[Dilbert San Diego]

I’ve heard that cell phones contain global positioning system transponders inside. If that’s true, then would it be possible to triangulate the location of the passengers phones? Is that at all possible???

[steve86]

Not GPS trqnsponders but receivers (most phones now). No need to triangulate, the latitude and longitude are right there in a data packet. But you’ve got to have communication with the phone. Some phones do not have the GPS chips and those need to be triangulated from nearby towers.

[cuban leaf]

I’ve heard that cell phones contain global positioning system transponders inside. If that’s true, then would it be possible to triangulate the location of the passengers phones? Is that at all possible???

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Yes. If these phones were still active after the “crash” and near any towers, they would be pinging the towers. Every single ping is archived with data identifying the phone. There is even a youtube video from a guy that subpoena’d the phone records for his phone and used the raw tower data to create an animated map showing where his phone (and he) was during part of that time period.

I used to work with law enforcement relations for one of the big phone companies that associates itself with a color I hate. If your cell phone is on and there are any towers nearby, there is a record being kept of your position. If there are lots of towers, it can be pinpointed almost as accurately as with gps. I’ve seen it done (with my phone, while I watched it being done).