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

I have done some testing in conjunction with Apple's second line support and they have now passed a report of the problem to the engineers. I am awaiting a response. I am also on my second iPhone.

Conclusions from testing are: this problem occurs on 4S when it is using your service providers mast for location i.e. Vodafone in my case. However the problem only happens when the phone can't use GPS and there is no 3G signal. If it picks up either of those it gets the location correct. It also gets it correct when using only WiFi. You can test this by doing the following:-

If you are at home and your location is wrong, go to settings and turn on Airplane mode, then turn on only your WiFi and connect to your home network. Then turn the Location Services off for a few seconds and then turn them back on. Now go and check your location and it should be correct.

Let me know if this works for you?

Sorry, iPhone 4S

Richard - I can confirm your suggestion works with Wifi only.

I can also confirm my location is correct when just using wifi and nothing else

I have had some serious location problems, I am in South of France but my pin locates me in China, or Russia!!

The idea that if GPS or 3G are not working this can cause the problem, makes sense to me, I dont have 3G or GPS services right here at home. But I am in my wifi range and the problem persists.

If I restart the phone location is correct for a few, up to 20 minutes, then relocates to China..

Weather acts the same way.

Your fix is good for me but I dont know how long it will last.

I reset all settings before and this helped temporarily, the only other thing is to turn the phone off and then on again, - also only works temporarily.

all who posted in this topic should leave Apple feedback

Well that at least suggests that it is the same problem with the 4S.I guess the more people that let Apple know about it the better. If I get any news from Apple I will let you konw.

Got the same Location issue since yesterday. Location service was working excellent 1-2 weeks before.

Living in Germany my iPhone 4S locates me in Shanghai (always the same place).

After turning off and restarting iPhone the right location is found but after several minutes or sometimes hours I'm back in Shanghai again.

So I removed several new installed apps using location service - no difference.

The problem also occurred when I turned of WIFI or connected to another Router in my LAN, so I don't think it's a router problem.

Going to cellar, where is no phone network service (Telekom) or GPS-signal but only a WIFI-Connection to my LAN, location stays correct. Going upstairs and get connected to Telekom network service the location gets wrong again.

My kids got 2 new iPhone 4S too but have another provider (O2). They are located correctly and never had this issue.

So I believe the problem is the local cell broadcast information of the service provider!

Today I tried resetting network settings and ... now location service works correctly for 4 hours. But as I read in this discussion it can happen again.

I'll feedback this to Apple, too.

Hi ChrisHLA, the problem is definitely with iPhone 4S, as I said before I have done testing with Apple seond line support, the testing included swapping sims with an iPhone 4 and an iPhone 3GS... only the iPhone 4S exhibits this problem when connected to the cellular network with no 3G and no GPS. We all use Vodafone but only the 4S get the location wrong, the other iPhones get it correctly all the time.

4 hours after resetting network settings ... back in China again!

I tested the issue again and here's my result:

Resetted network settings.

Right location for about 4 hours.

When using maps iPhone 4S located me in China (living in Germany) again.

Turned off cellular network service by choosing the wrong service provider.

Turned off location service and on again only using WIFI-connection --> right location found

Turnes on cellular network service with correct provider.

Location service works good (but how long will it last ...)

Well, apparently I've just beenin Delhi.

I'm on Vodafone in Uk, connecting through home wifi too on iPhone 4S.

My iPad2 on T-Mobile and same wifi finds me in the correct location.

Have reset, and it worked for a few hours.

It's frustrating, especially for location based apps, like dating apps.

Come on apple, get this fixed!

i can confirm the same thing. if i don't have 3G signal indoors (and obviously no GPS) the location doesn't work. if i turn on airplane mode and only use wifi, then the location works as it should.

Dead right, I have sent a message to apple feedback with this info - I encourage you to do the same, lets hope the fix comes quick!

I've just sent feedback to Apple about this problem. I only noticed two days ago, I'm in Ireland but it said I was in Japan, my time went crazy too! Everything mentioned on this thread seem to be short term solutions so hopefully I'd we can all bring it to apples attention they can help fix the problem.