jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Can you imagine 600,000,000 electronic devices in one spot?

There is a company called Max(something) that attempts to pinpoint people that authorities are searching for. It uses cell phone pinging to accomplish this. Unfortunately, it's not a perfect system. In some cases, all the system can determine is that the location is in the United States. What it does is pick a spot that's roughly in the center of the country - in Kansas, at 37°N and 97°W. It has 600,000,000 devices located in that one spot. Unfortunately, people live in a house located there. They have received dozens of "visits" from the police, FBI, fire departments, ambulances, and other services. After several years, someone figured out what was happening, and these visits declined, but they did not stop entirely. So much for modern technology.

kenArchi Loc: Seal Beach, CA

I kind of understand....?

Rob909 Loc: Orland, Ca.

Do you have a link so I can read more about this?

St.Mary's

Must be one hell of a big spot. A company that loose with its results would soon lose its credibility. Am I missing something here? Oh yes, several years ago involving an insurance company in Iowa, as the plaintiff, lost a law suit involving the location of a cell phone based on "pinging" and location based on a cell tower use. The defendants were able to proved they and their phone were no where in the area of the cell phone tower and a "pinging" technique.
https://www.insurancejournal.com/news/national/2017/04/03/446572.htm

tommystrat Loc: Bigfork, Montana

Ping... you're it...

(Download)

RoswellAlien

Good old George.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

I'll look again.

Git it! You need just the right words to do a search.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vh6zanS_epw

Kowa91 Loc: Columbus, Ohio

Here's one for you....we were awakened two weeks ago at 2am by a man claiming that his teenage daughter was in our house. He stated that her phone was pinging our address and she was missing. My husband assured him she was not in our home. He left, came back, and again insisted that she was at our home. After the second visit, the police showed up and asked to search our home. (we are a retired couple with no one else living here). My husband refused them entry. They left, returned, then asked to search our large unattached garage. They stated that the garage was where the actual pinging was coming from. So....they searched our garage and found nothing. Later that day they kindly stopped to tell us the girl had been found at a nearby grocery store. I guess that was their way of apologizing for the sleepless night.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

You'd think the police would know that pinging isn't 100% accurate - only in the movies.

Here's a funny story. Years ago, my wife and I were staying at her grandparents' house. During the night, the car alarm went off in the Cadillac of the jewelry store owner who lived next door. My wife woke me and told me to go over and see if I could shut it off. I wisely refused. Picture me trying to force open the door of the Cadillac as the police arrived.