Only if the customer can decide whether to receive the SMS messages or not.

Only if the user has signed up to receive them. Otherwise it's just the same as spam email.

no, i don't like the idea. there should be some way to block it if you want to. and it gives that creepy feeling of big brother watching you. kinda like the gps devices in the newer expensive cars and they can come and get you on the highway if you are broken down without you calling anyone! weird!

Big Brother is already watching you. If you have a mobile phone they know exactly where you are. That's also how they can track criminals.

Yes, but you should be able to have it blocked if you want.

So, if you are kidnapped, all you have to do is turn on your phone when the guy isn't looking, and someone will be able to find you without calling?

Yes. I believe cell phone users should be bothered as much as they bother me.

They can come pretty close yes. I think you do have to make a call though... but I'm not 100% sure.

Sure. But you should also be able to disable such a "feature."

How annoying...only if you can make it go away.

NO!

Hmm... I wonder if I was clear enough with my answer?

Hello no. That would be sooo annoying.

It will some day turn into TV. Not that we want it, though.

Only if the mobile phone user requests such a "service".

lol
Sounds like it would be funny for a little while, then it would be just irritating.

like i said creepy!!! yikes!

If they pay to do it, and if you can avoid it, then I don't have a problem with it. I avoid it by not having a mobile.

Have they actually implemented that yet? I know there has been talk of it: I didn't know it was actually in place.

I don't think you'd need to make a call first if I understand the way mobiles work. The way I see it there are two ways for the network to work when someone tries to call the mobile 1) Broadcast a signal over all towers to try and find the mobile (highly impractical) or 2) Have the phone keep in contact with the tower, and when a call comes through aim the signal at that phone (better). So they know (and fairly precisely I believe) where you are at all times the phone is on.

I know it's already happening in the Sydney CBD, although some people have been going to the media saying this should be banned.

Somtimes when I'm driving and my phone is near my CD player I can hear it communicating with different towers as I drive along. I think they look for a stronger signal as the one they are linked to gets weaker. "They" would at least be able to determine an approximate location even without triangulation.

Ah, thanks for the heads up - I'll be sure to avoid Sydney even more than usual

Same thing happens with my speakers - they make a noise just before the phone rings. When you consider that it's easy to see why they're banned on planes... And yeah, triangulation is what I had in mind that would allow them to get a fairly precise location. I don't know if they can do that or not, but I see no obvious reason why they couldn't (assuming you were in an area in fairly high coverage so that you could be picking up more than one tower).

Yes, but only if the mobile users have opted in for it beforehand.

I think they can do a lot more than they let on. I remember a friend of mine was over with her son and he dialed 000 while he said "triple 0, triple 0" so I grabbed the phone off him and hung up. Immediately the phone rang, and when I picked it up it was a cop asking me if everything was OK. So much for having to trace a call!

I'm not sure! What a different idea!It has a lot of potential, though.I bet that could get a little out of hand, though.