here. he expressed disappointment that he couldn't level more serious charges in the incident, which sent police and the military scrambling to save young Falcon Heene as millions of worried television viewers watched.
Heene, a storm chaser and inventor whose family has appeared on the reality show "Wife Swap," and his wife had said one of the boy's older brothers had said Falcon was aboard the homemade balloon when it took off. That is what got this party started!
Alderden initially said there was no reason to believe the incident was a hoax. Authorities questioned the Heenes again after Falcon turned to his dad stating that it was all for the show.
The Heenes have said the balloon was supposed to be tethered to the ground when it lifted off, and no one was supposed to be aboard. A video of the launch shows the family counting down in unison, "3, 2, 1," before Richard Heene pulls a cord, setting the balloon into the air. Then shows Richard busting out a cuss word about the lack of the tether, and kicking the wooden stand where the balloon once stood. But hey, maybe that is how all of this had to play out, in order to get all of that free, high stress, publicity the United States taxpayers want to see.