Ok, I have a strange issue that I think is down to my broadband provider but no-one at BT Openworld (UK) seems to have any idea about...

If my iPhone 3G is connected to my BT Home Hub Wireless router and I use Google Maps to find my Location is tells me I am about 5 miles away from home (Which funnily enough was my previous address), if I step outside of my wireless routers range (just outside my front door) it instantly finds me at my correct location!

Has anyone come across this problem? and if so how can I fix it?
Does anyone know how BT Home Hubs recieve thier Location information? Is it supplied by BT each time my router connects or can it be changed somewhere on the router itself?

I know it only seems a small issue but it is really annoying me and I would like to resolve it!

Any advice would be appriciated (apart from phoning BT cause NO-ONE there seems to know anything about how the router gets its location information, and the stock answer is "We don't support iPhones")

Thanks in Advance...

Matt

Use the following link to update the database that the iPhone relies on to triangulate your location.

SKYHOOK Wireless: How It Works > Submit Wi-Fi AP

Basically if you don't have GPS (a 2G iphone) or can't lock on to GPS satellites, the iPhone falls back to either cell tower triangulation or using a wifi location database run by skyhook.

The problem with wifi is that it is pretty easy to move your wifi router to a new place, so the wifi information is only accurate at the time it was collected.

Skyhook doesn't drive around your suburb every day scanning for wifi and updating their database. They do provide a web site (mentioned above) so you can update these details yourself.

Originally Posted by Olethros

Use the following link to update the database that the iPhone relies on to triangulate your location.

SKYHOOK Wireless: How It Works > Submit Wi-Fi AP

Basically if you don't have GPS (a 2G iphone) or can't lock on to GPS satellites, the iPhone falls back to either cell tower triangulation or using a wifi location database run by skyhook.

The problem with wifi is that it is pretty easy to move your wifi router to a new place, so the wifi information is only accurate at the time it was collected.

Skyhook doesn't drive around your suburb every day scanning for wifi and updating their database. They do provide a web site (mentioned above) so you can update these details yourself.

Thanks for the info, just one quick question,
Is that valid for the UK?

Thanks again

Yes, it is valid worldwide. I have used it to register my wifi router location here in Norway. Now my 2G iPhone finds my location precisely when I am in the house.

They build this database by a combination of driving around and scanning for wifi mac addresses. This is in addition to users registering their location via this web site and with web browser addons.

They have not driven around all countries but it appears that they have driven around England as the coverage is pretty good.

There is a link on that same page to check the coverage for a specific area. From the look of it, England and North Western continental Europe seem to have good coverage. Where I live in Norway their database shows far fewer entries.