Tracking cell phones

[Scarface212]

So the goverment can track our cell phones now but my question is can we track each other's??????

[K-Pak]

pls send me a reply if you know sommething about tracking cell phone!


P.S do not send toodavanced things.
P.S i am a beginer!

[Drunk On Duvel]

The only thing I know about tracking cel phones is via emergency location like for 911. I do not know how it works, but for a nornal person to gain such information (in my mind) would need to know how the tracking satellites are used, and I do not think just anybody can use them.

Google yeilded http://www.wired.com/news/technology...2,9502,00.html

Use it. Damn it.

[incideagent]

yeah i heard about the 911 tracking service, but many areas have not yet spent the tax payer money to spend on the 911 trace systems, only a few cities have it such as large cities. anyways i've heard about tracing cell calls through your puter, like labtop, hooking the cell phone onto your labtop (usb) there are some companies that offer software and hardware for such, other than that never actually seen a cell call traced except for tv.

[alphabetarian]

I've heard that 911, and other emergancy channels, use GPS to trace locations. That's according to some salesman guy at Radio Shack though and Verizon phones, so I don't know how true that is. Makes sense though, the GPS satellites are already up, why not use them?

How civilians can trace each other, I have no idea...

alpha

[deftones12]

The trace ur phone by using like a triangular thereom or something. I kinda forget how its done but i think its by like 120 degree segments of 3 towers. Its pretty accurate. Cellphones r a whole different story. I'm not that knowledgable but there r sid's...gsm's...espi's or something...i dunno but there r a whole lot of numbers involved into 1 phone to identify it. You can however change these with a program code that cellular providers use to program ur phone. I know mine for my panasonic phone...its #7764726# (spells out program) ....lets ya into a whole bunch of cool features. But changing some of these tags r illegal...not sure which ones though. Well i'm way off topic but they trace ur phone by doing the triangular thing with 3 towers...i heard its pretty accurate...like a couple feet or a square meter or something.

[Sgear17]

dont know about it but this is just a guess!!! okie every mobile phone has their unique license no. (like us our name)nokia for example type *#0000# or *06# a license no. will apper on the screen that correspond to that, if your phone get or transmit a signal maybe the protocol of the phone is their license no. and btw mobile company hav their own cell sites scattered her in earth or on you country that bounce signal going to the server, reciever and to your phone maybe that how it works. ive seen the series in smallville were lex tries to locate his pal who was stuck under a deep excavation the mobile company provide lex info were the signal bounce and wat specific location or area then there they start searching...hehehe just a wild guess or if your mobile phone is wap able then satellite can locate you... heheheheh

[Cyanosis]

Well, since 9/11, every cell phone produced has a little chip that tells the government of its location. And, if you are with AT&T, and have a phone that has mMode (the wireless internet) you can use a feature called Friend Finder, inwhich you dial the number, and if they other party agrees, it will display the cross streets inwhich the other party is located.

Fun eh?

[i2c]

In the UK there is a package sold by the carphone warehouse that allows you to track your employees phones,

Bascally what happens is that you add the phone to your list, i think you can add up to 4 phones on the standard package, and then you log on to the internet and it gives you a map of where the phone is.

Im not to sure whether you just add the IMEA number to the list or have to ring up off that phone to add it, You certainly have to give some details over the phone to add a mobile

I sure with some social engineering it would be possible to add someones phones, all be it unethical...........

i2c

[Und3ertak3r]

The method of locating any radio transmitter relies on various methods of RDF (radio direction Finder/ing) and triangulation..
Now the RDF relies on getting a direction or bearing to the transmitter..this can be by using one of the following
Directional Aerial ..rotate the aerial until you get the strongest signal..
Doplershift.. uses a special aerial and a computer to get the direction
TDDM - Time Domain Distance measurement

with analogue transmitters the first two are the easiest to use..
But with GSM/ Digital Phones TDDM is about the only way..
Any of these need two or more sites to get a fix on the transmitter.. the TDDM needs only accurate after 3 sites..
The first 2 you can build the equipment yourself..and then a map and a compass. the third youu need to talk to the celphone company.. a map and a protractor..

\
Just working on GSM.. when a gsm phone communicates to a base it sends various information, normaly based on the contents in the SIM card (analogue sends the phones serial no) the base reqularly interogates the phone and updates its cypher.. in this it estimates the distance (time taken for the signal to do a return trip less the time taken for th ephone to process) if the distance is greater than the allocation for the cell..Goodbye.. you are out of the picture or transfered onto another cell..
now if you have three cell bases one has TDDM for Jo Criminal at 7km, cell 2 has him at 15 km and cell 3 at 35km.. the 3 circles should intersect at one point close to where Jo is.. try it out.. the more cells that recieve his signal the more accurate the location.. 3 cells theorectily can get better than 10m from the target (this is based on the accuracey of the time reference at ALL of the cells).. the British telecom WAS able to use this to pin point criminals for the police.. but about 5 years ago.. the civil liberties groups managed to ban the practice..

Now with an analogue signal.. it is expensive for the Base station to be fitted with TDDM or any type of RDF for that matter.. a reciever and a RDF Aerial either directional or dopler and a method of decoding the engineering channel to find the the serial number of the phone..well stuff that, just find the person talking and zero in.. 2 direction readings from a suitable distance will generally give very accurate results, a third or more normaly clears up most errors..

for more on this subject Google the following.. Ham Radio, Amateur Radio, RDF, Radio direction Finding, GSM, Direction Finding, dopler shift radio direction finding, Radio Direction Finding, hidden transmitter compititions..

Have fun

Cheers

[edit]Geez did I write all that..shite..

Just a footnote TDDM may be referenced as TDM in some texts.. this was written from memory most of the details should be able to be cross checked.. I did put most of it into my own terms.. sorry if it confuses.. cheers [/edit]