Whereis Everyone
Whereis Everyone FAQ
- What is Whereis Everyone?
- How much does it cost to use Whereis Everyone?
- What is a Location Alert and how does it work?
- How do I start sharing my location with someone?
- Why do I need to register separately for Whereis Everyone?
- Can you use Whereis Everyone to find people on non-Telstra services?
- Can I locate more than one person at the same time?
- How do I know who can locate me?
- How accurate is the location?
- What is GPS?
- What is A-GPS?
- How do I know if my phone supports A-GPS?
- Where do I find a list of phones that I know will support A-GPS on Telstra's Network?
- My Phone has GPS but I am unable to get GPS accuracy with Whereis Everyone. Why?
- Can I locate someone who does not have A-GPS?
- If I have a GPS or A-GPS enabled phone, can I find other people's location with GPS Accuracy?
- Can I locate someone whose phone is switched off?
- Can I locate someone who is overseas?
- Can I locate someone in Australia while I'm overseas?
- Will people know if I've made myself invisible?
- What are the cases where Whereis Everyone cannot ascertain someone's location?
- Will I still receive a Location Alert when the location of the person cannot be ascertained?
- Will I be charged if someone's location cannot be ascertained?
- How do I register for Whereis Everyone?
- How do I cancel Whereis Everyone?
- How is my privacy and security safeguarded?
- How will you use my e-mail address?
- When I block someone from locating me I cannot locate them either. Why?
- When I go invisible I cannot locate anyone else either. Why?
- A location Alert that I set up was received later than the time I set it for. Why?
- Will the other person know when I am attempting to locate them?
- Where do I find the full terms and conditions?
- I've received the following SMS message: "You are currently registered to Whereis Everyone (http://m.ev1.whereis.com) so you may be located by other people. To cancel service reply 'whereis stop' to 176". Why did I receive this and what does it mean?
What is Whereis Everyone?
Whereis Everyone is a location based service that lets people with a Telstra Mobile service locate each other using the Telstra GSM, 3G and Next G™. mobile networks. People can see each others approximate location as a street and suburb description, and also on a Whereis® map.
How much does it cost to use Whereis Everyone?
As long as you have an internet connection or a WAP enabled Telstra Mobile you can access Whereis Everyone. On your Telstra Mobile it is free to browse the Whereis Everyone WAP site located under the Bigpond Mobile Home Tab. . It is free to sign up for the service. You only pay for each location look up or alert. Casual location look ups are priced at $0.50c each or you can subscribe for $2.95 per month and receive unlimited look ups. Location Alerts are $0.30c for each alert sent. If you are a post-paid customer, the charges for your use of Whereis Everyone will appear on your bill. If you are a pre-paid mobile customer, we will deduct the charges for your use of Whereis Everyone from your account balance.
What is a Location Alert and how does it work?
Location Alerts can be set so you will receive an SMS telling you the approximate location of where someone is on a certain day of the week and time of the day that. You can also receive this alert as an e-mail in addition to the SMS. For example if you know your daughter has soccer training at 3:45pm every day after school you can set up Location Alerts to automatically send you a message telling you where she is at that time Monday to Friday. Telstra cannot guarantee that the Location Alert alarm will always be sent at the exact set time. You should not rely on this service in an emergency to locate children or other vulnerable persons.
How do I start sharing my location with someone?
First, you must first invite them to share their location with you, and they must accept this invitation. From Whereis Everyone, select "Add Person". Once you enter their details they will be invited by SMS, which will include instructions on how to accept this invitation, which they do by sending an SMS. You will be notified by SMS when they accept your invitation
If they accept, you will then be able to see their approximate location. They can then use Whereis Everyone to find your approximate location; they will need to register if they don't already have an account.
Why do I need to register separately for Whereis Everyone?
In order to protect your and other people's privacy you will need to give us permission to share your location information with each other.
Can you use Whereis Everyone to find people on non-Telstra services?
No, currently you can only search for people on the Telstra network, although we hope in the future it will be possible to search for people on all mobile networks.
Can I locate more than one person at the same time?
Yes. You can see the locations of all people in your list at once if you click on "Refresh all". You will be charged a fee for each look up if you are on a casual plan.
How do I know who can locate me?
Anyone in your list of people can locate you, unless you have made yourself invisible or blocked someone from locating you.
How accurate is the location?
When attempting to locate a person with an A-GPS enabled handset, the accuracy of that location will often be within approximately 50m of the actual position, but can vary between around 20m to up to 200-300m.
When attempting to locate a person that does not have an A-GPS enabled handset, the accuracy of that location will vary. In high density areas, such as the centre of cities, accuracy can be to within a few hundred metres of the actual position. In rural areas outside population centres the accuracy can be to within several kilometres of the actual position.
What is GPS?
GPS stand for Global Positioning System. GPS is usually the most accurate way to obtain a location, but since it uses satellites, it often does not work in-doors. GPS can take up to several minutes to obtain a location.
The accuracy of a GPS location will often be within approximately 50m of the actual position, but can vary between around 20m to up to 200-300m.
What is A-GPS?
A-GPS stands for Assisted Global Positioning System. The term "Assisted" refers to assistance received from the mobile network. A-GPS provides two main benefits:
- A-GPS provides the accuracy of GPS, but is usually faster than unassisted GPS, as the network helps find the satellites faster (usually less than a minute); and
- Other people with A-GPS enabled phones can be located with GPS accuracy, provided they allow you to. This is because the mobile network can request that the person's handset obtain a GPS location. If a person has a phone that supports GPS but not A-GPS Whereis Everyone will not be able to find that person with GPS accuracy. A.GPS accuracy is only available to Telstra post paid customers.
How do I know if my phone supports A-GPS?
