PINs and PUKs

[OFSO]

Every now and then we drift off-thread into phone/smart-phone country so here's a little thought from me - do you know your PUK ? Sure, many of us are running on old SIM cards which get passed down from phone to phone, but when my wife's year-old phone suddenly demanded her PUK (I am not going to go into why, but she was in London) and I realised it was the SIM card from a phone I bought here in Spain in 2002, I hadn't a clue where the paper was or what the number was. Yes, my much-maligned Spanish operator this time came up trumps and e-mailed it to me, so crisis over...for now. But when freaking out in the joy over the new smart phone or dongle it's all too easy to forget: three wrong PIN's and you need your PUK; a few wrong PUK's and the device is on the way to being useless.

WRITE IT DOWN !

[Rossian]

OK! OK!...

.... I give in WTH is a PUK?

The Ancient Mariner

[Coffin Dodger]

Personal Unlocking Code. One imagines that Mr OFSO was being phonetic with his acronym.

(with apologies for intruding on regular posters airspace)

[BOAC]

Apologies accepted, but it is also know as a 'Key'

[mixture]

suddenly demanded her PUK (I am not going to go into why, but she was in London)

Erm, I'm going to have to ask why. Why should the fact she was in London be related to the fact she was suddenly asked for a PUK ?

WRITE IT DOWN !

Why ? Most of the carriers have an automated PUK line you can call. No need to decrease security by writing it down. Writing down your PIN/PUK is about as silly as writing down your credit card PIN, especially if you carry the written note on your person.

[Ancient Observer]

Both Vodafone and 3 have mobiles in the Ancient house. Both do the PUK code thing on an automated basis. However, how that works when outside UK base I have no idea.