TH's cell phone pings

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Angel4u2Whisper2

Angel4u2Whisper2

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I just wanted to toss this out because I have heard people saying that it doesn't make sense that she didn't turn her phone off. Maybe she did? Newer advances in telephones make it possiable to ping or track your telephone even when it is turned off. It is not a real commonly known thing, or easy to forget about. Perhaps, you may even think that your phone company or telephone model doesn't have that service. Earlier someone else listed a link as well, i'll add it too.

http://www.privacyrights.org/fs/fs2b-cellprivacy.htm


snip:
http://www.talkleft.com/story/2008/7/2/195035/3943
Even when 'off' it's periodically emitting a short burst to tell the system which tower(s) to use for your incoming calls. it's this burst which is used to locate you. Pull the battery to secure your location.



Plus, GPS might already have been an option if her husbands truck had onstar in his car. I am not sure if they can track it even if it isn't paid for via activation.
 
Angel4u2Whisper2 said:
I just wanted to toss this out because I have heard people saying that it doesn't make sense that she didn't turn her phone off. Maybe she did? Newer advances in telephones make it possiable to ping or track your telephone even when it is turned off. It is not a real commonly known thing, or easy to forget about. Perhaps, you may even think that your phone company or telephone model doesn't have that service. Earlier someone else listed a link as well, i'll add it too.


Plus, GPS might already have been an option if her husbands truck had onstar in his car. I am not sure if they can track it even if it isn't paid for via activation.

snip:
Even when 'off' it's periodically emitting a short burst to tell the system which tower(s) to use for your incoming calls. it's this burst which is used to locate you. Pull the battery to secure your location.


http://www.talkleft.com/story/2008/7/2/195035/3943
http://www.privacyrights.org/fs/fs2b-cellprivacy.htm
Click to expand...

I have to say (and maybe I'm just naive), but I thought the phone could only be traced if I made a call, not just if the phone was on (and certainly not hours after the fact). Depending on how much she knows about these things, my guess is she had no clue.

And, Angel, I didn't know this fact at all. Very cool -- but probably not something very well known.

(Addition:...among other things, I teach and troubleshoot Tech in our middle school bldg., so I consider myself pretty "tech savvy," and I'd never heard of this....). So she may not have ever thought to turn the phone off.
 
PS- you have to take the battery out of a phone, not to have it ping, is what I read...
 
Am I correct in assuming that a 'Ping' is when a cell phone makes communication with a cell tower?

PSA: if you are going to kill someone, leave the cell at home.
 
True and understandable that people might think, if I don't call anyone..they wont find me or if I turn it off. Newer advances recently have changed that.

So true beans Razzle. If you commit a crime leave your cell at home or take out the battery.


:( Sadly though some missing people aren't found before the battery dies even when it is "on".
 
twzzlrgirl said:
I have to say (and maybe I'm just naive), but I thought the phone could only be traced if I made a call, not just if the phone was on (and certainly not hours after the fact). Depending on how much she knows about these things, my guess is she had no clue.

And, Angel, I didn't know this fact at all. Very cool -- but probably not something very well known.

(Addition:...among other things, I teach and troubleshoot Tech in our middle school bldg., so I consider myself pretty "tech savvy," and I'd never heard of this....). So she may not have ever thought to turn the phone off.
Click to expand...

I'm not being disrespectful here, but I've known about cell phone pings ever since I got my first cell phone back in the late 80s. When someone calls into your cell phone, the system has to have a way to know which tower to route that call through. Otherwise, they'd have to broadcast every single call through every single tower in the US. Not feasible.

Frankly, I am surprised that anyone is surprised about cell phone pings. What do you think runs the battery down even if you make no calls at all? If you turn your cell phone all the way off or yank the battery, then call your cell phone number, the system either instantly or almost instantly routes your call either to voicemail or to an automated message saying something like "that phone is not reachable right now."

I'm honestly not trying to be disrespectful, I'm just surprised that there is any adult who doesn't know how cell phones work. I'm one of the least tech savvy people there is and I know! I tend to assume that if I know something tech-ish, everyone knows it.
 
