×

Introducing the Orbi 970 Series Mesh System with WiFi 7(BE) technology. For more information visit the NETGEAR Press Room.

Orbi WiFi 7 RBE973
Reply

OSX location services not available

RussFogg
Tutor

OSX location services not available

Hi,

 

I seem to have this strange situation when I am connected to my Orbri Wifi network and then my Macbook cannot pickup a location under location services, if I hotspot to a iOS device which is connected to a mobile network it picks up a location.

 

Been noticing this on all my iOS devices but since they have GPS chips location is determined that way but not for the Mac

 

Spoken to my fibre provider who says no one else has reported a similar issue so checking in with the community if they have had something similar?

 

Model: RBR50|Orbi AC3000 Tri-band WiFi Router
Message 1 of 7
FURRYe38
Guru

Re: OSX location services not available

What Firmware is currently loaded?
What is the Mfr and model# of the ISP modem the NG router is connected too?
Is the Orbi system operating in Router or AP mode?

 

 

Message 2 of 7
Talk2Mike
Apprentice

Re: OSX location services not available

I have no issues with my MacBook and location services when connected to Wi-Fi via my Orbi. 

 

Are you you sure you don’t have a double NAT issue by running the Orbi in router mode while your model or old router is still in router mode?

Message 3 of 7
RussFogg
Tutor

Re: OSX location services not available

Hi,

 

V2.3.1.60 FW

 

I don't use an ISP router, the RBR50 is the router connected directly to the fibre end point 

 

Orbi is operating in Router mode. 

 

I confirmed this is occuring on 2 Macs because when I was reloading my Mac Mini it could not determine location on setup when it wanted to determine a timezone whilst connected to WiFi.

Model: RBR50|Orbi AC3000 Tri-band WiFi Router
Message 4 of 7
RussFogg
Tutor

Re: OSX location services not available

No double NAT as Orbi is the only Wifi kit running, no ISP router and the Orbi get's an WAN IP address from the ISP and then uses DHCP to create the internal network 

Message 5 of 7
FURRYe38
Guru

Re: OSX location services not available

Try disabling the following and see:

 IPv6. Save settings and reboot the router and satellite(s).

 

Does one of the MAC directly connected to the Fibre ONT get location services ok?

 

Might try a factory reset of the RBR, Power OFF the ONT for 30 seconds, power back on. Then walk thru the setup wizard with one of the wired MACs and setup the RBR from scratch. Don't enable any parental controls. Just check to see if the Mac Location works after the reset. 

Message 6 of 7
schumaku
Guru

Re: OSX location services not available

Funny this question does come up that often - it's neither a router not an ISP issue.

 

Apple (and for the sake of it also Google and others) are maintaining location service databases, allowing non-GPS equipped devices to get location information - which is based on information collected from GPS-assisted systems while accessing your wireless SSID, plus some.

 

When you bring up a wireless AP with a new name (SSID) not used anywhere, the MacOS (and other systems) will fail to find any correlation in the database - so no location information. When you are using Apple systems with GPS, which are accessing your WiFi and have the location services enabled, the database will be propagated. Similar with Android devices and Google.

 

Now we have those privacy fans which are disabling any kind of location services on their mobile devices - so your WiFi network name (SSID) and whatever other factors are taken into consideration (ESSID, router MAC addresses, ISP, IPv4 subnet, ...) will never make it to the databases.

 

In the past, Google collected wireless names while doing the data collection for Google Maps, Street View & Co. This was forbidden by some law makers for blah privacy reasons in some countries.

 

Don't know what people expect ... location information from a router, fiber endpoint coordinates, ... there is no "magic".

Message 7 of 7
Top Contributors
Discussion stats
  • 6 replies
  • 1155 views
  • 0 kudos
  • 4 in conversation
Announcements

Orbi WiFi 7