Cell Tower Triangulation

Cell tower location uses triangulation against multiple cell towers to pinpoint the phone’s location based on the ping time from each tower. The distance from a single cell tower can be roughly determined by the time it takes for a phone to respond to a ping. The location of the cell towers combined with their ping times allows the phone’s location to be pinpointed (see Figure 17.2).

FIGURE 17.2 A phone’s location can be pinpointed using cell tower triangulation.

Accuracy increases as more towers are included in the calculation.

Although cell tower triangulation uses less power than A-GPS, it is less accurate. Cell tower triangulation works best where there are more cell towers. Thus, areas such as city fringes or countryside may not provide an adequate level of accuracy. Unlike A-GPS, however, cell tower triangulation works indoors.