Can I find an IP address from a phone number?

Is there metadata in a text message?

There is a new way to send text messages, over the internet rather than a mobile network.

There are several ways to receive these messages, one is by SMS from your smartphone (not likely this week) another is to go to a website like whatsapp and sign up there (not this week either).

My concern is that I have the same phone number for both and if I receive an unsolicited text message over my standard number I may not know which was sent from what number. That and if I receive an unsolicited voice call from this other number will it show up as coming from the standard number? What if I receive a text message from one number but a call on the standard number? I know some of my friends have their numbers listed at various phone companies so I wouldn't be surprised if many more now have their cellphones in different carrier service areas. I would hope that someone with good computer skills could determine if there is metadata or phone number data hidden in the text messages. At this point I'm wondering if such a simple method like using a web service is the best choice or should I buy a scanner, learn an app or use multiple sim cards in different phones (my wife has two phones and they are both in different carriers).

I've had problems in the past and it took three months of talking to the phone company's customer service team before they admitted it was their fault and then just a few weeks after I sent them the evidence the customer service rep admitted that he was sorry and that I should get a new phone number. A few years later I had the same problem and it took one phone call for them to admit there was something wrong and that they would stop sending me text messages. So don't assume that you will receive service when something like that happens - I know you can get the message I mean that was me that was getting the messages.

Thanks for the help. I am not sure why anyone would want to use a website to get the messages. I didn't realize you could do that. There are several ways to receive these messages, one is by SMS from your smartphone (not likely this week) another is to go to a website like whatsapp and sign up there (not this week either).

Can I find an IP address from a phone number?

I was about to call him back and find out if he was really sick, because I am sure I know him from school.

Is there any other way for me to do that? Would calling him at work cause problems or is it ok to call him through his cell phone since it's a good chance for him to not remember who I am if he sees my number on the screen? It will probably depend on his exact policy. But as long as you aren't asking for information, it shouldn't be an issue. If he's a new employee, I'm sure he won't see your number, but he may be concerned about what the caller ID says.

He probably still has the home phone # too. Maybe it would be helpful to just confirm if he does or doesn't (even if its just by email) before you call. You also could just call the company and ask them (if they're in to talking to customers, that may get you there faster, too) but I think a lot of companies' sales staff wouldn't want to help customers on weekends either.

Yes, it should be fine. I assume that when you dialed the number, your carrier sent your number to the party that answered the phone so that they could charge you the call. However, your mobile carrier will have no record of that number - in fact the phone company wouldn't even know who you are.

However, if you call from a computer, the IP address of the computer can be located based on the name of the computer.

Can you trace where a text message was sent from?

No, it's not a software application that would show you every time an SMS message is sent, or an app that would tell you where a text was sent from.

(But I know lots of people use a "spoof phone" because they can track an ex, and if you spoof your own number, it's as if the call didn't even happen.)

Can you get the phone company to tell you? No. You'll need a subpoena, although that may just get you the number on paper rather than information about who sent it.

I mean, let's say you could do this - can you sue them? It depends on the states, but if he's using it just to track your calls without consent, you could probably sue him in one if not all those states. There might also be legal ways of tracking a person. For instance, if the police have a warrant to tap his phone and they don't violate any of the guidelines, then they could look at it and see when he sends the message or track it down by IP address. There's no way to completely hide, but some will try and some people will actually use encryption.