Nearly all cell phone end users have a cell phone feature that they did not even realize they possessed. Not everyone recognizes that their phone is outfitted with a GPS tracking device. All the same, the question that comes up is that does that sound chilling or pretty neat? To the majority of individuals, it feels paradoxically both good and bad. Although more individuals are frightened that a GPS function on cell phones pulls us one step nearer to a ‘Big Brother’ kind of society, however many other people are enthusiastic for the abilities it provides users.

Nevertheless, where the line gets blurred is when safety is overshadowed by the potential for invasion of your privacy when the ability to track daily movements of an individual sets in. This gives rise to concerns of who has the ability to access such private information.

However, E911 has a relevant law that is fairly explicit in its orders. It gives the ability to carriers to give tracking location information to third parties for E911 emergency calls only, however this data cannot be furnished under any circumstance at all without the prior consent of the cell phone owner.

Their features that help consumers, such as maps, directions and restaurant and Movie Theater finding abilities, the GPS equipped cell phone supplies emergency call centers with data critical to preserving lives. Regrettably, it’s rather frequently that a person dial 911 to report an accident, fire or other emergency, and whenever requested where they are, they can merely state the name of the city they are close to, or the interstate highway on which they are traveling on. In such cases, the location information is inadequate. This is why cell phones are nowadays GPS enabled; call centers can detect your position through GPS in the same manner they have been able to trace calls from land-lines for so numerous years.

What’s In It for Consumers?

Although the above-mentioned safety option is meant to be used for emergency uses, cell phone companies have brought the GPS cell phone far beyond this rudimentary 911-enhanced phone. In order to make GPS attractive to customers, cell phone suppliers have produced numerous methods that cell phone end users can utilize the GPS feature on cell phones for themselves, irrespective of whether or not the 911-enhancement is ever used.

The majority of cell phone service providers have made directions and maps ready to be used as part of the GPS feature of their phones. Before you become too charged up in regards to this, you have to recognize that this service is not a free additional bonus on your present service; employing your cell phone for maps and directions calls for an added service plan that amounts to about $10 per month. If you are averse to still added monthly subscription to be paid-up, there are software programs that, for a one-time-only-fee of purchasing the software, can add similar features to your GPS cell phone.

As technology move ahead, several of these GPS cell phones can still be used as handheld GPS devices merely to be utilized during walking or biking. The prior and less costly variations need an antenna on your car in addition to a console in your car, only the wave of the future is upon us, if users are ready to pay the price for it. It appears that even now numerous consumers are buying into the navigation generation of cell phones.

By: Korbin Newlyn