GrainneDhu said:
I'm not being disrespectful here, but I've known about cell phone pings ever since I got my first cell phone back in the late 80s. When someone calls into your cell phone, the system has to have a way to know which tower to route that call through. Otherwise, they'd have to broadcast every single call through every single tower in the US. Not feasible.

Frankly, I am surprised that anyone is surprised about cell phone pings. What do you think runs the battery down even if you make no calls at all? If you turn your cell phone all the way off or yank the battery, then call your cell phone number, the system either instantly or almost instantly routes your call either to voicemail or to an automated message saying something like "that phone is not reachable right now."

I'm honestly not trying to be disrespectful, I'm just surprised that there is any adult who doesn't know how cell phones work. I'm one of the least tech savvy people there is and I know! I tend to assume that if I know something tech-ish, everyone knows it.
Click to expand...

Well, first of all: I knew the phone could be traced if a call was made, or if a call came in. I didn't know the cell was "communicating" with the tower through pings even if there was no activity.

Second: Many things "run down" if they are on (my ipod, for example), and it's not running down because it is somehow being traced, but because the act of it being "on" runs down the battery.

Third: I know how cell phones work. I just didn't know they could be traced even if they weren't in use, or if they weren't even on.
 
Was it confirmed that there:
A) were cell pings on Sauvie Island; and
B) that cell phone belonged to Terri?
 
Razzle said:
Am I correct in assuming that a 'Ping' is when a cell phone makes communication with a cell tower?

PSA: if you are going to kill someone, leave the cell at home.
Click to expand...

Yes, a cell phone ping is a very short data burst that tells the nearest tower that it (the cell phone) is in the area. Without pings, the cell phone system would be unworkable.
 
cluciano63 said:
PS- you have to take the battery out of a phone, not to have it ping, is what I read...
Click to expand...

This is true! Until the Caylee case I would never have known that either. If you don't want to be *pinged* the battery has to be out of the phone.
 
Tzedek said:
But a lot of people do not know this. Not necessarily because they aren't tech-savvy, but because they simply haven't thought about it or read about it. They have a phone they can all people with and don't think about it much beyond that. To chastise people because they don't posess a bit of knowledge that you do is a little over the top. I personally found this post offensive and would hope it's not typical for how posters speak to each other here.

And it's all endless speculation anyway. No one here knows for sure what the info is on the cell phone, "pings" or otherwise. For all we know, there are other ways the cell phone may have tripped her up, IF that is what is being dealt with.
Click to expand...

I apologise. My intention was not to chastise but I have clearly failed to communicate my intentions clearly.

I was trying to figure out just how common it is for people not to know about cell phone pings. I was coming from the assumption that knowledge was like knowing about free wi-fi spots: if you have a laptop or smartphone, you know you can find a spot by just roaming around and watching your wi-fi app to see when you get a signal, then you check to see if it is secured, etc.

I was surprised to find out that it is less commonly known among cell phone owners than knowledge of wi-fi is among laptop owners.

Or maybe most laptop owners don't know about wi-fi either?

Uh oh. Now I'm beginning to question my own assumptions. And what it is that I don't know that everyone else knows!
 
GrainneDhu said:
I apologise. My intention was not to chastise but I have clearly failed to communicate my intentions clearly.

I was trying to figure out just how common it is for people not to know about cell phone pings. I was coming from the assumption that knowledge was like knowing about free wi-fi spots: if you have a laptop or smartphone, you know you can find a spot by just roaming around and watching your wi-fi app to see when you get a signal, then you check to see if it is secured, etc.

I was surprised to find out that it is less commonly known among cell phone owners than knowledge of wi-fi is among laptop owners.

Or maybe most laptop owners don't know about wi-fi either?

Uh oh. Now I'm beginning to question my own assumptions. And what it is that I don't know that everyone else knows!
Click to expand...

I was aware of the pings even if you are not making calls. I was unaware that one would have to actually remove the battery rather than just turning it off. We all learn new things everyday.

I guess the battery dying would have the same effect as removing the battery??
 