The best way to find out is to ask your Telstra store or call 125 111. A-GPS is a new technology so if you have an older mobile it is unlikely to have A-GPS.
Where do I find a list of phones that I know will support A-GPS on Telstra's Network?
Once again the range of phones is always changing so we recommend you go to your nearest Telstra shop or call 125 111.
My Phone has GPS but I am unable to get GPS accuracy with Whereis Everyone. Why?
Some phones support GPS but not A-GPS. For the phone to work with A-GPS accuracy with Whereis Everyone it needs A-GPS functionality, not just GPS functionality. Ask your Telstra shop for more details.Some phones support GPS but not A-GPS. For the phone to work with A-GPS accuracy with Whereis Everyone it needs A-GPS functionality, not just GPS functionality. Ask your Telstra shop for more details.
Can I locate someone who does not have A-GPS?
Yes. By default, their approximate location is found by the "Cell-ID" method. This method uses information from one or more base stations that are in range of the person's handset. Using this method, the location is usually established within a few seconds. The accuracy depends upon many factors including the number of base stations in the area, the distance between these base stations, and the number of objects that can interfere with and/or reflect signals, such as trees, automobiles and buildings.
If I have a GPS or A-GPS enabled phone, can I find other people's location with GPS Accuracy?
You can only find a person's location with GPS accuracy using Whereis Everyone if they also have an A-GPS phone. This means you can find your location with GPS accuracy if you have an A-GPS phone, but you can only find someone else's location with GPS accuracy if they have an A-GPS phone. You can only access A-GPS services if you have a post paid account with Telstra if you have a prepaid account you are limited to accessing Cell-ID location services even though you may have an A-GPS capable phone.
Can I locate someone whose phone is switched off?
No
Can I locate someone who is overseas?
No. The service is only able to locate people who are in Australia.
Can I locate someone in Australia while I'm overseas?
Yes, you can access the service when overseas. However, your position will not be visible to people in Australia.
Will people know if I've made myself invisible?
If they try to locate you they will be told your location cannot be ascertained. There may be several reasons why your location cannot be ascertained . refer to the next question.
What are the cases where Whereis Everyone cannot ascertain someone's location?
A person's location will be shown as "cannot be ascertained" under the following circumstances:
- the handset is out of range, outside the Telstra Mobile Network
- the handset is switched off
- the person has made themselves invisible or blocked you from locating them
Will I still receive a Location Alert when the location of the person cannot be ascertained?
Yes. An alert will always be sent to you, but you will not be charged for this alert if the location cannot be ascertained.
Will I be charged if someone's location cannot be ascertained?
No. Note that in the case of Location Alerts, an alert will always be sent to you, but you will not be charged for this alert if the location cannot be ascertained.
How do I register for Whereis Everyone?
To register using your phone, go to Whereis Everyone from BigPond on your mobile. You can find it under "Whereis Mobile".
To register using the web go to http://www.whereis.com/everyone
How do I cancel Whereis Everyone?
You can cancel your Whereis Everyone registration at any time.
From your mobile phone you can either click on "Delete my Account" in the "My Account" section of Whereis Everyone, or just send an SMS "whereis.stop" to 176 (standard SMS charges apply).
From the web, click on "Delete my Account" from the "Details" tab under "My Account"
How is my privacy and security safeguarded?
We provide you with full control over if and how much information on your location you make available to others. Your privacy is protected in accordance with our Privacy Statement. Our Privacy Statement is available at http://www.telstra.com.au/privacy/privacy_statement.html.
You can block particular people from obtaining your location. You can also make yourself invisible to all people (this overrides blocking of certain people).
In addition to being able to choose whether or not to be located at all, people with AGPS handsets are able to choose whether or not they allow people to locate them using AGPS.
We will send you an SMS at regular intervals to remind you that you have registered for Whereis Everyone.
For details on how we use your e-mail address, refer to the next question.
How will you use my e-mail address?
Your e-mail address will not be given or sold to any outside organization for its use in marketing or solicitation without your consent. Your e-mail address will be used for sending Location Alerts to you where you request them by e-mail. From time to time we may also send you a reminder that you have registered for Whereis Everyone, which may also contain additional information about your service, including existing features, new features, promotions, etc.
When I block someone from locating me I cannot locate them either. Why?
Blocking is mutual if you block someone you are blocking both parties from locating each other.
When I go invisible I cannot locate anyone else either. Why?
Visibility is mutual, if you make yourself invisible to others you can't locate those people either.
A location Alert that I set up was received later than the time I set it for. Why?
Whilst the time that a Location Alert is sent can be set to the nearest minute, Telstra cannot guarantee that the alarm will always be sent exactly at that time. Messages may be delayed by a few seconds or even a few minutes if Telstra systems are heavily loaded.
Will the other person know when I am attempting to locate them?
Generally no. The only exception to this is in the extreme case where you perform an abnormally large number of Location Searches on one person, or configure an abnormally large number of Location Alerts on one person, Telstra reserves the right to inform this other person. Telstra will inform you via e-mail, SMS and/or mail if it does this.
Where do I find the full terms and conditions?
The full terms and conditions are contained within "Our Customer Terms, Telstra Mobiles Section, Part G - Data Services" at http://www.telstra.com.au/customerterms/docs/dataservices.pdf
I've received the following SMS message: "You are currently registered to Whereis Everyone (http://m.ev1.whereis.com) so you may be located by other people. To cancel service reply 'whereis stop' to 176". Why did I receive this and what does it mean?
This SMS is sent to all registered users of Whereis Everyone every two weeks, on average. This SMS is an important privacy safeguard to ensure that you, or anyone using your phone, are aware that your phone is locatable by other people. We recommend that when you receive this SMS you go to Whereis Everyone and check your people list to ensure you are happy for those people to locate you.