Ongoing problem with iOS and location services when connected to home wifi

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josephhinvest

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#159937 17-Dec-2014 20:14

Backstory.
Moved house one year ago, brought existing telecom router to new house. iOS devices think they are still at the old house.

The issue occurs on multiple up-to-date iDevices (iPhone 6+, 5s and and iPad 3rd gen)

When I open Google Maps (or Maps.app, or Geocaching.app, or perform some location aware task like taking a photo) my iPhone thinks we are at our old address. (This is the most frustrating part as many photos taken at home are geotagged wrong). This happens when connected to wifi. If I then turn off the wifi; the device will [eventually] realise its correct location.
I can actually watch the maps locator slowly move from one location to the other.
Also using a MacBook Pro (10.10.1) the Maps app will shows the incorrect location. Google Maps in browser cannot determine a location.

I have tried:
Resetting the devices (issue occurs with brand new iPhone 6)
Restoring the router to factory settings
Updating the location of the wifi AP on the Skyhook website (successfully, but have been advised by Skyhook that they are no longer the default provider of location info for iDevices.)
Contacted Skyhook for support
Contacted Apple for support (they have advised contacting my ISP)
Contacted Spark, they are very pleasant and helpful but the rep I have been speaking to cannot explain why this might be happening)

I am 99% confident that a new router would work correctly, as presumably the AP would be a newly registered device at the correct address.
But why can't I fix this?

Cheers,
Joseph

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#1199503 17-Dec-2014 20:20

Is there one of the idevice privacy settings that sends data back to Apple? Might be you need to open Apple maps while on wifi and leave it long enough to pick up a gps location which it then reports back to Apple.

A stab in the dark really but might be worth looking for as presumably the database gets updated somehow

RunningMan

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#1199505 17-Dec-2014 20:25

Actually, there's a couple of suggestions in this article, including using the maps app to report a problem (pin in wrong place)

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4370143

josephhinvest

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#1199509 17-Dec-2014 20:32

Thanks for that link. I think I did read that thread previously.
I've done as suggested and reported a problem using Maps.app.

Cheers,
Joseph

andyb

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#1200612 19-Dec-2014 15:36

Try

1. Turned off wi-fi and location services on all ios devices.
2. Turned on location services on iPhone(s).
3. Turned on wi-fi on iPhone(s).
4. Turned on location services and wi-fi on iPad(s).

andyb

wellygary

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#1200652 19-Dec-2014 16:26

Try

Settings >>Privacy>> Location Services>> System services>>toggle off "wifi networking"

This should force the devices to get a fresh fix, rather than assuming (incorrectly) that your wifi is where it used to be,

nathan

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#1200654 19-Dec-2014 16:29

What did skyhook say?

Can you try to rename your SSID ?

Batman

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#1200957 20-Dec-2014 09:55

when i strike a problem in iOS, the first thing you do is restart or reset something.
if that doesn't work, update/reinstall something.
if that doesn't work, give up.

there is no way around things.

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SheriffNZ

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#1200985 20-Dec-2014 10:53

I had the same issue when we moved house. I don't think I did anything in particular but eventually it came right by itself. I spent some time on chat with Apple without success I recall.

josephhinvest

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#1200988 20-Dec-2014 11:01

nathan: What did skyhook say?

Can you try to rename your SSID ?

Skyhook says "Please note that we are not the default location provider on
iPhones running versions 3.2 and higher (details in article link
below).

?http://support.skyhookwireless.com/knowledgebase/articles/295774-my-location-isn-t-working-on-my-iphone-ipad-ipod"

Also I have tried changing my SSID and nothing changes.

Cheers,
Joseph

josephhinvest

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#1200990 20-Dec-2014 11:05

wellygary: Try

Settings >>Privacy>> Location Services>> System services>>toggle off "wifi networking"

This should force the devices to get a fresh fix, rather than assuming (incorrectly) that your wifi is where it used to be,

Thanks, tried this but doesn't seem to change.
I can reproduce the issue by doing this:
Quit maps.app. (Force quit)
Turn off wifi
Open maps - will go to correct location
Force quit maps
Turn on wifi
Open maps - will go to old incorrect location.

Cheers,
Joseph

josephhinvest

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#1201000 20-Dec-2014 11:12

I've posted a video that I filmed the other day, using iCloud sharing, will be interested to see if this works :)
Shows the location jump back to old house when wifi connected.

Cheers
Joseph

nathan

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#1201001 20-Dec-2014 11:14

josephhinvest:
nathan: What did skyhook say?

Can you try to rename your SSID ?

Skyhook says "Please note that we are not the default location provider on
iPhones running versions 3.2 and higher (details in article link
below).

?http://support.skyhookwireless.com/knowledgebase/articles/295774-my-location-isn-t-working-on-my-iphone-ipad-ipod"

Also I have tried changing my SSID and nothing changes.

Cheers,
Joseph

Oh right apple ditched skyhook and took the WiFi location database in-house

call Apple support?

josephhinvest

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#1201002 20-Dec-2014 11:20

nathan:
josephhinvest:
nathan: What did skyhook say?

Can you try to rename your SSID ?

Skyhook says "Please note that we are not the default location provider on
iPhones running versions 3.2 and higher (details in article link
below).

?http://support.skyhookwireless.com/knowledgebase/articles/295774-my-location-isn-t-working-on-my-iphone-ipad-ipod"

Also I have tried changing my SSID and nothing changes.

Cheers,
Joseph

Oh right apple ditched skyhook and took the WiFi location database in-house

call Apple support?

Yep have done that, was quite frustrating. The end result was I was told that Apple don't maintain a database of wifi locations and the information must be coming from my ISP. I don't really believe it though.

nathan

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#1201008 20-Dec-2014 11:35

tier 1 helpdesk probably doesn't even know what a Wi-Fi positioning system is

Batman

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#1201013 20-Dec-2014 11:38

have you tried deleting the app? restoring the app could bring with it old data. ie have you wiped app data by uninstalling

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