PINs and PUKs
 

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 !

OK! OK!...
 

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

The Ancient Mariner

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

(with apologies for intruding on regular posters airspace) :E

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

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 ?

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.

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.