[LINK] question re mobile phone tracking

[Adam Todd]

At 10:32 AM 29/10/2006, you wrote:
>Can a mobile location be determined if the phone is switched off and the 
>battery still installed?


Ahh the great debate!

Some of the newer phones actually have a "phone home" feature that 
constantly checks with the network.  The "guise" is to enable "speedier" 
connection on "activation" and to syncronise clocks and network features.

So the short answer is YES.

However if you take your battery out for too long, you might loose your 
memory, clock settings and other things!  Smart huh!

I have a mobile that phones home when switched off.  But as I rarely switch 
it off and I know where I am, and everyone else does anyway, I hardly see 
the benefit of tracking me on my mobile to a static regular location :)

One might simply call me and ask me :)



Some of the new phones with GPS built in are "always on" even when you turn 
them off.  And yes, you can access the GPS data, even if it's switch off!

They need to stay on as much as possible so they can talk to satellites and 
retain sync.  Although this seems like a really stupid concept given that 
the RX modules in the phones are so deaf you have to be standing in a clear 
area with the phone aimed at the sky to get a reading.

Bit like the PDA's with GPS, they also keep the GPS RX "active" (with the 
PDA's memory too of course) so they can "resync" fast when you need it.

My external GPS module can take up to 3 minutes to re-sync if it's been 
left in the console switched off, rather than on the dash switched off.

The only thing that seems to "switch off" is the bluetooth transmitter and 
the serial communications.  It seems to keep the RX open and processing.