Since the terrorist attacks on 9/11, there has been an increased demand for improved 911 emergency calling capabilities. This demand, in turn, has resulted in better cell phone GPS tracking technology. After the events of 9/11, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) released orders requiring all cell phone carriers to provide the ability to trace cell phone calls to locations within 100 meters or less.

In order to conform to these requirements set by the FCC, most cell phone carriers have decided to integrate the GPS technology into their cell phone handsets. Many have opted for this move rather than overhauling the tower network.

The cell phone GPS tracking in most mobile phones is not the same technology found in the handy GPS receivers that people take on outdoor hikes. Most cell phones don't even allow users to have direct contact with the GPS data. In some units, accurate location data is only recorded when an emergency call is placed, or if special arrangements are made with a location-based service provider (LBS).

There is still hope for the cell phone carriers to gain the cell phone GPS tracking services. Actually, there are now fully GPS-enabled phones that can be used in conjunction with third-party location-based services. To mention just a few, these GPS-enabled phones include Nokia, Motorola, and Beneflon.

Here is an overview of these popular cell phones with GPS tracking devices:

Nokia of Finland

In recent years, Nokia announced plans to make the Xpress-On GPS optional hardware available to 5140 phone users in North America. Their Xpress-On GPS optional hardware makes it possible to use location service applications over GSM wireless networks.

Motorola Phones

You may already know that Motorola manufactures a series of cell phone GPS tracking units for Nextel. In particular, these cell phone GPS tracking units include the Motorola i205, i305, i530, i710, i730, i733, i736 and i830 iDEN(TM). According to Motorola, the programmability of these GPS-enabled cell phones allows the developers to create applications that make the GPS data much more readily available to the user, as well as the location-based service providers.

Nextel Phones

Nextel is now offering a number of cell phone GPS tracking solutions that can be used with the aforementioned Motorola phones. One of the most notable cell phone GPS tracking solutions that have been developed by Nextel is the Mobile Locator. Affiliates of Nextel have supplied other solutions, as have Mapquest, Trimble and other third parties.

Beneflon

There are two cell phones with GPS tracking that have been developed by Beneflon: the Track Pro and ESC. These are high-end cell phones that have been designed for use in both professional security and personal safety applications. These Beneflon cell phones feature fully-functioning GPS to provide accurate location data to the user, without the need for network assistance. While these are not Internet enabled devices, it's important to note that they do have a number of features perfectly suited for interactive communication between the user and a service center. One of the best features of the Beneflon cell phone GPS tracking equipment is that Beneflon itself is a multi-band GSM wireless network phone, usable in a number of countries around the world.