Information about Cell phone pings

[Lorie Taylor]

Some information about Cell phone pings and triangulation:

There are two ways that celluar (cell) phones are located, depending on the
cell phone itself, and the technology that is built in to that cell phone.
Older cell phones are located via a process of signal triangulation, while
newer phones have a Global Postitioning System (GPS) built in to them. In
practice, one, the other or both can be used to locate a cell phone.

Triangulation can be done on most any cell phone, depending on the location
of the cell phone and any nearby towers. GPS locating depends on the cell
phone being so equipped. There is a federal mandate that pretty much all
cell phone companies, including Verizon, will be able to locate a cell phone
based on one, the other or both methods.

“Cell phones are two way radio transmitters that work by connecting to a
nearby tower and exchanging data. Despite the FCC’s limitation on maximum
power output of a cell phone, they are still able to connect with towers
miles away at UHF frequencies … Because cell phones put out a constant RF
output (sometimes pulsed) they can be tracked using the tower triangulation
method where the network administrators can find your precise location with
their administrative network access.”

“Phase II of the FCC regulations will begin to be implemented in the fall of
2001. During Phase II, wireless carriers and the PSAPs will be upgrading
their systems to provide more exact geographic coordinates. Two methods will
be employed:

1) triangulation: new receivers will be added to the tower arrays that will
be able to perform triangulation; and 2) global positioning receivers (GPS)
may be added to new wireless phones.”

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