So I'm a typical geek playing with my phone one day at lunch. While waiting for our table, I come across the access control menu. On pressing the button my phone asks me for a PIN code, which I assume to be a prompt for a new one since I've never entered one before. Suddenly the phone locks solid with a prompt for my PUK code and only an "OK" selection in the menu bar. Being a creative geek I find that the passcode is an 8 digit number that I should conceivably be able to deduce from trial and error. After about a half dozen tries I realize this isn't the case and go back to the office.

I call AT&T Wireless, and while I'm waiting find a worrisome forum post about SIM cards on their message boards. Apparently if you try to guess your PUK code more than 10 times (the number varies from 3 to 8 to 10 depending on what page I go to), the card will block itself out in some assinine self-destruct mechanism and you need to go to the AT&T Wireless store and purchase a new $25 SIM card.

The guy gives me two incorrect codes (meanwhile admonishing me "Please don't try that again" when he hears another error beep in the background) before I get the correct code in time and my phone is saved. I think this is just about the stupidest security mechanism I've seen in a consumer product yet. No web site seems to indicate whether the self-destruct keys in after 10 consecutive wrong PUK codes or 10 total over the life of the card. All my geek friends seem to think it couldn't possibly be the second one, but I'm not so sure now.

Here's what it looks like when I browse this web page from my phone:

pnupagt08.attwireless.net - - 29/Jul/2003:12:27:01 -0400 "GET / HTTP/1.1" 200 3795 "-" "Nokia6310i/1.0 (5.10) Profile/MIDP-1.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.0 UP.Link/5.1.1.1a"

September 30, 2003 - Oh lordy, I just managed to configure Bluetooth internet access through the phone. Now I can packet myself into the poorhouse at $0.03 per kilobyte whenever I'm away from a link. I'm thinking a data plan may be in my near future.

October 1, 2003 - I gave in and bought 4 MB of data for this month for $12.99 (and $.01 per kilobyte for everything over that). We'll see what sort of fun I can have with it. Doing 6 lines of IRC the other day cost me 50k. Not a good start.

Knarphie was nice enough to unlock my phone even though AT&T Wireless had sold it to me in restricted mode. I'm off to T-Mobile in a few months when my contact expires for the unlimited Internet service, and now I just get to pop in a new $20 SIM card.

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