Staff Reporter

They said there was no point in them doing so as it was easy for anyone to change the IMEI number Meyer told Mobile News.

The police are reluctant to investigate one stolen phone because the Data Protection Act means it is hard for them to get details of the customer he said.

In my opinion Vodafone is shirking its responsibilities to dealers like us who are held responsible for dealing in stolen phones. The FCSs own rule is the dealer shall not hold or connect any equipment that is stolen said Meyer.

The FCS are powerless to act against Vodafone because Vodafone pay their wages. Ive reported this phone as stolen to the network. Why havent Vodafone turned it off? The law of the land says it is stolen. They have it connected to their network. They should be turning it off their network Meyer complained.

If we connect a stolen phone we get severely punished yet no-one seems to enforce Vodafone to stand by their own rules. The prime reason for setting up the FCS Crime Prevention Scheme was to prevent connection of stolen phones. Vodafone just dont seem to care. Surely they should just be barring the phone completely?

Vodafone confirmed that it it did bar SIM cards and mobile numbers from stolen phones but not the phones IMEI number.

The reason for this is that barring the IMEI numbers doesnt guarantee the integrity of the number said Vodafone spokesperson Corinne Norris.

It doesnt matter what phone it is IMEIs can be changed. So barring the IMEI from the network would be ineffective.

However a user cannot access the network without a valid subscription.

So a refusal to bar an IMEI number is not the same as refusing to disconnect a phone since there isnt a connection involved.

In an instance where a phone has been stolen what we advise people to do is report it to the police. We do of course provide police with any support or assistance they need in their investigations.

Handset manufacturers have agreed that with the next software release new phones will have IMEI numbers that cannot be changed. Once that has been introduced we shall review our position on barring and blacklisting IMEI numbers because their integrity will then be guaranteed said Norris.

Each volunteer was allowed 30 minutes per 24 hours outside the car to go to the toilet stretch their limbs and get some fresh air. All foods had to be bought using their phones and the 50 in cash they were each given.

Explained Siemens mobile phones marketing manager Sue Rowe: This is an experiment albeit an extreme one in what WAP can actually do. Hopefully by the end of the week well know a lot more about what WAPs limits are and what WAP can offer.

When users log on to the travel channel of mViva a Go M-ad will appear on their WAP phone display to promote specific Go routes and also give people the option to receive text messages to sign up to Gos e-mail service which gives details of special offers and to actually book flights.

Go will be using this campaign to promote routes to Madrid Munich Lyon Alicante Faro Milan Ibiza Prague Reykjavik and new destinations of Glasgow and Tenerife. mViva sales director Richard Winchurch-Beale said: Were thrilled to be the first portal to launch interactive ads. It adds relevant and useful information for customers using our travel channel.

Go has already carried out a text message campaign for Ibiza and are advertising on NTLs web site.

The free service gives kick-off notification goal flashes and full-time goal notification.

Further developments are to send the goal scorers name team line-ups league position club news and transfer news.

Similar scoring sites are promised for Formula One Cricket Rugby and Horse Racing.

Users register for the service through the web site www.giveus thescore.com.

Orange gets a new revenue stream from Energis Mobile customers as well as reciprocal access to a number of Energis services. Energis Mobile will focus on the business market and will be launched in the autumn.

Energis will be responsible for sales and marketing while the Orange Consulting Group will provide the network customer services technical support systems and billing. Energis Mobile will market GSM voice data and internet services. GPRS and third generation capabilities will be offered as they come on stream.

Hans Snook Chief Executive of Orange said:

This is the first agreement of its kind on the DN1800 service. For the first time Orange has the opportunity to add a fixed-line dimension to its wirefree services. The agreement is a win-win situation for both Orange and Energis. Energis will be able to offer mobile business communications solutions to its business customers under its own brand and Orange will gain access to important incremental revenue from this valuable corporate segment.

Energis a FTSE 100 business telecommunications and internet company was founded in 1993 and is focused on the business marketplace.

Major national clients include the BBC Boots Freeserve Thomas Cook Sainsbury and Whitbread. The company has over 6800 kilometres of fibre optic cable installed throughout England and Wales.

Its task is to take the Fone Range group into the area of character licensing.

Warner Bros is the first licensor. It means Fone Range Partnerships will be able to use characters such as Bugs Bunny Scooby-Doo and Batman as well as characters from Cartoon Network.

The rapid growth in the accessories market is being driven by younger people and the use of popular television and film characters provides a perfect fit to their demand for personalisation and differentiation said Brooks.

Warner Bros characters have universal appeal and timelessness which provides the ideal platform for our range of mobile phone accessories said Brooks.

Fone Range products featuring the Warner Bros characters will be available from next month.

The package features the Nokia 3210 connection to Vodafone and a range of accessories plus a 12-month subscription to She Cosmopolitan or one of the other female titles within the Nat Mags range.

It is the first time that GMTV has endorsed a mobile phone commercial.

Last week a 60-second ad was aired once a day after 8am. This week there will be four 60-second and three 20-second ads also aired after 8am.

The Carphone Warehouse marketing head Jonathan Hook said:

We are always looking at innovative advertising and promotional ideas which are relevant to our customers and offer real added value. This is a fantastic promotion which provides customers with a great value package as well as free subscription to their favourite magazine.

This is the first time National Magazines has been involved in such a promotion. Martin Granby director of consumer sales and marketing said:

It is an excellent opportunity for National Magazines. The commercial will give us exposure to a huge percentage of our core target audience as will The Carphone Warehouses call centre promotion.

Director Mahmood Khan said: The World of Accessories brand is confusing to customers of a group that provides mobile services.

The World of Accessories name continues for the companys accessories. Mobile Phone House has stores in Clapham Tooting Streatham Camberwell and Maidstone.

By the end of the year text messaging will have reached 750 million. It is important to recognise the variety of applications not just the volume as messaging moves from a verbal to a textual world said MDA chairman Mike Short.

The sellers claim:

You can make free calls from your GSM phone and never need to recharge it again just use the kit and its upgradable software which contains all the latest security bypass codes.

Create FREE CALL cards for other people too it takes about 10 minutes. You can timebomb your Freecall Simcards to make them last only a day or a week or a month you choose.  That way your clients need to come back and get their cards re-authorised by YOU after a certain period of time. More money for you.

Our Kit uses a method known as Algorithm Triangulation. Although the call is connected the security feature that instructs the GSM provider to deduct call time from your account is scrambled.

A BTCellnet spokesperson told Mobile News:

It is a site that the networks are aware of. On behalf of the network security teams one of the networks applied to purchase the software advertised to see what if anything was sent.

This was done over a month ago. As of last week they had still not received anything.

There is nothing to suggest there is a product that could compromise GSM security in this way.

It is interesting that nothing has yet been received with payment having already been made.

The site requests payment by bank wire transfer and does not accept credit card orders outside the USA.