Air Tags or 5G Networks - You Pick

[Snarl]

So, the wife and I upgraded our phones the other day down at Sam's Club.  That meant buying a new case on Amazon.  While I was looking around, I kept noticing these Air Tags and figured I'd surprise the wife with a little something extra. Now, we live a little ways into the boonies, and though we've got a decent wired Internet connection and good LOS on a cell tower, we're probably low on the upgrade list for the new-fangled infrastructure being rolling out.

If you don't have an iPhone it's probably a waste of time shplaining their features and how they work.  If you do have one, you've prolly figured all that stuff out by now on yer own.

I don't know why, but I stuck one of these extra air tag boogers onto my dog's collar.  Kind'a neat that you can name the tag and assign an icon to it.  The tags are supposed to have some proximity transmission capability.  If the tag gets outside of a 'detection range' of about 10 or 15 feet, you can't track it from your cell (which is pretty cool technology to look at all by itself).  First time I drove away from the house, my phone shows me a dog icon and says, "Luke has been left behind."  **I turned around and put him in the truck, BTW ... love that dog ... giggle**

What I noticed (the reason for starting this thread), was that out here in the woods, those air tags don't work so great.  Signal is off and on.  Tracking is mostly non-existent ... sporadic at best.  In town though, it's a whole 'nuther story.  The closest big town to us just went 5G.  Doesn't matter where we park around there, the Air Tags are always visible.  Their proximity (using the Find My app) is ALWAYS to within a few feet of the device. The way they're advertised, there's no guarantee they'll work unless they're within 10 feet of a device (my thoughts said, "Cell phone.") loaded with an app (plus bluetooth) that'll relay the Air Tag's signal.  Doesn't seem to be the case when you're under a 5G umbrella.  It never stops identifying and broadcasting the specific location of the tag.

Anyway, those are my initial observations and thoughts.  Was wondering what other opinions there are out there.

[NightskyeB4Dawn]

So, the wife and I upgraded our phones the other day down at Sam's Club.  That meant buying a new case on Amazon.  While I was looking around, I kept noticing these Air Tags and figured I'd surprise the wife with a little something extra. Now, we live a little ways into the boonies, and though we've got a decent wired Internet connection and good LOS on a cell tower, we're probably low on the upgrade list for the new-fangled infrastructure being rolling out.

If you don't have an iPhone it's probably a waste of time shplaining their features and how they work.  If you do have one, you've prolly figured all that stuff out by now on yer own.

I don't know why, but I stuck one of these extra air tag boogers onto my dog's collar.  Kind'a neat that you can name the tag and assign an icon to it.  The tags are supposed to have some proximity transmission capability.  If the tag gets outside of a 'detection range' of about 10 or 15 feet, you can't track it from your cell (which is pretty cool technology to look at all by itself).  First time I drove away from the house, my phone shows me a dog icon and says, "Luke has been left behind."  **I turned around and put him in the truck, BTW ... love that dog ... giggle**

What I noticed (the reason for starting this thread), was that out here in the woods, those air tags don't work so great.  Signal is off and on.  Tracking is mostly non-existent ... sporadic at best.  In town though, it's a whole 'nuther story.  The closest big town to us just went 5G.  Doesn't matter where we park around there, the Air Tags are always visible.  Their proximity (using the Find My app) is ALWAYS to within a few feet of the device. The way they're advertised, there's no guarantee they'll work unless they're within 10 feet of a device (my thoughts said, "Cell phone.") loaded with an app (plus bluetooth) that'll relay the Air Tag's signal.  Doesn't seem to be the case when you're under a 5G umbrella.  It never stops identifying and broadcasting the specific location of the tag.

Anyway, those are my initial observations and thoughts.  Was wondering what other opinions there are out there.

Thank you so much for this post. 

I have been thinking about getting air tags for my crits. I live in the woods, and my Huskies have a long history of being darters. The moment they can get free or get the zoomies, they are off to the races, and words of recall disappears from their list of words of recognition.

Signal out here is absolutely lousy. I had not taken range into consideration, and my Huskies could be five miles away in less than 10 minutes. So I am rethinking the wisdom of purchasing six air tags, to be used for tracking my exploring Huskies.

