Spy Centre Security, a GPS tracking and “spy” device store has announced a new line of GPS tracking devices that they are marketing specifically for parents of teenagers.  According to their press release they have devices starting at $199 the “[make] it possible to get constant updates on your teenagers’ car.”  My initial thought was that if they have a real time teen GPS tracking device for that price then they are going to be pretty competitive in the tracking market.  The only other real time device that I am aware of is the Zoombak and that is retailing right now on Amazon for $125.  Most other real time trackers are going to cost from around $250 and up.

But upon further investigation, it appears that the claims made in the press release are a little misleading.  To those that don’t understand the distinction between a data logger (passive GPS) and a real time tracker (active GPS) could have been duped by the claim made by the following sentence:

At Spycentre.com we now sell GPS products starting at just $199 making it possible to get constant updates on your teenagers’ car.

(While this sentence does come from a site not associated with Spy Centre Security, it does contain their contact information and is very similar to a press release posted on the companies website on September 11, 2009. This leads me to believe that the message is legitimate.)

Consumers need to know the difference between a data logger and a real time tracker if they are to really understand how to best track their teen and to sift through clever marketing attempts of GPS manufacturers.

Teen GPS Tracking Data Loggers

A data logger is a GPS tracking device that simply records the position of the device at set intervals determined by the user or by the device itself.  In order to access the information that the device records, you must retrieve the device and download the contents onto your computer.  GPS tracking software then interacts with the data and plots it on an interactive Google Maps like interface.

This type of tracking is great when you only need to know somethings trip after the fact.  For example, if you enjoy launching hobby rockets and you want to know how high and how fast your rocket travels then using a data logger is a great way to get that information.

One of the newest types of data loggers to hit the market are GPS tracking sticks.  These devices are as large as a USB stick and very similar in build and shape.  They even have a male USB connection built in for a simple downloading process.  Just plug the device in and watch the software take over and do the work of analyzing the data for you.

Certainly powerful stuff, but not what most parents think of when they want to know where there teen is. These devices can be great for getting a good understanding of your teen’s driving habits – but they are not good for knowing where your teen is when they are late in getting home. They are not good when a natural disaster strikes and you need to know where your teen is right now. For that, you would need a real time GPS tracker.

With that said, a data logger is what is currently being offered for $199 on the Spy Centre Security website. I wonder how their tracking stick compares with this $145 one from Amazon?

Teen Real Time GPS Tracking

A real time GPS tracking device is one that is able to send its position information from the device to a third party so that the position of the device can be seen in real time.  This is what most parents are going to think about when they are looking into GPS trackers for their teenager.  They are also fairly expensive devices that will end up costing you hundreds of dollars up front and a regular subscription fee for the data transfers between your tracking device and the company’s servers.

The real time trackers available through Spy Centre Security are certainly expensive.  The cheapest models that they offer run $450 and have a service plan of $30 a month according to the press release mentioned above.  The first year of use will run $810 – a steep price to pay for being able to track your teen’s car with GPS.

The Cell Phone Tracking Solution

The obvious solution to this issue is to find a cheaper, real time tracking solution for parents of teenagers.  The best solution that I have come across is to turn a teen’s cell phone into a GPS tracking device.  Many of today’s cell phones already have a GPS antenna inside the phone that allows them to pick up GPS signals from outer space, eliminating the most obvious hurdle off the get go.  And since most teenagers want the latest and greatest cell phone you know that they probably already have a GPS enabled cell phone on them right now.

All that you now need to do is download some GPS tracking software for cell phones and you have a fully functional GPS tracking system in the palm of your teen’s hand.  There are plenty of paid services out there for parents looking at a paid option.  Most cell phone carriers offer something that you can take a look at that will add a nominal monthly fee to your cell bill.

Another option open to parents is to go with free GPS tracking software for cell phones.  This might take a little more work on your part of monitoring and installing the system, but can you beat free?

In the end, whatever you decide to do with your teen is really up to you.  Teen GPS tracking devices are relatively new, but that should not deter parents from taking advantage of this new and powerful technology to help them raise honest, law-abiding children who drive safely and come home on time.  While some might balk at tracking their teen with GPS, here at GPS For Today we feel like there are plenty of reasons why parents have every right to track a teen driver.  If you are interested in reading more about what we have to say on this topic here are some of the more important articles:

• GPS Tracking For Teens
• How To Reward and Punish Your Teen Driver
• GPS Tracking For Cars

I lost my cell phone. Help!

We have all been there before – our precious cell phone has suddenly gone missing and we have no idea where it is.  We do a quick check of all the places that we normally put it; it is not there.  We then try and rehash every event from the time we last remember having our mobile phone to the time when we first noticed that it was missing.  We try calling our cell phone in the hope that the ringer is on and that it is going to be somewhere nearby.  But when all of this fails us, we are left worrying about where our phone is and we have no way to find it other than hoping that some switch will flip in our brain and we will all of a sudden “remember” exactly where it is.

How can we increase the likelihood of actually finding a lost cell phone? GPS tracking!

• How To Install GPS Tracking Apps Remotely To Find A Lost Or Stolen Android Cell Phone

Here’s how:

1. Have a GPS tracking app on your phone. This will either need to be already installed or you will need to install it remotely.
2. Access your phone’s location using the web. Most tracking apps have some sort of web interface through which you can access your tracking information remotely. Do this and this should tell you where your phone is.

