FollowAs the search still continues for the missing Malaysia Airlines MH370 plane, the exact location of the plane is still shrouded in mystery. There are some family who try to contact their loved ones who boarded the plane by cellphone. Some said that they heard the phones ringing but there is no answer. However, as explained some of the experts, a ringing does not indicate that the phone necessarily can be contactable and traceable.
So, the question that we want to raise here is that can we actually track the plane by locating their phones through the GPS technology. Based on some reports, the family of the loved ones actually requested China Mobile, China biggest telecom operator to track the phones of the passenger of the missing Malaysia Airlines.
However, based on official reports, they could not detect their phones. Please note that the technology often used in tracking phones are based on GPS technology. Even most of the apps in the market that can used to track phones utilized this technology. So, with this technology it brings the limitation in which it could not be detected once it is above 10,000 meter in the air or deep down in the ocean. And also, the telecom operators can only track the phones only if the phones are connected to their network.
So, usually there is no coverage above 10,000 meters in the air. But how about the Wi-Fi provided by the plane? Can it be used to track the phones if the phones are connected to the wireless internet connection? This is possible as long as the plane did not crashed or in the deep ocean. But, normally long haul flight such as MH370 does not have Wi-Fi services onboard. This is due to the reason that the Wi-Fi services onboard still depended heavily on cellular towers on the ground.
So, when the planes cross the ocean, there is no connection to the internet as there is no cell towers to be connected. However, all prayers to missing passengers of MH370 and hope they will be found safe and sound.