The are hundreds of thousands of mobile or cell phones in circulation today. The time will come when, there will be more cellphones in the world than there are people on the planet. I myself know a 30 people that own more than one phone, and a 5 who own 3 or 4 mobiles.

A mate of mine told me 'I lost my phone'. I said to him 'I hope you had a backup of your phone numbers!' Guess what his reply was. He said 'No'.

As cellphones reduce in size, they get easier to lose. How many times have you put your phone into your pocket, then bent over to pick something up and it falls out of your pocket. How many times have you left your mobile phone on a shop counter, or bus seat, or train seat? They are so easy to lose, and yet are so valuable to us. Many people say that they feel incomplete if they forget to bring their mobile phone with them when they leave the office. I feel a bit like that myself.

If you lost your phone what would you do? Here's a few tips:

1. Report the loss to your network provider

2. Get them to put an immediate block on the phone

3. Report the loss to the police

4. Recover your SIM backup so you can restore your numbers to your new handset

5. Report the loss to your insurance company

Losing your phone can cause great distress and can be a real inconvenience for some business people. The contacts stored in a cell phone are sometimes worth their weight in gold. Imagine a salesman with hundreds of prospects in his blackberry. He loses his phone and loses all his contacts. He would have to go back to the office and some of his contacts might not be retrievable. It is very important to have a backup of the phone numbers stored in your cell or mobile phone. You can get SIM backup gadgets, which are easily lost themselves, or you can go for an online backup service.

If you lose your phone, or should I say, when you lose your phone because statistics show that everyone will misplace their phone at least once in their lifetime, make sure you plan for the loss. Make sure you know the IMEI number, the SIM serial code, the cellphone serial number and the network number to call to report the loss. All these facts will help save you money and stop someone making calls that you'll be charged for.