I understand the concept of a burn phone...but what is the best option?



Is it safe to use google voice on a cellphone....or can the call still be linked to my IP or Mac Address of the phone which would defeat the purpose?


If one has a seperate burner phone....what do you do with your normal cell phone? I am asking because phones have location services and can be triangulated by nearby towers to pin you to a location. Is it best to turn your nomal phone off before you leave to hobby? Cell phone companies aren't clear about how long they keep location services.




maybe i'm overthinking. Just living life you know traffic cameras are every wear to pin your car and face even on foot to a location and cellphone locations can be tracked pretty accurately.

One person suggested some time ago to leave it at your office while you go hobby.

You can explain that you left it behind on your desk - a very plausible scenario, and if the SO is already at the point of hiring a PI to find out where your phone is by triangulating it (Which is possible.), then the PI will also find that the phone is at your office.  On some phones, the GPS feature will also lead to the location of the phone.

By the way, I have also heard that newer phones can be located even when shut off, so turning it off is not going to protect you from having the location found out.  At one time you could remove the battery from the phone but the newer ones don't allow you to do that anymore.

By the way, if your SO is at the point of hiring a PI to trace you, the PI can put a GPS tag on your car, so you might want to use cabs or a short term rental (or even public transportation - oh the horrors!) to visit gals.  Again, just leave the car at the office to provide a plausible story for where you where.

If you have need of a hobby phone, get one, pay with cash, use a fake name, etc.  No one, read LE here,  is going to that much trouble to bust one guy for a misdemeanor offense.  If you have an SO that you must hide your activities from, by all means, get a hobby phone.  Keep it turned off, and well hidden when you are not using it.  I would not turn off your regular phone as your SO might try to contact you and later on ask why was your phone turned off, not good for you to have to explain.

I do not have a hobby phone as I have no one I need to hide from, but for attached guys, it's a very good idea.

Swim

You are already screwed.  LE must get a warrant to GPS track you in most jurisdictions...  but a SO / PI isn't worried about it's admissability in COURT!   Better worry if the SO owns a shotgun however.
One can be followed or discovered without GPS, as I did my ex-W.  (I did not hobby in those days but would have been better off with hobbying than being married to her.)  
You might be concerned with your car's GPS...  however.  I program in coffee shops & resturants I  might visit...  but never a hotel down the block!

I'm not concerned with being tracked...  but I sure am concerned about LEAVING tracks.  Phone tracks, computer tracks...   I swap my normal dumb phone with my hobby phone in my belt carrier when I play.   If I don't clear it, my seatbelt rides over my coat over my phone & I've missed calls before...

http://www.cnn.com/2012/05/22/opinion/crump-cellphone-privacy

cell phone companies sell information to law enforcement.





I'm not a big shot by any means....but I wouldn't want things to come up in the future. people get extorted everyday.

But if the number is not attached to a name it shouldn't be an issue of someone handing over a list or saying they did such and such with a person....so i guess it's fine unless somone wants to get old location records and wonder why that burner phone was being used at my home or former place of work. But I could just say it was someone in the neighborhood or driving by.


http://www.ign.com/articles/2012/08/09/burner-makes-you-almost-untraceable
def not using an app now!


Simple is the best to be covert so i'll go to 711 and get a phone (tapes don't stay on file too long)....I guess i'm security conscience since I have been watching breaking bad and burn notice alot theses days, lol.




Thanks for the help!

I know some guys keep a phone book in their hobby phone, sometimes with phony (male) names.  I take the opposite approach.  I clear my hobby phone & shut it off before I leave her.  If it's ever found (suspicious)...  but I won't have provided the numbers to call back!   Then I hide it well.  

My GPS has a traffic cam alert buzzer (scared the crap outta me the first time as I'd not heard it before).  Get in the habit of not finessing traffic devises.  Park legally.  Don't block driveways or other cars.   It's ok to walk a block if need be.

Every call and text shows up on Google Voice, and that's way too easy to track.

The best option is a burner phone paid for and refilled in cash.  Do not use a credit card, and use a false name or info to register it, if you need to.

The concept of a burner phone is that it exists separately from your regular cell phone.

not only does it not track back to you...   If you quit the hobby or feel the need to go underground...   you can throw it under a tire or dump it in the trash.  

There was a recent article that the Insurance Company Progressive "SnapShot" does not use 'GPS' but uses phone towers to track your location.  If you claim you work in one place but actually work in a bad neighborhood or claim you car is in the garage but you are lazy & park it in the driveway.  Can also recover crash data like speed  & braking.  Progressive claims to not use the data but then goes on to make a weasle statement.  http://www.progressive.com/auto/snapshot-privacy-statement.aspx