Dan Abel wrote:

> "Nancy Young" > wrote:

>> Oddly, I don't have a problem with that, you need to pick up
>> a signal to place a call. I don't think you even need to make a
>> call for there to be a record kept by the companies where police
>> can get to it if there's some reason.
>
> Plus, most people don't just want to make calls on their cell phones,
> they want to be able to receive calls. So, as soon as you turn on
> your cell phone, it does a scan for the most powerful (closest)
> signal. Once it finds it, it sends out your phone id to that tower,
> and it is entered into a database, so when somebody calls you, that
> call can be routed to the tower that your phone is now listening to.

Of course, it makes perfect sense when you put it that way. What
I know I picked up from watch true crime stuff and got the idea
you just needed your phone turned on for them to find out whereabouts
you were.

nancy