Sachinism Posted December 1, 2009 Share Posted December 1, 2009 Millions of Indian mobile phones with no valid unique identification code have been blocked for security reasons. The International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) number is a 15-digit code which appears on the operator's network whenever a call is made. The absence of this number makes it impossible to trace either the caller or the phone or to access call details. Indian intelligence agencies say phones without the code have been used in attacks by militant groups. Mobile phones without the code were blocked at midnight - operators were asked to bar calls to them "in the wake of increased threat perception from militants". Cheap It is estimated that India has more than 25 million phones without codes. Phones with no codes or invalid numbers are mostly cheap, unbranded phones. Millions are manufactured in India or imported, mostly from China. Correspondents say these phones are popular because they are usually much cheaper than the branded ones. Many phone subscribers said they were being wrongly penalised because they were not aware that every handset had to have a code. The Cellular Operators' Association of India has asked the government to extend the deadline for blocking the numbers so that it can install identity numbers on unbranded devices. According to estimates by the Indian Cellular Association, unbranded phones account for nearly 30% of all sales in India. India has the fastest growing mobile phone market in the world, with more than 488 million subscribers. Every month millions of new subscribers are added to the list. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/8387727.stm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nova Posted December 1, 2009 Share Posted December 1, 2009 Good move. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DomainK Posted December 1, 2009 Share Posted December 1, 2009 Well done. China was the biggest culprit. They dump millions of these phones in the Indian markets at dirt cheap prices. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ViruRulez Posted December 1, 2009 Share Posted December 1, 2009 Are these the same sims where the mobile shops were giving more talktime than even the initial cost of the SIM. If that is the case then it was going on for a long time especially in Delhi and I also found it fishy as to why mobile phone shopkeepers used to sell prepaid connections at 30-70 rupees and giving talktime upto 200-300 on that sim itself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cндябеяs Posted December 1, 2009 Share Posted December 1, 2009 Are these the same sims where the mobile shops were giving more talktime than even the initial cost of the SIM. If that is the case then it was going on for a long time especially in Delhi and I also found it fishy as to why mobile phone shopkeepers used to sell prepaid connections at 30-70 rupees and giving talktime upto 200-300 on that sim itself. :notsmiley: this iz about handsets witout IMEI nos Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
champ Posted December 1, 2009 Share Posted December 1, 2009 these china mobiles were the ones used by terrorists to fire off bombs at all places accross india last year .. more they cant be traced bcos of fake imei's . .these should be banned .. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ViruRulez Posted December 1, 2009 Share Posted December 1, 2009 :notsmiley: this iz about handsets witout IMEI nos that is what I am saying.. are those cheap sims the ones without IMEI nos.. those sims looked Chinese made EDIT: I now remember. My friends also saw no IMEI nos. on those cheap sims. Normally the IMEI nos. are written on the sim card but they were not written on those cheap sims. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sachinism Posted December 1, 2009 Author Share Posted December 1, 2009 that is what I am saying.. are those cheap sims the ones without IMEI nos.. those sims looked Chinese made EDIT: I now remember. My friends also saw no IMEI nos. on those cheap sims. Normally the IMEI nos. are written on the sim card but they were not written on those cheap sims. IMEIs are on the phone not the sim. Sims can be changed, but the IMEI remains with the phone Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dirty_South Posted December 1, 2009 Share Posted December 1, 2009 IMEI r nt on SIMS! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gambit Posted December 1, 2009 Share Posted December 1, 2009 that is what I am saying.. are those cheap sims the ones without IMEI nos.. those sims looked Chinese made EDIT: I now remember. My friends also saw no IMEI nos. on those cheap sims. Normally the IMEI nos. are written on the sim card but they were not written on those cheap sims. The unique id for a SIM card is called an IMSI. IMEI is the unique id for a phone. You are confusing the two. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ViruRulez Posted December 1, 2009 Share Posted December 1, 2009 The unique id for a SIM card is called an IMSI. IMEI is the unique id for a phone. You are confusing the two. Ok got it .. my mistake .. I was confusing with the SIM no Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
urbestfriend Posted December 1, 2009 Share Posted December 1, 2009 I dont think this ban is useful. I know that 30%-40% of mobiles sold in Hyderabad are of chinese origin. Now these dealers are offering chinese phone with IMEI no..Also they'll add IMEI no to any phone by charging 200 rs. Its alleged that they use same IMEI no for many mobile phones which defeats the whole purpose of having this in the first place. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DomainK Posted December 1, 2009 Share Posted December 1, 2009 It may not solve the purpose entirely on it's own, but it's a step in the right direction. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts