Taking the mobile to the grave

biko

According to a Swedish paper 94 % of young Irish has mobiles and this has affected the tradition of putting things in the casket with the dead person. Some people now bring their mobile phone to the grave, albeit switched off (in case it's needed there is battery left??) Funeral directors Peter Flanagan and Keith Massey in Dublin says that this is getting more and more common.
I don't now, it's both kinda sweet and creepy at the same time...

xzanti

I remember hearing a story on some radio stn last year, a family buried their dead daughter with her fone and about a year later they started getting txt messages from her number saying stuff like "Hi, Im ok" and "I love you" so they went to the phone company distraught and it turned out they were recycling the phone numbers which hadnt been used for a long time... Id say it was quite distressing for the family but nothing they could really do.. So dont know if its really such a good idea???? Dont know if Id like the thought of it tbh

robinph

xzanti wrote:

I remember hearing a story on some radio stn last year, a family buried their dead daughter with her fone and about a year later they started getting txt messages from her number saying stuff like "Hi, Im ok" and "I love you" so they went to the phone company distraught and it turned out they were recycling the phone numbers which hadnt been used for a long time... Id say it was quite distressing for the family but nothing they could really do.. So dont know if its really such a good idea???? Dont know if Id like the thought of it tbh

So how did the person who got the recycled number manage to get hold of the previous owners parents number then?

TheIceMaker

oh god thats awful

xzanti

robinph wrote:

So how did the person who got the recycled number manage to get hold of the previous owners parents number then?

I dont think they had it... I think it was either pot luck that the person with the new number had just mis-dialled someone else and by chance it was the family member or somehow her numbers where put onto his sim card when he got the recycled number.. It was on the Jerry Ryan show about a year and a half ago..

Pigman II

I wonder what the coverage is like thru 6ft of dirt and a wooden casket?

xzanti

Pigman II wrote:

I wonder what the coverage is like thru 6ft of dirt and a wooden casket?

Just like being with Meteor id say

robinph

xzanti wrote:

I dont think they had it... I think it was either pot luck that the person with the new number had just mis-dialled someone else and by chance it was the family member or somehow her numbers where put onto his sim card when he got the recycled number.. It was on the Jerry Ryan show about a year and a half ago..

Its proably also listed as being a load of bollix on the snopes site, but I can't find it there right now.

IceHawk

robinph wrote:

So how did the person who got the recycled number manage to get hold of the previous owners parents number then?

I heard about this. Apparently, the family would send the dead girl messages sometimes as a way of remembering her or something. So this person gets a new phone number and people he doesn't know start texting him/her.

robinph wrote:

Its proably also listed as being a load of bollix on the snopes site, but I can't find it there right now.

It's true. It was the family of the dead girl who phoned the radio station. Unless that was a prank.

audge

robinph wrote:

So how did the person who got the recycled number manage to get hold of the previous owners parents number then?

I know this story, every morning since the person died, their dad txt a "Good Morning Beautiful, I love You and I miss You Always" message. So the evil person receiving the texts decided to start replying.

*Lees*

Omg! :eek:

Frikken Weeiirddd!!! :eek:

Rantorama

robinph wrote:

Its proably also listed as being a load of bollix on the snopes site, but I can't find it there right now.

Nah,it's true heard it myself,definitely not a prank

Naos

Hmm thats odd. Would have assumed If I bought my mobile number I could keep it as long as I like, regardless if I use it or not, seeing as its mine..

She-Ra

audge wrote:

I know this story, every morning since the person died, their dad txt a "Good Morning Beautiful, I love You and I miss You Always" message. So the evil person receiving the texts decided to start replying.

omg! why would you do that?!?! thats a nasty, cruel thing to do to anyone... her poor parents. i love my phone but i think something like that would cause too much trauma so maybe i'll leave it behind!!

xzanti

I can see the sentiment behind it alright but its definately open to abuse.. Maybe bring the fone but leave the sim card behind ?? I dunno.. still, would be even more weird if messages started coming through then :eek:

Eoin

xzanti wrote:

I can see the sentiment behind it alright but its definately open to abuse.. Maybe bring the fone but leave the sim card behind ?? I dunno.. still, would be even more weird if messages started coming through then :eek:

The problem is that the number is recycled so it doesn't matter where the SIM is. And the above is a true story, according to someone who works for the operator. From what I remember, they gave the new person a new number and retired the old number so it wouldn't be recycled.

