Originally Posted by
Skipjacks
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.
Yes, some phones have GPS receivers that can improve accuracy (some better than others). But even if they had no GPS chip, all phones use triangulation of signals between several nearby towers for location. You are pretty much never on a just a single tower (which as you said, would not be not that accurate), but when there are many towers in your area your location can be determined within an accuracy of 150-200 feet. Turning off permission for your apps to use your location does not mean that your location isn't known to the system.