History Main / PhoneTraceRace

* In ''12 Rounds'', villain Miles Jackson is quite savvy to this, so he keeps hanging up and switching to a different phone every few minutes, frustrating the police.

* ''Film/WarGames''. After David accidentally hacks into NORAD and takes over its main computer system, he hangs up before they can trace the connection and determine his location.

* In the ''Film/MissionImpossible'' movie, Ethan stays on the line just long enough for his call to get traced to London, just as planned. Down to the ''second'', even.

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[[quoteright:327:[[Film/BlackChristmas1974 http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/phonetrace_1382.png]]]]
[[caption-width-right:327:May or may not require actual racing.]]

* Happens all the time in ''LawAndOrderSpecialVictimsUnit'', but it was a plot point of an entire episode. In "911", the squad gets a call from a 9 year old girl who says she's locked in a room, she's been abused, and does not know where she is. Olivia stays on the line with her and works with the squad to try and narrow down the area to where the girl might be being held. The number itself is untraceable, but a tech expert in cell phone mapping eventually is able to narrow down the cell phone tower the girl is using.

* In ''Film/TheBourneSeriesSupremacy'', Jason Bourne speaks to Pamela Landy on the phone, and hangs up before they can trace his location. However, what he says before hanging up makes them realize he's directly in the area.

* The same general set-up is used in ''Literature/{{Shatterpoint}}'', albeit for a radio transmission rather than a phone call, with Mace Windu trying to keep the villain talking while his aide triangulates the signal source. However, because the villain is very clever and Mace is only slightly less clever, he immediately knows that the apparently origin is a ruse -- but that still helps him because only two installations in city have the hardware necessary to spoof the signal.

* Attempted in one episode of ''PoliceSquad''. The call is ended before the trace is completed, and when they show the phone that they had 'tapped', there is a faucet attached to the handset.

* Seen in ''{{Hackers}}'', where the heroes specifically set up the phones to mislead the FBI as to their location. They know it won't last, but they delay as long as they can.
* In ''{{Sneakers}}'', the heroes set up this elaborate multi-hub "fence" between their call location and the NSA before calling the government agency in order to negotiate for the MacGuffin. In the space of three minutes the NSA trackers are almost at their door, but they manage to disconnect before they are discovered... or so they think.

* Happens in ''[[TheMuppetShow Muppets Tonight]]'' where a pair of crewman trace the call... by methodically ripping the phone cable out of the walls.

* Beautifully subverted on an episode of WireInTheBlood. The police are getting phone calls that the tech people can't trace to anywhere at all. Detective Jordan correctly deduces that the perp must be a phone engineer, and they find him all the faster for it.

* ''Film/TheSilenceOfTheLambs''. After Hannibal Lecter escapes he calls FBI agent Clarice Starling. During the call he tells her "Don't bother with a trace, I won't be on long enough."

* Played with by the villain in DieHardWithAVengeance.

* In ''TheLostExperience'' DJ Dan gets a call that turns out to be from Rachel Blake (using her hacker alias, Persephone). He tells his cohost Tanya to trace the call and she says "Trace it? With my pencil?"

* ''{{Bookhunter}}'' has a variation where a perp is using a phone line to hack a computer. The cops are able to get the number the hacker is calling from easily enough, but it's a public phone booth, so they must race to physically apprehend the cracker and they don't have any way to keep the perp on the line longer.

* In ''[[Film/TheBourneSeries The Bourne Supremacy]]'', Jason Bourne speaks to Pamela Landy on the phone, and hangs up before they can trace his location. However, what he says before hanging up makes them realize he's directly in the area.
* Subverted in ''InTheLineOfFire'', in that the bad guy stays on the line for quite a long time. The trace goes through, but to the wrong location.

* Vanko hangs up before Tony can finish tracing his call in ''Film/IronMan 2''.

* ''ThreeDaysOfTheCondor''. The CIA thinks they've traced Turner's whereabouts, but Turner has stolen a phone linesmen's kit and wired fifty phones together.

* ''ThePerilsOfPenelopePitstop'' episode "The Boardwalk Booby Trap" has Penelope trapped in a phone booth headed for a fish cannery, so she calls the Ant Hill Mob (Pockets answers with a phone in his jacket) which leads to the "You don't say!/She didn't say" gag. Ckyde tells Zippy to trace the call to see where Penelope is. Zippy does so by entering the phone itself and traversing the phone line to Penelope's booth.