Can a dead phone still be pinged? I was watching a news clip recently of someone lost in the woods with a dead phone that still managed to be pinged. How it this possible? I'd imagine it's some sort of analog response to a targeted scan by a tower or satellite? My understanding was that this is not possible.
Electronic – Pinging a dead cellphone
cellphoneRFwireless
Best Answer
If the phone is literally without a power source, than it is not connected to the cellular network and cannot communicate. However, up until the point where the power goes out, the phone is still communicating with the network, and which cellular towers it was near is recorded. Since people do not walk very quickly, you can still find a dead phone by asking the network where (very approximately) it was last located. Chances are it will still be there a few hours later.