mobile phone tracking

[oceanus]

i am thinking of writing a piece of software which could give the location of the phone by text or email when a certain number is called or a certain text is recieved

any help on technical issues i.e how to use the basestations to get the location of the phone, what would need to be recorded etc

thanks

[dYn4mic]

I think you need to rephrase your question... and/or obtain more information before asking here.
On older nokia phones you can enable a netmonitor mode that displays lots of useful information...
I don't believe your going to have legit access for what you want to do...

[oceanus]

Mobile Phone Tracking

write a peice of software which will sit in between the basestation and the mobile phone to intercept communication and return the base station id which is then compared to a data base to give the cell location

[d3ad1ysp0rk]

Wouldn't it fall under.. you know.. that invasion of privacy thing?

[Nimby]

on the newer phones, why not just use the built in "GPS" (I say it in "'s because some of the "gps" enabled phones just use tower triangulation (IIRC) to determin location)
I've been playing with the console on my Motorola V710 from verizon (using the motorola tools CD and the bluetooth connection)
the GPS, when enabled dumps quite a bit of location data into a pretty readable/usable format ...

[Ragnarok]

...

it would be next to impossible to triangulate sombodys cell withought direct access to multiple cell phone towers.

[astcell]

it would be next to impossible to triangulate sombodys cell withought direct access to multiple cell phone towers.

BUZZ, wrong answer. If you can get a cell scanner that sniffs out the ESN and phone number, you can walk right up to them.

[Twigman]

This might be a stupid comment, but:
Wouldn't that rely on the phone itself transmitting?
This would be fine whilst that person is mid conversation, but if the phone is just in standby, then it only communicates with the base station one every few minutes or longer depending...You would have to use that short burst of information to try and locate it, and if the phone is moving (person in a car or whatever) I can't see it working that well.

Or does a cell scanner work differently? Had a quick google, and I understand it just picks up what it transmits.

[astcell]

The phone is always talking, that's why you get differnt signal bars based on you reception. Walk indoors and you lose 2 bars, then the phone ups its power to stay connected.

You can stand on the road and capture ESNs as fats as cars drive by. This is basically what you need to clone a phone anyway.

You can buy these all day long in Mexico, but they are illegal to purchase in the US unless you are law enforcement, etc.

[Twigman]

Ah ok cool.
My "the phone only transmits sometimes" idea was based on the fact that you know if you have a phone near a speaker, when you txt, phone, or transmit the speaker makes that noise. I guess thats not the most accurate way to pick up a phone transmitting though.
Ok thank you :)
Also from googling, it appears that this equipment may be legal in the UK, in which case I may get some and have a play.

[astcell]

And some phones are not really off just because you pressed the off button and watched your screen go blank.

[PC-Cillin]

But really is there a way to trace or track a cell phone today via the web - thats the question that I have and would like to know.

Does anyone know of a software app or tool that would allow you to find a fixed location of a cell phone. I know that the e911 system will allow this, but that is for State, City and County Agencies to trace a cell phone location in an emergency.

What about everday uses who want to track their kids movements?


I think there would be a great commercial use for this.

[theprez98]

But really is there a way to trace or track a cell phone today via the web - thats the question that I have and would like to know.

Does anyone know of a software app or tool that would allow you to find a fixed location of a cell phone. I know that the e911 system will allow this, but that is for State, City and County Agencies to trace a cell phone location in an emergency.

What about everday uses who want to track their kids movements?


I think there would be a great commercial use for this.

Take a look at this.

[PC-Cillin]

Hey Prez thanks fo r that link, you know I beat to that one. I tried it last night, but it only works with nextel and Southern Link (which is part of Southern Company).

There is one company that offers a tracer service, found this when I did a Google search and it's the only one I found - ICU, Inc

ICU Inc, which appears to be a investigation service. These jokers want $300.00 for a single Ping!

I mean come on - what a joke!

I would think there is a way to for someone to develop an application that can put here on the web and charge everyday users for this service.

Got any other suggestions?

[PC-Cillin]

Any luck with your software

Oceanus have you had any luck writing your software for finding the location of a users cell phone?

i am thinking of writing a piece of software which could give the location of the phone by text or email when a certain number is called or a certain text is recieved

any help on technical issues i.e how to use the basestations to get the location of the phone, what would need to be recorded etc

thanks