Cell Phone Pinging and Triangulation

In the summer of 2008, the original editor of Pursuit Magazine posted an article with the following headline: “Locating Mobile Phones Through Pinging and Triangulation.” That is, finding someone you’re looking for by turning that person’s cell phone into a kind of homing device.

Over the years, that article set a record for the most hits of any PursuitMag story ever...and it's still getting lots of hits to this day—apparently, because a whole lot of people type "cell phone pinging" into Google search. People really want to know if this is possible, and if so, how to do it.

Of course, in technological terms, 2008 is primeval. So when I stumbled across this article again, I got to thinking: What’s possible NOW in terms of pinging a mobile phone? And what’s legal? So I got a hold of an old radio buddy of mine, Sean Cole, and asked him to make some calls.

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Pursuit Magazine and PI Education are part of StoryboardEMP, a media and education company in Nashville, TN. Pursuit, a free online magazine for private investigators, explores all things investigative, from gumshoe techniques and surveillance tech to industry news and crime in media. PI Education, its sister brand, provides online continuing education for licensed PIs. Pursuit and PIed are owned and edited by husband-wife team Hal Humphreys, a PI, and Kim Green, a writer and radio producer.

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