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How to find a lost phone in a no-cell-coverage camping site?

manas.tech

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Re: How to find a lost phone in a no-cell-coverage camping site?

#111

Post by progman32 »

lxgr wrote: post #46
marcod wrote: post #4

So, there is no security feature that prevents a phone from connecting to a cloned wifi network??

There's not really such thing as a cloned wifi network conceptually: If you set up a new access point using the same SSID and encryption settings, you didn't clone a network – you just extended it by one more access point/location where it's available! A Wi-Fi network is the abstract concept of "all access points using the same name and passphrase", not an individual instance of an access point. If you connect the tw…

One thing to keep in mind re: roaming - devices tend to "stick" with their current AP even though there's a perfectly good same-SSID AP with much better strength available. There are protocols that can orchestrate between APs to "kick" stubborn devices to better APs: 802.11r, 802.11k, and 802.11v.

Re: How to find a lost phone in a no-cell-coverage camping site?

#112

Post by squarefoot »

Embedding a LoRa module in the phone could come handy in similar situations; it could trigger a timed transmission of the latest known position before a given event, say a big bump followed by no movement or usage for X time, too long exposition to temperature and humidity incompatible with a house, etc. LoRa allows transmission at impressive distances using very low power compared to WiFi and other systems; a phone configured to turn itself off and use just the LoRa module to repeat a very short + say every 10 minutes wouldn't tax the spectrum too much (RF in that context is a very scarce resource) and its battery would likely last weeks.

Re: How to find a lost phone in a no-cell-coverage camping site?

#114

Post by hrrsn »

ornornor wrote: post #104
Guest71022 wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://a.aliexpress.com/_mrvl4Xq

Interesting. Although your link is 11.70$ with 50% off for me, but if you search for “find my Apple” you get many more results with lots of options around 5$

They seem to come up in the home page deals section quite often for me. I grabbed a couple that were $3.50 a pop, and so far they've behaved exactly like an Airtag (albeit with a worse speaker)

Re: How to find a lost phone in a no-cell-coverage camping site?

#115

Post by hunter2_ »

deathanatos wrote: post #84
userbinator wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I thought devices would start remembering the base station MAC addresses to avoid hijacking The use of multiple APs with the same SSID is a feature, not a bug. It enables roaming between them.

… I suppose an unprotected network is always unprotected, but it is still possible¹ to have AP roaming while detecting that you're switching to a different network of APs, even if the name is the same. ¹within a protocol design "possible". WiFi can't, AFAIK, actually do it.

The client could be made to drop a connection if various things are too different (default gateway not matching, for example) but it would be pretty janky with false positives and false negatives...

Re: How to find a lost phone in a no-cell-coverage camping site?

#116

Post by okr »

oldbbsnickname wrote: post #82
pestatije wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

can you not power-off an iphone without unlocking?

Disassemble and remove the battery. I can do this in about 1-2 minutes, others more skilled can do it in <30 seconds.

And then? You can not turn it on again, without also activating the beacon.

I wonder if stolen iphones have any value except for hardware parts.

Re: How to find a lost phone in a no-cell-coverage camping site?

#117

Post by ahepp »

semireg wrote: post #107

I had AirPods Max stolen from our car a few months ago. A week later they popped up on Find My a block away. I hopped on my bike and tracked to a small apartment building. Using Find My will show you a “warmer … warmer … colder” kind of UI and whenever I lifted my phone to a particular window (shades drawn) Find My would say “Nearby.” I called the police and they were genuinely excited to knock on the door. A guy ans…

What city do you live in?

Re: How to find a lost phone in a no-cell-coverage camping site?

#118

Post by chrischen »

semireg wrote: post #107

I had AirPods Max stolen from our car a few months ago. A week later they popped up on Find My a block away. I hopped on my bike and tracked to a small apartment building. Using Find My will show you a “warmer … warmer … colder” kind of UI and whenever I lifted my phone to a particular window (shades drawn) Find My would say “Nearby.” I called the police and they were genuinely excited to knock on the door. A guy ans…

Wasn’t expecting that. Was expecting an “even if you located them the cops won’t bother to help you recover just $XX dollars worth of stolen goods.

Re: How to find a lost phone in a no-cell-coverage camping site?

#119

Post by eru »

chrischen wrote: post #118
semireg wrote: post #107

I had AirPods Max stolen from our car a few months ago. A week later they popped up on Find My a block away. I hopped on my bike and tracked to a small apartment building. Using Find My will show you a “warmer … warmer … colder” kind of UI and whenever I lifted my phone to a particular window (shades drawn) Find My would say “Nearby.” I called the police and they were genuinely excited to knock on the door. A guy ans…

Wasn’t expecting that. Was expecting an “even if you located them the cops won’t bother to help you recover just $XX dollars worth of stolen goods.

I think that attitude really depends on where you are, and how overworked your local police is.

Re: How to find a lost phone in a no-cell-coverage camping site?

#120

Post by ornornor »

hrrsn wrote: post #114
ornornor wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Interesting. Although your link is 11.70$ with 50% off for me, but if you search for “find my Apple” you get many more results with lots of options around 5$

They seem to come up in the home page deals section quite often for me. I grabbed a couple that were $3.50 a pop, and so far they've behaved exactly like an Airtag (albeit with a worse speaker)

Neat. Are they also water resistant (splashes/rain)?
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