Location services now NEEDS Wi-Fi??

i have iOS 17.5.1 on a 15 pro max. I noticed a few weeks ago (possibly coinciding with an update) that my location services is no longer working properly. I have an unlimited data plan and my home broadband is also based upon 4G so I often don't use Wi-Fi at home, and when I don't use it I turn Wi-Fi off altogether because otherwise it joins the home network. I've noticed that when Wi-Fi is off, location services don't work at all. This is a change to behaviour as previously location services still worked with Wi-Fi off.

I don't want to have Wi-Fi on all the time as I don't want to always use my home network as it is slightly slower than going direct to the mast. I've noticed the location services don't work now with Wi-Fi off no matter where I am. I also have a mac so anything I do to manipulate home network config also gets replicated to the Mac, which I DO want to be on home network all the time...

Am I accurately interpreting this situation, has anyone else noticed it, am i really in that weird a situation, and do we really want to have Wi-Fi on all the time for these reasons?