Pondering Mind said:
This is true! Until the Caylee case I would never have known that either. If you don't want to be *pinged* the battery has to be out of the phone.
Click to expand...

I wonder if a cell phone pings every tower it gets within range of or only some of them. I worked for Nextel 8 years ago and I know that there were many times that I had to help people troubleshoot their phones when the underlying issue was that the phone wasn't registering with the tower. A quick power cycle solved the problem, but it makes me wonder if that is still common.

We didn't call them pings at Nextel, but I understand what they are.
 
Can anyone provide a link for the cell phone pings? Thanks.

I have moved these posts to allow you to discuss cell phone pings in general.

If someone can provide me with a link that there are in fact pings of a cell phone please do. Otherwise the cell phone pings of SM can't be discussed because it is rumor without some verification.

Thanks.
 
Day Dreamer said:
I was aware of the pings even if you are not making calls. I was unaware that one would have to actually remove the battery rather than just turning it off. We all learn new things everyday.

I guess the battery dying would have the same effect as removing the battery??
Click to expand...

And I have read information online today that states that cell phones only ping if the phone is on.

So the information out there is not universally known nor agreed upon by everyone.

At least one MSM reported that her phone records do not match her statements. No mention of 'pings' so we don't even know if they are referring to a phone that is on and being used (perhaps she was on the phone saying I am at x, doing y, when the records show she was at z) or what precisely was discovered in the records.

I am sure LE has been verifying the location of all family members for that day, with all tools at their disposal.
 
Tzedek said:
And I have read information online today that states that cell phones only ping if the phone is on.

So the information out there is not universally known nor agreed upon by everyone.

At least one MSM reported that her phone records do not match her statements. No mention of 'pings' so we don't even know if they are referring to a phone that is on and being used (perhaps she was on the phone saying I am at x, doing y, when the records show she was at z) or what precisely was discovered in the records.

I am sure LE has been verifying the location of all family members for that day, with all tools at their disposal.
Click to expand...

What I am wondering is if someone clones your cell phone, does that mess up the ping logs? I think it would because a cloned cell phone imitates the original phone well enough to fool the cell phone company billing system (which is the point of cloning).

Most people discover that their cell phone was cloned as soon as they get the next bill and there are overseas calls for megabucks on there that they never made. But if the cloner didn't run up the bill, there might not be a tip off.

How many people actually go through their bill and check the phone numbers called on it if their cell bill is approximately what they expected? In other words, if you expect a $30 bill and you get a $30 bill, do you go through the phone numbers anyway?
 
grandmaj said:
Can anyone provide a link for the cell phone pings? Thanks.

I have moved these posts to allow you to discuss cell phone pings in general.

If someone can provide me with a link that there are in fact pings of a cell phone please do. Otherwise the cell phone pings of SM can't be discussed because it is rumor without some verification.

Thanks.
Click to expand...

WW has learned that federal, county and city law-enforcement officials say the reason for the search of Sauvie Island is that cell-phone records reveal Kyron’s step-mother, Terri Moulton Horman, may have been on the island the day he disappeared.

http://blogs.wweek.com/news/2010/06...yron-horman-focuses-on-step-mom-cell-records/
 
grandmaj said:
Can anyone provide a link for the cell phone pings? Thanks.

I have moved these posts to allow you to discuss cell phone pings in general.

If someone can provide me with a link that there are in fact pings of a cell phone please do. Otherwise the cell phone pings of SM can't be discussed because it is rumor without some verification.

Thanks.
Click to expand...

http://blogs.wweek.com/news/2010/06...yron-horman-focuses-on-step-mom-cell-records/

WW has learned that federal, county and city law-enforcement officials say the reason for the search of Sauvie Island is that cell-phone records reveal Kyron’s step-mother, Terri Moulton Horman, may have been on the island the day he disappeared.
Click to expand...

If we're not allowed to quote or use the Willamette Week, I apologise. I seem to recall it has been allowed before but now I can't find the thread where permission was given.
 
Thank you Ruby. So this opens up discussion that perhaps if this story is accurate the SM's cell pinged in that area.
 
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