Mobile phones tracing

Mobile phones tracing usually a process for identifying the situation of a mobile. Localization could also be suffering from variety of technologies, like using multilateration of radio signals between (several) cell towers of the network and therefore the phone, or just using GPS. To locate a mobile using multilateration of radio signals, it must emit a minimum of the idle signal to contact subsequent nearby antenna tower, but the method does not require an active call. The Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) is predicated on the phone's signal strength to nearby antenna masts.

The location of a mobile are often determined using client software installed on the handset. This technique determines the situation of the handset by putting its location by cell identification signal strengths of the house and neighbouring cells which is continuously sent to the carrier. In addition, if the handset is additionally equipped with GPS then significantly more precise location information are often then sent from the handset to the carrier.

Another approach is to use a fingerprinting-based technique, where the "signature" of the house and neighbouring cells signal strengths at different points within the area of interest is recorded by war-driving and matched in real-time to work out the handset location. This is usually performed independent from the carrier.

The key disadvantage of handset-based techniques, from service provider's point of view, is that the necessity of putting in software on the handset. It requires the active cooperation of the mobile number search subscriber also as software that has got to be ready to handle the various operating systems of the handsets. Typically, smartphones, like one supported Symbian, Windows Mobile, Windows Phone, BlackBerry OS, iOS, or Android, would be ready to run such software, e.g. Google Maps.