Yes, finding a lost cell phone by using free tracking apps is that easy. In our tests of various apps we have found that the whole process can take just a few minutes to complete, even if you don’t already have the software install on your phone. But conditions do need to be right for this to work. Here are the necessary conditions for you to be able to find your cell phone by using this tactic:

1. Your cell phone must be on.
2. Your cell phone must have a connection to your network or be connected to wifi.
3. Your cell phone must be able to get messages from GPS satellites.

If you fail in any one of these items you will not be able to us GPS tracking to find your mobile. Sorry.

Understanding How GPS Tracking Works For Cell Phone Recovery

You have to understand that GPS systems are extremely useful and are now becoming a big part of the cell phone market. If you have not already heard, GPS stands for the Global Positioning System and is a series of satellites that emit a radio signal that can be read by specialized GPS receivers. These receivers then use the information encoded in these radio signals to do a little math called trilateration which will then ‘inform’ the GPS device of its exact location on the globe. This is the way that all GPS device work from navigation GPS to marine GPS.

GPS tracking can begin to occur when the position information is gathered by the device and then either stored locally or sent out from the device. The former is device is called a data logger and the later device is called a real time GPS tracker. Cell phone GPS tracking is of the second variety, and this is a key fact if it is to be used to help a person find their lost cell phone.

Once the cell phone has found its exact location using GPS or by a very similar mathematical process using cell phone tower signals it can send that information out over the wireless network to which it is connected. All the cell phone needs to be is turned on for this entire process to happen without a single thing being done by the user. You could be 5 miles away from your phone and as long as it is on and receiving a signal you can find out exactly where it is in real time.

Therefore, the cell phone must be on so that it can process the signals it is receiving from the GPS satellites and talk over the cell phone network. It must have a network connection of some kind to send the information that it gathers from the satellites about its position out the company that is helping you track your phone. And it must be able to get messages from the GPS satellites in order to find its position in the world to communicate over the network.

But there is something even more important than all this that you need to do if you want to make this work for you as a way to locate a lost cell phone. The most important thing you need to do is make sure your phone is actually GPS enabled. Chances are you chose the phone that you did because it had GPS, but if you are uncertain contact your service provider to make sure.

Finding A Good (Free) GPS Tracking App To Find Your Phone

Finding the right app for your particular brand of phone is definitely another hurdle to leap over. You might want to check with your phone’s particular app store or see one of these posts for potential apps:

1. Look through our Mobile Phone Security App Reviews.
2. Our post on How To Install GPS Tracking Apps Remotely To Find A Lost Or Stolen Android Cell Phone also contains a list of all apps that can be downloaded and installed to your phone remotely that we have personally tested on our Android phones.
3. We also have a list of applications and software that can be downloaded here: Free GPS Tracking Applications and Software
4. We have still another list of free options out there for cell phone tracking

Also, if you feel like paying for something that you could do for yourself for free then you could always go with a one of your provider’s tracking plans. I have seen a family plan for a little as $5 a month depending on your current service agreement. While this is a nominal payment, it is ∞ more expensive than free! If you can get the same service for free, why not do it?

A Final Word: Data Plans

Anyway, (getting off my high horse) no matter if you pay for the tracking or get it for free you are definitely going to need to have a data plan that will permit your GPS tracking. Most people already have some sort of data plan anyway and if they don’t they are not the type of person to be worried about losing their phone because it only cost $40 bucks and isn’t a Blackyberry, Palm Pre, Android or iPhone. The reason that you need the data plan is that your cell phone will have to send the information about its position to you for the real time GPS tracking to work like you want it to. You can’t find your lost cell phone without your cell phone telling you where it is. It can’t do that if it doesn’t have any way to send its coordinates out over a wireless network.

I would even recommend getting a pretty robust data plan because of all the great things that real time cell phone GPS tracking can be used for. For example, cell phones make great fitness GPS tracking devices. A lot of people take their phone with them anyway when they run in case they get into an emergency or in case they get a call from work or whatnot. There are plenty of ways that you can safely and easily bring one along and it can do so many different things for you while running that cell phone also make great fitness tracking devices as well. If you download the right software, your phone can give you all sorts of interesting workout metrics like your distance run, your average speed, your time running, and it will even put all this information on a map for you to look at when you get home.

Another example of the usefulness of cell phone tracking with GPS is its use in keeping teens honest about their activities and their driving habits. Since most teens are connected to their phones at the thumbs, cell phones are the best GPS tracking for teens on the market. It is relatively cheap, it is simple to use, and you know that your teen will never go anywhere without their cell phone.

Still another useful application of cell phone tracking is its ability to provide fleet tracking support for small businesses. This is a pretty novel application of free cell phone GPS tracking, but I think that in the right environment it could work extremely well for a small company looking for ways to save money but still implement a technology that is going to help them route their drivers better, perform more service calls, and develop better customer interactions.

As you can see, cell phone GPS tracking not just a way to find a lost cell phone – it can provide a great many other benefits to people with enough imagination to think big about its application. But it is nice to know that if you ever do end up loosing your cell phone that GPS is going to be there to help you recover your phone and get back to life as usual.

You can learn more about how GPS can be instrumental in finding a lost cell phone in this article: Lost Cell Phone GPS Tracking Explained

Related articles:

• How To Find A Stolen Cell Phone With GPS Tracking
• How To Install GPS Tracking Apps Remotely To Find A Lost Or Stolen Android Cell Phone