found a cell phone while I was running...

I would try to call a relative or someone. I am sure the relative would be able to contact the person via a home telephone number or work number. If I couldn't get anyone on the phone, I probably would just leave it there. Then again, I would be worry some kid might pick it up and use it for themselves or try to sell it.

I would have done what you initially thought you should have done because i think in this case, it is just too difficult for someone to retrace their steps and actually came out lucky to find their phone lying on the ground somewhere. Because the place where he/she dropped the phone happens to be 'the side of the road', he has a vast area to search for his phone and if you do not help him, some other person with no integrity might just pick it up and keep it for himself. Unless you lost something at one place, then i think that you can just leave it there because it would be easy for them to retrace their steps. I guess the next time you do come across the phone again, you should just pick it up and call the mom or dad. :)

I'd pick up the phone and try calling the numbers stored inside to get someone to return it to its owner or get ahold of the owner. The side of the road is really not a safe place for a phone to sit. True, the owner might eventually come back for it but by then the elements could have gotten to it or someone with less than noble ideas might pick it up. It's also possible that the person who lost it would try calling it, and in that case you would be there to pick up and tell them you found the phone.

Hi Macdingolinger1. I think I will call the last number dialed in that phone or office number. Tell her to take the phone at nearest police station. If I put it back there maybe someone will found it and took in, remember not all the people in this world honest person like you.

You did the right thing by leaving it just right there, where it was. Another thing you could have done was to scroll through the contacts to locate some of his acquaintances numbers and then call them up with your own phone. I think every one must leave a message in the note pad giving the alternate number so that in case someone finds the phone the person would know where to locate the one who has lost the phone.

Clever. I think I'd go through the inbox and see who's an obvious candidate of being phoned so he can get it back. Looks like invading somebody's privacy but it can be more fruitful. Some people can't remember where they dropped it or something to that effect so I'd rather call and get their attention than letting some burglar steal it. But it can also be uncomfortable if they become suspicious of you who has the purest intention of returning it so I could just leave it there as well.

This also happened to me. At a public toilet inside a mall, on the cubicle where I peed on, a mobile phone was on the top of the water closet. I was confused on what to do. There’s onside of me telling me to pick it up, but there’s this other side saying leave it there. I eventually didn’t touched the phone, and when I went out the toilet I regretted of not picking it up, I thought of surrendering it to the mall’s management office.

i would have picked it up and called any # that could help id the owner. i found one before, i txtd 1 person on phone and asked how i could return it. next day, owner showed up at the same place and i gave it bk. it could help if you found the phone in a place where you frequent and just inform someone about it how and when the owner can take it back. that way getting it back would not be too much of an inconvenience.

have you found out who it belongs to? was there no any lost and found institution or group you can hand it in?

I probably would have called a number in it. I know I would freak out if I lost my phone and the way some people are these days, it may not have been there when the person retraced their steps.

Keep the cellphone :D

Seriously, you should have called the contacts and see if they can contact the owner to pick up the phone or something. An alternative is just to hand it to the lost and found or give it to the police. Let them take care of it. Leaving it where it was is a bad idea though because someone else that is immoral might come along and use the phone to make expensive calls at the cost of the owner.

I was at a trade show in Chicago last month and happened to find this phone on the sidewalk outside of my hotel. I was going to bring it to the front desk of the hotel and it rang so I answered and told the caller I found it outside and that it was going to be brought to the front desk. I think I would have used the phone and called the last contact that had a name saved and let them know the phone was found at such and such location and tell them where the owner could find it

i have also experience that..i picked up the phone and call one of the contacts of the owner and told him that i got his friend's phone and meet me to return the phone..

I would have gone with the first option.. because the next person to pick it up might not be so kind. They might sell it or have it wiped clean and use it themselves.. or perhaps someone else will run over it or step on it without seeing it.

Every cell phone I've had has had a marking of the company I get my service through. I think I would have picked up the phone & gone to the nearest Store & had them look up the information on the owner. They could then contact the owner & let them know they had the phone...or ask permission to give you their address so you could drop it off. I think my company will ship my phone back to me if it's turned in. I would have feared leaving it still on the side of the road that some unscrupulous person might find it & keep it & the owner would never get it back.

I would have definitely picked up the phone and try to find the person the phone belonged to. I know that is what I would want someone to do for me if I lost my phone. I alway believe in do onto others as you wish them to do for you. It would also had made someone very happy to know that their phone was found.

what you have done is good but not smart.you could have called their parents or relative from the phonebook and atleast notify them that you found the cell and no need to worry.that itself relieves the person who lost his cell some mental torture and he could have felt like There are still some god persns like you left out there.But the guilty feeling that statred inside you is admirable.you did the right thing by listening to your heart than to you mind.though you could have done a better job in this case :) Happy Mylotting :)