GPS is required to locate closest cell tower
Is that true?
Seems like signal strength is how they used to do it with the first (non smart) car and cell phones
Understood. But if the phone is shut off — powered down — it’s simply an inert slab of plastic and electronics, right? No tracking or GPS triangulation?
It’s my understanding the phone doesn’t care where the nearest tower is; assignment of the phone to a tower is done by the cell network management function.
All the phone cares about is whether it gets a response when it sends a connect-request.
No, it’s not.