Guess her mobile phone supplier - the all new MacLeod party trick

I was out at a leaving party tonight on the South Bank.  Sat in the bar, I was introduced to Fiona who’s taking over from Sarah (Sarah’s leaving to pursue some business interests in Kosovo of all places — brave girl!). 

I was chatting away to Fiona — who, by the way, like all girls who work at this organisation, very good looking.  I talked to her and her colleague about all manner of things and, of course, the subject turned — for some reason — to mobile phones.

I say for some reason.  You know.  I’m a bit predictable.

Anyway. 

I remarked that I could probably guess her network provider.

She said words to the effect of ‘no way’.

I maintained I could — with a little bit of background.

So, see if you can work with me?  See if you’ve got the MacLeod flair?  Here we go.   

I asked her when she started her contract initially and when she upgraded her handset.

1.  She got the contract in 2003.
2.  She upgraded last month to a Sony Ericsson W810. 

Ok.  Clearing the screen.

So that’s all you get.   She’s young, hip, professional.   What is her network provider?

Clearing the screen again — just in case you’re wanting to play the game with me and tempted to cheat.

So… using the above information, can you guess her network provider?   Ok.  Guess now.  Then scroll down and see if you got it right, ok?

… more clearing of the screen….

Answer: T-Mobile.

Did you get it right?    I did.  She was, I think, pretty impressed.   Impressed as you can be at someone displaying such geeky skills. 

"You guessed!  You must have guessed!" she said.  (Words to that effect).

Nope, I explained.  Process of elimination.  Here’s how I did it. 

So, you got the contract in 2003… ergo you’ve been quite loyal… it’s got to be one of the big four.  Voda, o2, T-Mobile or … I seriously can’t remember the other one.  Gosh.  Voda… o2…T-Mobile… Orange!! Woops.  Dear me they slipped my mind just as I was writing this.

So it’s got to be one of those four.

Now.  She’s just renewed her contract.  She’s been a customer for a few years.  Who would give her a W810? 

You see I knew that Vodafone would probably have settled on giving her a K800 or a W900.  I also reckoned Orange and o2 would have gone the same way.  T-Mobile, known for having a slightly older, perhaps limited but nonetheless fairly cool handset range, would have probably still been offering W810s last month. 

So I plumped for T-Mobile and got it right.

Pure genius, eh?  😉   Luck too. 

Which reminds me, "Luck, often enough will save a man …if his courage holds." — 13th Warrior.

Or, if you’re into your classics, "Fate often saves an undoomed man if his courage holds."- Beowulf.

I hope you guessed right too?