Dear London Town

As someone who likes to communicate, it has been surprisingly easy to be unreachable by phone. I could safely leave my mobile behind in my room and not fret about the fact that it wasnt on me. I knew there were no missed calls or texts piling up in my inbox.

A week has passed since I first arrived here in London Town and my new friends were quite anxious about my not having a number. Plus, I knew there would be paperwork to be filled out requiring a phone number soon, so I had to go and remedy the situation.

Dz had given me a used Nokia of his along with a couple different SIM cards. He no longer had the charger for the Nokia, so I needed to locate one. The back-up plan was to take my own LG to Tottenham  Court Road to one of the somewhat dodgy electronic stores to have them unlock my phone from the Cingular/AT&T network.

Since I had to go to the university first to sign my life away to debt before I could deal with phone issues, the lovely M of financial services suggested I try The Carphone Warehouse first to see about the charger.

I followed her directions down Oxford Street and went into the busy shop. I looked at the various models available for pay-as-you-go, and then tried to locate the accessories area where chargers would be. I got behind a lady in the express line for top-ups and accessories, but the express lane had me standing there for nearly 15 minutes.

Panicking at the time, since I had to make my way to a 3pm meeting, I took off. I left feeling a bit bummed, but knew that my connection was right near Tottenham Court Road, so I could check into solutions there.

After my meeting at Soho Curzon* with a local film producer/film fesival producer, I made my way up to find a shop to help me out. I spotted another Carphone Warehouse, so I thought I’d try them again.

No go.

The line was massive. People are serious about their phones here.

So I walked back across the street and into one of the unlocking shops. I explained the situation about Dz’s Nokia needing a charger or my LG needing to be unlocked and the Asian guy went to work.

First, we tried a charger for the Nokia. He found one, but no charge. So he popped in a new battery. It worked. Then he put in a SIM. It blipped. He tried another SIM. No connection.

“Do you know what network this phone was on?”

I didn’t. And I had been given two SIMs by Dz, so I had assumed it didnt matter.

The guy attached the phone to a wire and did some work on a laptop. Finally, he came to the conclusion that it was the phone itself. Apparently there had been water damage.

I took out my phone and he gave it a look. We discussed the network, my SIM cards, and options. He tried to unlock it.

No luck.

He ended up taking it downstairs to another computer with more programs and came up with a grin.

We tried the O2 SIM that Dz gave me. And then the Orange SIM. Then his SIMs. Vodaphone connected! He tried his O2. It connected.

Apparently my SIMs had expired.

So I paid £10 for the successful unlock and walked across the street to O2 and purchased a new SIM for £15 to cover my needs for a while.

Sadly, my phone keeps wanting to shut itself off now, so I may end up with a new phone after all! But for now, it’s mostly working. And as no one is really calling yet, it doesnt matter too much. <HINT>

It feels good to be so independent from this little device I’ve had since summer 2006. It’s the most basic little phone and yet it has held up so well.

If anyone needs my new number, please contact me in the comments section.

*At the Curzon I booked a ticket for a screening of Milk with a Q&A with the director Gus Van Sant and the writer Dustin Lance Black on January 17. I’m looking forward to the movie and the talk!