MBP my location completely wrong

satoshimage wrote:

• IP address on my MBP is the same as on my iMac.

• No VPN (is it even possible for Apple's location service that is within the system to connect through a VPN?)

Maybe double check that by going to System Preferences > Network > Advanced > Proxies and see if you have any proxies setup. It is pretty common to see malware install proxies to inspect and/or modify your network communications. This would not change your IP address. But any external servers could see your traffic coming from some other location.

If it isn't malware, it could be some other system modification. You said that it started happening a few weeks ago. Did you install any software or make any system change at that time?

How is your iMac connected to the internet? Is it using WiFi or an ethernet connection?

Apple devices can use nearby WiFi networks, not necessarily the one you are using, to triangulate your location. This can work extremely well. Once some friends and I were driving around in really the middle of nowhere Wisconsin. Being from Canada, I didn't even have cell phone service. I had my 1st generation iPad, so that is how long ago it was. But the Maps app on the iPad was able to accurately track our location using WiFi signals alone for several hours as we drove around.

So, it is possible that there are some nearby WiFI networks that are identical to some configuration in Arizona. You could try to share the internet connection from your iMac, or especially your phone, and connect to the internet from the MacBook Pro through that device. If those other devices have the correct location, the MacBook Pro should then have the correct location. This is especially true of the iPhone as it has actual location derived from GPS. Try that just to verify that it works. Then disconnect and see if it reverts.

Remember that your phone has GPS. That is an accurate, genuine location. If GPS information is available, that will override any other data.

Lacking GPS, both Macs have to use either your IP address or nearby WiFi networks to estimate what your location might be. Both are just guesses. If you use a VPN, for example, your location is going to be wherever the VPN server happens to be. The WiFI lookup system seems to be where your problem is. It sounds like there is a very similar configuration of WiFI networks somewhere in Tempe, Arizona. Your Mac sees those nearby WiFI networks, looks them up in the database, and comes back with Tempe. It may be that your iMac has slightly different logic since it is not a portable computer. I'm just guessing on this point, but it would explain what you are seeing.

Unfortunately, I don't have any answer for you. If the problem is in Apple's WiFi database. You'll never get that fixed. You could go around to your neighbours and ask them to rename their WiFi networks. Good luck explaining that. But if you tell them it is an Apple networking bug, they might totally understand.

Another option would be to configure your iMac to share its internet connection via WiFI. This is possible because you are using ethernet for this computer. You can share its internet via WiFi. Then, on your MacBook Pro, connect to the iMac's WiFi instead of your normal WiFI.

satoshimage wrote:

I just checked, but the only WiFi networks that are listed at my place are my own. Either my neighbour's WiFi signal is weak enough to not reach to my MBP or they are connected via Ethernet. So, even if they have changed something it shouldn't effect me, should it?

Not necessarily. Radio signals are not like electrical signals. They are not either on or off. If the signal isn't powerful enough, your Mac may not even bother to list it. But that doesn't mean it won't use that signal for geolocation.

Anyway, as long as I don't want to reset my MBP just to try out if it's an OS issue I'll have to live with it? Not very satisfying.

As I said above, you can configure your iMac to share its internet connection via WiFI. This is possible because you are using ethernet for this computer. You can share its internet via WiFi. Then, on your MacBook Pro, connect to the iMac's WiFi instead of your normal WiFI.

Are you using a VPN or any other kind of security software? If you Google "what is my ip address", is the IP address it returns the same as the iMac? Or is it wildly different?

satoshimage wrote:

Are you saying that although I'm connected to my WiFi that my MBP tries to connect to other WiFi's close by to get data and determine my location? That would be a huge privacy and security issue for all!

It doesn't connect. It just looks. When you click in the WiFi icon in the menubar, you get a list of nearby WiFi networks. By default, WiFi SSID names are publicly broadcast. It's not a privacy and security issue for the person looking, but it could be for the people hosting the WiFi. Make sure your WiFi name isn't personally identifiable. 

You probably don't care if your neighbours know who you are. But various companies are always building "local information" networks for mappings, photos of streets, photos of houses, etc. They also collect the name and location of WiFi networks. This is where Apple gets its information. In theory, this is personal information and shouldn't be shared. But in practice, the security of most internet companies is simply non-existent. You should expect that anyone in the world can lookup your geographic coordinates if they have the name of your WiFi network.

If you check your WiFi router settings, there will be an option to make your network invisible. You can still connect if you know the name, but your name won't show up on any of your neighbours' lists of nearly WiFi networks. They will still be able to detect its presence from the radio signal and pick a different frequency, but they won't have the name.

The only thing that I don't get is why did it work all these years and suddenly it changed?

Remember that everything I've said is just a theory. It is a theory that fully explains what you are seeing. But it could be wrong. It might just be some other bug in the operating system. But if my theory is correct, any one of your neighbours could have made a small change to their WiFi network, or someone left, or someone new moved in, and that was enough to change the radio frequency "fingerprint" of your location.

Anyone who has ever bought an iMac knows how big and heavy they are. So if an iMac has a WiFi fingerprint of Tempe, AZ and an IP address in Vienna, the iMac is probably in Vienna. But a MacBook Pro is more likely to be on the move. If it has an IP address, it could be a hotel, airport, coffeeshop, or VPN. Those are all corporate IP addresses and not very reliable for geolocation. So a MacBook Pro might be more likely to trust its nearby radio signals instead.

Do you have your Time Zone set automatically?

What happens if you manually set to the correct one? That may give a hint to location services...

UNcheck this box, adjust the Time Zone to your correct location, and see if that helps.

Where did you buy that computer? Did you buy it new, directly from Apple? I wonder if it could be a grey market/used/stolen computer that is now forever tied to the location where was disabled via Find My Mac. That fact that it is located at a mall is highly suspicious. Maybe contact Apple support and give them the serial number. They may be able to tell you if this computer originally came from the US.

The only thing I can suggest is check System Preferences > Date & Time > Time Zone to be be sure Time Zone is set correctly.

It’s not that your mac tries to connect to another network. It’s that by detecting which networks exist around you it trie to determine the location.

An iPhone can use gps or cell tower information to determine location. A mac does not have either, so it relies on wifi for this.

I don’t think there’s a privacy issue, but if you do then you should turn off location services.

Do you have Location Services enabled? In System Preferences->Security & Privacy->Privacy->Location Services

What do you see in System Preferences->Date & Time->Time Zone?

Maybe you and Adam should compare notes: Mac OS Maps still not working - Apple Community