Q: iPhone 4s location wrong... Why?

Apps relying on Location services displayed correct location on their map. Weather app also had the forecast for the correct location. Compass app was also displaying the correct Lat. Long. This was on the drive to work and in the parking lot outside of WiFi networks.

Same can be said for WiFi network inside of my office building. I'll try a couple of other known WiFi hotspots outside of my home to see if the transition from WiFi to cellular network is handeled properly by the phone. Then I'll see what happens when I get home.

@marcames11 Our 3GS (iOS 5.0.1) phones still had the problem this morning when I turned them on and they connected to our home WiFi connection. Worked like a charm once I was in my car on the way to work. Connections to my company's WiFi network also produced the correct location.

I have the exact same problem. I live in Raleigh and it says I am in Kings Grant NC, near Wilmington. This began happening last Wednesday when I went to check in on Foursquare and it kept telling me I wasn't in Raleigh. I have tried to fix by resetting the phone network settings and even factory restored the phone and the problem still persists. I have an iPhone 3GS running iOS 5.0.1 on AT&T.

Interesting to know what service AT&T users have for home WiFi? I have DSL, do others with this problem have DSL?

Carl Ely wrote:

 

Another post in a seperate discussion pointed me to a site that is used by Apple. http://www.skyhookwireless.com/howitworks/submit_ap.php 

I used the form to provide the lat, long coordinates of my router. We'll see if it helps.

That must be old information, Apple no longer uses Skyhook -- they acquired their own location database service some time ago, and there does not seem to be a way to submit your router's MAC address and physical location. I think maybe older devices like a 3G or 2G Touch still use Skyhook (as part of iOS 4.x), but more recent devices use Apple's service.

Carl, I am having this problem and to answer your question, my home Wi-Fi is pumped from a cable modem via Time Warner Road Runner.

Colleague at work thinks AT&T is at fault for not registering Lat. Long. for their DSL routers. Not sure it's just AT&T thus the question.

What's weird is my son's iPad is connected to the same WiFi router and it provides the correct location on the map application.

@rockmyplimsoul Any idea if there is a discussion forum on this database you mention?

Don't know of any forum discussions on this, but you might search on "PlaceBase" and/or "C3 Technologies", both of which were acquired by Apple.  Whether or not these are what replaced Skyhook I can't say for sure, but I do know that Skyhook is no longer used as of iOS 5.  My guess is that the wi-fi location service problems are due to errors in whatever database is being used.

Also note that even if you're on 3G your iPhone may still be using wi-fi to triangulate your location, even though you're not actually connected to networks that your iPhone can see.  This may explain location errors even while on 3G.  If you turn off wi-fi entirely, and maybe re-boot your iPhone to clear out any residual data, you might find that the location error goes away.

Carl Ely wrote:

 

What's weird is my son's iPad is connected to the same WiFi router and it provides the correct location on the map application.

Now that's interesting ... is he on iOS 4 or 5?  Is his iPad a wi-fi only model?  What happens is you put your iPhone into Airplane mode and then turn on only wi-fi?  Does your location agree with his iPad?

The difference could be if his iPad is wi-fi only then he has no GPS, so your iPhone's error could be related to errors/faults with your iPhone's GPS and/or cell tower location.

@rockmyplimsoul son's iPad is iOS 5.0.1 (9A405). According to Location Services the iPad uses GPS along with crowd-sourced Wi-Fi hotspot and cell tower locations. The location services are on. I do not have a cellular data plan for the iPad. I tried the Airplane mode on the iPhone and used Wi-Fi only. The phone showed the incorrect location on the map application where the iPad had the correct location.

Carl Ely wrote:

 

@rockmyplimsoul son's iPad is iOS 5.0.1 (9A405). According to Location Services the iPad uses GPS along with crowd-sourced Wi-Fi hotspot and cell tower locations. The location services are on. I do not have a cellular data plan for the iPad. I tried the Airplane mode on the iPhone and used Wi-Fi only. The phone showed the incorrect location on the map application where the iPad had the correct location.

Hmm, if the iPad and iPhone are both on the same wi-fi network and both using only wi-fi, they should not come up with different locations.

The only thing I can think of is that the location data in your iPhone needs to be cleared out somehow -- either a Reset Network Settings, or maybe a full Restore without loading your backup.  That may clear out whatever bogus location data your iPhone has, although without knowing why it got there in the first place it could come back.

rockmyplimsoul wrote:

 

Carl Ely wrote:

 

@rockmyplimsoul son's iPad is iOS 5.0.1 (9A405). According to Location Services the iPad uses GPS along with crowd-sourced Wi-Fi hotspot and cell tower locations. The location services are on. I do not have a cellular data plan for the iPad. I tried the Airplane mode on the iPhone and used Wi-Fi only. The phone showed the incorrect location on the map application where the iPad had the correct location.

Hmm, if the iPad and iPhone are both on the same wi-fi network and both using only wi-fi, they should not come up with different locations.

 

The only thing I can think of is that the location data in your iPhone needs to be cleared out somehow -- either a Reset Network Settings, or maybe a full Restore without loading your backup.  That may clear out whatever bogus location data your iPhone has, although without knowing why it got there in the first place it could come back.

I suspect that this problem is with the data it is using to supplement the GPS chip.  Garbage in, garbage out.  On the cheerful side, carriers usually fix these problems in a few days.

rphunte42 wrote:.

I suspect that this problem is with the data it is using to supplement the GPS chip.  Garbage in, garbage out.  On the cheerful side, carriers usually fix these problems in a few days.

The odd thing is, the location is wrong even in Airplane mode but wi-fi turned on -- which means GPS and the cellular radio are OFF (assuming Carl tried this exact mode). One would think that the wi-fi location would override existing location data while in Airplane mode.

I tried your suggestion on Airplane mode but it made no difference last night. I guess the database must have been updated because the location was right this morning when I turned on the phone and it established a connection with the Wi-Fi in the house. It now matches my son's iPad. My wife's phone is a different matter but I had not done a reset of network settings on her phone so I'll give that a try. Thanks for all the insight. Hope this helps other users in Raleigh with the same problem.