Do All New Cellphones Have GPS chips in them for E911?
OK, I understand that some phones have GPS navigation abilities and I KNOW those have a GPS chip in them. But Somebody told me that ALL new cellphones have a GPS tracking chip in them (whether they say it or not) that is Only for E911, when emergency workers are trying to locate a person in distress, and it has to be activated by them. And that it won’t work for navigation and the user manuals dont mention it. Is this true?
Also, If somebody is in a car accident in a ditch somewhere and they dial 911, they could have a GPS fix put on the phone number and trace the phone that way even if the phone doesnt actually have a GPS chip in it?
So I’m really confused now, who is right here?
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about 1 year ago
Yes, they all do. Bummer, huh?
about 1 year ago
No. Money makes the world go around, there is no money in saving lives. Only in the movies, you see it works like this; the GPS chip costs $10, now add that to a phone that is free (subsidised) and cost say $50 to ship, and then multiply that by around 1000 million phones shipping from an anonymous phone vendor, (yes you just chucked a billion dollars profit into the sea) not likely. E911 provides the console with a pre-registered address and in the case of a mobile your cell only, which has nothing to do with GPS. Knowing in which cell (or tower) you are attached gets emergency services to within about 1 minute away from your real location only.
If someone compiles a list of phones with remotely accessible GPs stacks, I will compile a list of NEW phones without them. Those phones that have GPS built in additionally require either an option or software loaded and GPRS or SMS to disclose your GPS co-ordinate. It is not a free call.
about 1 year ago
I doubt it, GPS usually only works if you have a clear view of the sky. Most of the time my cell phone is inside a building where GPS doesnt work. A cell phone can be tracked by the telephone company depending on what base station(s) it is connected to, this has nothing to do with GPS though, just a technique called triangulation. And im not even sure how willing the phone company is to do it. I was once listening to some police communications where they were trying to find out from the phone company where a criminal was. The phone company only came back with what base station and what direction +/- 60 degrees, which is a pretty useless piece of information and wouldnt really assist in finding the handset. I think this is a bit of a phenomenon created by shows such as CSI.
about 1 year ago
no, cause it cost money
about 1 year ago
Wireless E911 is an FCC mandate. The mobile carriers have been reluctant to upgrade due to the costs of the equipment to support it, but thay must provide the info somehow to law and public safety dispatch, whether via RF triangulation or GPS.
The cost of integrating GPS capability into mobiles has gone down tremendously due to increased production volume, so it’s becoming more common in the higher-end models to support GPS, and it’s going to roll down to the lower-end. It’s not just the stuff of CSI: Hollywood: it’s real and it’s mandated.
You can’t put a GPS fix on a phone if it doesn’t have a GPS receiver in there, so those non-GPS phones can only be narrowed down by interpreting signal strength information from the serving and neighboring cells. Not as precise as GPS, but at least it’s a start.