AboutDebiN Expertise I can answer questions on cellular phones, the physical device, the network, what to look for when purchasing cell phones. I am located in the United States. I am an expert on BlackBerrys, Treos, HTC devices and iPhones as well as cellphones and aircards. I have over 15 years of experience in both the wireless and wireline world with the carriers. I have a lot of knowledge regarding the wireless providers - their services, prices and policies, both GSM (AT&T (formerly Cingular) and T-Mobile) and CDMA (Verizon, Sprint/Nextel (iDEN)). I am very familiar with the individual devices and their specifications. I can also answer questions regarding BlackBerrys, iPhones and other PDAs, both Palm-based and Windows-based. I can troubleshoot most any problem someone is having with their cellular device or with the provider.
Experience Over 15 years in the telecommunications field in the United States.
Question QUESTION: If my phone has been cloned, can a person use it as if they were me in the sense of text, calling, etc. on my account?
ANSWER: Hi Jerry -
You can't clone a phone anymore, however, if a phone were to be somehow cloned, then yes, the person who cloned it would be using voice minutes, text, etc. and it would be charged to you. Do you think that someone has cloned your phone? Let me know. Thanks. DebiN
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QUESTION: I had a client who indicated she knew how to do this and stated she could clone my phone. You are saying this is not possible. I had some unusual activity on my account that did not appear to be my calls so I got a little uneasy.
Answer A GSM phone cannot be cloned. A SIM card can be clone (but doing so, puts the original SIM card out of use). A CDMA phone can potentially be cloned (the ESN number can be cloned, but it is pretty unlikely). Who is your carrier and what make and model of phone do you have? What type of activity was on your account that you questioned? To be 100% certain, you can always check your call log against your invoice or call your carrier and have them check with you on calls to be sure. If your ESN number was cloned, you couldn't use your phone because the ESN number can only be used for one person at one time. If the phone was cloned, it would no longer work for you. The client you told you they could clone your phone failed to tell you that cloning puts your phone out of service and activates another phone in it's place. I hope this helps and let me know. thanks. DebiN
