Originally Posted by
Hoopdriver
As long as you have your phone on it is communicating back and forth to towers. This means "the system" always knows where you are (or more correctly, where your phone is) even if you don't enable location services.
Don't worry, they'll find you when they want to.
On another tack: Why not make the no texts when moving a default instead of an opt in?
Not quite.
The cell network system isn't a GPS system. If I'm connected to a specific cell tower the phone company can say that for the curation of time I was connected to that tower I was within about 20 miles of that cell tower in any direction.
Even in an urban setting where the cell signal doesn't stretch as far, you can't pinpoint my exact location based on what tower I'm on. Heck, in an urban area it can be harder because I might be connected to a tower on 3 miles away even if I'm standing next to another available tower if the one I'm standing next to was overloaded with other traffic. Unlike a GPS system where the system can measure the time distortion between different satellites to determine exactly how far you are from 3 or more, a cell tower isn't quite that exact.
So a cell network could tell me that I'm in a general area within 2 to 20 miles.
A GPS signal that the phone decodes internally could tell you which square of the sidewalk pavement you are standing on. It is FAR more exacting.