U.S. cellular network carriers announce they will stop sharing customer location data based on proximity to cell phone towers; some supply chain visibility vendors affected
RESTON, Va, - Trucker Tools, LLC, in response to inquiries from customers and partners, confirmed today that last week’s decisions by the nation’s three biggest wireless network operators to stop selling cellphone customer location data through middlemen will not affect Trucker Tools products or services. Trucker Tools provides load tracking, shipment visibility and carrier management software services through its cloud-based Smart Capacity platform.
“While this decision affects some market offerings which provide ‘app-less’ cell phone-based tracking that rely on third-party purchases of customer location data from cellphone networks, the GPS location data used by our products on the Trucker Tools platform is unaffected,” said Prasad Gollapalli, founder and CEO of Trucker Tools.
Unlike app-less cellphone-based tracking, the other method of data collection employs a mobile app, downloaded to the user’s smartphone or other mobile device, and collecting, in real time, GPS location information directly from that device.
Trucker Tools obtains GPS location data directly through its own Trucker Tools mobile application on the smart phones of truck drivers. The mobile app integrates with the smart phone’s GPS software to continually capture, in real time, precise location data, which is then transmitted over Trucker Tools’ confidential, secure network, and displayed in the company’s load tracking and carrier management applications.
The Trucker Tools mobile driver app, launched in 2013, has been downloaded by more than 500,000 truck drivers in North America. The mobile app is integrated with Trucker Tools’ Smart Capacity carrier management and digital load-matching platform used by brokers and carriers to quickly and efficiently locate and secure optimal truckload shipments.
“We made this decision, building and offering our own app, free to drivers, many years ago to ensure direct access to, and real-time accuracy of location data without having to rely on a third-party, and the potential for that data to be disrupted,” said Gollapalli.