Thank you for giving me pause. I will have to look at another tool for tracking. It just has to be cheap, at least affordable.

[Snarl]

I don't know why, but I stuck one of these extra air tag boogers onto my dog's collar.

Thank you for giving me pause. I will have to look at another tool for tracking. It just has to be cheap, at least affordable.

Probably the right call.  From what you described an Air Tag won't be of much help.

I sometimes let Luke run the woods. I've got a tracking collar for that. It was $$$, but money well spent for the fun we have out there.  That wouldn't be of much help to you either if yours simply run for miles.  Good grief!!  I'm too old for that ... and you might have me by a few. 

[NightskyeB4Dawn]

I don't know why, but I stuck one of these extra air tag boogers onto my dog's collar.

Thank you for giving me pause. I will have to look at another tool for tracking. It just has to be cheap, at least affordable.

Probably the right call.  From what you described an Air Tag won't be of much help.

I sometimes let Luke run the woods. I've got a tracking collar for that. It was $$$, but money well spent for the fun we have out there.  That wouldn't be of much help to you either if yours simply run for miles.  Good grief!!  I'm too old for that ... and you might have me by a few. 

Usually, if they take off, it is only one of them. So far Facebook has been the most helpful in tracking them down.

I don't have a Facebook account, but my sister-in-law does, and the local groups have helped me track them down before, and usually very quickly. They can't catch and hold them for me, they would if they could, but they are not likely to let anyone get too close to them when they are alone.

If more than one are together, they are more likely to allow people to get close, but when three or more are together, they tend to stay in the woods and away from roads or houses. There really are not that many roads out here, so if they do go near the road a neighbor would spot them and let me know they have seen them. Not a lot of Huskies running around out here, so my neighbors know who they belong to.

Sometimes they come back together, and sometimes, one at a time. One time the kids were gone overnight and I was terrified. When it became light out and Goliath and Tamar were not back. I sent their mother Bellah after them. I said "Bellah, go get your children". She took off and brought them back in less than fifteen minutes. They really were not kids anymore at two years old, they were more like teens I guess.

A tracker would probably get me in more trouble than my dogs could get into, trying follow them out into the woods. Not like the cell is guaranteed to work out there with the lousy signal we get around here.

[NoAngels]

Never heard of these, thanks for informing 

Battery lasts a year before needing replacing, thats pretty good

Has lot of potential, one of those is for gigging musicians concealing in amps and guitars

[Snarl]

Never heard of these, thanks for informing 

Battery lasts a year before needing replacing, thats pretty good

Has lot of potential, one of those is for gigging musicians concealing in amps and guitars

Maybe ... and maybe not.

There was some concern about these things being slipped onto a person and then that person being tracked by a criminal element.  So ... if one of these things is following them around (say in a stolen guitar case) ... their phone could/would tattle.  Probably wouldn't hurt to plant one anyway.  Might make them abandon their loot.

[EndtheMadnessNow]

Apple Airtags are a deeply concerning surveillance technology: they're cheap (4 for $99, 1 for $29), easily attainable, effective & relatively simple to use.

Less then a year after release, there's evidence they've been used for stalking:

Are Apple AirTags Being Used to Track People and Steal Cars? (NY Times, Dec 30, 2021)

Like every other technology you have a bright side & dark side to its usage/abuse.

Just something to be aware of and I doubt you have any worry about it so long as you're not being tracked by a drone.

Par for the course in the new age of Bio-security surveillance state.

[NoAngels]

Yes I can well imagine criminals using this in many ways

Snarl- for gigging musicians it could quickly help in tracking recently stolen equipment from after a gig while they are still trying to get away from the venue 

So cheap and year long battery life, very impressive

[Snarl]

Yes I can well imagine criminals using this in many ways

Snarl- for gigging musicians it could quickly help in tracking recently stolen equipment from after a gig while they are still trying to get away from the venue 

So cheap and year long battery life, very impressive

Somebody made off with my pedalboard and a 50W JVM.  Someone else told me where to find 'em.  Was a bad experience for 'that' guy, though he later claimed he had only got 'em from the thief who was hocking 'em for cheap.

Never did get that pedalboard back to right.  Still makes me see red.

[NoAngels]

That bad experience for that guy was well deserved