MrPinK

audge wrote:

I know this story, every morning since the person died, their dad txt a "Good Morning Beautiful, I love You and I miss You Always" message. So the evil person receiving the texts decided to start replying.

If I was getting texts from someone every day I'd reply too. Unless they started with "Hello my dead daughter", how would the person with the recycled number know that the texts weren't meant for them? They most likely had no idea someone was trying to send messages to a deceased loved one, I'd hardly call them evil.

tabatha

my dad died this year and we buried him with his mobile. he was really possesive over it so we left it in his pocket.

audge

MrPinK wrote:

If I was getting texts from someone every day I'd reply too. Unless they started with "Hello my dead daughter", how would the person with the recycled number know that the texts weren't meant for them? They most likely had no idea someone was trying to send messages to a deceased loved one, I'd hardly call them evil.

Fair enough, they weren't evil for replying, but they didn't just call the person and say "who is this? why are you calling me?" or even send a text of that nautre, they started playing along saying stuff like "I love and miss you too". I know they didn't know the full story, but you can see how it would freak the parents out, so I guess from their point of view it was kinda evil!

Funkstard

If that is true, wow, imagine getting a message from your dead daughter.....

biko

tabatha wrote:

my dad died this year and we buried him with his mobile. he was really possesive over it so we left it in his pocket.

Tab, I am sorry to hear about you father! Guess the mobile is now so important that it's up there with other important stuff that we want to take with us. Personally the phone is not so important to me but my laptop is another matter altogether...

crazymonkey

A similier situation happened to a friend of mine, When her brother died they buried his mobile with him, she would text the no, every so often when she found herself thinking of him, after a year she got a reply to a text, the number had been recycled,, she was very upset about it,,

Xcom2

biko wrote:

Personally the phone is not so important to me but my laptop is another matter altogether...

What is the chance of getting a signal from Irish Broadband six feet under?

X

Sparky

so say in 300 years from now when say we discover bodys, we will be wow its a nokia from 2005, woah those people were ancient how did they use those things.

Sarsfield

I'm sure it must contravene some waste management laws. Batteries especially need to be disposed of professionally.

Pet

Sarsfield wrote:

I'm sure it must contravene some waste management laws. Batteries especially need to be disposed of professionally.

I was just about to say that. It's a stupid and irresponsible thing to do; I really hope it doesn't catch on.

Our man in Havana

After how long do they start recycling mobile numbers?

cournioni

Funkstard wrote:

If that is true, wow, imagine getting a message from your dead daughter.....

Zombie text! Imagine the look on the faces of her parents if vodafone had released the Lucozade ad. Especially with the hand coming up out of the grave with the phone in it...

seamus

Mear wrote:

Hmm thats odd. Would have assumed If I bought my mobile number I could keep it as long as I like, regardless if I use it or not, seeing as its mine..

You don't buy your mobile number. You're just given the use of it. It's essentially a rental agreement.

failsafe

After a year of not topping up the phone get's disconnected and then the number is put back into the system 6months later. So it's essentially a year and a half before the number goes back on the shelf.

I work in a mobile call centre and have dealt with a call like this from a guy who started to get replies from his dead daughter's number and he was very upset but unless somebody makes a request for a number to be kept active (or just tops it up once a year!) the number will be recycled. It'd pretty freaky to see all the same.

dundalk cailin

makes sense to recycle numbers after being unused for so long, but the thought of gettin messages/calls from dead relatives numbers is scary...

Eoin

dundalk cailin wrote:

makes sense to recycle numbers after being unused for so long, but the thought of gettin messages/calls from dead relatives numbers is scary...

Absolutely. I'm sure no operator would have a problem with retiring the number if informed about the situation, but it's probably one of many details that a family wouldn't think of.

dundalk cailin

but they should after reading this! you have a year and a half after all to infrorm them

a friend of mine was buried over the summer wit her phone too!it was so sad to see a 16year old die!